Cleaning and organising the flat progresses at a snail's pace but it is progressing. I'm just about done washing the giant stash of plant pots. I've got a handy box to store them all in because they'll be useful next year when I have my greenhouse set up on the allotment and I can start lots of flowers and edible foodstuff early under glass!

I've reclaimed the kitchen, bathroom and landing/stairs from encroaching chaos and thrown a whole load more paperwork away but still not quite finished the bedroom.

I may have indulged myself over the weekend and watched a lot of terrible movies (alas not even so terrible they were good). I also spent some time reading up on what I want to do on the allotment - both in terms of crops, ground preparation and some useful bits and pieces I want to make.

I spent an hour on the big plot over the weekend (it was chilly!) weeding the fruit beds. The currants are all bursting into bud, and the raspberries - which I planted last year - are coming back to life having done nothing at all in 2020 and the charries and apples are slowly waking up. Blossom should be on both in April.

My delivery from Pennards Plants arrived and I may have had a moment of weakness in the garden centre. So I also planted out a goji berry (which should scramble along the bottom fence at the big allotment) and a scrambling vigorous thornless blackberry (imaginatively named Thornless) which again will hopefully grow along the fence. Also in the Pennards delivery were two compact blackberries - Waldo and Triple Crown both of which are thornless and supposed to be compact and heavy croppers.

Two of the other fruit bushes I planted last year have survived (one is going great guns and I need to get an obelisk for it to climb up) - I think they might be a tayberry and a loganberry or may be a boysenberry (need to find last year's planting plan). And my lovely pal Rob has given me another tiny wee tayberry to grow on.

Today (Monday) was gloriously sunny and warm so I had a couple of hours this afternoon on my smaller, very overgrown plot. I successfully weeded around the red and black currants (which were incredibly productive last year) and the honeyberry. Also my rhubarb looks magnificent (and has been weeded too). May harvest a few stems this weekend and make some rhubarb and apple crumble. Yum! The strawberry patch has mostly survived neglect and I've uncovered most of it from a light covering of weeds. It needs properly weeding this week and any gaps need filling. Finally I cut back a lot of the brambles from the front of the small plot.

The plan for this week is to spend tomorrow on the small plot - hopefully finishing the strawberry bed and sorting out the herb bed. Other tasks to be done at the weekend or next week - I need to find my charger for the strimmer so I can also strim the front part of the small plot and then there'll be some heavy digging getting rid of bramble roots.

Thursday I hope to spend on the big plot - stacking up rubbish and maybe getting rid of some of it, planting the ramsons (wild garlic), iberian comfrey and repotting the blueberries. I may also start digging the hole for the pond. Pennards also delivered my colourful seed potatoes - Vitelotte Noir (purple skin and flesh), Salad Blue (blue skin and flesh), Lily Rose (red skin and flesh) and Purple Rain (purple skin and flesh) because purple and blue mash or salad potatoes is freakishly cool. So I need to sort out my potato bags and get them planted. And there are mashua, yacon and oca tubers to start off inside and then plant out in May.

In the evenings - assuming I have any energy left - I will crack on with sorting the flat! This entry was originally posted at https://ruric.dreamwidth.org/764706.html.