It seems like it is the middle of summer, with temperatures that has got the Daily Mail all overexcited – 25c in April was a bit unexpected when you think it started with snow.

On the window the courgettes and broad beans are  growing well, the tomatoes and sweet peppers a little bit slower.   Seeds planted the other day are coming up and finally I see signs of leeks.    If I wasn’t doing a lot of other things today then I would had planted the broad beans as they are pretty much ready.   All during the week I have been putting these and the courgettes outside to get used to things.   The other week I planted more broad beans and have been getting impatient for them to show, it seems they spend a lot of time sorting out roots before they grow upwards.   Today I saw life and if I remember from the previous lot once they start to show they grow fast.

It seems waiting is not a strong point, looking at diaries from 2003 I planted leeks and got bored of waiting and so bought a load of leek plants off of Ebay.  They arrived, and so did all the seeds, leaving me with millions of them.  I fear the same here, sowing inside and outside, if they all pop up then we will not be short for leek and potato soup for a number of months/years.

 

 

 

 

 

With the hot weather I bought a couple of watering cans, they were going cheap in B&Q, reduced and a bit dirty but only £1 each.  While at B&Q I bought 150 litres of compost to fill another of the raised beds (3 done, 2 more to do).   This meant I would be driving up the road to the allotment, so I thought I would build some more wooden paths with the free pallets.

 

 

I banked up the potatoes and generally weeded.   Seeds sown today include:

• half a row of carrots
• small row of spring onions
• half a row of beetroot
• half a row of salsify
• half a row of turnips

 

Spotted a purple sprouting seedling and a beetroot seedling from the other week.   Raspberries have been liking the sun, I hoed and removed those attempting to come up outside of their rows.  I had a small go at banking up the soil, really I need to mulch these.   Out of the two sides of raspberries the ones by the field are a bit more wild, with constant bindweed appearing each time you look.

Last week’s strawberries looked like they had been suffering from the heat and lack of water, I gave them a good watering.

I banked up the garlic, it seemed like a good day to be banking things up.   While I was at it I forked through the bed next to the garlic and planted the spring onions.

I layed down the five wooding boards for walking on which means there is a now a circle around the whole plot.  I also starting digging over the grass path between the raspberries with the aim to eventually remove all grass paths and by doing so reduce slugs, and if that doesn’t work then it will certainly reduce maintenance of cutting grass constantly (that’s what gardens at home are for).

The compost was spread into the raised bed and into a long container which we got free and will have sunflowers in.   This raised bed will have the courgette plants that are growing at home, maybe next week.

A revisit after an early lunch (or a late breakfast) to pick some more rhubarb.