Spring is coming… But not yet

Along with the rest of the country, we are in the grip of the 'Beast from the East', which has somewhat hampered our preparation for this year. Having moved the raspberries a few weeks ago, we still need to prepare the beds for sowing and degrass the other soft fruits, which is made difficult by …

Raspberry reorganisation

We wanted to move the raspberries that have taken over quite a large patch on the allotment to help keep them under control and make room for a little seating area. I've been planning to move them all winter while they're dormant but as ever I've left it until the last minute. This has meant …

Spring is in the air

The days are getting longer, spring is in the air and the first seeds of the year have been sown We were given a heated propagator for Christmas so we're starting the year off with early sowings of aubergines, sweet peppers, spring onions, leeks, summer sprouting broccoli, basil, chives and mustard. Hopefully giving these seeds …

Cheering up winter

To start the year off on a good foot we've planted our very own tree! We've been thinking about this since last summer as we've developed a taste for quince cheese with cheese (thanks to booth's tempting cheese counter!). It's become an expensive habit so thought it would be good to try and make our …

Plan for 2018 continued

So I said there'd be more on this year's plan for the allotment and then completely forgot to post the update! As I went a bit mad on the seed ordering we're going to try lots of different things this year and I've summarised in the sketch below Nothing ever runs that smoothly though and …

Plan for 2018

It's been really hard not needing to be on the allotment as winter's taken hold (although we have been continuing to harvest kale, including some for our Christmas dinner!) but with the start of the new year planning for the new season can begin! And this year we'll be right in at the start!!! More …

Root veg clearance

As it's getting colder now we took the decision to call it quits with the beetroot and carrots today. It was really cool finally pulling the carrots and seeing them fully formed. But for something that's taken up quite a lot of space for a low yield and currently costs 28 p a kilo in …

Winding down

Autumn's here and it feels like the end of the year already. Lately I've been heading to the allotment and found myself with nothing to do except a quick water in the greenhouse.  We keep telling ourselves this was a bonus year because we never thought we'd get an allotment this soon. Some things have …

Autumn is here

Taking stock on the plot

After a full weekend on the allotment I found myself taking stock of what we've achieved since April.  We originally thought we wouldn't get around to the West end of the allotment this year but we've been cracking on with it and have got 3 beds in place already.  Digging away bit by bit you …