Home Sweet Home?

There's rather a large hole in one corner of the allotment. A fellow allotmenteer thinks it might be home to some critter. I am a little scared as I don't know if it's still inhabited. If only the occupier could learn to put an  'Occupied' or 'Vacant' sign outside. The biggest question of course is, what is it, or should that be, what do I do about it? Any suggestions are very welcome!

In the Beginning

Today was my first day working on the plot. The sun came out and the day was glorious. I had no excuses. But what a splendid day it was. I thoroughly enjoyed shearing away at the couch grass and digging out the weeds.

At the start of the day the allotment looked like this:

It's not quite as big as it looks. It extends to just after the wigwam of canes. Beyond that is a vacant plot. As you can see it's very overgrown. However, it's slightly deceiving as my other half has toiled away for many years on this site so lurking under all of that grass is some pretty decent soil.

Two and half hours later I had made some headway in one corner:

 

 

Felt pretty chuffed for my first day, but oh how all my muscles ache!!!

The Size of the Plot!

10m x 7m

Sowing Sweet Peas

Last week I decided to sow my Sweet Peas. Not sure if this is a good idea as most advise seems to be sow in Autumn or March. I just thought I would get a head start because as usual I forgot to sow them last Autumn. The seeds are from Sarah Raven and are over a year old but packets are still in date. They were a present so I am determined to get some use out of them.

After reading various articles I decided to go with Monty's advise and plant 2 seeds in ordinary 3 " pots. Root trainers etc. were getting expensive and I haven't collected enough loo rolls. I am germinating them on a dining room table which does not get bright light and is reasonably warm. The plan is to put them in the shed once they have all germinated.


The elusive Black Knight

Germination results so far (8 seeds planted of each variety):

Black Knight: a big zero
Matucana: full house - 8
Lord Nelson: 5
Painted Lady: 7



Equipment

The allotment is going to be used to grow vegetables and cut flowers. Below is  a list of  items gathered so far:

1 packet of carrot seed - Flyaway
3 packets of seed potatoes - Maris Piper, Vivaldi, Charlotte
4 packets of sweet peas
10 dahlia tubers
Book - Allotment Month by Month
Book - The Half Hour Allotment
Subscription to Gardener's World Magazine
A gardening database - (more on this later)
Allotment layout plans since 2005 handed over from my other half
Various garden tools

I really need to measure the allotment so I can plan out my beds but it's raining and cold outside so it will have to wait until another day. Oh dear, not a good start.

The Cat

Every good blog needs a picture of the family pet. Here's ours, a beautiful fifteen year old Tabby Cat.

About the Chickens

These do not live on the allotment (no livestock or sheds allowed - yes no sheds!!!) but are confined to our back garden. We have only two that were acquired last August. A red one and a white one, or to be more specific an Amber Star called Esme and a Columbian Blacktail called Matilda. They make me laugh a lot.