We had breakfast – lots of raspberries, straight from the canes – delicious! Shop-bought berries really pale in comparison.

Potatoes are looking healthy, plenty of time to go before we dig them up though.

And we planted a row of beans (Cobra) – the seed packet was very scruffy and out of date, but you never know!

Then it started to rain, so we legged it!

We also harvested three sticks of rhubarb and a test onion! Oh, and some sage… it is going mad so need to find a good way to dry it or freeze it – any tips?

Hopping around us for much of the morning was the friendly robin, loving the fact that we were unearthing a lot of worms for him… greedy little thing!

Lots of weeding to be done, the dreaded dandelions are in full irritation mode.

Raspberries are looking great, buds on all of them and the herbs are going mad – woohoo!!

Today we almost cleared the area where Marjory used to live, levelling out and digging out the blasted dandelions…

New canes for the raspberries has tidied up that section very well and they’re looking very healthy, so here’s hoping for a good crop

The herbs are coming back strong, they always look a bit pathetic after the winter months, but the sage, thyme and chives are looking fabulous. The lavender isn’t looking quite so good and we have lost one of them – we shall replace it as we found it great for attracting bees.
 

This is Sallie… the crazy collie with the waggiest tail in town!

We wondered how many allotment owners take their dogs to the plot and whether dogs are even allowed on some allotments? We’ve heard some allotment associations don’t allow them… we think that’s a real shame – Sal loves to sit and just watch anyone and anything, ok so she sits on our thyme on occasions, but overall she’s very well-behaved and loves to be sat with us.

Love to all allotment dogs!!

An enjoyable lunch and wander round Gates Nurseries prompted us to buy a ‘flat-pack’ composter. It was hard work slimming down Marjory and getting her moved in, but it has made such a difference to the plot. It looks so much tidier and the Marjory’s bottom had turned into the most lovely compost so we were about to use it where the ground had sunk a little.

We’ve planted them in a ‘ditch’ which we have to top up as they grow (if they grow!)… the roots didn’t spread out terribly well as they seemed to snap when we did that, so hopefully we’ll still get something – we have to wait til next season for a proper crop anyway.

We were dressed in our paint-splattered, mud-covered allotment clothes, and when we were spotted smirking and chortling, hung our heads in shame, gazing into our laps….

“Oh!” said Siobhan, “these are my fancy jeans!”
Hysterical laughter ensued… Lisa was also wearing her Paul Smith jeans.
Both pairs having been purchased from said posh clothes shop!

So there we were, all evening, oblivious to our designer digging… you CAN be stylish on the allotment after all! Ahem……

Planted in an old drawer (recycling as well!) we have sowed Sweet Marjoram, Parsley, Sage, Thyme and Basil (Sweet Genovese and Red Bordeaux).

With a bit of luck they’ll be springing into life and we can transplant them into the main plot

Also today we purchased some asparagus crowns and Maris Piper seed potatoes from Wilko – not sure where to put them yet though!

The rhubarb is coming up really well and the raspberry canes are going mad, so we’ll be ok for puddings this year!

Tonight we completed the weeding around all the crops, so it looks so much better now. Just the rest to dig over and a strip of grass that previous owners had as a path to get rid of – we may have to cover that over for a few weeks to help shift it.

Looks like we’ve got ants back in the compost bin… might try the cinnamon technique on them, it worked well in Lisa’s wormery so is worth a try.