A Whole Plotta Love

We finally have our potatoes planted. Hurrah! I wish them well finding their way through the heavy clay as they grow. They’ll also be fighting the dock and nettle but I like to think we’ve given them a little bit of a fighting chance. I planted two rows of Maris Peer and two of King Edward. We wanted Maris Piper but I accidentally picked up a bag of Maris Peer in Homebase after I put down a bag of Maris Peer in order to pick up a bag of Maris Piper. We suspect there was some kind of Homebase optical illusion/trickery going on as we’re both certain I picked up Maris Piper… Still, they were on sale. Rob doesn’t like new potatoes so we’ll treat them as a main crop and see what happens.

Whilst I dug in the potatoes Rob set to work securing our pallets with stakes ready for the manure delivery. We’re hoping it arrives next week so we can be part of the big scramble on site to get a barrow or two. I’ve pointy elbows and I’m sharpening them ready.

We’ve discovered via L that our well isn’t the only one that’s run dry. The general consensus is that the gravel extraction work next door is responsible. Their site is gathering water whilst ours is losing it. We were really excited to have our own well, but I think we’re going to have to dig a lot deeper to find the disappearing water table.

Our plot is now rabbit proof (well, fingers crossed). Not that we had much to encourage the bunnies, but they did enjoy a good dig in our woodchip path. Rob made a gate from one of the old hardwood pallets L gave us and it looks fantastic.

Whilst at home this week I took advantage of the lovely spring sunshine to sow some seeds. The packet instructions called for vermiculite, which I didn’t have and I’m not sure how well they’ll take in the old compost I used. I sowed dill, hyssop and green globe artichokes. I may have gotten a little carried away with the artichokes. My ‘plant another one just in case’ policy ran away with me and I planted 12 in all. And then Rob came home from work with a gift from a friend:

 That’s a bag of Jerusalem artichoke tubers…

I think we’re going to have to dig a bigger artichoke bed.