Plot to plate in half an hour

You can tell the weather has taken a turn for the worse as I've got time to update this blog.  But must be quick though as it looks like the sun might be about to make an appearance. About an hour ago I dug up the remaining perpetual spinach from last year.  I know the leaves look very large but I find the flavour in the biggest leaves the best.



Passed to hubby for cleaning and trimming.  That is a very large fruit bowl I'd say about 600 grams of spinach.



Then enjoyed with a corned beef hotpot - just what was required on this cold dreich day.



 

As soon as the ground has dried out a bit I'll be planting more perpetual spinach.  Not sure when that will be though as the 10 day forecast is for rain, rain and more rain.  Glad I got those potatoes in the ground last week.

Fence and Potatoes - Done

At last the fence is up to keep those pesky hens out of the veggie plot. They are pretending not to be bothered while eyeing up possible launching pads to gain access.  Very sneaky French hens....



 

Last night I finished planting the potatoes so that means the 2nd row is now full till summer. Heading out to plant parsnip mixed with calendula - worked for me last year so I thought I'd give it another go. Plus I'll need to make some step over paths now there is only one way into the plot. So that's onion, garlic and potatoes  in the ground and hopefully parsnip sown by this evening.

Quick update

Finally, wee seedlings starting to look like something.  Must admit though very weedy in appearance at the moment.  The worst ones (safflower seedlings) I've repotted and they look 100% better.  The rest will will have to hold out till the end of next week before being rehoused.  The only thing that has not germinated (so far) is some 10 year old white hollyhock seeds the cassis variety (same age) has germinated.  This little lot includes tomatoes, peppers, chilies, okra, aubergines, hollyhocks and agastache 'honey bee blue' oh, and some Lavatera.



Around the garden most of the daffs have gone over but the tulips are still looking good.  I've been doing some more planting in the island beds - just hope I've not over planted as I do want to put some veggies in here. It's amazing everything is still looking so green it's an age since we had any rain plus the sun has made an appearance almost everyday since we returned from Spain...not going to grumble about too much sun though!



The pond had a top up yesterday so the bright green water is looking a bit less green.  Just need to be patience and let the plants do their thing and  a couple of  weeks from now and it should be clear.  Does not seem to bother the multitude of frogs that are sunning themselves at the edges. This is the only place the hens totally avoid I think they must be afraid of the water.

The first of the early iris are starting to come out.  All the iris in this area are supposed to be blue, white and mauve but there's an orange one lurking and I must move it this year as it stick out like a sore thumb. That bugle's gone a bit Bismark it was only a tiny scarp I planted but it seems to have taken off.  Definitely going to have to thin this lot out at the end of the season as some plants are getting totally swamped.



In the veggie plot I've managed to get the onions and garlic planted and about a third of the potatoes. Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the potatoes then I can complete the weeding and get some more seeds in. Still have not got around to fencing in those pesky hens. I think I need more hours in the day.

 

Bring on the veggie plot...

Two week ago I had fingernails but after a couple of weeks weeding, edging and cutting grass they are no more! Thanks to a run of decent weather I've managed to whip the back 'field' into some sort of shape. This will now have to look after itself as I get stuck into the veggie plot. I've been waiting on some new fencing to keep the hens out rather than in...so hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I'll have a hen free veggie plot that I can start working on.



 

I've got a bedroom full of seed trays but so far I'm not very impressed with the progress maybe a few more days of warm sunny weather will make a difference - let's hope so.  They are just too pathetic to even photograph at the moment!

So fingers crossed for a few days of dry weather to I can get the veggie plot whipped into shape, onions planted and seed bed prepared.