Spring has Sprung

Spring is finally here in South Yorkshire! I've been visiting the allotment almost every day, trying to get as much digging finished as possible before the last frosts in May. I'm certainly getting there, only got a few more beds to dig now and I've had wood and aluminium covering the ground to kill the grass and weeds off so it's easier to dig.

Pond and wildflower area

Still plenty of raking to do!

It's getting there...slowly

I've sown the wildflower seeds next to the little pond; this year I've covered them with a little polytunnel to stop the birds eating most of them. Last year I had plenty of cornflowers grow but not much else - I'd love lots of poppies this year.

The greenhouse - looking a little worse for wear after the Autumn storms

 

Some of the flowers in the bulb border. The hyacinths smell gorgeous - 15 in total.

The bulbs are looking gorgeous. The tulips are yet to flower, and the little snakes-head fritillaries are slowly pushing their way out of the soil at the front. I'm going to edge this border off with bricks, to try and stop the grass creeping back, and also to make it look a little neater.

 

 

The sweet peas and "eating" peas (as I call them) are germinating in the greenhouse. I have planted loads of each, as peas are my favourite veg - the only veg I will eat willingly - and I can never get enough of the smell of sweet pea flowers.

However, the Mouse War has begun again, as like last year. Last spring, I rather naively left all my seedtrays of peas on the greenhouse floor. Within a matter of days, every single one had been dug up and eaten. So this year, I placed my pea seeds into the horticultural equivalent of Fort Knox. As you can see, nearly every one has germinated. My sunflower, sweetcorn and, most gut-wrenchingly, my dahlia seeds, were left to fend for themselves on the floor this time and the mouse has decided to snack on those instead.

So it is now gloves off. I've replanted my seeds and dug out every available piece of wire grid and netting I can find lying around on the plot, and created barriers no scheming little mouse can cross. It seems to have worked so far; but just to ensure the fellow doesn't get hungry enough to find a way past my defences, I've left a little peace offering:

Dried mealworm bait

 

Dried mealworms are on the menu tonight; the peanuts went down well earlier this week too.

Natalie 1: Mouse 1.