Paper Potter and sweetcorn

We bought the Paper Potter at RHS Hyde Hall. It helped make 46 biodegradable pots for sweetcorn that will hopefully go to the allotment. The seeds were last year's, which is not too bad for us!

Allotment!

Madness.

Frost and Sun

Last year the Acer got badly frosted. We've no idea if a little fleece will prevent that,  but it is worth a try.

Also Tamsin had a go at the ceonothus(sp?).

Strawberries and WiFi

Laid out before planting

The strawberries have had four(?) years so it was time to thin them out.  From a massive surplus I plucked 20 and topped up the container with compost and spare soil to plant them in.

The surplus

Typed in the garden on the garden hot spot, turned on for the first time in 2012.  Not the last time I would imagine.

Garlic

What a lot of stuff grew under the cloche this winter. Maybe a hint for what we could do next year?

In order, left to right.

Iberian Wight

Early Purple Wight

Solent Wight

Albigensian Wight

All from the garlic farm on the Isle of Wight.

Weeding onions, lawn treatment

Grass was growing all around the onions. Dealt with by Tamsin whilst I gently mowed and scarified.  So gently I bent the mower handle.  Nothing a hammer can't sort out.

Not a spud master

I explored the winter spuds yesterday.   Four out of nine have not come up. In the process I found a few shoots under a few cm of soil by breaking them off. Oops. I've covered them in domes. Hopefully some TLC will help.   What a fool.   Not my first mistake like this. When dutifully weeding a couple of days after planting them I damaged a couple. They might be the missing ones :(

Yesterday I also attacked a rose whilst Tamsin planted tulips. I beat the rose 5-1.  You couldn't see the yew hedge when I started.

Finally, a big compost rethink today. Made the near-house pile smaller and the far pile bigger to encourage stirring.