Sunny days

On Sunday, my friends N & J took me to Dobbies Garden Centre.  I picked up some huge tubs of fertiliser and chicken manure to try and put some nutrients in to the soil.

Today as it was so sunny I decided to head along to the garden after lunch.  Unfortunately E wasn't in so I couldn't access the tools or the water.  It wasn't a wasted session however.  I started out by top dressing the potatoes with manure and fertiliser.  You've got to love clay soil, where it had been left with a lovely loose surface, some rain and some sun had baked a lovely crust on the bed.

The onions and garlic then got the same treatment.  I fear squirrels or some other little pest may have been in my beds, there was a distinct lack of onions and garlic.  Maybe they've just sank deeper into the soil so their noses are no longer visible?  I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes up.

Unsure what else I could do, I took a break and wandered down to the other part of the garden.  The rhubarb had gone wild and was covering the path so I decided to do some crowd control.  I started out by taking out the stems that were growing over the path.  I then realised there were stems underneath being smoothered by some huge leaves so I took the big ones out too to let some light in.  Then the stems with dead leaves were taken out before they started to rot.  There was still loads left when I'd finished but the patch looked a lot tidier and at least the path is usable again.

I then added some fertiliser/manure to the unplanted bed.  I figured it would give it time to start breaking down before I plant in it.  The garden waste bin was only half full so I cleared the pile of waste that had been created earlier in the year.

Still with a little energy left and not wanting to go home I decided to see how much of the final bed I could hand clear.  The new growth of  plants was cut down to a manageable height and then I got quite a few of the shallow rooted plants pulled out by hand.

I need to start hardening off my seedlings but I can't cart them up and down the stairs twice a day to the little backgreen of my flat.  Instead I'm hoping putting them in a room with the window open will at least harden them slightly!