Getting Under Way!

We have had a lovely week weather wise, sunny days but cold & frosty nights.These photos have been taken over a few days both on the plot and at home and are not in any particular order.
Today on the allotment the onions went in, these are Sturion and there are 2 rows of shallots which we have not grown before. I paid 2.45e a lb for the onion sets in a garden centre and there are 2 lbs of them in this bed. One of my fellow plotters told me Lidl are doing a lot of garden items next week and one of them is onion sets for 1e.He got them last year and said he had great onions from them.We are doing a second onion bed so Lidl will go in there and we will be able to compare the two.
The cover is the enviromesh that covered the carrots last year, I thought it may as well earn its keep protecting the onion sets from the birds and frost.There was not enough to cover the whole bed so it will be interesting to see what if any difference it makes to cover the onions.
Some people are very organised and wash all of their pots etc in early Spring I must confess to washing only as I need them!
I have to give even more credit to Garden News here,apart from the pages of gardening information there are little snippets which I usually spot on my second or even third browsing.I had found this pot in the garden with little green shoots around the edge...looks like mint but it was not around the edge maybe they are weeds?
Said snippet,mint begins in the centre of the pot but the following year it comes up around the sides as the plant is sending out new shoots. These can be separated into single plants and repotted!
Sunday afternoon the horses in the stables are looking decidedly bored
Zwena's ducks & geese; the geese have started laying eggs amid much excitement. I had taken a photo of the first egg last Tues, I did not have my camera with me so took one with my phone and I have to confess to not having a clue about uploading from my phone!Zwena told me there were 2 more eggs and to go in and take as many photos as I wanted.
Who needs guard dogs with hissing geese & ganders?!! I stayed outside the gate, maybe they were coming over thinking they were getting food but I was taking no chances!
At home the hen area is taking shape, this is it during the week, cleared of membrane and gravel and the water butt moved around to the front.
Today, it has been extended slightly and this sleeper style timber put down to separate the hen area from the garden more to keep children out than hens in!I threw some compost and grass seed down to make it more hen friendly?!
The water butt is now ready for any rain as the gutter and piping has been extended too.
The broad beans were brought down from the windowsill during the week to harden off in the greenhouse.
Left side of the green house this evening, I had to use the flash at 5.30 pm as the light was nearly gone. From the left in the big pot are salad leaves.Next is a tray of carrots according to Terry Walton in GN.They are planted in peat pots with the bottoms cut off (quite a fiddly job)as carrots do not like root disturbance.Terry recommended and used Maestro which are resistant to carrot fly, I did not have this particular variety so I used Mr Fothergill's Amsterdam 3 Sprint which can be sown from Jan to July and harvested from April to Oct.
Next to them are Bolthardy beetroot again in peat pots but with ends intact, there are 2 seeds in each pot.

Broad beans potted on today, there are 19 plants here some quite strong some a little smaller but all had good root systems going.
Underneath in the 3 big pots are Spring onions, Terry Walton begins now and plants up 3 pots every 3 weeks to have a continuous supply of spring onions.
The spring onion and Beetroot seeds are freebees with Garden News.
I still have not got around to planting Sweet Peas or the parsnips which should really have been the first seeds sown!
On the bedroom windowsill are tomato seeds which are just showing if I look closely and peppers not showing yet but which can take up to 3 weeks.
Things are definitely getting under way!