Laid the beds

The path to our patch

We crossed an allotment Rubicon in the glorious weather of bank holiday Monday , as we finally got the structure of the plot all laid out. Some recently purchased timbers were cut into raised beds meaning we can really start to think about what is going to fill them.

If you're thinking that this calls for a couple of moody black and whites of me doing manful things involving tools and wood, well, you're bang on. Just look at that.

Bosh! In goes the stake, as I show it no mercy whatsoever. Joking aside, we've never put our own raised beds together before, so although not the most technically demanding of tasks there was still some satisfaction to take from so doing. Whereas the vast majority of the timber used to construct the beds on the plot has been cobbled together and recycled, having run out of bits and bobs we went all out and spent some money on these last bits. Hopefully they'll last a good while. We finished off digging a patch, covered a bank of nettles with black plastic (to be dealt with more fully at a later date), hoed the spud and onion patches and gave everything a good water.

Biohazard selfie

In digging up some ground to put in a raised bed we found some nasties, necessitating the above fashion statement. Probably going a bit over-cautious, but you can't be too careful.

The pleasantly overgrown patch outside our plot is now full of (Spanish I think) Bluebells. They may not be indigenous, but like lots of other foreign things, they're very attractive.

As are these 5-petal purple things, growing away merrily in the same patch. Any idea what they are?

Anyway enough flowers; let's finish up with that all-important before and after shot. Considering we didn't do anything on the allotment until February and have been limited largely to working at weekends, I think we can afford to feel pretty chuffed with how it's looking. Endless thanks go to the allotment and pigeon hut holders who've helped us out, as their efforts have catapulted progress way ahead of where we'd have been able to get it in the same time. Kasia and I had thought that if we could have it basically cleared this year that would be fine. As it is we're going to be able to have a pretty full run at the season, using every part of the plot.

It's so much smaller than what we've had in the past, but will be so much more manageable as a result, not least as, once boulders stones and broken glass has been sifted out, the soil is amazingly fine and tilth-like. No more guilt if we miss the odd weekend. Once we get a bit more green stuff coming out of the ground and clear away the last of the rubbish, it'll be a lovely spot to sit too. After all the negativity around the Nunsmoor site closing, we're getting excited about gardening again.