Mulching the front garden

After a busy day with the kids on Saturday, I made the most of the dry weather yesterday to empty the left-hand compost bin and mulch some of the front garden beds.  It was a cold weekend so playing with compost numbed my fingers for the first hour or so.

The contents of the bin were compacted and could have done with some turning but the right-hand bin was overflowing so I emptied the left-hand bin out and managed to mulch almost all of the two front garden beds.  When turning the right-hand bin into the left, adding 3-4 bags of Ivy clippings and 2 bags of coffee grounds, I found a couple more bags worth of fairly well-rotted material so that enabled me to complete the mulching.  It always looks great to see the dark, crumbly layer of compost in Spring.  It took 2-3 hours though will all the walking between the back and front gardens.  There is set to be a very cold couple of nights this week so I was keen to get the mulching done before that.  I set aside 2 black plant pots’ worth of compost ready for planting first early spuds next weekend.

I then sowed some seeds in the greenhouse:

The Scorpio Broad Bean was given to me a couple of years ago.  I recall they grew well last year.  There were 33 seeds of those.  22 of the Aguadulce.  I sowed them all expecting some to fail and I can easily give some away.  The Scorpio should crop later than the Aguadulce so hopefully this will extend the season.  I’d like to plant out a few at home too to try them.

The Lemon Drop were home-saved seeds.  The De Cayenne has not seemed to work for me in the past couple of years, I don’t think, so this is the last try.  The King of the North Pepper worked very well last year so I’ll replace that packet next year.

I also potted up 6 Jerusalem artichokes in the greenhouse.  I need to buy more compost…