Welcome to the second post in our occasional series 'Allotment Corner'.
Today was a beautiful sunny day so we thought we should get on with our work getting the ground ready for planting fruit and potatoes which need to go in by the middle of March. We had been over to the plot a couple of times lately, just to deliver some more bags of compost from our garden compost heap but this time we wanted to get on with the tidying up process so we packed up our tools and some more bags of compost and set off. Unfortunately our small person (see Allotment Corner #1) was unavailable today but we had help in the form of our good friend Charlie.
As we pulled the car up to the entrance to the allotments and opened the gate so we could drive through, a gentleman caught sight of us and trotted over. As we all know, the sight of an elderly gentleman leaning on a gate and ready to talk the hind legs off a donkey is irresistible to most blokes so much time was spent chatting before we even got the car driven over to our plot! I decided to forego the delights of male bonding and go on ahead to get a few pics for you. The first couple are just general views of the allotments and the subsequent ones are of our plot looking a lot better after some weeding and cutting some nice straight edges (Mr Cheeze is rather OCD and so untidy edges do cause him some discomfort and anxiety).
Eventually the others got round to joining me at the plot and unloaded the car. On the last rip we made to the plot we had emptied and moved one of the raised beds that we had inherited from the previous owner and the next job was to put a shallow layer of clay in the bottom of this and then add a mixture of some of the clay soil from the plot, the topsoil and compost we had brought from home and some sand to open up the texture and make it easier to work with.
 |
| Delivering compost. |
 |
| Adding a layer of clay. |
Once all of the different components had been added to the raised bed (and the boys had finished being silly) Charlie used a fork to mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
 |
| A sandcastle opportunity is not to be wasted! |
 |
| Yes boys its lovely, now back to work eh. |
 |
| Charlie mixing industrially. |
Meanwhile, I was carrying on with the edging and de-turfing process.
Once the guys had finished filling the raised bed I dug up the two rhubarb plants we had also inherited with the plot and re-planted them in it.
 |
| Digging out the rhubarb. |
 |
| Re-planting in the raised bed. |
Whilst I was doing this Mr Cheeze was
gossiping networking with a neighboring allotment holder. This turned out to be very beneficial to us because he was digging out some raspberry canes he no longer wanted and he offered them to us! We had been planning to buy a load but he gave us so many we no longer need to buy any, great! I duly planted them in the raised bed with the rhubarb until we have finished preparing the ground where they will eventually be grown.
 |
| Mr Cheeze bearing raspberry canes! |
 |
| The planted up bed. |
 |
| A close-up showing rhubarb and accompanying raspberries. |
 |
| A last look at the plot. |
After all this hard work (thanx for the help Charlie! x) we decided it was time to go home for tea so, with a last look at our little plot of land, we drove off into the sunset.
Join us again soon for another exciting edition of 'Allotment Corner' when we will be attempting to rotevate in all the compost and plant our potatoes!
See you soon! x
