A little more

Still struggling with the tail end of this cough but have managed to dig over about another 8 sq yds. It was full of old roots so was very hard work, but is now nicely raked and hopefully will be able to plant some spring onions, radishes and parsnips in the next couple of days.

Checked the potatoes to see how the chitting is going and I think we'll get them in by the weekend.

No sign of anything else coming up yet, but more and more of the onions are getting going.

Still have to finish the path, but need to get on my bike again because I've been virtually inactive for three weeks. Not enough hours in the day, although there would be if I didn't have to work.

Return of the blogger

While I have endured my forced absence from the garden some of the onion sets have started to shoot. It's very exciting because it's our first sign of new growth.

I am finally getting over this hideous cold/cough thing. Eventually had to go to the doctor's and found out I had a chest infection, so have been on antibiotics for a week.

Updates to the blog will continue now we can get back to doing stuff again, although Denise tells me I am to take it easy. Perhaps I'll be able to do some cycling an golf too.

By the way did I mention Norwich City's promotion?

The cold from hell

This cold is seriously getting me down. I will be buying shares in Kleenex tomorrow.
Denise has managed to keep things moving though. She has been busy continuing to dismantle the ornamental wall and moving soil down the garden from the wall, She also sowed the pepper seeds (six in the packet - Unwins catalogue says ten).
The birds have taken to throwing some of our onion sets around as I was warned they would. I have replaced them in the hope that not too much damage was done.
On a brighter note Lowestoft Town were crowned Rymans League Division One (North) champions yesterday after an impressive 5-1 home win in front of over 1100 spectators. Two championships in a row and three more steps to the Football League. Off to watch the Masters golf now. Hopefully Lee Westwood will give us a British victory.

Slow progress

My cold is having a serious effect on this project. I want to go to sleep for about an hour every time I do fifteen minutes work.

We've managed to get some sand onto the pathway ready for laying the bricks, although we do need a bit more. Also moved some of the soil from the old ornamental wall into the hollow that was the pond.

Leek seeds have gone in today. There were forty seeds in the packet, but I noticed the Unwins catalogue said fifty to a packet. I compared contents of the parsnip seed packet with the catalogue, and the story is much worse. When I feel better I will investigate further and write to them.

While sowing leek seeds today it occured to me that we might not have enough room for everything we've bought. Time will tell, but we may have to reduce the amount of planting for some things. I'm not sure we'll really need 500 parsnips (assuming they all germinate).

New planting

Onion sets and a row of asparagus. At least part of the garden looks tidy. Also a picture of a springlike corner.

Why is it that it doesn't matter how many times I preview and move text it never appers on the blog where I put it?

What a state!

We used to have lovely shrubs and a pond here, but at least the new shed looks nice. unlike the remainder of the wall we've been using for hardcore. Some more of it has been used since I took this picture.

Potatoes

I think I know how to help deal with the whole lack of time, lack of topsoil to fill the pond problem.

I'll get the area where the pond was as flat and tidy as possible and plant the potatoes in there. I can buy topsoil in small quantities to 'earth up' the potatoes as they grow and then worry about getting the whole garden level during next winter.

This is a bit of an experimental year after all.

Where are we now?

Today I managed to plant a row of eight asparagus crowns and three rows of onion sets. That's the good news. Bad news is that.......

1. We still don't have enough topsoil to fill the pond and get the garden level.
2. We have a path dug out that has some hardcore in, and we have some bags of sand to put on top of the hardcore
3. We have some bricks to lay to make the path, but probably not enough.
4. We have a half demolished decorative wall at the top of the garden that we've been using for hardcore. this now needs finishing off.
5. Our top shed, which was going to be replaced at the end of the summer is rapidly giving up the ghost and will need replacing as soon as possible.
6. I seem to be developing a cold.
7. The bathroom needs completely re-decorating!!!

Time is against us, but I expect we'll muddle through.

Why?

A few months ago we (Denise and I) decided that it would be a good idea to grow our own veg. With retirement not too many years down the road, now seemed a good time to start. We would after all be experts by the time we are retired and be able to save pots of money by growing our own.

To make room for this the secret garden and wildlife pond would have to go, which was a pity in some ways, but would have the benefit of not having to keep our grandchildren from drowning in the pond. The rickety old shed would also have to go and be replaced by a new one.

In typical fashion this all took a bit of a while to get going, but we now have a lovely new shed and having paid someone to clear away all the hedges we have a large area to grow stuff in. Removing the pond was fun. I made holes in the liner with a fork and then removed lots of smelly, gloopy mud.

About three weeks ago we ordered loads of seed, some seed potatoes, onion sets and asparagus crowns. It's now a race against time to get them all in.

All this is set against a backdrop of trying to get the interior of the house in order. Two days ago I finally managed to put the new sideboard together and Denise is now busy re-arranging all the cupboards. Bad news is that I'll probably never find anything again. Good news is we have somewhere to store all the alcoholic drinks together.