October at the Gardening Club

Gardening Club's started back - yay! - with 15 new children and two old hands who are going to be my helpers (only they don't know that yet).

The first session was on Monday (which strictly speaking was September) and it went really well. Sometimes I try to work out why and this is what I came up with today - I was not tired (must remember to go to bed early on Sunday evenings), my head feels clearer with my youngest at playgroup two mornings a week (such luxury, time) and I just feel more confident.

So what's new this term? A flower bed Hubby very kindly dug for me. I had to get him to bring a very heavy bag of well rotted manure for me at the weekend so I thought while he was there....I was supervising (of course).

A new herb bed is also under way. More work needs to be done here but there's no rush. And we have a grow house (hooray!). This will make a huge difference.

I'm particularly pleased with this because I managed to find a replacement cover for less than a tenner to go over my old frame. What I would really like is a polytunnel like Dominic Murphy who manages to squeeze his club in when it's wet but we don't have the space or funds and they look quite ugly. As it stands during wet weather we can't do anything because the whole school is inside and there's no room for us. So pray for a dry autumn, winter and spring.

My plans for the coming weeks include planting daffodil bulbs (in the new flower bed) along with some bulbs I picked up for ten pence, sowing sweet pea seeds, starting off hyacinth bulbs, planting garlic and some overwintering shallots, clearing the runner bean bed, laying the manure and covering with newspaper and cardboard and, I think, sowing some green manure in the other bed. The third one will contain all our winter stuff.

And while that sounds a lot I know from experience that 15 children can whip through the planned activities rather quickly. Still, it is all looking good.