A Busy Day!

I had a bad head day today but went to the plot anyway. I had a bit of a tidy up.
I pulled up the dead marigold plants around last year's carrot bed. Then I cleared all the little weeds that are already germinating.

Then I pulled up all the Brussels plants. The sprouts had all "blown" and so I chopped up the hard stems with a spade and added it all to the compost. Then I weeded and tidied that bed too.

I also took up the netting over the small cabbage plants. The pigeons had had these even through the nets!. And took up the cloche hoops and the netting from the carrot bed (Jermor sown in the Autumn as they are for that time of year). Nothing except weeds had germinated o this bed!

The leeks are looking very healthy, as are the broad beans.

Over the next few weeks I am going to dig the whole plot ready to start the Gertrude Franck Companion Planting method (see previous post) at the end of February.

This afternoon I spent in the polytunnel. I received a copy of "The Polytunnel Handbook" from Amazon this morning and have decided to use on e of the suggested bed layouts shown in there. This invloves altering the present two wide beds arrangement, and making three narrower beds instead. I took up the strawberry plants that edged the beds and these are now in pots. And I have reduced the RH side bed from 3 ft to 2ft wide. I will be able to care for the whole bed without standing on it, or having to overreach myself. I will reduce the width of the LH bad tomorrow. Then with the excess soil I will create a 2ft wide bed down the middle of the tunnel. This year that will be the tomato bed.

I have ordered some grow Bag Supports called A-tom frames.to use for the tomatoes this year. These are novel in that the grow bag is used hung up on its side in order to get depth of root run, and to facilitate watering. The frame also supports canes to hold up the plants.

This should all make my tunnel experience a bit better this year.

Tomorrow I'll take pictures of all my efforts and the state of play in my kitchen garden, and at the plot.