The patch we don't talk about

We only managed to dig over a little over half of our allotment before the soil got a bit too dry and we ran out of digging steam. We left the other patch for a while before I finally thought to cover it in weed suppressant.

Hooo baby! Most of the green stuff died back really quickly and after a few weeks and it was easy to scrape it all off the surface. Ok, so the weed roots were left in the soil, but this was just supposed to be a quick and not-so-dirty way of still using the space and giving our backs a break. We then dug out the holes, put a nice bit dollop of well rotten horse manure in there and re-covered the soil with the weed suppressant. We cut a cross and planted some of the tomato and squash plants grown up indoors through the fabric .

I've been out since and the plants haven't died. I call that a success!

So much to do!

We were away most of the weekend, only getting back early Sunday night. We rushed off to the allotment for a couple of hours and now my 'to do list' has gone crazy!

DONE:

• Planted out some tiny Brussel Sprout plants through the black weed suppressant covering one of the brassicas bed. I didn't have the magic 'Vegetable Expert' book to remind me of appropriate planting distances so I just guessed. I'll check it later..
• Started clearing the big, no, HUGE pile of crap that was our weeds and branches, and taking it to the green waste allotment skip. The skip arrived on Friday and by Sunday night it was full. Clearing this space is going to take months as now we'll need to wait for the next skip.
  
• Weeded most of the other beds
  

TO DO:

• Clear the space for the two squash plants (I've given the rest away), one pumpkin, the tomatoes and the cucumber and courgette plants that were gifts. I love swapping small plants with friends. They're getting a chili and a pepper plant from us. The rest of the tomatoes went to Bonzo's parents.
• Finish off bordering the other beds (hopefully this will slow down the weeds (maybe, in my dreams..))
• Prop up the fence/hedge between us and next doors plot. It's over hanging our plot in several places and shading the beds. It's not all bad though cos we've got some of their gooseberries poking through...
• Level off the path between us and our allotment sharing buddies
• Start of the sweetcorn plants (inside or outside, just don't know)
• Pot up the chili, pepper and tomato plants

• Have a BBQ! I've been looking forward to having a BBQ down the plot for ages, I can't wait! mmmm, lamb and vegetable kebabs, jacket potatoes, salads, burgers, corn on the cob... bananas with chocolate, marshmallows on sticks... Oh, yeah.
  

We seem to be busy doing other things most weekend so most of this stuff will have to get done in the evenings. Thank god we only have a half plot!

New Shoots

The replacement peas (damn you evil weevils) and the sugar peas have started to appear now

and could that just be a teeny tiny tomato seedling? I thought I'd buggered the whole tray with my home-made greenhouse affair. I covered the tray in cling film to keep the moisture and warm in but didn't think to put breathing holes in for about a week. I was worried the seeds would just go mouldy in the soil.

In my brand spanking new window sill greenhouse I've sowed a few more tomatoes (gardeners delight), pumpkins, winter squash, chilli and sweet peppers, marigolds and sunflowers. Hmm, if the tomatoes I'd given up on in the tray all come up then I've really over done it. Still, I can hand out tomato seedlings at work. Everyone at work seems to be building new greenhouses at the moment. Everyone, sniff, except me, sniff.