I did sow some tomatoes and buy some arches. I need to start sowing everything else and that’s a task for the weekend.
The March work list did not complete itself. So this weekend, I really need to commit to it and get as much of it off the list so that the work I need to do in April can be done, which means that this Friday, assuming it’s not raining (forecast is 8C and sunny) I need to tackle the horrible jobs. This is a bit of a theme with me at the moment, I’m trying to get all the ‘needling’ tasks at home, work and on the plot done. These are the tasks that don’t take a lot of time but sit at the back of your mind, taking up space and causing stress. For the plot, I need to get the bokashi bin, the shredded paper and, the cardboard to the plot. Also on the list are painting the shed and strimming the paths. We have a plot inspection at the end of April and paths are going to be an issue (the committee has told us so).
Ma is coming over on Saturday so we can get on with more work. Putting together the arches is probably going to be a joint task. I also need to weed. Ma may be cutting back the rosemary, for both of us, there will be some sowing, I want to sow parsley, and beetroot outside and brassicas in the polytunnel.
I also need to sow my camomile lawn. Assuming it survives it’s rough and tumble arrival.
Last Monday we officially entered Spring. Equal amounts of day and night. I spent most of this week feeling like I was on drugs, even with several days in the office and a sore back and hip, I was so much happier. My SAD brain has switched back into full power mode, thank goodness.
It was also really warm this week, it’s not going to last into this week but it was 20C on Wednesday and I for one was psyched to get back into my sandals (look my feet just want to be free and I’m not going to deny them when the weather is good!)
While most of our year runs January to December, the tax year runs starts in April, which means that March is the time I reassess my budget in light of new council tax and other assorted bills, possible tax changes and maybe a pay rise. I write a lot about money because for me, for years it was a problem (some my fault, some not), I got made redundant in 2009 and it’s only really felt like I’ve caught up with myself in the last four years or so. We are looking at the highest rise in inflation in the last thirty years, because of my experience over the last 12 years, it’s super important to me, to know how much trouble I’m in! This year, is looking ok, I’m not rolling in money, I’ll just have to be more aware of and cautious about my spending and I should be ok, but I’m worried about the people who won’t be.
However, having assessed my budget, I also needed to do some spending. There are some things, I need. First up my walking boots (which are also my allotment boots) have finally died (they did good service, I’ve had them over 13 years, I also needed a supportive pair of trainers. When you have bad feet, and I have really bad feet, footwear is expensive. It’s felt like a whirligig of spending but it needed to be done.
Other things this last week, were three days in the office, finally getting to a Grace meal on Wednesday, a walk with Sue on Thursday, Mother’s Day on Sunday and the cancellation of this weekend with the nephews because they’ve all had COVID and are exhausted.
This week, is another planned two days in the office but calloo callay this Friday and next Monday off work. April is going to be a series of 4 days weeks thanks to this and the Easter Bank Holidays, I’ll only do an entire 5 day week in the last week of the month! I also want to participate in Gracelet on Tuesday night but I can actually do that from the comfort of my desk, I’ve found the book interesting and the discussion interesting. However, this week will be more of a return to my work/home/sleep pattern. I want to use Friday to do more work on the plot and generally make myself and my flat a bit more ready for Spring.
This week, the Tories in ‘charge’ of the country, acted like typical Tories in the Spring statement, people are outraged, like the last 12 years were no guide to current behaviour. Russia committed hideous bombing in Ukraine, COVID rates are high and none of the news feels good. People are having a go at Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was finally released from Iran and promptly told of for having an opinion about how long it took to get her out. As if to make up for the horror of human behaviour, Spring sprang and the weather has been glorious for March…
I’m ditching the overspill tote – one bag is better than two. I’m struggling with this at the moment. Having to cart a laptop, water bottle, phone, purse, kindle and/or book, plus breakfast and lunch is getting to me. I think I may have a solution for work days though, I’ll keep you posted.
How I learned to love weeds – and why you should, too. Ma and I were talking about this, and I decided not to pull up all the bittercress that is currently flowering around my pond, but all grass and bindweed will and must be pulled to prevent a takeover.
Although I’ve not been talking about the plot, we have been doing things on it.
We swapped the position of some of the compost bins and storage, because something was digging up the middle compost bin and depositing it all over the path. It gives us a wider path by the polytunnel and so far no creatures digging it out.
We also filled up one of the beds in the polytunnel and I scattered a bunch of radish and salad leaves in it. Hopefully we’ll get some greens before it’s time for me to plant the melons and cucumbers in that bed in May. We also sowed three trays of leeks, which I’ll leave in the poly and plant out some time in June or July.
Inside the polytunnel
Outside, Ma weeded the bath of mint and I worked on the front of the plot. Weeding all around the rhubarb and putting lawn edging next to the run of rhubarb plants. I still need to trim the path but this way should make it easier to weed and the path is narrow so over time I’m hoping it’ll build it up.
We also sowed peas, carrots and celeriac and trimmed the verbena and rudbekia. So we’ll on our way towards Spring.
Knautia Macedonia
The March list is below and it’s not looking great because I keep getting sidetracked by other things…
Paint shed
Strim grass edges
Weed, top up and cover the beds
Sort out the weedy area by the boysenberry
Weed and mulch the flower beds
Weed and reup the cardboard and woodchip on the paths that haven’t been done already (the ones at the back of the plot)
Well, the world is pretty much terrible. It’s not that everything is terrible, it’s that even the good stuff, is fixing something that’s broken. Here are this week’s links….
Shouldn’t someone in football also care about the war in Yemen just a little? I do have a dog in this fight and for what it’s worth I think the sanctions are the right thing to do but this isn’t just a Chelsea problem. It’s a football problem. It’s the ‘fit and proper person’ test not being fit or proper in any of the football leagues, (go and ask Derby about that). It’s the World Cup hosted by Russia and Qatar. Football has been following the money with no regard for morality for years. Chelsea is a symptom, it’s not the disease. Stopping Chelsea from selling tickets and shirts won’t fix what’s wrong with football, that’s going to take much more work.
It’s mid March and the light is improving but the weather is variable. The news is still terrible and it’s difficult. In the midst of a crisis we all want to think that it’ll be over and it’ll go back to normal but that’s not what happens, the crisis just moves. We are living in difficult times, however bad it gets, I’m not fleeing for my life so I’ll call it good.
This week, I had a migraine, ran a team event and put my back out. It’s been quite eventful. This week I’m in the office tomorrow and Wednesday and sowing seeds.
Now events require a policy of European engagement that can only be achieved by ignoring everything the prime minister has said on the subject. It requires a style of grown-up leadership that Johnson can affect because he is a thespian and rhetorician of some talent, but not sustain because he is also a dilettante and a fraud. He embodies a trait in Westminster culture that treats politics as pantomime, where a prime minister can play at being Churchill without Churchillian gravitas and without being accountable for words delivered with a wink, in a stage voice tinged with perpetual jest.
March marks the real start of the allotment year for me. You can tell this because yesterday, 1000 litres of compost (Wickes peat free) got delivered to the flat yesterday and I’ve started to wheelbarrow it around to the plot 100 litres at a time! My plan to make my own compost is coming up against an animal that is kicking it out of the compost bays and onto the paths, I need to sort that out this month so it’s a job I’ll add to the list.
I also bought a small, cheap set of grow lights to see if that will help prevent my seedling from getting leggy this year. I really need to start sowing soonish. Peppers, chillis, aubergines, tomatoes, leeks, kale, brussels sprouts, celeriac and a first wave of cabbages and cauliflowers (so more than a little bit of sowing). I know it’s too much but I don’t want a repeat of last year, when everything was too late, so I’m just going to go with it. I also found a use for an old National Trust Handbook and have made loads of little paper pots to hold all these seedlings. I’m really trying to keep to my ‘no disposable plastic’ on the plot promise. I do have a lot of pots from plants I have bought and I will use those, this feels like a good way to start these seedlings.
I made a list (which I’m not going to enjoy doing but I’m going to feel great if I can get it all done in March)
Paint shed
Strim grass edges
Weed, top up and cover the beds
Sort out the weedy area by the boysenberry
Weed and mulch the flower beds
Weed and reup the cardboard and woodchip on the paths that haven’t been done already (the ones at the back of the plot)
Sow radishes and salad in the polytunnel
Sow peas, late March
There’s probably more that I’ve forgotten but I can always add to the list!
We’re already into the third month of the year! Congratulations on getting through two of the worst months of the year. I say this like March and April are walks in the park when in fact they are not, especially if you observe Lent, which starts tomorrow. (I had some thoughts on how the hungry gap and Lent go together a couple of years ago and you can read them here!)
However, the days are getting lighter, and the clocks go forward at the end of the month and I’ll spend some of March and early April acting like I’m on E because of how much happier I feel due to the additional daylight and I’ll start to enjoy caring for the flat and the plot because I’ll be more awake.
So I want to set some more realistic aims for March, all of my January plans went pear-shaped when I caught a cold, so although I didn’t fail totally, I didn’t do as well as I might, March is my time to re-group.
I’m back on my low spend kick, because in April, I pay more tax and all my bills seem to be going up, and I’ll be paying to go into the office more, so I need to use March to get into good habits. Therefore, I have £200 to spend on food and anything else. The bulk of that will be on food because it’s not getting any cheaper, I’m budgeting £12 a week and £44 for the two oddbox deliveries, which leaves me with £100 for any other spending, and there is already £48 committed to Laithwaites for wine. That should break me of buying lunch when I’m in the office and get me back to pre-pandemic food prep. I’m not going to give anything up for Lent but I am going to go back to my no treats that I haven’t made myself. In the Catholic Church you have Sundays off this obligation, and I’m not going to do that but I am going to give myself some exceptions, 11th March which is our team meeting, every Saturday Ma brings pain au raisin (which will probably shake out to every other week), Mother’s Day and the weekend that Ma and I are having the nephews overnight, because it’s also Lu’s birthday and we’re having a belated Mother’s Day for Ma and Lu the day after.
All of this taps into the other food related aim I have in March, which is get back to menu planning and food prep. I still cook for myself but I need to get back into food planning. The joy of being at home so much is that can wing cooking. That’s fine but my lack of planning is having an impact on the days I’m in the office, so ‘more planning, less sushi’ is my motto for the month.
Another thing that need to be improved, is my ‘exercise’ regime. My fitbit records my activity and I pleased and surprised that I generally get the required 22 minutes a day gentle exercise, what I don’t get is the cardio, so I’m going to change that and make sure that three days a week my 22 minutes is cardio, given my general lack of fitness, it shouldn’t be too hard to get my heart to beat faster!
That’s it, gentle things that will reset me from winter survival to spring joy!
Nic Dempsey 