How to make a bottle cloche

 We were told, here in Oxford, that there would be a -4 frost. So I went down to my plot to protect my crops form this frost.

I was mainly concerned about my apple blossom. So I covered the trees with netting. They are all small trees, so I could do that.

I have tomatoes growing in my polly tunnel, so I put plastic bottles over them.

Large large plastic bottles are very good to use to protect seedlings and young plants from   early spring frost, as well as damage from pest.

To make a bottle cloche carefully cut off the bottom of the bottle, then place the plastic tube over the plant, pushing it gently in the soil. Put a short cane in the top and push it into the ground to help hold the bottle in place and stop it blowing away.

What I am doing on my plot

Not a lot really, keeping the weeds down, trapping rats. I caught three this week and watering.

I have also spend a lot of my time up at the local hospital. A family member has been ill and we have sat up there for hours.

As far as I am concerned, the NHS is the best. The staff are so caring, day or night.

The UK government, to their shame, treat the NHS staff, as less then human.

There are two doctors who have an allotment near mine and as they have so little time, I try to help them when I can. I feel that is the least that I can do, as a sort of pay back..

Thoughts while working

I am disgusted at people who are moaning about another UK election. People died for the right to vote. 

Lets get on with it.

Salads

It is time to turn your mind to salads. There is so much more to salads then just lettuce leaves. You can add flavor and crunch with colorful extras and now is the right time to make a start.Get Sowing

I do not know if you have been to the city Granada where you will find  the Alhambra. It dates back to time when the Moors controlled Spain and inside this palace is a mosque whose walls are so ornately carved that if you were to try absorb them in a single glance, you will inevitably fail. You have no choice but to study the details instead.

And so it is with God. You try to see God all at once and you will not succeed.

The only way to see God is to focus on details knowing that you cannot see God as a whole.You cannot grasp the vast complexity of those thousands of fragments of God. 

How to grow potatoes in a bag:

To my mind, to day is a very sad day. Wednesday 29th of March; The day the UK starts to leave the EU.

How we can say we will be better off outside the biggest market in the world, is beyond me.

We must just wait and see.

I do not know if you have every tried to grow potatoes in bags or bins. It is a fun way to grow them.

I do it every year, the reason is that my plot is on the banks of the Thames and we some times get floods. So by growing potatoes in big pots I can put them on my bench which is four feet above the ground and well away from any flood water.

1. I find that early varieties work best. It is best to chit your potatoes, you do this by standing the tubers upright in a tray somewhere war and light. After a couple of weeks you should have small shoots on them.
2. I then third fill a potato planter bag or bin with compost. Put in 4-5 chitted potatoes and cover them with compost to a depth of three ore four inches. The place the pot in a warm bright spot.
3. When the plants start to grow, cover the plants until the bag is full.
4. This is the important bit; keep watering the bag/pot and harvest when the flowers have died back.

What I am doing in my garden:

Early Spring, to my mind is always so full of promise. Get busy planting, growing and caring for your crop.

It does not matter what other people are growing, only grow what you are going to eat.

I have Tomatoes, rhubarb, potatoes,beans,cabbage,salads,mint,basil,parsley, on the go at the moment. I am cutting my grass and weeding my beds

What I am thinking about while digging 

And note that some who despised now will be greatly honored then; and some who are greatly honored now will be despised then Luke 30.13

Does this mean that the people on the edge of society might well be the center and the people in houses will be on the circumference?