England expects

For once southern and middle England are getting the worst of the British weather. On the day Scotland finally shook off their allergy to the try line, I attempted to re-commence the sand emptying for my parsnip drums yesterday but was met with a loud clang as my metal scoop met rock-solid frozen resistance. Therefore I will just have to hope that a thaw comes soon and I can get the task completed this coming weekend as I really need to give the sand time to settle and level. As I mentioned in a recent post it will sink over a couple of weeks and this photo shows just how much, as the sand in the one drum I did manage to get completed a couple of weeks ago has sunk this much from actually being heaped above the top of the drum. I need to get the rest done quickly so that I can top them up before hole boring and seed sowing in March.

I have made some deep wooden 'spacers' which I have lined in heavy duty plastic (old compost bags turned inside out) and which should therefore last several years. Last year I had shallower spacers which did the job but they developed some strange fungi growing out of them towards the end of the season as the rotting process commenced. This way I've given myself an extra few inches of potential root length and taken steps to keep them dry and stop this happening.

My shallots are at virtual standstill in the current big freeze, being as they are in a cold greenhouse with absolutely no heating. But shallots really don't mind and as soon as we get a thaw and some sunshine they'll be away. Although there is very little in the way of green tops I know they are all well rooted as a tug on the necks of some meets firm resistance.

And finally my thanks to Harry Redknapp who has given me the name of a very good lawyer in my fight against HMRC. To show that every cloud has a silver lining Harry is now favourite to become the new England footy boss although apparently Gary Glitter has now thrown his hat into the ring after finding out that two of England's players are called Young and Bent. In a surprise move Dan Unsworth and Paul Bastow are also considering applying by forming a coalition of football bosses along with their northern pals Ben Twilly, Len Tover and Doug McCockin.