Allotment Hours: Me: 15hrs

Well, I have been hard at work up the allotment again this week - thank goodness for some dry weather - really cold and windy though.

 After  being beautifully rotorvated, I made the decision to cover up this end of the allotment.

I know that it looks horrible with plastic all over it - but it keeps the weeds down and I can always peel it back and plant more veggies if I get the time and energy

 The field that the allotment is on has been 'wild' for centuries and  each year the dock weeds cover the area.  It's a never ending battle as no matter how many you dig out there are millions of seeds in the ground and it is impossible to eradicate them.  So plastic better than 3ft plus tall dock weeds and the other beasts of perennial weed species

On the next visit to the plot we burned all the rubbish in the bonfire bin

 

It now looks so much better

As I  had another couple of rows of potatoes to plant out

I had to do some serious manure digging.

It looked dry on top, but I sank down into it - it was well rotted but wet and so heavy!  It's well worth all the hard work though, as lining the potato trenches with newspaper and deep manure has ensured us healthy crops for many years.

That the last of the potatoes in - I could only manage four rows this year doing all the work on my own, but a least we will have some.

 I covered up the patch where I want to grow my squashes and pumpkins this year - and hope to cover up a bit more too.  Then I'll be cutting holes to plant them out later on.   I dragged out the rubber 'paths' and laid all those too.

 It was such hard work and I ached for a few days afterwards but it's worth all the effort

Already it is 'dust' dry - it is such a windy field and the topsoil turns to dust in no time.

My next job will be to 'edge' all the grass paths and beds to make it look a lot neater.

I have ten rhubarb plants in my fruit area that have been in two years now, and I am hoping that this year they will be big enough to get a good crop off them.  The fruit I grow up the allotment I freeze and it lasts us a whole year.  Rhubarb, gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, and hopefully some strawberries this year.

 I mowed all the paths which took almost an hour this week

 And left the plot looking neat and tidy.

The plot on the left of the photo, gets ploughed and rotorvated by a tractor each year and always looks pristine this time of year - but later on in the year the weeds tend to take over amongst the crops

The plot of the other side of mine which can see - hasn't been touched and it's full of nettles and weeds and rubbish - and there are two people working that one and it's half the size of mine - so I feel that I am doing a pretty good job on my own.