Planting Day

It was a milky, cold sullen day but better when the sun broke through briefly. Rain came on in the late afternoon.

I planted potatoes (only Charlottes this year), onions (yellow and red), shallots and a big bag of loose broad bean seed I got from that amazing hardware shop in Hay-on-Wye last weekend.

The soil felt pretty cold and clammy and was in places compacted down hard by all that early winter rain. The garlic and autumn onions are looking pretty anemic but hopefully they will motor away once the weather warms up.

I got out the mighty smasher later and smashed my way through some sycamore logs I'd cut up last week. Sycamore splits ridiculously easily and the wood is beautifully clean when split. 

The photo is a Kentish vineyard I came across on top of the Downs above Alkham when I took a Blip-seeking diversion on my way back from an early station run to Folkestone. (They are now saying the line won't be repaired for a year!!  It's a real drag and makes The Principal's long days that much longer.)

The Bay is being prettified for Easter and the Coastguard pub renovation progresses. The council were down on the prom today pushing the storm-tossed shingle back onto the beach. They've also carted away tons and tons of mud washed down the hill over the last two winters that had collected in the car park.