This and that!

Today it was warmer than of late and my back was not too bad so I decided to make a start on the beds ready for this year. I love the concept of Square Foot Gardening, and have been doing just two beds by this method for a year or two, but have decided to go for it with all the beds this year. There are just two of us most of the time, so small quantities are required of lots of different veg, so the Sq Ft method will work for us.
This bed is marked out into 1ft squares with some bamboo poles that I now don't use as I have the arches.
 
I gave it another dig over and removed the cat droppings, then covered it in net to stop further infestation!
In the back of the picture is the bed that was the strawberry bed last year. I will convert that to Sq Ft tomorrow. I have dug out all the strawberries...they didn't do so well last year, so perhaps they are getting to the less productive stage of their lives. I saved the baby plants and planted them under the back hedge. The spot where I put them was full of ivy, stems and roots. These I threw into the dip at the back of the hedge to provide insect home type opportunities. The soil was soft and looked to be in good heart but I added a load of chicken manure pellets to make sure.
I have made other provisions for strawberries in grow-bags as explained last week, but these here will make a welcome addition. The plants should thrive in this sunny spot (south facing, with protection from the north) and the stones should help keep the roots moist.
 

I moved the rhubarb forcer over one of the crowns a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't resist a peep. The plant seems to be growing faster than the uncovered crown next to it (see last photo)....so we should have some early pink rhubarb. What a treat!
 
 

This is the other crown....the manure I helped it with last Autumn is nearly gone. I didn't pull any stems from these last year as they were new then, so I will be glad to have some stems this year; having given up the allotment with its huge bed of Timperley Early...