Leveling the land

I spent a good five hours today just breaking up the larger clods and raking over the next bit to become a seedbed, ready for the broad beans next weekend. The soil, on the whole, breaks up easily, helped by a bit of spadework, the rake, and the new riddle, which has worked out really well. Chris and I finished bolting the compost bins together, and they look suitably wonky, fitting in with the allotment style. Once the soil is dug out from the bottom, they'll be lined with turf and are ready for, er, stuff to make compost...

The upright greenhouse is built, and hopefully one evening this week, I can plant the seeds in their trays... Cabbages (pointed and pak choi), peas, celery, leeks, kohl rabi and spinach...

The carrots are best planted straight into the ground, apparently, as are the spring onions (to deter the carrotfly) and the beetroot. They all might go in over Easter weekend...

The first plantings

Well, I feel it was a momentous occasion, and Saturday 13th March, we put the first things into the ground. 10 x Shallots (they'll each divide into lots of little clumps, 10 - 15 to a bunch) 5 x Jerusalem Artichokes, and 50 x red onions... Maybe have to see if they're overcrowded and move a few. So, the ground raked up nicely, we levelled this bed off, evened the compost and grit, and got rid of weeds, big rocks (not many of those) and generally broke up the bigger sods of clay. Today I bought a riddle, not too fine, to help create more seed beds for the Broad Beans, Carrots and Beetroot; and also some seed compost and vermiculite ready for the upright greenhouse.

Next weekend I'm helping Chris build the compost bins out of skipraided timber and pallets he's kindly brought to site this weekend...

Spring has sprung*, and the digging is done**.

*It looks like spring is finally here, but it's definitely below zero at night still... Not quite time to put those seeds out...

**We've dug the whole plot over thoroughly, mixing in 100kg of grit, and 700 litres of sh*t... but I fear there might be more digging to come...

Nice weather but cold if you stop moving, and the ground has dried out so much... digging was (almost) a pleasure. Next time we put the fork over the plot, it will be easier still. Jerusalem Artichokes may go in next weekend. Photos will appear soon...