A hint of Ginger

   So even with my new work status I still did not mange to get down to the lottie in the week. Sunday was reserved for poo trailer and digging. I decided to focus my effort on finishing off Bed 1. The recent rain was loosened up the soil so the weeds came out of the soil fairly easily. There is just so much of it. The weeds ended up in one of the black compo bin. It will be lovely compost in a years time.

   I gave the whole of bed 1 a good hoeing. The weeds are having a go at germinating. It is a pity the mice won't eat weeds.

  Some of the grape vines are begining to bud. Considering it is the middle of May I don't see me having any grape this year either. Question of the moment - where do I get seed potatos at this time of year?

   I picked some more Rhubarb. This picking is going to be wine. H turned the last lot into jam and very nice it is too with its hint of Ginger.

Self watering compost bins

   I had a revelation today whilst digging. I was thinking about putting the weeds into the black plastic compost bins and was pondering the information a chap gave us at a talk on composting at the Allotment Society. I usually have Ants living in the compost bins. That is a sign the bins are way to dry. The contents of the bin seem to breakdown well enough but could it work better? The chap said the contents of the bins had the moist for the worms to do there thing. History shows me that I just don't water my compost bins. So the question was how to water the inside of the compost bins without

1. Doing it myself
2. Keeping it dark inside the bin

   It occurred to me that if I were to turn the compost bin lid upside down it would act as a rain catcher, it being saucer shaped. It would be a good fit on the top of the bin, after all the lid was just upside down. I drilled a hole in the centre of the lid, placed the lid on the bin and put a brick in the lid to stop it blowing away. It works a treat. The sauce shape catches the rain and funnels it to the hole where it drop the water into the bin. 

A stressful week

   It has been a very stressful fortnight. The upshot of it all is that I am now a freelance.........well I am not sure what I am freelance at but I am not longer in paid employment. However the weekend was much as any other. Saturday was the Farmer's market at Castle Donington. The rain held of which was nice. Sunday H and her book club buddies went walking in Staffordshire to a place called Thursbitch. It is central to a book by Alan Gardener. H likes him. I went to the lottie for a digging session. Nothing new really. Bed 2 needs digging if I am to have any spuds this year. I got a good portion done. I have a job to do in Lincoln on Monday but hope to spend a few hours each day of next weeks to sort this bed.

  I forgot my tea bags but since I was working in a sea of nettles I thought nettle tea might be just the thing. I have made Nettle wine before now. I googled "Nettle Tea" on my phone. I got a couple of recipes. I fired up the Trangia and set about selecting the youngest shoots but how much to use? I put five leaves into the boiling water a turned the Trangia down to a simmer for a few minutes, as per the instructions. I picked a few stalks of Rhubarb whilst I was waiting. The Rhubarb is the first crop of this season.

 
   The rhubarbs look fit and health. They are throwing up big flower buds which always look a bit strange. I swear that if you stand and stare you can see the flower stalk growing. The Nettle tea looked an sicipant green. I let it cool which gave me time to gethe deck chair out a munch a couple of H's scones that she had made fresh that morning. The sun was out the wind had dropped. I had tea...of sorts and buttered scones. So all is well with the world. The deck chair is too uncortfortable for snoozing in but I gave it a try.  Snooze over I went back to the digging. My back was starting to complain and as if make my mind up the weather closer in and started to rain. I had time to rake the bed I had been working upon. I gathered up my tools, parked the barrow, closed up the compost bin and jumped into Degsy and was away before the rain came on properly.

  

Ever to optomist

   I got down to the lottie early on Saturday morning. I promised the lottie a digging session before I had to go to a birthday party in the late afternoon. I stood in the gate of the lottie pondering where to start. Finish off bed 1, but nothing is going in there until later in the season. Bed 3, no hope there, Bed 4 Onions are in and there is a little space for other stuff. So Bed 2 was chosen. This bed is the worst condition. If I want any spuds this year I am going to have to get busy. Starting at the middle path I began by working my way along the edging. This is always the slow a tricky bit. But as I weeded back and forth across the bed and the amount and space cleared got bigger the speed of the clearing the bed back quicker. I dumped the weeds in the black compost bin at the top of the plot. Then got on with some more weeding. A couple of hours of digging was enough for the back leaving me enough time to visit the out apiary.  Click HERE for my blog on Bees.

   I have not even bought seed potatoes yet but it is something I must do. Seed potatoes chitting in the shed will spur me on to finish the bed. I did buy more peas to replace the ones I fed to the mice. I cannot call it sowing peas since they did not last a day. I have decided to sow the replacement peas in the greenhouse as I have done in previous years. I just need a little time to myself to a sowing fest.

  I am concerned about the grape vine. It is nearly the second week in May and there are no discernible signs of growth on the vines. I am just going to have to be patient. Dead or alive there nothing I can do about it. I could do with stringing another wire across the back of the plot to train the vine along. Ever the optomist!