planting

 This is the planting season.  A bit later this year because of all the weather, but Richard has been really busy this last week (I managed to do my back in trying to move the shredder, but I'll be weeding again soon)

Broad beans survived the winter reasonably well, though we lost about a third of them.  A new double row of seeds has been planted now to give a succession when they crop.  I love broad beans - they are one of the veg that really justify growing your own.  I never knew that fresh broad beans had a scent until we had an allotment.

Manure has been spread all round the fruit bushes and almost everywhere except where the brassicas will go.  Cabbages and their relatives do not like freshly manured soil - they prefer things a little more alkaline.

The propagator and our mini-planthouse are working overtime.  The peas are all up and being hardened off prior to planting out.  If you start things off in the warm, then you need to introduce them to the real world gradually - otherwise they're liable to die of shock if you take them straight from a warm greenhouse and plunge them into the cold soil.  Put them outside during the day first to get used to the idea.  It will also make them harden their stems (to resist the wind) and become a little less of an easy target for slugs.

Cabbage, lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli seedlings are emerging.  Our luck with cabbages is usually dreadful as we have clubroot.  We're trying a resistant variety this year.  Fortunately PSB (purple sprouting broccoli) is the one brassica that is immune to clubroot.

Squashes and courgettes are growing on the bedroom windowsill - they won't go outside for a while yet as they are tender plants.

Teaching Longsword

Went into Pamphill school to teach the first of a series of  longsword sessions to a class of year 4 children.

Very glad I took my friend Paul with me.  He's a retired teacher and taught his children longsword dancing for many years.

Watching him work with the kids is a real revelation as to what training and experience can do.

He controlled over 30 children without once raising his voice and had them doing exactly what he wanted without noise or fuss.  Simple things, like making it a game to move as quietly as possible when forming their groups, or telling them to sit on the floor cross-legged with their swords across their laps making  sure their swords didn't touch the floor and make a noise.

He spent the first ten minutes just getting them to listen to the music, clap along, count to eight with the music and just developing their sense of rhythm and the patterns of 8 and 16 that the dance requires.

Lots of positive feedback to all the children.

By the end of the lesson, every group had managed the first two figures of the dance and several of the children spontaneously came up afterwards and said 'thank you'.

We're all looking forward to next week.