Planted the Broad Beans

I had a lovely couple of hours on the allotment this morning-the first proper session since last November. There was a ferocious wind which every few minutes slapped me round the face and made me swear but I was determined to achieve various jobs before the rain which was forecast for midday. So the broad beans grown from seed three weeks ago are now in and covered with a net cloche against the wind.  I’ll sow more this week in the heated propagator in an attempt to get a succession  although what usually happens is they catch up as the soil warms up and crop at the same time.  

I emptied a huge sack of kitchen waste into two nearly-full compost bins and stayed calm when a small mouse jumped out of one of the bins. I’m looking forward to experimenting with the compost recipe which I blogged last week and will record it in detail in Spring to see if compost can be made in six weeks.  It was so lovely to be back and although the ground was soaking wet and heavy I came away with rosy cheeks and full of motivation and now can’t wait for Spring to get stuck in again.

The allotment shop had a great variety of seed potatoes but I chose my usual favourites  Charlotte and Rocket. These are now in trays in a sunny window to chit ready for planting in four weeks time. I was tempted to try the Albert Bartlett spud,  Michel Roux’s favourite,  but it was such a small handful for twice as much dosh I resisted.  An allotment gardener in the shop said he buys them at the supermarket and plants a row or two on the plot with great success so I’ll try that and report back.

This pot of really inexpensive Aldi tulips has lasted for six days and I spotted some very good value raspberry canes and various fruit trees for sale at the moment.