Footstep 45: Voting day

Voting day is always quite exciting, for me, anyway.  Oh, dear, this is probably a comment on my very interesting life.  No seriously, I go early to get it over and done with, and hate queueing, so go early enough not to queue.  One meets the most interesting people with the most interesting points of view.  Being me, I usually manage to engage someone nearby and we chat away until it is our turn, and then go our separate ways.

I started with a photograph of the potato bush in my back garden:

Potato Bush

This is one of the reasons why I so love this time of year.  We get these gentle balmy days with no wind and little rain.  The sun shines, but does not beat down as it does in February.  The soil remains moist and the plants green up and swell out.  And some, like the Potato Bush, come into flower, oh, so, prolifically!

I used the day wisely.  The boxes have received their final coat of bitumen on the outside.  They will now stand for a week to let the bitumen finally set.  Then I will turn them over and start with the bitumen on the inside.

I also planted out the last of the shallots.  I have a group planting in a pot in the back garden.  I have planted up two boxes in the front garden, and some with the garlic chives and some in a pretty pot, also in the front garden.  There are two in the 'big' garden - in other words, not in a pot.  I want to see how well they do in the different environments, so that I know how best to plant them next year.  These have been a major success.  The first ones that I planted have swelled out and are looking very fat and happy.

I also note that now that the mustard has gone, the bugs have migrated to my peas and beans!  Horror!  I sprayed them with a soap spray and will check them tomorrow.  I also put in some marigold seed.  Apparently these are major insect deterrents, and also disinfect the soil.  It is a bit late to stop the current bug infestation, as the first calendula flowers from these seeds are at least two months away.  Again, it is a learning curve.  This time next year, I will be so much better equipped in terms of experience.  Also, the boxes will be ready, which will give me 32 mini-plots [32 square feet over the two boxes], to grow more volume and more variety.  I have already planned out what will go where, but more of that later, when we get there.

At last, I planted up the vertical garden.  I have put baby spinach in, as they have, I hope, a short rooting system.  The soil took ages to prepare, as I used some of the existing soil which is impermeable, so had to doctor it to absorb water before putting the plants in.

I have not taken pictures of the new plantings, as from experience, this is very boring.  I mean, who wants to look at pictures of sand?  Once the plants start to emerge, I will photograph them.