Well the holiday weekend was mixed weather wise, there was sun, rain and on occasion hail! I bought the fence posts on Thursday evening, 4 @ 3”x3” x 8ft and 2 @ 4”x4” x 8ft. The wood man asked what I was doing with them as he was loading them into my car for me, his face said it all when I tried to explain, probably thought I was another eco-warrior, environmentally friendly loony.
Friday/Saturday I managed to plant up all my 1st earlies - Pentland Javelin into patio potato tubs, the 1st earlies - Rocket which I’ve had stood in the greenhouse over the last couple of weeks are coming along very nicely. I’m hoping a couple of nice days over this coming weekend will allow me to get the 2nd earlies in the ground at the allotment, a few will have to go in the remaining tubs, this will be a good test on whether soil or tubs are better for 2nd’s. I’ve put in some parsnips and radishes in one of the back yard beds. Carrots are coming through nicely. Plenty of tomatoes, kohl rabi, cauliflower, and lettuce seedlings are geminating. Cabbages and peppers are just beginning to peek through. I’ve been given a load of strawberry plants so these will be planted up in the fruit area ASAP.
On Sunday I drove to the allotment, Caleb in tow. I’d asked him to give me a hand building the bottle house, “I like building things” he says, good I thought I’m going to need your help. First job was to cut down some growth from the bushes hanging over from the neighbouring plot, and clear away some of the leaves and overgrown grass from the ground. Caleb watched. Then I started to measure, AGAIN, just to be safe, no point in getting it wrong and being unhappy once the posts have gone in. Again, Caleb watched. When I started to measure out I changed my mind where the house was going to be sited AGAIN. I wasn’t happy with the amount of growth (from next plots bushes) at one end so now its going to run 10ft flower bed, 10ft fruit (raspberry & strawberry) bed, then the bottle house (16ft), then another 10ft fruit bed and then what’s left (approx 12ft I think) I’ll decide what to do with later, possibly plant some fruit trees (apple, plum or pear). I also changed my mind on its dimensions, its now going to be 5ft wide instead of 4ft; I don’t do things by half!
I started to dig my first hole, Caleb watched, I turned my back for one minute, Caleb had gone, I found him chatting to Sid who has the plot opposite mine “he’s ok with me” Sid said, so back to the digging, ALONE. Next thing I know Brian (from further down the lane) had come over to have a chat with Sid and so Caleb then decided he wanted to go to see Brian’s hens and ducks, so that was it Caleb was off. So back to the digging of holes, ALONE, I sawed the bottom off the posts, making sure they stood in the holes straight and were both at a level height, all done and two posts in the ground, nice and secure. What a happy chappie I was with myself. I went back to check on them last night and to my amazement they were still standing, I must have done something right! I’m hoping to get another post in tomorrow night, and maybe the rest all in by Sunday, then I can start to work on the frames and creating the sides (this is where the bottles come into play).
Yesterday I received a phone call from the DIY store saying that they had mistakenly sold my shed and that the only one they had left was the store display model, so with some haggling (another 15% off the price), and them agreeing to dismantle it for me, I’m off to collect the shed for the chicken coop on Friday night. More building, ALONE no doubt!
So did you see the new gardening programme last night, Alys Fowler's "The Edible Garden", i watched it, and quite enjoyed it, its on BBC2 at 8pm and has another 5 programmes to go, so if you missed the first one, try and catch up with it next week. 
