Spring is here and our thoughts have been turning more and more to the allotment. I think we got a little dispirited last year what with the mediocre weather, the constant battle between us and the weeds and a poor harvest. It seemed nothing was going to go right for us and when Paul got a letter about overgrown allotments he was at the point of chucking the keys at the committee and telling them to stuff it. Thankfully, after a little consideration; the time, money and effort that have gone into cultivating it, the good harvests we have had in the past and the waste it would be to let it all go, coupled with the recent rises in the cost of living and potential food shortages; he thought better of his knee-jerk reaction and we still have our plot. He and Suzy have been making valiant efforts over the last few weeks to get it into some semblance of order ready for planting. Hedges have been cut, brambles cleared, grass cut, weed killer put down and rubbish burned before the May 1st cut-off date. Plug plants have been bought and seeds sown in trays ready to be planted once the last frosts have passed.
I went down for the first time the other day and even with all the work already done our little plot is in dire need of some TLC. Quite a lot in fact. The fruit bed is covered in grass and I couldn’t see the raspberry canes but the gooseberry bushes are thankfully surviving and are covered in tiny gooseberries. The fruit trees appear to be doing well but will need protecting from the pesky pigeons if we are to get a good harvest. Three of the main beds are still covered in plastic, you can’t see the strawberry bed for encroaching bramble suckers and the asparagus beds were completely overgrown but had produced a couple of spears which Paul had picked on his last visit. The rhubarb, however, is the best it’s ever been with a bumper first picking. Time for some graft.
Due to age and infirmities (dodgy knees) Suzy and Paul have also decided that we are having raised beds this year to cut down on the thankless task of digging all the beds over and keeping them weed free. The first few are in place and he spent his time filling them with copious amounts of compost ready for planting our first crops. Whilst he was busy with his raised beds I set to work on the asparagus beds. I was quite impressed with the couple of weeding gadgets I had bought earlier in the day, hoping they would make my task somewhat easier. I had soon cleared enough weeds and grass away to be able to see a few more asparagus spears poking their way through the dry soil. Once I could see what I was doing it was time to get on my hands and knees and gently weed around the shoots. I managed to get half a row done before the rain came. Since Paul had done as much as he could with the raised beds we gathered our stuff and called it a day. Looking around before we left I felt we were making a good start. Suzy and Paul did return the following day, he to cut the grass; a task in itself but well worth it; whilst Suzy did the mammoth task of shifting even more compost from the back of the car to finish filling the raised beds.
Before
After
We have asparagus
Still needs TLC
A little progress
