The Good Life

Well it was a bit of a gamble planting those peas so early, even if they are frost resistant. After some serious cold weather (-9 one night) I have to concede they may not germinate. The upside is that the cold frame which was looking for a home can go in their place and I’ll plant some more next to it once the weather stops playing silly buggers.

Another productive weekend has passed. My seeds arrived on friday so I’ve set some tomatoes and onions off and today we’ve been doing more digging while my dad built our cold frame.All thats left is one last bit of digging, some rotovating to get the big lumps broken up and start setting more seeds off.

My dad did an awesome job today and we now have cold frame with a small utility cupboard stuck on the side – just enough to fit Rob’s wellies and a few tools in. And maybe a few beers.

 The cold frame under construction.

Tea has saved us both today – Rob from Real Ale overdose, and me from the aches and pains of a full days’ dig.

I got down the allotment early today and turned over and weeded the ground and I also started off some early peas and moved some rhubarb to a new spot next to the blackcurrant bush. The soil is really starting to change now we have dug manure in and turned it a few times – you could almost forget it’s heavy clay the way it now breaks up.

Next week we can think about sticking our early potatoes in and the week after we’ll set another row of peas off.

Rob turned up a little later in the day, excusable as he had been at a real ale festival the day before. He’d drunk too much of Jollye Friars Heade Fooke by the looks of him but a flask of tea soon put a smile on his face and stopped the dizzy spells. He brought a load of strawberries from home which are looking great in their new home already.

So, we’ve now got the plot planned out, seeds ordered, and by 4pm today had most of the ground dug over. All that remains is to dig the last little bit, make a cold frame and over the next month or so get our seeds going.