Starting to catch up...

Although I don't seem to have blogged in a while, it's not from the fact that I have been sitting around doing nothing - honest! What with a bit of time spent down in London, and then a couple of sunny & bright (if a little breezy!) days, I thought I should devote some time to the Plot and the Garden as well. So I did...

My biggest excitement this week has been putting to use a present that I received for Christmas - a garden shredder. It has languished in the shed for a couple of months, but I've now put it to good use. I tested it out on a few prunings and bits & pieces from the garden, and was fairly happy with the results.

Walking back from the Plot I had noticed that behind the Church was a heap of dry, woody cuttings from one of the trees in the churchyard that had been 'pruned'. I checked with one of the church wardens that it would be OK, and promptly set to work nicking piles of it!

Fresh wood chippings

And what a treat - the resulting shreddings are brilliant... dry, crispy little flakes, that were just the thing I was looking for to cover the paths on the Plot. I had thought that I would need to end up buying bags of bark chips from the garden centre, so what a result! Not to mention the fact that it was free, local, organic - you can't say fairer than that ;-)

I have started sowing some seeds indoors this week to get a few crops underway. There had been some which I'd "overwintered" in the garden, but due to somewhat inclement weather (!) only the garlic and onions have survived. I have plenty more of those filling up the Plot, and lots of packets of seed waiting in the wings, ready for the off. I do follow the instructions/timings on the packets to some degree - although not always - and often I go with what feels "right" at the time. I have no doubt that there are those who would gasp at my slightly haphazard approach to things. But I have to admit that that is half the fun! I will give an inventory once things are definitely on their way. I also planted up some seed potatoes in sacks yesterday.

Dividing the beds

Armed with bags full of fresh wood chippings, I started the process of covering the paths between the beds on the Plot. There are plenty more to cover, and I've only really done a light 'sprinkling' so far, but it certainly defines the beds really nicely, and makes it a much less muddy proposition, walking around the Plot. Now to decide what to grow in my newly defined beds.

Getting the beds ready

Although I have a long list of all the fruit and veg that I would like to grow on the Plot, I am also going to try my best to follow the 'Cottage Garden' principles of companion planting. Back in the Autumn, I made a trip to Gainsborough for their L.O.A.F. day - Local, Organic, Apples, Fairtrade. Great idea! There were lots of stalls, exhibitors, groups represented and so on, and also free talks given on various topics. I went to one on Companion Planting given by Andrew Sankey, which was fascinating and really struck a chord with me - especially the basic principles of working WITH nature, avoiding monoculture and making use of the experience of hundreds of gardeners and farmers over hundreds of years. That may all sound rather high-minded, but everything Mr Sankey outlined seemed to make perfect sense to me. So much so I even bought his book, and I'm not known for splashing my cash around!

Suffice to say I have been happily doodling plans for the various beds I have on the Plot, and matching up those crops that I want to grow with their ideal growing partner (or "partners" -they just don't care, they're very free with their love some of these plants you know!) and then adding in any so-called 'tonic' plants to the mix as well. I am hoping for quite an interesting looking plot later in the season - watch this space!

Pheasant eggs

Having cleared quite a lot of over grown hedgerow on the Plot, I came across a clutch of eggs, nestled in a damp hollow in the ground. It was fairly clear they had been there for some time and weren't part of a current brood. My allotment neighbour was called over, and he informed me they were most likely to be Pheasant eggs. Each egg was about 5cm long and had fairly non-descript colouring - perhaps there was the slightest hint of green/grey/blue - there were 4 of them lined up on the ground.

And he also added a warning not to drop one or break it, as he said I'd soon know about it... warning heeded!

And down the garden path...

Victoria Plum tree

I finally got round to planting the VIctoria Plum tree that I had picked up a while ago in ALDI for the bargain price of £3.99. Well - it would have been rude not to! I do love the idea of having an "orchard", burt sadly there really isn't that much room in the garden. I have two mature apple trees (one a cooker, one an eater) of slightly indeterminate breeding. I think one is a Bramley Seedling and the other...? Well, who knows! So hopefully this year I can get them identified at an "Apple Day" event. I have also planted a Lincolnshire Heritage variety - Barnack Beauty - but this may not fruit for a while yet. So you see - what with the Plum now as well, I'm doing quite well!

Rhubarb bed

I'm am rather excited to see my rhubarb coming on apace. A couple of heads were donated to me by a family member, and the others I have grown from seed. The year after I planted them I thought they had ALL given up the ghost. Weedy, thin stalks, lacklustre growth... really not very happy. I lavished affection on them but to no avail. So to see them putting on a great show already, early in the season, certainly bodes well for Rhubarb Crumble and the like later on in the year. I also have a couple of new plants starting off that I will be putting in down on the Church Lane Plot, so if they do well, it may be a bumper year. Fingers crossed!

Although I am rather focussed on growing things to eat, I am not averse to there being some beauty in the form of flowers in the garden (or on the Plot for that matter). Some were planted, and others have just appeared. I quite like it when that happens...

Nature certainly knows her stuff; the Daffodils have just started to open, and along with all the blooming flowers I have spotted a couple of Bumble Bees this week dozily buzzing around the place - what a joy to hear them again especially following the harshness of the winter just past. It is looking like I have some more time this weekend and next week, and that means hopefully I will get lots more things underway, and perhaps get the beds on the Plot up to scratch. There's plenty still to do, but it will feel a lot more "together" once I get a good amount of stuff in the ground and growing. I can't help but hope for more days like this...