Tuesday

 Good morning!  Yesterday turned out to be beautifully sunny pretty much all day.  The afternoon felt so warm, Beth and I took off our top layer.  Because of the clear skies, we have had a frost overnight (it's gone now) and it's quite bright although Beeb seems to think the sun won't shine so much today.  Tomorrow looks promising.

It was a lovely day in other ways too.  In the morning, after doing the usual kitchen preparations, I went into the garden and got on with sorting the fruit and veg bed out.  A few white bells are still trying to grow there so I had them out first before taking out the structure for the tomatoes and spreading some lovely compost from my compost bin and forking it in.  I rebuilt the tomato support cage thingy and now that bed is ready for some strawberries, beetroots, radishes and maybe carrots.  Not a lot of anything, just short rows, I think.
I also left some compost in a bucket to mix with potting compost for seed sowing.

Then Beth arrived and we had lunch before setting out to the allotment.  We spent two and a half hours there, pretty much, and I guess we could have worked harder but we didn't, we plodded along, talking and just pottering really.

First of all, we got the lawn edging around the flower bed.  We didn't do a very good job of it; it isn't evenly laid so some parts are higher than others but, as a principle, in the short term it will do and, at some point, we can dig round it and lower the higher bits.  Not now though because the next thing we did was put the pansies in, all round the edge.  This was so satisfying!

Then we moved to the back and set to tidying around the shed.  We sorted out the canes and found some were now very brittle.  They got tossed into the thicket behind the shed to rot down in time and replenish the earth.  We still have enough, though, so that's good.
Then we laid some ground cover across the back and staked it down well.  That actually took ages but it was worth it; it will keep those weeds down and won't get muddy now.

I didn't take any photos - we had nipped the flowers off the pansies to give them a good start and the plastic cover is just - plastic cover!!  Nothing very exciting.

When we got home, my loop hearing thingy had arrived.  It works with my tablet fine so today I will try it with the PC.  The lead is a bit short so I've ordered an extension which should arrive tomorrow.  There was a bit of crackling at times but I can cope with that.

First thing today I'm going back early to start moving chippings from the communal pile to the ground cover.  I reckon it will take nine or ten barrow loads (we have a small barrow and it requires more than one would think).

After that, it is (hopefully) the delayed chat with Jackie.

Then I'm going to garden and sow seeds.  I want to get the tomatoes started off and I think I'll start the mange tout off in little pots as well.  I now have three baby cucumber plantlets and eleven sweet pea shoots so it's all most enjoyable.  

Then it is my weekly chat with Dad and after that I reckon I will be done for the day so reading, knitting and telly are on the agenda.

No Beth today but she'll be back over tomorrow and we are tackling my smallest bedroom that used to be her workroom.  I'm really not sure what it will end up as - not a bedroom, that's for sure.  Maybe a sewing room - that would be fab.  Once it's cleared of all Beth's stuff, I will have a proper think.

So today is going to be fun and I'd better get started!  Have a great day too.  xx