A Long Winter Break

No, I haven't given up blogging, there has just been very little allotment-related activity going on, and my mind hasn't really been on vegetable growing since the bad weather set in all those weeks ago. The only thing I have done is to re-roof the shelter with felt shingles left over from our garden office. The flimsy corrugated plastic blew off in the gales a couple of days after fixing it on. Lesson learned. I still need to fix some braces to the back and sides (it's a bit wobbly) and I might fix some of those willow hurdles onto the back and sides to keep out the worst of the weather. But the water butt is now full and will probably soon be overflowing.

These are the broad beans I put in last October/November, and they have come through the cold, snowy spell pretty well I think. I am going to sow some more in March, and I will probably do a few in pots during February as well. I want loads of broad beans, they are very popular in our family and they freeze very well too.

The garlic hasn't minded the cold either, and the onions (left side of picture) have grown noticeably during the last few mild days.

Now that the veg-related parts of my brain are coming out of dormancy, and the sap is rising (so to speak) I am starting to feel impatient to get going again. I haven't ordered any seeds yet, I'm going to wait and see whether Thompson and Morgan start sending me vouchers and offers like they did last year. In a couple of week's time I will be going off to choose my seed potatoes, and I have asked the kitchens at work for some of their empty egg trays, as I suddenly realise I have failed to save any egg boxes for chitting in.

While I haven't been giving much thought to veg, I have been getting quite excited about my new flower-growing project, and have spent quite a bit of time over the winter poring over flower seed catalogues, and learning about the technicalities of caring for cut flowers, from some books I got for Christmas. So - now  I'm raring to go, just need the rain and wind and snow to go away so I can get down there and start digging!