The deep beds in the foreground are for my carrots and parsnips,the others being used for runner beans,beetroot,rhubarb,onion sets and asparagus.

These are the nursery frames i ve made for bringing on some plants for mid spring planting.In the top on ,i am bringing on ,Lettuce,Spring onions and an early crop of nantes carrots.

In the second frame , i am bringing on Bedfordshire champion onions, Celeriac, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli,Leeks , Courgettes and a few Squash. Its turned out to be a great addition to the allotment,as i've been eating fresh lettuce since late march. The white around some of the seedlings is,lime,its good for the brassicas.

These are my Gladiator Parsnips, planted in a mixture of ,unwashed sand ,quarry dust and compost.The bed is approximately 14 inches deep, so hopefully come the winter,i will be rewarded with great parsnips.

carrot fly protection.

After growing carrots last year and losing almost all of them to the dreaded carrot fly i  decided to build some net covered frames that can be lifted easily  on and off my beds when i am working around them,for the frames i used 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch wood and straight lengths of hazel which  i bent for the middle supports,i then placed enviromesh over the frame,which was then all held in place by 1 1/2 by 1/2 half inch wood,screwed down on top of the net which was sitting on top of the 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch wood, with the frame all made up and in place i then secured it down  by the use of a bungee cords at each end hooked onto screws into the bed itself.On the outside of the netting i placed two more bent hazels lenghts as handles for lifting on and off. They also serve as a roll bar to stop the netting getting damaged when the frame is lifted off the bed and sitting on the ground.

The big dig

The season has well and truely begun,with the planting of our potatoes.This years earlies are,Red duke of york and Home guard, second earlies are , British queens and maincrops are , Arran victory, Kerrs pinks, Golden wonder and Sarpo mira.

The long wait.

This year i ve decided to plant Asparagus, the crowns which i m planting are gijlim. I m looking forward to cutting a small amount of the first spears next year.

Composting horse manure.

Friday 28.01.11 ....Darren and myself took the afternoon and gathered up 3 trailer loads of horse manure,not easy work,especially when its quite fresh.The manure is going to be used for our potatoes in April,as a fertilizer for the seed potatoes.The manure has to be piled up ,and then covered,i inserted 4*1.5metre lenghts of BT plastic ducting,so that this would speed up the composting process,by introducing air into the heap.In the winter it can take between 3 to 6 months for the manure to break down to a pleasing compost.By covering the horse manure,it not only speeds the process,it generates alot of heat in the heap,and hence kills off, snail eggs,flies and their larve and any grass or weed seeds that have passed through the horses.