Compost bins and general busyness!

I've had a very busy time last week. I finally hacked up the pallet supplied by James so that my compost heap has a lovely new front to it. 

I've cut a bucket's bottom off and nailed it to the shed to keep all my canes in. Strimmed round the entire plot. Weeded all over the place and constructed a, hopefully more sturdy than last years, bit of chicken wire for my peas to climb up.

All of my salad is coming up, except the Okahijiki (still) and my spinach is also coming up.

Still lots to do.

What is this?

Apparently it's called Red Orzac (sp?) it's a herb and it gets to be about 60cm or so high. I just can't find any reference to it anywhere and I don't want to poison myself, or anyone else for that matter.

Many thanks!

Status update!

Went over the road today, weeded round the 4 cornflowers (now I know what they look like) that are coming up in the middle of my weeds! 

The peas seem to be recovering from their bout of pea and bean weevil and the ones Caroline gave me are coming up, those that hadn't been dug up that is. I need to find them something to climb up.

The Salad bed is looking pretty good really. Everything except the Bucks Horn and the Okahijiki is coming up. The lettuces and pak choi from Caroline is still unmolested. 

My potatoes are coming up, rather bizarrely all on one side first. Maincrops still underground.

Spinach is coming up, no sign of broccoli but the stuff I started in the greenhouse if doing well.

I got some onion sets from Ron and have started this lot off inside in a tray first as the current lot is so pathetically weedy! I really must borrow the strimmer and tackle round the edge of my "cage" as its all getting a bit day of the triffids! (or however else one spells it).

All good so far, the usual sense of calm and restorative goodness prevails.

Been very slack with the blog

I'm just going to summarize really as it's been a stupidly long time since I wrote anything.

My plot now looks a wee bit different as I got fed up with the weeds in the paths and wood chipped the whole lot. I still have to trim round the edges but it does seem better.

I will not be bothering with Brussels  after they came out looking like some sort of novelty pea and I wont be bothering with vegetable spaghetti either.

This years exotic veg are a loofah, which currently looks like this:

and something called a giant pink banana... we'll wait and see.

My lovely husband has made me half of a fruit cage and hopefully it's other half will be along soon.

Chilli seeds are conspicuous in their absence. pah.

Generally though things are good. I put my tomato plants into their growbags this weekend. I've gone for a mix of Italian varieties so we'll have to see how they get on with the less than Italian climate.

So far everything is doing ok, it does all seem to be taking a long time to get going, especially my flowers, but hopefully it'll all soon take off! 

Or not as the case may be.

How it looks now....

It looks amazing at the moment, I love June! 

Everything's so green, unfortunately so are the weeds. I

 planted spinach, romanesco, baby corn, radishes and more salad leaves the weekend before last and it's all coming up.

The peas have almost reached the top of the netting and are covered in flowers and excitement of excitements theres a pod on a couple of them.

To top off the excitement level the strawberry plant has produced the biggest fruit, its not the best photo ever but...

And here are the peas, again just taken on my phone, (I prefer bluetooth)...

I don't know how to express how happy, optimistic and hopeful the whole thing makes me feel. About everything.

It's also astonishing

 how cross slugs make me...

Fat, slimy, buggers.

Anyway... off to make dinner, with salad from the 

allotment with a huge grin on my face.

Netting and first harvest.

We've had our first harvest of salad leaves and radishes. It's pathetic how thrilled I am by it all. It amuses me no end and just seems so right on the most basic human  level. 

The hunter gatherer in me is happy.

In an effort to stop the birds eating everything, I sprung out of bed at 5.30am and covered the brassicas in chicken wire which I'm now in the process of replacing with netting bought from ebay. 

I've got loads of the dead apple tree left and striped several of its straighter branches down to use for the uprights and its all looking more covered (although there is an element of the heath robinson about it all). Now for the slugs, its time for more nematodes which really do seem to have been working. This morning though I saw a slug in amongst the peas and I'm not happy about it. Anyway I'm blathering....

Feeling very sad...

Just been over the road to see what's been happening after two days of hideously early starts and late finishes. The horrible fat pigeons have been at my brussels and broccoli... is it not enough for them that they munch through a half ton of bird seed in my garden? 

I need to get some net and cover them all up, but I've got another 2 days of early starts/late finishes and I know they'll had the lot by then.

Horrible fat stupid things.

Even my trusty helper isn't cheering me up...