Early Witer bits and bobs.

[Monika]

I spent more than an hour on the allotment this morning and was pleasantly surprised that the ground was quite diggable. Harvested the last two parsnips (they were starting to sprout greenery) and then dug that bed and spread the last compost.
The overwintering onions, shallots and garlic are all showing well and are still covered with wire mesh to guard against the birds pulling them out.
With our village show starting a class for the heaviest onion this year, I have sown a few onions (Arthur) in the house and will nurture and feed them like mad, but I don't suppose I stand a chance against the really keen and knowledgeable competitors!

[robo]

My granddaughter and myself had a couple of hours down the plot today, we planted the last of the onions the rest were planted in autumn and the shallots, did a bit of cleaning up dug the last lot of late spuds picked some kale and purple broccoli and let her take 6 of the 8 eggs our girls laid as well as buying her some cake on the way home it was a great afternoon she is only 11 years old but she gets stuck in

[PLUMPUDDING]

Rain, sleet and snow today with a little sunshine and it is blowing a gale again. Not really gardening weather!

Oh and numerous hail storms.

[oldherbaceous]

I've just finished doing a little fencing job, and having the same sort of weather as Pumpudding, it made it very hard work....

But i do like a challenge.

[robo]

The winds been howling all day with rain and hailstone,i spent yesterday making a strawberry barrell out of a plastic 40 gallon drum im quite happy with the result i did intend taking it the plot and filling it today but not a chance i cleaned the chickens out and collected the eggs then home spent the afternoon reading while listening to the wind howling around the conservatory

[PLUMPUDDING]

Shouldn't it be in the bleak mid winter bits and bobs? We've had another 8inches of snow last night and this morning and another blizzard just starting.

The lettuce look good in the greenhouse (lidl's live lettuce mix from the salad counter) they've been in a few weeks, planted in clumps of three or four.

I've also brought the lime and the grapefruit into the conservatory to clean them up a bit while the greenhouse is a bit on the cold side for them. They look very scruffy with black mould and lurking scale insects so need a little t.l.c. Has anyone any tips on a quick way to get rid of scale insects? The cotton bud and white spirit takes forever and I keep getting stabbed on the spikes.

[Monika]

Yes, it sure looks like 'bleak mid winter' here. This afternoon the sun came out for a short while just after we had had another hefty snow shower, brilliant. I love snowball fights but couldn't find anybody to spar with - my OH thought I must be mad!

Brushed the thick snow off the greenhouse this morning to take the weight off and it was then replaced with an even thicker layer which I have left on for insulation. More snow to come overnight, they say.

[peter]

We have a light dusting on verges, grassy areas and some car roofs.

[Motherwoman]

Just cold rain down here. Watched the dark clouds over the mainland when I was on the northern half of the island yesterday, very dramatic. Then watched the rain work it's way across the Solent in a grey wall until the mainland disappeared.

MW

[Shallot Man]

Woke up to the first snow of the season.

[peter]

3" sticky snow here, melting fast.

[peter]

Cold and crunchy here, especially the remains of yesterday's snow.
All rugby matches cancelled due to unplayable pitches.

[Clive.]

I caught this photo of the sunset as I was about to leave work a couple of days ago.....it had just stopped snowing, a quick but quite heavy shower.

A few snow flurries today as I came back from Skegness this morning...minus a wisdom tooth.... I decided to stick with NHS and Oasis healthcare rather than entrusting it to the Old H' school of denistry....tow it out with Kubota tractor or some such.

Clive.

[oldherbaceous]

Afternoon Clive, hope the jaw isn't too sore.....it probably got extracted a bit quicker than my battles, but probably not quite so memorable.

Lovely photograph.

Snow, sleet and rain here this morning, so not as many of the outdoor jobs done as i would have liked.

[peter]

Many years ago I found a miniature nissen hit for my predecessor as site agent. It aided him to downsize by getting a shed on his smaller plot. Which was subsequently split into quarter plots. The subsequent tenant of the quarter with the shed has given up the plot. So today, needing a shed, I retrieved "my" nissen hut. Rounded long side top corners make it relatively easy to drag over grass (original installation) or snow(retrieval) just got to do some shed installation now. All done in yucky cold sleet shower, back indoors now.