The Big Fork gets a work-out

I rolled up my sleeves and got the big fork out yesterday over at the allotment. The Big Fork, in my 16 square metres, is my equivalent of an ‘Earth Mover’.  I grubbed out some poor performing plants that were not earning their corn, take no prisoners, on the compost heap they went.

I wanted to clear some ground and feed the soil ready for the next planting. We had no compost bins ready at the farm so off I went to Bunnings for bags of organic compost.  Then I added blood and bone, and raided a pile of lawn clippings rotting away beside the community garden. The heavy rain we had a few weeks ago had turned some of the soil into a heavy clay-like substance and I dug everything in, in an attempt to break it up.

I had raised the level of the soil so much that the little slabs I use as a footpath vanished.

Never mind, I dug them up, moved the soil around a bit, and re-laid them.

I was quite pleased with my efforts and to make this post even MORE interesting here is a photo of the finished job. Good eh?

The ground cleared, fed, and ready for planting

And just to show that there is something still growing I took a few photos.

The small potato bed

The only silverbeet that seems to be surviving after the wet

‘Artistic’ shot of my Cavalo Nero Italian kale

Curly parsley. doing just fine.

Finally. The last remaining Drunken Woman lettuce.

Parsnip seedlings, been like this for weeks, seem to be going nowhere. But I live in hope.

“Drunken Woman” lettuce for lunch today

I would grow this Drunken Woman lettuce in my allotment just for it’s name alone even if it wasn’t so beautiful. I love the pink tinge to the leaves, and the abandoned way it throws out it’s leaves.  OK, I’m getting carried away. Thank you Wendy for the seeds. I picked this one for lunch.

Drunken Woman lettuce

No problem, there are plenty more …..

A row of Drunken Woman lettuce

The radishes are coming along nicely. I am not a big fan of the radish but I planted them to mark where I had planted the rows of the much slower germinating root vegetables – parsnips, swede, carrots.

Rows of radishes as a marker

My “Nicola” potatoes are coming along nicely. In fact they are growing so well that when I banked them up with more compost and straw I had to build a cage around them to hold the whole bed together. I fancy I should get a nice crop later in the year. New potatoes dripping in butter – delicious but straight to the hips probably!

Potatoes in their ‘cage’

Here’s a shot taken from the top.

Healthy spuds

Happy gardening.