Not much done on the plot this weekend – a combination of soggy earth and a fall that’s left me a bit hobbly. I am obviously getting old…

I stuck out a few broad beans & 2 garlics from home, noticed the kale is slowly bolting (2 flowering plants chopped down for eating this week, 14 remaining) and harvested another half kilo of PSB. The fruit trees are springing back into life (the quince is covered in buds and the gooseberries I thought I had killed have leaves showing). Mostly I just sat out in the sun and daydreamed about when the plot is finished. A week or so of this weather and my plot might just be workable!

The balcony at home has been on my prevarication list for a while. It’s the only space I have here for hardening seedlings off, so it’s seen a fair amount of use. After 2 years of neglect my half had green mould & moss on the paintwork, old pots half-full of sopping earth, piles of sticks & escaped compost and a leaky potato planter with 2 random garlic plants in it – it wasn’t pretty and, as my elderly neighbour likes to sit out there, I thought it was past time it got sorted. Two and a half hours of scrubbing later it looks fab – gleaming even! I didn’t want to use bleach, so I used washing powder.  Does smell nice out there now…  Being a bit of a hobbly klutz at the moment, unfortunately I managed to knock over a bucket of suds on the landing’s carpet. Good job that’s down to be replaced in the next year….!

Seedlingwise, the Kent Blues are potted on, and the kohlrabi are pricked out into little pots. Sowed celeriac today and got the purple trug filled ready for root parsley, carrot or parsnip sowing later this week. Fennel and Alberto’s Locoto seeds look like they are coming up. Of the overwintered chillies there are 2 with robust signs of life and 2 that are looking feeble. So I reckon that overwintering is not for me…

It was allotment committee night tonight – lots of good ideas for improving the site, most notably for me that there are plans to for either a land drain or hardcore on the main path running along my plot.

Next weekend is Plot Swap with Michelle – looking forward to it!