Action at the end of April

         Week of 26 April

Lots of planting this week - 2 dry days at the beginning of the week then a dry day on Thursday after heavy rain during the night.

Hoed up the first early potatoes - quite a few weeds on the patch which was left unweeded for the winter brassicas.     Potatoes now 6 inches high.    There are still a lot more that will need hoeing up in another week or so.

Planted out 80 sweet corn - 6 inches high from single pots in the greenhouse.     So far they have not been devoured by the slugs but they look a little pale and cold - we need some warmer weather.

The sweet peas still seem to be in shock after being planted out a couple of weeks ago.

We ran the rotavator over the central plot and raked down a seedbed to sow 2 packets of French beans.     We also put in the one courgette plant that has taken well in the green house.     We have already taken several wheelbarrows full of stones off the seedbeds this year and they have been used to fill potholes along our access road.

We scythed down all the heavy weed growth around the new fence in the field.    We also scythed down the section of the orchard where the chickens cannot go - put all the greenery onto the old compost heap.

We planted 12 rows of carrots beside the path and a long double row or early onward peas in the southern bed.

We planted 3 rows of beetroot and thinned the spinach and the parsnips.     We hoed the onions which are doing well and the garlic and planted out lettuce.       The broad beans are 2 inches tall now and have all been hoed.

We pulled up,weeded and dug over 2 of the areas which were occupied by the sprouting broccoli.

The string supports for the runner beans need to be finished off and a new set of strings built somewhere suitable so we can double the size of this popular crop.

We sowed more courgettes in the greenhouse and pricked out a good number of summer calabrese into pots.

We sorted out and mended the fencing along the western hedge boundary of the garden beside the road.     Today I bought some rawbolts to fix a wooden plank to the side of the wood shed so we can finish of the fence so it is fully stockproof.      The new 4-5 inch posts are extremely robust and should last a good long while.