Tuesday (ramble alert)

 Good morning, everyone.
After a doubtful start yesterday with a few snowflakes wafting around in the air, out came the sun and it turned into a beautiful day, pretty cold in the morning but lovely in the afternoon.
Today is expected to be nice and sunny.  Lovely!

I met Jeff down the allotment.  He started on the shed while I did a bit of 'housework', smoothing chippings which had been considerably disturbed by some animal or other and murdering a few weeds that had dared show their faces.  
The shed door now closes and has two hooks and eyes to keep it closed.  There's no point having anything lockable, it's just an invite really.  Ditto a nice, smart shed which was one reason for not replacing it.  I can't say it looks much better; it was never going to, but the roof is more waterproof now and the door was the main problem.  Jeff also managed to dig out the manky old wheelbarrow I mentioned several weeks ago, bless him.  It is in dire condition and there's no way a bit of rubbing down and a lick of paint is ever going to work but it should be fine as a planter, especially with trailing stuff to hide the sides.  So we have to work out what we can use to punch a few drainage holes in the bottom, get some liner and some potting compost and we're away!  It'll look nice where there's just ground cover and nothing much growing at the moment.

I left Jeff to it and came home to do the usual daily stuff and wait for Sharon.  She came, worked her usual magic and left behind one very happy client and a floor-load of hair cutting!|
She went over to Beth's and did the same there and we both count ourselves as very lucky.

Then the door bell rang and, lo and behold, it was the raspberry canes I ordered several weeks ago.  I was so pleased that I had dug over the holes for them so I popped back to the allotment (Jeff had finished several hours ago) and got them in.  They looked in pretty good shape and were already sending up little canes so my fingers are crossed for a small crop this autumn.  The others are doing very well, so that square should end up good and productive.  Beth and I both love raspberries and quite a lot never make it back to the car, let alone onto a dessert plate!

I also dug over where the runner beans are going to go and found several naughty root systems which are now elsewhere!  Ditto for where the baby corn is going and those two areas now need some attention from our electric tilling machine thingy so just smooth it all over and break up the clods.

See what I mean!
(please ignore the state of the edging - it's very old)

The ground felt quite dry so I set to with the watering cans and gave the raspberries, the pansies and the broad beans a good drink.

Our soil is quite stony so every week or so I have a stone picking session.  Despite this, they never seem to grow any fewer (perhaps they reproduce when we're not looking) but it must be helping and at least pretty much all the larger stones have gone now.  It's not great for carrots, etc, but fine for most crops.

I was there longer than I had intended but it was so gorgeous; sunny and quite warm in the sun although cool in the shade.

I had only just arrived home when there was another knock at the door and it was Rachel, a Slimming World friend.  She was dropping off some spare seeds - gerbera and sunflower - so I will get them planted today.  I'm not sure what I will do with the sunflowers - probably grow them in a container, but the gerberas are for the allotment and now we have that wheelbarrow, they can go in there as well.
She didn't come in, of course, but we have arranged that when it gets warmer we will meet for garden coffee and a chat.

Finally, just to cap it all off, I had an email from Nuffield to say that I had got a place for a swim today (I was on the waiting list).  Yippeeeeeee.
It really was a lovely day!

So - after all that, today has two scheduled things.  I have that swim in the morning and I might go a bit early and have a stroll around Matalan - just because I can!  Then it will be home for a shower and a hair wash and, most likely, a bit of a kip.
I have seeds to sow (thank you, Rachel) and plantlets to pot on (courgettes and cucumbers) and I really must deal with the mint pots which are a right mess.  I think it is a case of everything out, new soil, cut out some of the rubbish and repot the rest.  It's just as well mint is so tough it is virtually indestructible!  Also there's one raspberry cane left over which will just go in a pot for now, in case any of the others fail and need replacing.

The other thing is that I have my weekly face to face chat with Dad which will be lovely!  

Apologies for the ramble but people have said they like hearing about the allotment and garden so . . . thank you!
Have a super day, stay warm, safe and positive.  And sensible!  < grin >  xx