We're enjoying the pea shoots that I have growing in tubs in the lean-to. The plants are beginning to get quite big so I think I'll leave them to grow-on and hopefully produce some early peas. I've stuck some old buddliea sticks into the pots for the pea tendrils to curl around. I've also picked a bit of overwintered lettuce and rocket from the lean-to, which escaped the ravages of the aphids.
On the allotment, I'm continuing to harvest purple sprouting broccoli and colourful chard (the chard is all self-seeded).
The stems make a lovely addition to a meal, in this instance, to a few leeks from the plot. I noticed a couple of leeks had started to bolt, so have left them to flower (good for the insects) and harvested the rest. There's still several in the fridge, so we need to think of some leeky dishes. Anyone got a favourite recipe?
Jan has been helping out on the plot recently, so with her extra pair of hands it feels like we're getting somewhere. She's not normally around for seed sowing, but this weekend she got chance to help with sowing broad beans, parsnips and radishes, which was nice.
I went with a friend to collect some lovely well-rotted horse manure this week, and we got a few bagfuls each (she has an allotment on a different site), before worrying that the car might get stuck if we loaded it too much. I'm using mine up quite quickly though, we could do with a truckload. I've finally got round to (start) mulching my fruit trees and bushes. I've given the apple trees some manure but am using my own compost for the rest. The plum tree is getting quite a few flowers so we might actually have some fruit on it this year. I'm using the rest of the manure for potatoes and squashes, plus will bring a bag home to add to my tomato compost mix (home-made compost, manure and some peat-free bought compost).
A friend was back in Norwich for the weekend, so on Saturday we headed out in his car to Redgrave and Lopham Fen on the Norfolk / Suffolk border, in the Waveney Valley. None of us had been round it properly before, so it was a real treat to explore such a lovely area, especially as the forecast showers passed us by. The reserve is a mixture of wetland and woodland habitats with lots of variety of wildlife too. Highlights included three marsh harriers gliding around together, chiff chaffs all over the shop, and some gorgeous blackcaps singing away. Enjoying a seat (and the view) outside the education centre, we were also treated to two marsh-tits on the bird feeders. There were some lovely spring flowers out too, including a mystery low-growing plant in the woodlandy areas which I initially thought was wood anemone pre-flowering, but on closer inspection it had small green-ish flowers on five faces....after some head scratching and looking through several books on our return home I found it... 'Town Hall Clock'....very aptly named as the flowers resemble town hall clock faces, nice. I didn't get a photo but you can see it on the Wildflower Finder website.
My photos don't really do these kind of views any justice but you get the idea. We'll definitely be returning at some point but as its not very easy to get to from Norwich without a car it might have to wait a while. They sell by-products from the habitat management works and I was tempted by the 'four bags of wood chip for £10'. Darn, I should've bought them. There was also a basket weaving class in the education centre that looked fun.
So after that digression, thanks for reading this week. I'll be continuing with prepping the plot for veggies (my main-crop potatoes need to go out next) and am also reducing slug hidey places (for example, as I'm trying to be 'no-dig' as much as possible, with the manure, I'm spreading it on the soil surface then whacking it with the back of a fork to break it up into small pieces - in the past I've found slugs hiding under big clods, after gorging themselves on my squash plants).
On that happy note, I hope you have a good week! I'm linking in with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
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