Carrot Lovin'

"Birds do it, bees do it,

Even educated carrots do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love!!"

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.

I lovage borage xx

I spent nearly seven hours at the allotment today. When I got there it was lovely and quiet, as I got on with jobs I listened to the lovely bird sounds. There was one interesting one which I'm afraid I can't describe but it wasn't long until I spotted the green woodpecker that was making it. I had a real moment of feeling so perfectly contented which was made even better by glorious sunshine coming out too. Aaah!

I didn't deal with the raspberries as I said I would. But I did consider my options.

Meanwhile I weeded the beds. I made hoops to hold up the enviromesh above the carrots, brassicas and the broad beans. I'm very pleased with them. I sowed two rows of early Nantes carrots. I also sowed borage and lovage in the brassica bed. The lovage won't stay there as I becomes a large plant, I'm just starting it there - finger crossed it germinates. Lovage is a great habitat for ground beetles and slugs hate ground beetles - yippee!

I'm really into the whole companion planting thing so the lovage and borage are part of my masterplan. Borage is a companion to most plants. Apparently detering cabbage worms and attracting bees. Borage adds trace minerals to the soil, can be used as a mulch; if grown near will enhance the flavour of strawberries and improve tomatoes' resistance to disease. If that wasn't enough the pretty flowers are edible and the leaves contain vitamin C, potassium, calcium and mineral salts!