I've been working hard on the plot, well Plot 1 that is, it's just about completed now, all the raised beds have been installed, the hen house is built, the frame of the bottle house built, still a couple of things to do, e.g. create the raspberry beds, the flower beds and plant a few more fruit trees (currently in tubs) but these are things that I can get on with later during the year. Plot 2 is now starting to be worked on, practically half is dug over and I've started to create some raised beds. The other half is covered in black plastic so that I can get around to digging this over when I have more time.
Time, well that is the most precious thing isn't it... when you work full time you find yourself really analysing what you do with your time and where you can get more time from. Here in Middlesbrough I could really do with more time... Or even better for time to stand still, though this would have to be on a sunny day! I took some annual leave over the Easter holidays to try and get Plot 2 sorted, but 10 of the 14 days were lost to rain and therefore i'm not anywhere near where I should be. I have earmarked Plot 2 for the Potatoes and Squash families in my crop rotation. Here we are at the wrong end of April and I only have my 1st earlies in... It has rained just about everyday since I went back to work and therefore not a lot has been able to be done. I am now racing against time to get the rest of the Potatoes in. I have however planted out a bed of Broad Beans, a bed of Red Onions and a bed of Brown Onions. I've sown a few radishes direct and also started to sow some carrots. I have Shallots and Garlic in which have been in since October time, these have come through the winter and seem to be doing ok.
Away from the Plots, I've had a holiday in Ibiza; revisiting my youth I think, and a couple of weekends away in Edinburgh and Nottingham... Boooziee weekends with friends, these were really nice and relaxing. But on a sad note, in August we lost Samson to Kidney Failure, it was devastating, and we lost him rather quickly after the diagnosis. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I'll never know, we didn't really get time to say goodbye but then we didn't really have to watch him deteriorate. In January we adopted Diesel, another Dogue de Bordeaux, he's 16 months and very cheeky....
I'll end with a couple of pictures for you..
Images of the Chicken House
