Spuds v Chickweed

Saturday went off well. H raised a few quit to go that which she had already raised. The Sharpes Express seed potatoes have been chitting in the greenhouse. I resolved to get up early on Sunday and plant spuds. I even managed this time. I was at the lottie for 9am. It was sunny and pleasantly warm. The gentle freeze was quite cool. The winter had been so long and snowy I was not able to do my usual tidy ups. It has been fairly dry of late so the piles of wood that I made have dried out. I set up the brazier, screwed up the newspaper I had brought with me , broke up the small wood into sticks and set a match to the paper and stood back. The fire took hold and I fed it for the next three hours, in and out of the other jobs.

During the winter I decided to move the black plastic compost bins from the paved area. I tried the empty compo bin in each corner of the plot. The compo bins are different sizes and shapes. The two smaller round black bins ended up in corner by beds 1 and 2. The bigger round black bin went in the corner by bed3. The square green bin will go in the corner by bed4. I put the three black bins in their new position. The plot looks a bit odd with the bins in the corners.

The main job was to plant spuds. This year the spud will go in bed4. I had to weed the line of the spud trench before actual digging the trench. I used my narrow spade to pull out a trench 10inched deep. The spud trench cut across trench for last years beans. The manure that went into the bean trenches was still discernible in the soil. Even the lack of rain in recent times did not have a great effect on the soil. It is in good heart and moist where it counts. With the trench opened I put in half a wheelbarrow of manure from the manure heap I have been minding since last autumn. Then ten seed potatoes spaced evenly long the trench. Next I used a rake to back fill the trench. I did another four trenches with ten spuds in each one. Each time I came up to the muck bin I fed the brazier. When the five rows were done I gave the inbetween rows a good hoeing. The hoeing removed the last vestiges of last year humps and hollows of the bean trenches as well as what few weeds remained.

I managed to squeeze in a few brews with a slice of cake. Each time I sat on my deckchair, in the shade of Degsy, the have my brew and watch the birds. There are quite a few Yellowhammer around this year. Bed2 contains the over wintering onions. Unfortunately they are swamped with Chickweed. I got the three pronged cultivator out of Degsy. I used it to rip up the Chickweed. It was very hard work. A small area gave two full wheelbarrows of chickweed. The weed went in the newly placed compo bins. I think I have only discouraged it. The area is going to need turning over before the main crop onions go in. I did a bit of spot weeding to clear the few bigger Docks and Thistle. It was 1pm by this stage and it was very hot toiling under the sun.

My Savoy cabbages, which had weathered the winter, have bolted. I have left them in until next week. They are about the flower so a week or so of flower will give the bees and bugs will a little nectar. I do not mind a few spring weeds. They fuel the bumble bees.The two Sprouting Broccoli that barely weathered the winter have given a small crop. We had them for tea. The buds on the grape vines are beginning to swell despite the savaging I gave them with the secateurs. The Garlic is going great. I hope they fill out properly. If this works well I shall be planting Garlic in the autumn from now on.

I seem to have swapped weeds. It was Dock, then Thistle, now it is Chickweed. According to Mr Internet Chickweed is edible as a salad. I might have to have a try. I don't think I can eat my way through an allotment's worth of Chickweed. I wonder if anyone would buy chickweed?