Allotment therapy

I'm trying to make a cold frame out of skip finds - halfway there.

Peas under cover protection from mice and green manure in bed behind.

I only managed a measly half a day at the allotment over the whole of Easter as I was working back in the (-tougher than I left it 3 years ago) world of pop videos. My head was so knotted up with stress from the job that I thought my brain was going to explode. It was so blissfully calming and levelling to get a little time to do some sowing and weeding this bank holiday Monday. Thank God for Lottie! I needed the solitude and relished the time listening to bird song and children playing in the park.

So, what did I sow?

Finally the Ambassador Peas, which were supposed to be soaked for 4 hours before planting, actually they ended up, because of a immediacy of my job, soaking for 5 days! And in that time a lot had sprouted. Okay, so this may be another experiment that fails but I couldn't very well throw them away! I sowed one triple row and in a couple of weeks I shall sow another. To protect the peas from mice I covered the bed with some enviromesh.

With me I took my much coveted seed box - my mother's day present - which meant I also sowed Poached Egg plant limnanthes douglasii, Calendula 'Candyman' (-alongside the potatoes), two rows of Nantes 2 carrots and a row of Giant Italian Parsley.

Other things...

I was very excited to see that the lovage was really popping up. I shall have to transplant them soon. I want to use the lovage like an edible hedge as it can grow up to 7 feet tall - the giant of the herb world! I removed the enviromesh from the broad beans to allow the bees to get to the flowers. A couple of weeks ago, I nervously sowed some (spring) green manure on the strawberry bed which should act as a soil conditioner when dug in a couple of months from now or when it reaches 8 inches high. I am not planning on getting the strawberry plants until late summer - taking that advice from the late, great Geoff Hamilton. I am also in the middle recycling skip finds to construct a coldframe which I need to finish soon.

I left refreshed and ready for the arduous week ahead.