2023 - What I did today

An unexpectedly non-rainy day today, so I have been outside for the last three hours. I have so much to sow, but the job for today is to try and construct the new beds on the other half of my garden. I've nowhere near enough cardboard, so I've gathered all my very unfinished compost to use as a base mulch layer for part of the garden, and am now seeing how far I get with the cardboard that I have. Once that's done, I will need to lug enough compost up the garden to at least lightly cover the cardboard or it will blow away! Hopefully I can actually get some beds finished today and do some sowing before it gets dark this evening.

Same here, Pros. Expected to be rained off but had a nice afternoon at the plot. Planned out of, mangetout and sweet peas, as well as some lettuce. Happily found some of the beetroot and lettuce direct-sown with my oldest have started to germinate. Took a couple of blueberry cuttings.

Husband dug more bramble roots and checked that we now have all the kit we need to set up the gutters on the shed. He also persuaded me to cut some tulips to bring home.

I have made progress, but the beds are nowhere near ready for anything to be sown into them and I am very definitely done for the day. It's hard work carrying compost up the garden. Next time, I need to get a garden that isn't uphill (and up steps) from the house!! I carry the compost on my head, but the steps are still murder.

Surprisingly sunny day so mowed the lawn.
Put together two new obelisks.
Weeded and prepared some ground.
Planted out mangetout Golden Sweet and Green Beauty.

I have made progress, but the beds are nowhere near ready for anything to be sown into them and I am very definitely done for the day. It's hard work carrying compost up the garden. Next time, I need to get a garden that isn't uphill (and up steps) from the house!! I carry the compost on my head, but the steps are still murder.

Maybe a ramp would help for the steps - look out for a child's slide being given away.

Goodness me, the steps are pretty steep. I think a ramp is very likely to become a slide, rather than the other way around!

My little house in West Wales had 50 steps to the front door and another 50 to the top of the garden! I was a lot fitter then.
A ramp is useful for dragging bags up or down and wheeling a barrow or sacktruck up. I made little ramps between individual steps in some places. The ramp is alongside the steps, not in place of it.

Work this morning. This afternoon more tidying around the house site and starting laying out where bed 2 is going. Filled 3 buckets with manure and 1 buckets of raised bed soil. Loaded them onto the trailer ready to go to plot tomorrow.

Wet miserable and cold day here in Kildare, so it was a day for the poly tunnel. Weeded mares tail from the raised beds, watered the potatoes, potted on all my tomatoes into much larger pots giving them a good drink of seaweed root booster, and mixing granular seaweed in with the compost. Pricked out my chilli plants and potted them into small pots that I can still bring inside at night, and a good feed of seaweed booster and granular.
I have a lot more cabbage and kale to plant outside in raised beds but it was to wet to try anything

In between the rain showers I planted Bijou mangetout and kale seedlings.
Planted a Rhubarb Triangle from a root I'd dug up months ago and forgotten. It split into 3 sections so the Triangle was meant to be. This will be Rhubarb location Number 4.
Also filled some modules with compost and brought them indoors ready for a courgette and squash sowing session later this evening.