May? Where's the year going?

May already? I can't believe where the time has gone. I hadn't realised it was so long since my last post!

I can say we have honestly been very busy since my last post on the plot, as well as being the parents of 4 very energetic children, oh and not forgetting work of course. We are also injury riddled, me with my one arm since January last year and Mark had a fall this January and crushed the top of his shoulder bone! Essentially have a good pair of arms between us, but we don't let it stop us, just slows us down a bit ;)

We've planted most of our seeds in pots to get them started, including peas, dwarf beans and mangetout. We had problems last year with magpies and pigeons eating the seeds put directly into the ground, so we gave up and focused on other plants.

Most of the seeds have come up. New experiments for this year are gherkins and cucamelon. We planted 4 varieties of tomatoes, sweet peppers, bell peppers, 2 different chili varieties, aubergine, passion fruit. All have come through now, most have been transplanted, others just waiting for the last risk of frost to pass.

Gherkins

Purple dwarf beans

Peas and Mange Tout

Sweetcorn ready for transplanting

Another new experiment is this TomTato! We picked it up reduced for £1 at a garden centre and thought we'd have a go.

The fruit trees and bushes are flowering well and we have plums, blackcurrants, white currants, blueberries and pears all forming nicely.

Our herb bed is coming along nicely we have more to go in but I like to plant a couple of different herbs at a time and watch how they grow. Currently growing is coriander and garlic chives.

Our salad bed has partially been replanted with the addition of radishes and self seeded purple dazzle lettuce.

Since taking the flowers off the rhubarb it has gone mad and we are looking forward to some fresh rhubarb.

The Strawberries are all flowering nicely.


The beds are all ready to be planted in. They've been dug over twice and topped up with a layer of bark that is starting to decompose, then finally topped with a layer of fresher bark.

We've got two of our 3 types of potatoes in. The first lot are in the buckets. Thanks Chris for the website ;)

The second are in the potato bed. We were closely supervised by Charlie who thought it was great fun jumping over the potato mounds. Never known a Shih Tzu do agility before.

Just need to get the rotavator working again to get the last bit of ground broken up so can get the main crop in. Too tough to dig properly with injuries :(

Our cabbages are finally getting going and Cecil is staying up now. The purple broccoli that looked like it had all been eaten has also made a comeback.

Cecil has new friend named Cecelia by the little P's. Cecelia is covering up the transplanted sweetcorn and our latest attempts to plant carrot seeds. There's also Kohl Rabi, Salsify, parsnips and beetroot.

Cecelia can be shortened once everything gets going, but is great protection from the rabbits until then.

The garlic and onions  are doing well and the girls have re-barked around them. We also put more red onion sets and leeks in.

The bulbs planted in the flower bed are doing well and most have flowered or are flowering. Next job on the flower bed remove the grass that has crept in, rebark and replant the annuals. Then wait for the summer bulbs to come through

So that is our progress in a month. Next up net and and transplant plants into the beds, get the flowerbed back under control and get those last potatoes in before it is too late!

Thanks for reading. :)