30 Tiny Moments: #26

26 April 2008

Having drawn my floury lines last night, I headed back to my patch today to actually put seed to soil. I thought I was leaving things late, but I’m actually a week ahead compared to last year. I still ain’t early though. I’ve planted a double row of broad beans by the fence, leaving a little under half the space there empty for a second sowing later on. Then come two rows of potatoes. I had my camera outside with me, ready to record every step like last year. However, much as a mother is far more lackadaisical with her second child, allowing it to drink from the toilet and not even unwrapping the “Baby’s First Year” album, my left hand row of spuds were already in the ground and covered in compost before I remembered to photograph them. And as for knowing how many broad bean plants and potato haulms to expect this year? Pfft, not sure really. I didn’t remember to give them individual markers, so going by the measurements I thought to take once all the seeds were in the ground and covered, my records show “22ish broad beans” and “13/14 potatoes”.

I’ve sown a row of carrots and, though I’ve bought the onion sets, they’re not in the ground yet. Their area needs tickling with the fork again before the sets are nestled into the soil, ready for the birds to pull them out, and I just didn’t have the energy. The sweetcorn seeds have also been bought – a different variety from last year, so they’d better be good, dammit – but don’t need sowing until sometime in May.

The day also left its mark on me in the form of a tiny puncture wound on my forehead. Looking for a certain brick under the hedge for Dad (he wanted one, it wasn’t that I was going to lob it at him) I managed to carefully lance my head on a thorn. I don’t know what it is about that hedge and its need to poke itself into bits of me.

Click on the photo above for more of today’s veggie action.