I’ve made a start on digging out, and sieving, compost from the plastic Composter bin. Yesterday morning was overcast but dry and I dug out two builder’s bucket worth, approx 25 litres in total, which I put into an empty compost bag. I won’t spread it over the plot but will use it as and when I plant or sow things. For instance I’ll put a handful or two in each seed potato planting hole before backfilling them.
This morning I went to the horticultural society trading shed to get onion sets Sturon and seed potatoes. This year I’ll be growing first early potatoes Pentland Javelin, second early Charlotte (my favourite variety) and another second early Kestrel. The later is instead of a maincop variety such as Desiree or Picasso. I’ll be putting them in egg boxes on the windowsill in the spare room to chit for the next month or so. That gives me plenty of time to prepare the ground for planting out.
Today’s picture from the archives shows white cosmos in July 2021.

The weather forecast is looking good for next week so hopefully I’ll be doing plenty of plotting.
Have a good week, and take care!
Yesterday the weather was dull again and cold with the feels like temperature just reaching 0 C / 32 F. Looking ahead to the weekend and into next week it looks like the temperature will reach a balmy 13 C / 55 F, but remaining mostly dull and, hopefully, not much rain.
I wasn’t going to start sowing anything in pots until next month but both English Daisy (Bellis perennis) and Mountain Daisy Avalanche (Arenaria montana) seeds can be sown from January onwards.






I also had a quick look round the site and saw lots of these crocus spread across one of the grass paths and part of an untended plot.



I went to the plot last week was Tuesday, after lunch, when I actually did some plotting for an hour or so. I removed all the dead stems from the the blackberry bush, which is one of the few jobs where I wear heavy duty gardening gloves. When I do get to dig out the compost from the Composter I’ll put most of it under and around the bush, where it will be out of the way until I need to use it.
I like dark-centred lemon yellow sunflowers but have never grown many as they’re mostly tall varieties. However I’ve found Garden Statement, a semi-double variety which only grows to around 30 in / 80 cm so should go well with the Music Box ones I’ll be growing.
I normally receive copies of the new 