Gardening jobs done over the Easter bank holiday weekend

True to form it was certainly chilly for the Bank Holiday weekend but the worst of the weather never reached me down in the south-east and I was able to get a few things done out on the plot. 

I have planted out three rows of the Leek seedlings into the raised bed to be used for veg this year. As I am trying to stay off the soil as much as possible a scaffold plank is laid across the bed which I crawl along slowly and surely. Whilst balancing on my board I quite simply poke a hole every six inches with a piece of bamboo cane, marked at six inch depth so each hole is roughly the same depth and width apart, and drop the seedling into that hole, very gently working the soil back in around the seedling. I do this for the entire row before then watering in well to settle the soil. It is a somewhat time consuming job but once you are focused in on it it is a pleasant little task and the rows look like a proper veg patch all the seedlings in a line straight as a die.

I have talked of the Runner Bean seedlings before and they really are going well in their pots in the Greenhouse at the moment. I got to work and added some compost from the compost bins as well as some blood, fish and bone and chicken manure pellets to the bed they will be planted into and cobbled together  the three bamboo cane wigwams that they will grow-up over the coming months. That bed is now ready to go as soon as the seedlings are and the weather permits. I suppose I shouldn't call it a cane wigwam as in fact it resembles the Teepee rather than the Wigwam so my apologies to any Native Americans who may have stumbled across the blog, no offence meant. 

With the temperatures getting pretty cold of a night still I have sowed the first batch of the Sonesta Dwarf French Beans in pots and those currently reside on a sunny back bedroom windowsill. All being well they should germinate quite quickly and will be grown on before being planted out. As yet there is no sign of the Amethyst Dwarf French Beans, the purple variety, popping their heads up on the patch where I direct sowed a row a while back; I am beginning to worry the cold nights may have done for them. I will give them a few days yet but may have to begin at the beginning and either re-sow the row or sow into pots as well and get them going indoors. 

Various tools were cleaned, as I mentioned I probably would in last weeks post, and all in all a few productive and enjoyable hours were had pottering about on the plot. The forecast remains quite pleasant in the daytime but cold enough overnight so I will have to sit on my hands a bit when it comes to some of the jobs I want to get done. 

Cheers 🍺