January...well, there must be life somewhere...

So...whats hiding under the earth then?? In the top picture you can see a pile of leaves and straw..."Ah" you say "A small compost heap or maybe you're getting ready for a bonfire." Nope! Under that pile grows (I hope) two forced rhubarb plants. My first time so who knows whats going on under there! I covered each plant with a bucket then stacked straw (from the horses stables, so there is poo in it as well) and raked leaves over them. In theory it should be warm and dark and by March/ April we should have some pale sticks to cook and sell.
We'll see what spring brings.




The second pick is a rather uninteresting study of two plastic troughs and some straw. Nestled a few inches below straw and compost sleep 2 heads of garlic (right) and 4 Jerusalem artichokes (left).




And my lonely cooking apple tree....Last year he yielded 2 apples ( it would have been 3 but an over enthusiastic child picked it!), enough for a very tasty, if a bit small, crumble. He's sleeping now and has been trimmed back so fingers crossed for a more abundant crop next autumn.



Here you can see the trough I plan to turn into a mini hot bed. Hot beds are made by filling a vessel with horse poo and straw and compacting it down, then covering with a layer of compost and finally a glass lid like a cold frame. The idea is that the poo generates enough heat to enable seeds to grow earlier than they would outside or in an unheated greenhouse. They where very popular with the Victorians and as we live so far north it will be very interesting to see how it goes.