Pushing up the daisies

Despite it being bitterly cold, I knew I had to make the effort to start this year's gardening or all would be lost. I was temporarily motivated by the new seed collection appearing at Lidl! New varieties! Despite my brain's protests that their seeds aren't always the best, I told myself that the bad weather last year was mostly to blame and grabbed a handful of 18-day radish, nantaise carrots, some tasty looking courgettes, some Kelvedon Wonder peas, those nice yellow Kingshorn Wax beans that I always do well with, and a mixture of cocktail tomatoes, including Sungold! all for about 1.50 euros.
On Sunday it had to be done: I went and filled the car boot with bags of horse manure from the local pony club. It was good stuff, the pile had been disturbed and the very mucky stuff at the bottom was exposed so I grabbed it. My boy helped me pull the covers off the onion bed: it was crumbly and weed free so I then covered it in manure that I will dig in when I plant the onions in a few weeks' time. Lovely. I then spread more manure over the other end of the same bed (not weed free) and covered that with the tarp. If I plant some red onions later than the rest, that will be perfect by then!
I also bought my first bag of potting mix (with extra fertiliser!!!) so I can soon start the first lot of plug plants, some summer cabbage and the first broccoli. Hopefully that will make me a bit more enthusiastic!

Labels: manure, seeds, winter