Jerusalem Fartichokes

Well the broad beans seem to have survived their transplanting ordeal very well, with no casualties spotted so far. I added a couple more poles for support, and tidied up the string, ready for when they grow higher. We plan to put some marigolds and summer savory plants either side of the rows of beans later. All three rhubarb plants are now proper plants with stalks and leaves, though a bit small so far. Still waiting for the horseradish to appear.

Spent the morning collecting more compost from the recycling place (there was actually a queue to get in, featuring several trailers, all trying to get to the rapidly dwindling pile of free compost). Fortunately we were able to get 11 sackfuls, a carful for us. We also had to get some more wood and other things from B&Q. So we didn't get to the allotment till after lunch. A shame we weren't there earlier because it was a rare dry and sunny day, and quite busy on site.

We decided to concentrate on some smaller raised beds at the side of the plot (nearest to the boundary fence) which would be permanent homes for Jerusalem Artichokes, and hopefully a good place for catch-crops of lettuce. The Jerusalem Artichokes would hopefully provide a bit of a screen from the footpath outside the fence when they grow, as well as the lovely potato-like tubers in the autumn and winter. The site we had in mind has been cleared of brambles on the surface, but has never been dug over, so that was the main task today. And what a nightmare of bindweed and couch grass roots! Each forkful seemed to be full of nasty weed roots that all needed picking out by hand! Needless to say, we ran out of time and will have to continue the digging next time. Though it is great to notice that it didn't get dark till after 6pm, which is a big improvement from a few weeks ago!

We also put together one of the new bed structures, ready to put in place when the ground is dug over, and filled with the new compost we collected. There will be at least one more of these, but they'll have to be staggered in height, because of the slope of the plot.

Back at home, we put together our new cheapy "greenhouse"-type shelving unit. In other words, a set of shelves with a clear plastic zip-up cover. Not exactly high-tech stuff, but hopefully it'll mean fewer trays of seeds and seedlings filling up the kitchen. At the moment it's housing a couple of large trays of onion sets (red and brown), and some globe thistle seedlings. In the kitchen, there are now seeds waiting to germinate which include several types of tomatoes, chillies, lettuces, and brassicas.