10-4-8 At the allotment
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

The view from the path as the last of the digging is completed on the left-hand side. It's looking much happier than it did this time last year!

10-4-8 At the allotment

10-4-8 At the allotment
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

After digging 4-4-8

After digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

It's looking more healthy up there - three rows of potatoes are planted by the broad beans (under the white wire tunnels) and it doesn't look like an abandoned wasteland any more.

In other news, lots of the seeds we planted have sprouted, so we've got squash, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers, chilis, and artichokes popping through. Hurrah!

After digging 4-4-8

After digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I went and hired a rotavator-type thing, which was a bit lightweight, but did a quicker job than I would have done with a fork.

Before digging

Before digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

The left-hand side of the allotment, looking from the path. It looks far worse here than it did in real life, but it was still bad enough for us to get a letter from the council asking if we really wanted an allotment. Pah.

Broad beans

Broad beans
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Growing happily

Surprise harvest

Surprise harvest
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We'd forgotten/neglected to harvest the potatoes we planted at the allotment last year, but - in preparation for this year's crop - we had to dig them out, and found this lot. Several were slug-eaten, hollow or squishy, and two actually exploded potato goo everywhere, but there are several decent ones ready to eat. Hurrah!

Broad bean

Broad bean
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Not quite in focus, but my camera phone's rubbish.

Rob spent all afternoon at the allotment, and I joined him once I'd woken from my accidental sleep. The broad beans look quite happy and there are one or two other signs of life. There's still a lot to be done, but I'm going to hire a rotavator at some point in the next fortnight and sort it out.

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We made it to the allotment today, just before it started raining. It all looks quite sad, but by no means as bad as some of the other plots. We picked the remaining beetroot, and made some plans for this year's planting.

In other news, the broad beans haven't sprouted and are clearly too old. Pah. Need to get some new seeds.

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Planted broad beans

February 3rd: planted broad beans
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We used newspaper pots a bit last year and they did the job, from what I can remember, so we're using them again this year. This is the first succession of broad beans - three types - with more to come in a few weeks' time. We had a really successful broad bean harvest last year, so I've got my fingers crossed that it's good again this year.

The rain stopped today...

...for the first time in AGES, or at least, that's how it felt. OK, so I had to wear my thermals to fight off the cold, but at least it was dry enough to do some decent digging. I spent the morning at Plot 9, earthing up the potatoes and digging out some more of the weeds. I've done most of the lower half of one side, and Rob promptly planted some carrots in it when he returned from work. That's just about half the plot under control now - Rob planted out some purple sprouting broccoli, globe artichokes, red cabbages and pea asparagus last week - so the whinging old boy will have less to whinge about now! (If only!)

This afternoon was spent at the Vicar's with Julia. We weeded various bits, caressed the legumes (all growing beautifully), planted a couple of courgettes, and then escaped to the local garden centre. Once we'd been mistaken for staff (it must have been the wellies and dirty hands that did it!) we pottered around the cafe, poked George the Giant Fish, and bought more seeds. After all, when there's no earth to be seen through the weeds, and there's a lot of preparation work to be done, the best thing to do is to sow more plants as a displacement activity. We're so organised!

Tempus fugit...

These last few weeks have been very work busy and, more importantly, wet. Let's face it, digging is a bind at any time, and digging in the rain is one of the most unappealing pastimes I can imagine. Except perhaps wet-paint observing. Or poo tasting. Anyway, I digress...

Things are growing well at the vicar's garden: the potatoes look very happy; the broad beans are in flower; the second planting of peas are creeping up the netting; and there are lots and lots of blackcurrants on the bushes. The goosegogs are a disappointment, as once again they've been covered in mildew, in spite of our radical pruning. Rob's sprayed them with some stuff, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference so far. We'll keep trying. On Sunday, we planted out the spaghetti squash and the tomatoes, so the only major things left to plant are the sweetcorn and the squashes/courgettes. Julia's in charge of germination, so hopefully they're growing gently as we speak.

Plot 9, however, has been quite neglected in the post-rain fight to get the Vic's back on track. However, we spent a reasonable amount of time up there on Sunday and planted out globe artichokes and did some weeding. We also got accosted by one of the old boys who has the allotment opposite ours. The conversation went something like this:

Old Boy: There's something that's puzzling me
Me: Oh yes?
OB: Why have you put two trenches here, right in the middle of the allotment?
Me: That's for asparagus
OB: Well, yes, but you'll have to wait two years for that.
Me: We know that
OB: Why haven't you put it at the ends of the allotment? There's no sense putting it in the middle.
Me: Eurm, because we wanted to?
OB: But it doesn't make sense.
Me: All of this top bit is going to be permanent - fruit bushes and the like - so it doesn't matter that we won't get an asparagus harvest for a couple of years.
OB: Oh.

....and on, and on, and on. We apologise now for not posting a notice explaining exactly what we are planning to do, and justifying our reasons for putting the plants where we've chosen to put them. Had we realised quite the level of interrogation we'd have to endure, we'd have personally spoken to you, Mr Old Boy, before putting spade to earth. As it is, you'll just have to lump it.

Talking of spades, earth and lumps, the soil at the allotment seems beautiful - Rob's done most of the digging up there (planted so far: cabbages, purple sprouting, beetroots, turnips, asparagus pea) - but the spits I've turned over have been good crumbly stuff, with far fewer stones than the vicar's, so there's even chance for the carrots!