Another fantastically sunny day in Canterbury and what better than a good work out down the allotment. No plans to sow or plant anything today but still had a big area of ground in the middle of the plot that needed to be dug over. Also wanted to get down and have a check on the stuff that had been planted in the weeks before. There’s an air of anticipation each time I visit the plot now just wanting to see what’s changed since my last visit and today was not disappointing. The first thing I noticed as I arrived at the plot was the green leaves emerging from the 1st bed where the first early spuds are planted. A joyous sight to behold.
The spuds weren’t the only thing showing signs of life. The carrots and parsnips are also starting to show them selves to. The classic Y shaped leafs poking through. With a happy heart it’s time to get on with the job in hand which is to finish the digging to this main area of the plot.
I hadn’t dug this at all but had covered it over and so was a little apprehensive as to how easy it would be. Before starting to dig I spread my magical scientific BIOCHAR over the surface of the ground using up approximately half of what I had left. Time to put the fork in the ground, and happily it slid in with ease and as each turn is made the soil crumbled away.
It took a good couple of hours to do the whole area and by the end both hands were blistered to hell. Lesson learnt to wear gloves when digging no matter the weather! So with the digging done I took a minute to marvel at my handy work and give the blisters a chance to stop throbbing.
With the spuds emerging from the ground I decided that it was probably best to start the earthing up process. Now normally I would use use the draw hoe that was conveniently left behind by the previous tenant and although not in good condition would suffice until breaking forces me to purchase a new one. Well I decided that due to the small space between the rows of spuds I would cheat and use the newly dug soil behind me to just cover the emerging foliage .
As I was finishing off and moving the weeds and rubbish away from the growing area I happened to notice upon something else that had emerged from the ground completely unnoticed until today and that was a a few tips of Asparagus. Another inherited crop although one that I had not dug up and removed (thankfully).