There are still beds to clear and dig over on the allotment.  We had a little rain last week but not enough to put watering on hold. The ground was very dry when the beds below were dug over as I hope the photos show.

I planted some cloves taken from the soft neck garlic that was grown last year. I planted some hard neck garlic in autumn at the same time as the over-wintering onions. The hard neck garlic doesn’t keep as long as the soft neck varieties which we are still using. The two varieties manage to span the year. The hard neck ones should be ready to harvest once the stored soft necks start to spoil. That’s always the plan but of course, nothing is certain until we manage to produce a crop.

Alongside the row of garlic, Martyn planted out some beetroot seedlings that had been started off in the greenhouse.

The early potatoes are now growing well, we just have to hope that we don’t get any late frosts that will knock them back.

The first batch of broad beans is beginning to flower. The notches around the edges of the leaves are courtesy of the pea and bean weevils that soon seem to home in on the plants. Fortunately, as long as the plants are growing well, this doesn’t cause the plant too many problems. It’s amazing how quickly plant specific pests find newly planted food supplies. They must be on constant patrol.

I have now filled the bed with more broad beans.

Last year the wood pigeons took all of our jostaberries and so at the weekend we popped a net over a couple of bushes. Hopefully, this will mean that we at least manage to harvest some berries. There are another three bushes that are as yet uncovered so maybe the birds will stick to those.

The wood pigeons have already started to decimate our cherry tree. They started by stripping the young leaves and immature fruits from the highest branches. We have tried to net this tree too in an attempt to retain some fruits. Once fruiting is over we will reduce the height of the tree so that in the future it will be easier to put a net over.

I planted the later sown sweet peas.

Flowers are already appearing in our mixed border. The bees love the perennial cornflower or centaurea. The patch of flowers is always buzzing.

In the garden the tulips are still providing a colourful display as more colours join the party.

It’s not only the allotment that demands our attention as there is work to be done in the garden too.

Martyn, prepared the greenhouse in readiness for the tomatoes.

Whilst he did that, I tidied up our largest border.

Our neighbour put up the bright orange fence that you can see in the background so another job will be to tone it down.

The week wasn’t all work and no play as we paid our usual visit to Nostell.

Everything is really greening up.

The bluebells are still looking lovely and seemed to be giving out more perfume last week. I don’t know whether this was that the strength of the perfume was increasing or that the breezy weather was a better carrier.

We have some clumps of Spanish bluebells on the allotment. These can cross pollinate with our natives and will eventually overrun them. As there are no native bluebells anywhere near the allotment, we have left them. However, I planted some native bluebells in our garden and we have now noticed the first flowers. There were Spanish bluebells growing fairly close by so these have been lifted and moved to the allotment so hopefully our natives will stay true to their species.

On the allotment, we try to eradicate as many dandelions as we can. Here we consider them to be undesirable weeds, however at Nostell they are wild flowers and at the moment they are flowering and seeding in abundance.

Last week the lake at Nostell was teeming with wildlife. Mrs. Swan was still sitting on her nest whilst Mr. Swan foraged.  I hope that he either shares his haul of weed with his wife or at least takes a turn sitting on the nest so that she can feed.

We spotted some ducklings hiding in the reeds with their mum but we couldn’t manage a photo of them.

The heron is a regular on the lake but a new arrival was a cormorant. We have never seen one here before. Only a head and neck were visible as it zoomed across the lake wearing a water weed blanket.

Last week our mini harvest comprised of the usual rhubarb. As I was clearing a bed I found some winter radishes. I don’t know whether these will be past their best but I brought them home to try.

A couple of last week’s meals that used some of our produce were a lentil and squash dhal into which went some of our Crown Prince squash, onion and garlic. This was served with a couple of my onion bhajis. The bhajis look burnt but they weren’t.

The second dish is a bit of a cheat as the only homegrown ingredients were an onion and some garlic. It was a turkey jambalaya. Maybe the next time that I make it I will have homegrown carrots and red peppers instead of shop bought ones.

As usual detail of what we have sown and planted are listed here.

Until next time as always stay safe and well.

I am again cheekily linking to Dave’s Harvest Monday post over on his Our Happy Acres blog.