Hot weekend and lots to do!

This weekend was a good one we had a lovely Mayfair and a cheeky Chinese at mum and dads! Followed by hard graft at the allotment!ed worked very hard tilling the soil for my tree cabbage courtesy of the real seed company and some more beetroot, a pumpkin and aubergine plant ....I cheated with the latter two!
I had a good hoe at the weeds on the paths and ed has invested in some scaffolding planks to help with paths!
The only thing I can say has gone wrong
At the lotty today is that my back above the vest but below the shoulders has burnt because I forgot to ask ed to finish the sun cream application!have had worse things to complain about!

Nice weather.......for ducks!

Well a lot has been happening in our plot since I last updated,apart from the weeds growing like mad and the hose pipe ban(which frankly hasn't been an issue with all this rain) we have also managed to tidy up and install some sort of a system. So far the giant Sicilian radishes are a pleasure and surprise to anyone who try's them,they are a lot milder and have an addictive crunch,they are great with houmous dip( an accidental discovery by a friend when I bombarded her with the first crop) in stir fries or just on their own. The children arn't great fans but loved growing and picking them, what with their speedy growing and bright pink skin!
The red onions and spring onions are doing well, much better since the boys have remembered where the paths are!
I thought I had lost my beetroots to the last frost along with the dwarf beans but they seem to be coming back. Luckily I had a few reserves of the bean seedlings and yesterday I topped them up with some peas! I have sewn the carrots too!they are short chubby ones so hoping to get some earlier than normal breeds.
Ed spent all of sunday strimming away the nettles that had gone bizerk (sp?) and then covering the top of the plot and the path with wood chip.we got it delivered free by a local tree surgeon always looking for somewhere to dispose of chippings. It's a long tiresome job but the boys found the smoke coming out of it amusing along with the discovery that you can fall back on to the heap without any pain!
This will hopefully keep some of the nettles and grass under control!
So next weekend after the school Mayfair on saturday, hopefully Sunday he will be in the mood for a little rotavating, I need the next section prepared for the tree cabbage plants that are thriving in the green house along with some spare tomato plants. I have debated over this as other allotment keepers have informed me of the tomato blight that has occurred over the past couple of years but figure I have too many just for the garden so will give it a go!
The squash,and patti pans and spherical courgettes are all coming along nicely but with all the unexpected frost I will leave them till they are stronger before risking it.
So that's all for now,keep on weeding and performing sun dances! But as my son pointed out we should thank the rain really,there wouldn't be much with out it!that is enough for me to give myself a telling off every time I hear myself complain about the rain!

First sign of seedlings!

I can't believe it!i sewed (is that correct grammar or eve a word?) my radish seeds on Monday morning in my conservatory and they are already appearing!
I went to the allotment yesterday to tidy up the ground cover that had wriggled loose and start removing grass and weeds from my winter salad patches so hopefully if the rain stops today I will tilling and preparing the top patch of my plot for the radishes and onions!
Here we go.........

The start of a new exciting year!

Well I gave in and couldnt wait any longer! I have started sewing the seeds. I have sewn some onions and radishes!not a lot but satisfied my impatience for today. I only put it off this long as I got some useful stuff for the allotment for Christmas. A great allotment planner/ diary and a lovely seed index box. Writing up my action plan over the Christmas, new year break put my mind ready for action , the only bit that needs a bit of action now is the sun! Once the earth warms up a bit I'm going down there and tilling Like crazy! I needed the break from the physical shock my body went under preparing the ground last year, but now I want to do some serious growing!
The plan is once my onions and radishes start to get their 2nd leaves I will plant them out as I made the mistake last year of putting them in the ground straight away, this let the weeds grow up too and I spent far too long trying to distinguish which ones were weeds and which were the veg!this way I can keep all weeds at bay until the plants are a little established and then easily spotted when hoeing.
That's all for now just pray for some sun and spring to come. The birds are singing more but it's bloody chilly no good for onions......apparently!