Allotment Diary - Me 31hrs. He 29hrs. Day 4 Garden Makeover

No 'outside' workers in the garden today - just us.   We did a massive clear up yesterday and took everything up the allotment.  Piles of foliage, lots and lots of prunings due to the rest of the pergola coming down.  Vines, Jasmine, Wisteria, Clematis, Honeysuckle, - and more!  It was a mammoth task, and we had lots to dispose of - so today we went up the allotment to do all that.

It was a shock to see that in the space of just two weeks the weeds had really grown

Look at this potato patch - what a nightmare.

So whilst Patrick played bonfires - I did the hard labour

It was really hard work digging down all the rows and digging out the weeds - backbreaking actually and it too me quite a while to do  this potato patch!

It is worth it though when the end result looks like this....

Whilst I was at it, I weeded around the gooseberry bushes and spread all the ash which Patrick dumped before he started today's bonfire.

Pat did a bit of mowing for me - and as intructed spread put the cuttings on the potato ridges.

After I had dug out all the weeds (mainly thistles and docks) I earthed up the potatoes again - they were showing through the soil - lovely and fresh and green.  May has the nasty habit of throwing some frost at us gardeners.

Just two weeks ago the allotment looked like this and now yet more weeds.

The bonfire boy was still at play - and had offered to do a bit of mowing so I started on the onion bed

 I managed to do a third of the onion bed - but by then I was exhausted after almost three hours hard labour - so we dug up some leeks, and I top and tailed them before heading home.

This was the before photo of the broad beans bed

Sadly I just didn't get time to take the after photos - but they look good!

Back from the allotment and just time to take a few photos before dashing in to cook lunch

I need to dig over the flower bed again, where it has been flattened during the repair and rebuild of the old wall.  Some plants have been removed.

A potted bay tree which was getting pot-bound has been transplanted

I will be doing a bit to topiary with it later in the year.

I've done a bit clear up job on this lawn, and mowed it, and the next task is to remove the fencing now that the grass seed has grown.  The Gazebo didn't fare well over winter - and it is really not worth the expense to have it repaired - so I brought the sledge hammer back from the allotment - to turn this into fire wood - such a shame.

Another trampled area for me to dig over.

At this point the phone rang - so no more photos today