The boys are back in town

We went to the allotment twice last weekend. Once on Saturday which was a short wet visit. Luckily we like mud and the washing machine is fully functioning. We went again on Sunday, and what a difference a day makes - look what the sun brought out - us in T-shirts!

We planted beetroot, spring onions and radish.  Manured the potato bed-to-be (watch this space) and adjusted the compost heaps. We also found a few interesting bugs.

This is a shield bug. I don't think it does much harm and it kept the small boys interested for a while.

What will this weekend bring? It feels like spring but the forecast is for sleet and a hard frost on Tuesday/ Wednesday so I'm debating whether to dust of the fleece. On the plus side I won't be able to see the weeds if the fleece is on and the frost should be OK. On the minus side putting the fleece on might mean tidying the shed. What to do...

The vernal equinox

The flowers are out. They know it is spring!

I dig digging

I love my family dearly, including those who came to partake of a Mother's Day lunch of roast beef and all the trimmings and chocolate fondant pudding with poached pears - yum!
But - it was still nice to nip to the allotment for half an hour and dig over the potato bed whilst the boys cycled around the garden and OH did the washing up.
I am sparing you the picture of a dug over potato bed - I kind of guess you might have seen one before. I took one for posterity though - bare weed free soil is a bit of a rarity on my plot - the moment needed to be recorded.

Slowly, slowly, catchey monkey

My OH (to be known for the remainder of this post as lovely husband LH) looked after the boys for an hour and a half on Sunday so I DID get something done.

Broad beans under the cloches, peas under the glass lean to radish planted between the sticks, onions under the netting and a bit of digging to boot. Still some way to go though. I'm sure I was much further on at this time last year. Will the winter digging be done before August, will the weeds ever be brought under control and will the boys ever want to come out into the cold again. All this and more to be answered in due course...

The inside of the shed

Soilman http://www.soilman.net/?p=2212 posted about the state of his shed and dared us to show ours.  I think it is fair to say that I am not a (rude word deleted as I am a lady) but I am a little untidy. OH is horrified that I would publish this. It did have a positive side though, instead of tidying it I weeded the strawberry patch another task I do no undertake lightly - although the results were far from impressive...

I've bean planting

We went to the allotment yesterday YS and I. It was a lovely afternoon and my companion was very enthusiastic (it always helps). It was two hours until OS finished school so I had a chance to get  lots done.

First the broad beans. now beginning to get a bit leggy it was high time they were planted out. So we set to. My companion began to mutter about being cold and wanting to go and see grandma. I jollied him along but the mutterings turned into moans, so I increased my pace. Two full rows of broad beans were planted out in twenty minutes and that was it. Time up. Grandma was lovely, as always, and the tea and cake was very welcome but I NEED TO GET THINGS DONE! Grrrrrr!

So no photo either...