Itching to get going

Last weekend was a bit of a waste of time weather wise but I did manage to fill my long carrot bed so that is now ready for boring and sowing the seeds in April. As I've already said I intend to get 24 long carrots in this structure and the extra wooden panel gives me an extra 8" of length, about 5' 6" in total, more than enough to compete on length for now. Here is is complete with the wooden frame clad with a mix of polythene and enviromesh to keep the carrot fly out.

I also set up these drums on a wooden framework similar to the set up that I did for my parsnips and I am now in the process of filling these with sand from my stump carrot bed. Giving my long roots the extra height has meant finding extra sand and so I shall be taking this from my stump bed further up the garden. This means my stumps will get nice clean sand to grow in this season, and means I will only have to barrow it halfway down the garden when it is delivered by the builder's merchant. Logistics you see! I shall try and get 6 bore holes in each drum, giving me a total of 42 long carrots to go with my 35 parsnips.

I set up three long carrots for seed a few months ago. They were given to me by Charles Cooper, and were his winning set at Derby Show. Two rotted off in the last few weeks but one appears to be going strong still so i'm hopeful of getting some seed off this later this year. I've never done this before so any advice about what to do next will be gratefully received.

My shallots are ticking along nicely and are starting to show strong green tops. A couple appear to be rotting but I still have over 30, which if they all split into 4 will still give me over 120 potential bulbs to select for showing. I split down to 4 per cluster last season in May but I may yet decide to split half down to 3 and see if it gives me bigger, better shaped shallots. Dave Thornton is adamant he splits down to 4 but I don't believe him !

A few are slow to send up green shoots but if you tug them sideways the resistance should tell you that they are well rooted and all is well.

And finally I did manage to get a couple of my veg beds dug over. When I first started veg gardening these beds were the extent of the culinary garden. Four beds made from slabs on edge allowing me to rotate on a four year plan.The middle two beds were for spuds. As i've needed more land i've progressed up the garden for growing things like spuds, runner beans and peas, and further down my garden for the long roots. These beds looked quite smart when I first made them but they're showing their age now.....a bit like me. Comments not required or welcomed!