mudandgluts

Update from a very speedy trip in the freezing cold yesterday:

Shook the ash from Friday’s fire round the redcurrants and on the strawberries. Tidied the dead leaves off another third of the strawberries and added them to the slow compost dalek. I need to remember to add some nettles & manure to it to help it all rot down more speedily. There is one third of the strawberry beds left to do and then at least they are tidy and ready for a quick dose of manure and fertiliser in early spring.

There is yet more water on the plot, on paths that weren’t really flooded last year, and even in late afternoon there were thickish ice sheets on the puddles. My sown-far-too-early broad beans are all now lying on the ground having a sleep. I should probably stake them with some of the blackthorn I have lying around for burning. That last fire may have been too fierce – I’ve noticed that the bottom is nearly all burned out of my incinerator.

Purple sprouting broccoli is nearly at harvestable size though. Yay!

Hope the cold weather continues for a bit – could do with something to knock the slugs back.