Boggy, boggy, boggy - oi, oi, oi!

I'd planned to get down to the allotment for a whole day yesterday, but as is the way with such things the weather (snow early on) conspired against me so I pottered about the house doing odd jobs (painting bookshelves, clearing the office, organising my potatoes to chit, washing and so on) so didn't manage to get to the plot until late afternoon.

When I got there it was clear that the ground was way too boggy to do any real work so I trundled down to the bottom of the site and loaded up a few barrows full of manure to add to the compost heap.

I also decided that I would build a pergola - inspired by a fellow "Grape" from my second home: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/

I managed to dig two holes and place the uprights before deciding that it was indeed still to boggy to dig.

The weather will improve soon, of that I'm sure - we've had another full day of snow today so there must be some sunshine making its way to us...

Speaking loosely of weather - whilst in the garden yesterday I noticed quite a few clumps of leaves poking through in the 'trough' at the top of the garden,and one clump in particular has little white flowers - yes, Snowdrops. Odd that only one clump is showing, but that's probably the work of the local hoddie wearing squirrels.

Not sure what the rest of the leaves are, but it adds to the excitement of this time of year I guess.

One more thing before I go (I know it's a quick post), for anyone not already pestered for money - I am taking part in the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride this year and would be grateful (if you haven't already) of any donation. I am only £5 away from my target of £150, but it would be great to smash through my target.

If you would like to sponsor me you can donate online (as is the modern way) at the following site:

http://original.justgiving.com/HeyWayne

Things are never as bad as you think

Well, that's the case it would seem when it came to the allotment.

I haven't really paid a visit since before Christmas of last year, so I was expecting the worst.

I loaded the car up with three trays of garlic that I'd had in the mini greenhouse since autumn of last year. They'd been growing happily in vending cup pots in the greenhouse with the door open most days.

I also loaded the long handled loppers, the saw, and the extendable extra long lopper (the type you hook over the branch and then use the pull-cord to action the blade) as I intended to give the apple tree a good winter prune.

I arrived at the allotment and unlocked the gate - there wasn't another soul in sight. Drove up the path with a sense of trepidation and arrived at plot 35 and things didn't look too bad.

Sure, there's a lot of tidying up to do - there are planks of wood strewn about in readiness to be made into various things, there are some bits of metal that will come in handy I'm sure.

However, the overall sense is that it's manageable - which is far greater than I'd expected.

I set about pruning the apple tree and it took me about 45 minutes I guess by the time I'd trimmed back several of the lower, wider branches, then attacked what I could reach with the loppers. There were a few to thick for both loppers that required me climbing the tree, saw in hand and then steadily sawing them off where I could reach.

All in all it looks like a healthier tree now which should provide a good harvest this year fingers crossed.



There a lot of discussion over which method is best, "traditional" or raised beds. Well, for me I'd have to say raised. If I'd have looked at my plot laid out in a "traditional" manner then it would apear daunting and I would have fealt disheartened for sure. As it is the raised beds help the eye to seperate out the space and divide it up mentally into manageable chunks - well it works for me.



I planted three rows of garlic in one of the smaller beds with room left over for some onions perhaps or maybe some flowers of some description - I haven't decided yet.

I then tidied up the canes and laid them across the bottom rungs of the rose arch so that they're off the ground with room for air to circulate so that they don't rot too much.

There were also 6 big garden sacks in the back of the car full of the leaves raked up from the garden. I placed them onto some cardboard on a couple of the raised beds which should hopefully keep the weeds at bay. Tidied up a couple of the other beds - just scraping some weeds off and decided to call it a day.

Drove home with a renewed sense of optimism for the year ahead.

Oh, before I go - in other news we celebrated the 1st birthday of our son (yes, it does indeed fly by).

Just a couple of photos of the day that his Aunty Rach managed to send us.