Its hard to get much done inbetween showers, so I've been mostly pottering about today, but I have made a start on both the compost heap and the strawberry bed.
I really should turn the compost heap more regularly, but there always seems to be something more urgent to do. Anyway, today was finally its turn ... the grass clippings that I pursuaded a friend to bring for me have made it smell really sweet, like hay. The same friend has borrowed my 'compost' book - he is avidly reading it and seems very excited by it ... apparently it is now essential bedtime reading :)
I really do know better when it comes to adding stuff to the compost heap, but whether its laziness or just a lack of time I'm not sure, but I've ended up having to take time out today to chop up the larger items, like last years sweetcorn !! I know, I know ... but I have a full time job too ya know.
I've reached the bottom of the heap and have started the laborious job of sieving it. Nick keeps trying to encourage me to use it direct on my beds to improve the soil and as I've bought tonnes of compost for this seasons seeds, I may well follow his advice.
I've bought 250l of compost (just cheap B&Q stuff I'm afraid) to bulk out the strawberry bed. I nearly broke my back getting the darn stuff into the lottie. About 80% of the strawberry plants are now heaped in the wheelbarrow. The bed is going to require a really thorough digging over as it has been infiltrated by flippin bindweed ... grrrr. Job number one tomorrow is to get some manure on my way to the lottie tomorrow.
Of course some things I excel at growing - they don't need any manure, any sort of care, pruning or rotation ... hmm, now where was that number for F&M, wonder if they still have organic dandelion leaf salad on the menu:
My Sweetpeas are about an inch tall now and so far have avoided slugs & snails.
Sadly the same can't be said for my newly sown peas ... on closer inspection today I can see that there are lots of little burrowings along the pea sticks ... looks like the darstedly meeces have been raiding the rows. I noticed that they've also had a go at the broadbeans in the greenhouse. I'll have to have a trip to Netto to see if they are doing their .19p seeds again this year to replace them. Grief, sometimes I wonder why I bother !
The King Cup will be in full bloom I think by the end of the week. Did I mention that I have tadpoles ? Not as many as last year, but still plenty of tiny chocolate brown specs wriggling around in the pond.
My Arron Pilots are just peeking above the soil:
This is my Thyme - I still need to plant up the herbs I bought from Humanby ... they are on the Easter list!
These fabulous, healthy looking green shoots are actually for my cats :) They will be purring with delight when I take them home.
The forget-me-nots are just starting to flower:
I'm finally starting to get to grips with my new camera ... well in my opinion anyway ... the rain always gives the most ordinary of items a magical shine:
No comments:
Post a Comment