Hours at the plot so far.....35.

As it was not raining this morning I went to the plot to hoe the onions, weed the spuds, and start preparing the last bit of ground for the potatoes under black plastic.
This picture shows the state of play when I had finished for the day. From the little criss-cross fence down is my bit. At the top are the onions and shallots....not really visible in this shot, but doing really well. It was really a bit too claggy to walk on, but I forked it up again after I'd weeded. The next bit is the first early potatoes. They are really up and running. There are no no-shows which I'm pleased about.

The bit that looks bare is the second earlies....there are some up, and a badger had had one of them....the scrape that he did is unmistakable according to another plotter.
Next are the two rows of main crop under plastic. They are showing already, although they are not yet through the plastic. I suppose they are warmer than the other ones as the black absorbs the heat. I am really pleased with this method, as it is less work than the thorough digging that I did for the others, as well as the constant weeding and earthing up that the ones in soil rows will need.
You can just see the rhubarb n the picture. When I got there today it had some magnificent flowers on. I put them in the compost, and harvested all the big stems of rhubarb. (Had salmon with rhubarb sauce for dinner!) Most of t is destined for the freezer.
In the bit of ground that is still flat grass alongside the rhubarb I'll be putting a pumpkin...one each side of the rhubarb which is slap bang in the middle of the plot. I may get time to dig that bit before the pumpkin is ready to go out....if not it'll go under plastic too.

This is a sideways shot of the plot to show the two rows of maincrop under plastic. There is actually one shoot showing in the fourth hole up from the bottom of the photo. Most of the holes have a spud showing now.

The last thing I did this morning was to start preparing the long mounds for the maincrop that I still have to put under plastic. I managed two rows of the four I need before I felt my back resisting....and the loo calling. So I picked up the 50 stems of rhubarb and went home.

After lunch I did numerous small jobs in the back garden and polytunnel. The peppers and aubergines are now in the beds in the tunnel. I sowed another cucumber seed in the ring pot at the end....ants had destroyed the one that was growing in there. There wont be any more ants as I've dealt with them! At over 60p per seed I don't want to have to do that too many times. I also planted out the jicama I am trying this year. I started 4 seeds but only one came to anything.

On the whole I am very pleased with the back garden, and chuffed to bits at the state of the allotment. I hope to finish the hard work there this week then it'll just be maintenance until harvest. I think I'll green manure it after I've dug up the spuds and dug the beds over. Next year I'll do brassicas in the allotment, and a few less spuds in some of the beds at home. I have really rather overdone the spuds this year as I wanted to grow them to "clean" the ground.