Asiatic lilies and the first raspberry shoots

Much excitement at the allotment today, as the rhubarb has grown and looks like it might even have a leaf or two, well gosh!

Not only that but as I was weeding round the raspberries, I noticed that one or two of them actually have buds! Heavens above, whatever next, eh? Thank goodness Nature knows what she’s doing, as we’re just winging it …

In other soft fruit news, there are buds aplenty in the overwintered bushes, so that’s great too.

Meanwhile, over in the cut flower beds, the first daffodils actually have their blooms, though they’re not out yet – but you can at least see the shape of them at the top, hurrah. And there are also more tulips showing themselves now, which is great – especially after last week’s squirrel disaster.

And today, we had a delivery of 25 asiatic lilies so we’ve put them in the corner of the bed where the brassicas were last year – it may not look much now, but it’s all going on underneath the soil – honest!

Apart from that, I did the usual hoe round, helped by K who also dug through one of the new raised beds. Although we didn’t harvest anything today, it does feel as if Spring has truly begun.

Anne Brooke Books

Yellow raspberries and wicked squirrels

Yesterday, we bought 5 yellow raspberries (All Gold), and K planted them on the allotment this morning.

The rhubarb is also coming along nicely, and we managed to harvest a very small crop of the world’s tiniest beetroot and some winter lettuce.

As we’re keen to have an area for sitting in front of the shed, plus another raised bed there, we have marked the paths around the bed so we know what we’re doing a bit more. I think we’ll lay slates on the paths in the end as they’ll be lighter to transport than gravel, but we’ll have to see.

We’re thinking of putting wild flowers in that new bed, but no final decision as yet. I’d rather like a block of solid colour as it can look amazing, but we’ll have to see. In the meantime, the narcissi are doing well and look like they might burst into flower any moment now, hurrah!

Sadly, however, the squirrels (wicked squirrels!) have found my lovely tulip bed and dug out the middle of it, sob! Thankfully they’ve left some around the edges, so there’s still hope as we can now see the tips of them. As a result and to discourage further digging, we’ve netted the bed. Next year, we’ll do that when we plant the tulips!

Have a great Sunday!

Anne Brooke Books

More signs of Spring

Not a great deal to do on the allotment today, though I did hoe round, and K dug through one of the beds near the shed.

Still, the narcissi are coming along nicely, though I’m afraid to say I’ve had to remove all the stocks I’d planted between them as they were all dead, oh well. The same thing has happened at home, so maybe it’s a bad year for stocks? Anyway, the narcissi look healthy, at least!

And another small harvest today – winter lettuce and the very last of the leeks, which have been very tasty as part of our Sunday lunch just now.

Have a great week!

Anne Brooke Books

Unexpected rhubarb and the missing leek

A quick trip to the allotment this morning just to say hello to it, though we had nothing to plant and therefore not much to do down there. K did some digging, and I did a quick hoe-round to keep the weeds down. The good news is that the moles seem to have headed off in the direction of the fence and away from our allotment, so I hope they keep going in that direction …

The other good news is that we can see tiny red tops of the rhubarb which has just started to grow, hurrah! I had no idea it started this early, but apparently it does and, hey, I’m not complaining.

Ok, I know they’re very small so you can hardly see them, but they’re hugely exciting for us! Whilst down there, we decided to plan a flower bed in front of the shed where we were intending to put the greenhouse, but that’s going to be too complicated now. We’ve marked out the space and also factored in enough space in front of the shed for a small table and a couple of chairs – so we have dreams of sitting out in the summer, surveying the estate (ha!). I thought I might put poppies in the flower bed – as the deer won’t eat them as they do at home – and maybe a rose bush too. Just to make it homely. We’ll have to see.

Meanwhile, today’s harvest is more winter lettuce (still hanging on in there!), three leeks and some unexpected potatoes that K unearthed when he was on digging duties.

We proudly transported them all to the car, but on the way one of the leeks escaped and I had to retrace my steps to try to track it down. It was obviously making a quiet bid for freedom, but I’ve corralled it again now, go me!

Anne Brooke Books

The horror of moles!

Down on the allotment today just pottering about, and we discover we have moles – oh no, the horror!!

We’ve kicked away the tell-tale mounds, but we know they’ll be back, oh dear me …

In the meantime, I did a general hoe-round as usual though there aren’t many weeds at the moment, thank goodness. And K planted a blackcurrant and a redcurrant in our soft fruit area.

Whilst there, we also harvested two more leeks for lunch, and what is surely the last of the winter lettuce.

Still pondering on the new raised bed we’re planning, and looking forward to getting started with plug plants (hurrah – we LOVE plug plants!) later this month. There’s so much to look forward to from now on. Spring is definitely on the way.

Anne Brooke Books