Sowing carrots and Parsnips today .

I think we were all hoping that it was going to be another gloriously warm and sunny day like yesterday ....I put on my sun hat yesterday ! Well it was still quite mild today , a little overcast and just a touch of mizzle in the afternoon  .
 I cleared away the top layer of mulch on this vegetable bed that hadn,'t completely broken down . Underneath however the worms were plenty and busy doing a wonderful job and as you can see in the picture below , the earth is beautiful , rich and crumbly .
 By the way before I start ..I must say that I,m in the far South West of Cornwall , we can sow earlier than other parts of the U.K. So please check planting times for your area before sowing your seeds !

 I made shallow drills ,  this picture makes the drills look much deeper than they actually are  ... I sowed the Parsnips about 1/2 inch and the Carrots about 1/4 inch .

I made two little pathways with cardboard and fine wood-chips , so that I will be able to walk in , thin and weed between them.

 Threw a sheet of fleece over them , weighed down with bricks and heavy sticks.

      Last year my carrots didn't come up at all ...and I think the seeds were bad .
I did make a second sowing , but by then I ran out of space and didn't get very many in the end . Some you win , some you lose ....but we mustn't give up ! Fingers crossed for this batch !

We haven't quite decided how to do the gate into the vegetable garden . At the moment it is just chicken-wire . Our poor old Jack Russel tried to run through as she always usually did and hit the chicken-wire ..she was o.k. just a bit ..well ...surprised !  So I fixed on that ring in the middle of it to slow her down .  I also fell over it....you just can't see that it's there ..but then I always was falling over the chicken wire . No trouble getting one leg over it , the other foot not quite making it !
 This new fully encircled vegetable garden has such a different feel about it ...and I shouldn't fall over while stepping into or out of the individual beds anymore .

I threw down the potatoes and covered with hay .The "Ruth Stout Method" As the potatoes grow up through the hay , I will simply cover with more hay and when it is time to harvest ..the idea is that I simply pull the hay/straw aside and the Potatoes should just be there for hand picking off the ground .
 I love this idea and if it works , I will grow more Potatoes next year .

I took a peek at my Acorns to see if any might be coming up yet ..can you see anything there  ?

         Hang on .....what's this  ? Little red shoot !  Aah......maybe !

                                    The first batch of Sweet-peas are up !

                          The shed is chockablock with seeds coming up !

 I have been growing this Equisetum hyemale in this old washing up bowl for quite long enough .....it is such a beautiful and interesting plant..but not one that you would want to set free in your garden ...being a terrible thug !

So we decided to line this old barrel with a piece of black pond-liner and along with a few other water plants , make more of a feature of it by our front door .
 Still not quite finished , I need to let it all settle before I cut or fold over the edges of the pond liner .

                          I love this "prehistoric " looking plant so much !