Spring into action

Saturday night's temperature was sub-zero in Edinburgh. Having made the investment in a Max-Min therometer for my shed I lowered my guard and missed the forecast. The temperature just touched zero in the shed. I have the evidence! A close shave. But I'm still itching to get going and the rhubarb tells me spring is on the way. So on Sunday I planted my first row of early potatoes (Yes the 'heritage' Ballydoon). They will be protected in their trench with some compost and by the time they emerge above soil level (I'm trusting) the frosts will have passed.

Here's the trench:



The blue bag contains the compost, transported from home and made from vegetable kitchen scraps over the last year.

And here they are with their dressing of compost getting tucked in.



You'll notice that the ground they are going in hasn't been weeded first, but is simply turned in on top of the spuds, grass and all. I don't believe making life hard for myself, so have concetrated my weeding efforts on other areas knowing that the area for potatoes is turned over as part of the planting process. By the time the weeds get going again they will be disrupted by the mounding process, and thereafter they'll get supressed by the canpy of potatoe plants - So no need for nasty chemical weedkillers.

I've only planted one row, considering the frost risk, but will work my way across the patch in the next few weekends.