What do you get if you have 26 buckets of 3 gallons?

Sore shoulders!

Went to the allotment again today and did a "little" watering - the 5 squash and 5 courgettes we planted last week are thirsty, so we watered them lots then covered in black plastic (letting the plants out of course!) In the foreground are our leeks which are doing ok, and the beans are out of shot to the left. We also planted sweet peas, real peas and did some weeding.

We had some great red lettuce: which were rather tasty - we had one for our tea and the first of the beetroot...

Then just to prove that Emily comes too:

So a good time was had by all though we're feeling a little sore now!

So we went down to the allotment today and I took some pics. Here's the onions

The raised bed is coming on a treat - I picked a giant lettuce for lunch

The raspberries are bending under the weight of the fruit - we think they will be yellow..

Then we started on the bit that Graeme rotavated the other week. We planted 6 courgettes and 6 butternut squash. I made some rather unconventional tepees (4 canes per tepee) for the runner beans, and Emily earthed up the spuds.

Heres a pic of our neighbours allotment looking up the hill.... I think ours is looking much more the part now ...

One man went to mow...

Next step in taming the allotment - mowing the meadow which has grown around the raspberries. Unfortunately I don't have a 1-mile extension chord for the lawn mower, so had to go shopping. Fortunately Focus had a petrol strimmer with 20% off, which because I bought it today had a further 15% off (bargain) - mostly paid for by my 2am call out last night (boo hiss!)

So one hour or so of two-stroke buzz later the meadow is largely gone but the raspberries remain. Useful for clearing the paths up there too, and much more potent than the old electric strimmer we had. Now planting should be much more straightforward!

Rotavated!

So Alun rented a rotavator over the weekend, so I chipped in and had a go too. Rotavated the plot I had rounduped a few weeks ago and in about an hour and a half had the 300-odd square feet nicely tilled. Now to do some planting...

In case you're wondering what a rotavator is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_tiller

Friday's update

Went to allotment on Friday with a couple of bags of grass clippings, to do a little mulching and found out how things are getting on... the potatoes are coming through, and we have a spectacular crop of dandelions on the uncultivated half of the plot. Something like a dozen plants per square foot, unsurprising looking at the field next door.

So, I then went to get a giant size bottle of roundup and sprayed the lot, will be interesting to see how it does. Quite a lot had gone to seed, so will be repeating at least once...

Onions etc. doing well - now need to dig plots for the leeks, squash and sweetcorn.

Planted spuds!

Went up t'allotment t'morning to plant some spuds - had to re-dig much of the soil which was a pain, but it's at least a little lighter after the dry weather (and volcano ash?) - only planted 15 spuds but took up a surprising amount of space! For reference, they ended up in the onion plot from the previous post - the onions went elsewhere...

Onions doing ok, as are salad crops etc. Weeds currently not too bad. Lots of raspberries growing from previous tenant.

Emily was very good and got involved! :o) Her job was to put the sand in for the potatoes... old play sand to help lighten the clay. 

Onion Plot

Went up to the allotment on friday and started on the onion plot. This proved to be quite hard work as there was lots of couch grass to remove. Hopefully we can keep on top of it ...

The carrot/parsnip/salad bed in the foreground is nearly complete, and looking good.