I was away last weekend so there wasn’t a lot of allotmenting happening. On Friday morning, I went up to refill the bird feeders and collect the raspberry canes I’d dug up for my sister in law. 
I also saw a couple of people and had a chat and found out that my allotment neighbour was responsible for the mystery roll of edging left on my plot!
The plot is in pretty much the same state it was in last week, minus the snow.
The broad beans look ok, although there are some gaps! As we haven’t planted anything else out and the cavolo nero and chard aren’t up to much, it’s all pretty much as it was.
The rhubarb is starting to push through and the chives and tarragon I planted last year seemed to have survived the winter and are pushing up.
It doesn’t look like much but it makes me happy. I was comparing this time last year to now and everything is further behind this year thanks to the beast from the east. Every year is different, although every year Ma tells me to remember that we might not have a good year this time but every year I feel that, eventually, we do alright!
Also so far this year, I haven’t sowed a seed, witness my restraint! That all changes this weekend. The work list for April looks like this.
- bonfire
- paint the shed
- start sowing seeds indoors (leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers, cucamelons, peppers, kale, chard, cauliflowers)
- start sowing seeds outdoors (beetroot, carrots, radishes, peas, salad, herbs)
- plant out potatoes
- buy compost and fill remaining beds
- plant out mint
What that actually looks like for this weekend!
Outside
- Sow wildflowers
- Sow peas and sweet peas
- dig over top of plot where the squash are going
- dig over area were sweet corn is going
- plant out gypsophila
- plant out two bags of potatoes
- set up cloche
- sort out mint
Inside
- sow tomatoes
- sow peppers
- sow leeks
- sow some cucumbers and cucamelons
I’m going to wait and sow the summer squash in April along with the basil and more cucumbers, although I love the idea of planting the potatoes on St Patrick’s Day, I’m not sure about the weather, the BBC tells me that the forecast for the weekend is light snow, which means that there will be no sowing of anything and the sweet peas will be sown indoors, assuming the weather is fine, my current working plan is to do 2 this weekend and the rest over Easter weekend.
I bought the pots from 
Family time was good but I missed Friday at work so it feels like I’m going to spend all week catching up at home and at work…
I’m disturbed by the trend towards thinking that because we can’t celebrate something, no one should. Yes, we need to be mindful that we don’t cause pain but we also need to understand that no one sets out to cause pain. We all need to work to being inclusive and thoughtful and thicker skinned.
Now it’s something else, it’s a minute to reflect on my day, to think about how I’m going to approach it, to track the progress of the week.
I’ve been thinking about preparation, Lent is a time carved out of the year to prepare. We’re preparing for Easter, for the joy of Palm Sunday and the heartbreak of watching it all fall apart by Good Friday. For the feeling of abandonment and hopelessness of Easter Saturday and the triumph of Easter Sunday.
Ma filled up the bird feeders and I contemplated the only active growing bed that isn’t very active.
and this tweet
