Garden Bears' World - Another Day at the Allotment

Hello everyone!  Although Endon Bear is our Head Gardener, all of us take turns to help Polar and Grizzly, our human guardians, with small-bear-sized jobs, so today I am going to tell you about a gardening adventure I had a few days ago.  Endon and Hanley were busy being Bear Hunt window bears that day.

Polar said she and Grizzly were going to their allotment and one sensible bear could come with them.  She picked me, but promised the smaller bears they would both get turns one day.

Before we set off, Polar suggested we sow some cabbages and other vegetables from the same family, which are brassicas.  Polar had filled a module tray with compost and my job was to make shallow planting holes in each module, then sow two or three small seeds into each.

'If more than one seed germinates, we will thin them out so just the strongest seedling is left,' Polar explained.  'That way, we shouldn't end up with too many plants of the same variety, and we might not need to pot them up either.'

Polar put the tray of brassicas on a shady shelf in her greenhouse, then started gathering things for us to take to the allotment.  I travelled down in the trug with some important safety equipment for my humans - drinking water, sunblock and liquid soap, and set up 'base camp' outside the little allotment greenhouse.

Grizzly started digging over a plot where we planned to plant broad beans a little later this month, while Polar was going to plant potatoes.  She planned to plant them a little deeper this year and to save some soil for 'earthing up' as they grow, as last year some of the crop were spoiled, because the heavy rain washed the soil away from over them and they went all green.

I started climbing on the soil Polar had dug out of the planting holes, but it was loose and I slipped into one of the holes!

'Careful, little bear!' said Polar, lifting me out and dusting the dirt off of my trousers and tail.  'You were supposed to be being a sensible bear!  You had better sit and look after the potatoes for now.  Or you can explore the plot, but don't get in the way where Grizzly is digging.'

I was sorry for being a silly bear, and sat quietly for a few minutes, before deciding to explore - sensibly!  I found some daffodils growing in one plot and some very pretty daisies growing on one of the paths.

'I wonder if I should help Polar plant her potatoes?' I thought.  But , when I got back down to the bed she had been working on. she had planted them already!  At least I could climb the mound in the middle without falling in a big hole now.

Grizzly warned me that he was going to strim some of the paths, so I climbed Polar's big digging fork to get safely out of the way.  There is a very good view from the top of the handle!

Then I scurried up the path that had been trimmed to check on the phaecelia plants growing where Polar plans to plant more potatoes later, after these 'green manure' plants have flowered to feed the bees, and to check the compost heap, which Polar has been digging out to improve some of the other plots.

I checked Grizzly's digging too, and decided it was good enough for planting our beans.  

I will let Endon or Hanley help with that - as long as whoever gets to go promises to be a sensible bear!