Easter

The first greenhouse is now up on the allotment, minus many panes of glass. The Builder has buried the bottom of the frame in the ground, and has dug beds in there, to save growing things in pots or grow bags. I am about to start germinating some tomato seeds! And we've succumbed to the siren call of the lovely spring weather and started planting the potatoes. So far I've planted the Red Duke of York (earlies) and the arran victories (second main crop), plus some of the pink fir apple (salad potatoes). Then my back started to object violently to all the bending and I had to give up. I've got Lady Balfour and ambos to go. I might do them this afternoon. We are now going to move down to the bottom of the allotment and start making our way up from there, leaving the chaotic, bricked,rubbled central bit to last. (If ever!!)

And it seems I have been maligning the mice in the kitchen garden. The broad beans have started to come up, randomly, in their bed, while loads of peas have come up. I was starting to make drills for new rows of peas when I came across rows of nearly germinated ones. Clearly I have completely sown that bed. I've put two new rows in the fourth bed and will carry on in there now, while I wait to see what happens in the other bed. Must keep a record of what I've been doing. I can't remember if I sowed extra broad beans in the second bed. And I'm intersowing beetroot between the pea rows.

The trees in the allotment are all coming into leaf, and some also into bud. Perhaps we will get some fruit this year. And The Builder has begun dismantling the original raised bed on the brick patio and has finished filling the vegetable beds with the soil from that. He's outside now, beginning to make up frames for the last three beds which will follow the path down.

In the meantime, I have almost finished weeding the main flower bed (apart from the bit that really needs re-digging) and have started planting things in boxes out on the front "veranda".

I do hope the weather holds, though. April is really a tad early for some of this activity.