Late Spring Update...

Well it's been a while. I haven't been neglecting the allotment, just haven't had time to write about it!

Things have moved on extremely quickly. We hadn't visited for two weeks due to poor weather and general busyness, however we paid for it today when we discovered an overgrown jungle upon our arrival.

We spent the first half hour weeding the raised bed until we could distinguish the spinach from the weeds and its back to normal now.

Onions and Garlic.

Bloomsdale spinach and Apache potatoes.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli (just gone in today - will it still be there next week?)

Four courgette plants left out of six, not bad...

The peas have started climbing and flowering, and the dwarf runner beans have emerged also.

Today we also planted three Tigerella tomato plants, so shall see how they do.

And last but not least, we ended up harvesting the first of the Bloomsdale spinach today!

Day 2

After what started as a grey day we headed up to the allotment early afternoon. I took with me 3 garlic bulbs and assorted pea seeds, with the intention of clearing the raised bed, making the compost bin functional again and planting the garlic (and possibly some peas as well).

This was the raised bed when we arrived:

We soon realised that with the two of us working together it wouldn't take long to clear, and I set to work separating garlic bulbs.

This is the raised bed now, with fresh compost mixed in and one row of garlic planted:

I then set Chay on attempting to clear the overgrown compost heap, and soon he was calling me over to show me the amazing compost that had rotted underneath the brambles. I gathered some up and added it to the raised plot, before mixing in the veg scraps I had brought from home.

The compost heap before:

The compost heap now:

I then planted row of garlic, with the intention of doing much more, before discovering that the toilet was out of order, so we called it a day.

Next week's goals are to clear around the pea climbing frame that Chay has put back together (we found a derelict one on site when we took over) and plant some peas; plant the rest of the garlic and plant the onions I bought today.

Day 1.

Well after waiting 18 months I finally took over my allotment plot today. I had a choice of four plots, and I chose one with good sunlight, half workable, half overgrown and with an overgrown compost bin.

The soil appears to be very good, and I took along some compost from our back garden to start it off.

This is probably the most usable patch, right at the front, so I started work here today.

Raised bed towards the front, which is my next target.

What appears to be a previous season's corn.

I'm assuming a rubbish heap covered in brambles..

Some inspiration from the plot behind mine, raised beds, bird feeders, wind chimes, fence and gate and even a gum tree!

I got stuck in and essentially dug for an hour this afternoon, and soon realised the hard way that a lot of the plot was overgrown with stinging nettles... my fingers are still throbbing!

I have ordered some seed potatoes, garlic and purple sprouting broccoli seeds, so my next step is to design a plan to follow a step at a time.

Today's progress: