Spring has arrived

After yesterday's post, I had a look back at my blog. Last year we started the main seeds off on the 7th of April, this year it's the 8th of March, a whole month earlier. Well last year was incredibly cold at the start. This year was incredibly wet. But on the whole, I don't think a couple of weeks here or there really matters.

Sunday was probably the sunniest day of the year so far. Seems like everybody was crawling out of the woodwork to be down the allotment. I was down there bright and early, but even I wasn't the first. Today was mostly spent digging the still wet soil, piling up the couch grass in the new mound, and carting barrow loads of manure to be used liberally on the plot. We get our manure from Dean City Farm which is just a few miles away. But we are not the only allotment site in Merton to benefit from their manure. It seems like their manure is quite widely wanted. We've had our main delivery for a few weeks now, and it has ripened nicely. Whilst digging into it, the bottom part was totally saturated with water. Hardly surprising. But what was surprising was the moist level just under the crust. I have never seen so many worms. There were thousands of them. Must be good stuff if the worms love it.

Both Rhubarbs (the small and the large) got liberal doses of the mucky stuff. As did the beds. Well I say beds, but they're not really. It's just a big dug patch. One thing I really need to do is sort out proper beds. Preferably raised ones, which won't be susceptible to flooding so easily.

Elsewhere, the Perpetual Spinach seems to have got through the "winter" relatively unscathed. There are a few browned leaves, but there are lots of young leaves coming up. Good for a few wiltings for dinner at least.

Anyhow, after all the digging and the heat of the day, I just went home, grabbed a cool cider from the fridge and collapsed in front of the TV. Which is why I'm writing this up on Monday night as opposed to Sunday night.

I've just spent an hour trying to make some Ricotta cheese from the Big Cheese Making Kit that I bought when I ordered my seeds. I don't think it has worked properly. I followed the recipe to the letter (I alway do when trying new things) but all I have are few small curds floating on the top of what looks like normal milk. I think I've just wasted 8 pints of milk.