We actually did some work at the allotment last week the focus of which was to do some tidying up

Some of the beds that had been dug over last autumn had been battered by the rains and also a few weeds had sprouted before winter set in. I hoed as many beds as I could and cleared away any weeds. The beds not only look more presentable but hopefully, it will prevent any crusting should they ever start to dry out.

Some beds had been planted up last autumn. One was home to some sweet Williams which are surviving the wintry conditions well – so far anyway. I loosened the soil around the plants and cleared away the few small weeds that had also managed to grow.

The bed of onions and garlic was given the same treatment. Most of the onions and garlic, although battered, look as though they will be OK. One row of onions – the one on the right of the bed  – look to be struggling,

I loosened the soil in the strawberry beds and also cleared any weeds there. The smaller bed was planted up using runners from the main plants. The idea was for the plants to grow on as replacements should we lose any of the plants in the main strawberry bed. At the moment it looks as though replacement plants won’t be needed so we may well end up with two beds of strawberries. It’s not a problem as you can’t have too many strawberries.

Whilst I was hoeing and weeding, Martyn was playing with his chainsaw/hedge cutter – I’ll be in trouble when he reads that.

He cut back the apple hedge. It would take far too long to prune it properly and treating it this way doesn’t seem to affect its crop or if it does we harvest more than enough apples.

Martyn also cut back an elder growing at the edge of our plot and ended up with a massive pile of debris. We may be able to use some as pea sticks but we may need to have a bonfire.

Before we came home we harvested a few leeks.

We also managed to find a few small parsnips, The ones above were a usable size but many that we uncovered were tiny having done very little growing. It’s very frustrating considering all the effort that was expended on watering them.

We had our usual walks last week although I didn’t take any photos. I’m sure you must be fed up with being subjected to the same scenes. Ruby enjoyed her walks but not the bath/shower that she had to put up with after our afternoon at Nostell. It wasn’t that she had ended up too muddy, the shower was scheduled regardless.

Finally some of last week’s meals.  I used some of our frozen peas and garlic in a chicken pasta dish.

A second dish was a curried lentil and vegetable ‘pie’. Into this went our potato, garlic, onion and frozen peas. I needed some parsley but when I went to cut some, it wasn’t in a fit state to use.

A third dish was a turkey and leek filo pie which used some of our leeks, carrots and onion. I used sparkling apple juice instead of cider.

That’s another week and almost another month gone. Time passes far too quickly. Until next time stay well, stay safe and stay warm