LAZY DAY WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PRODUCTIVE

First day of really good weather although the rain during the night has meant that work on the lottie was very limited.  Plenty of sunshine and no wind albeit a little cold and this morning I've done a bit of hoeing on ground already prepared . The strawberries, garlic, broad beans, onions  and leeks are coming along nicely and the fruit bushes are starting to bud. The day was spent doing gardening at home.

This next week has to be pretty good weather wise, and therefore the tasks for us are to sow seeds in the poly-tunnel, prepare beds through digging and weeding, tie up the broad beans, with so much growth this past week they are in need of more support and finally plant the seed potatoes (these have chitted really well this year). A good mix of boilers, chippers and baked potato varieties.

Need to get these jobs completed as we are having a week away in North Yorkshire from next friday.

A brief history

We took possession of our allotment about 18 months ago. It was in such a sorry state. It hadn't been worked for years, completely over grown with weeds, and with a dilapidated wooden garage on the plot. I had big plans, get rid of the garage, which was on a concrete base, and replace it with a poly-tunnel. In the first year I managed to clear about a third of the area and to maintain my interest grew courgettes, potatoes and runner beans.

As I cleared the weeds etc. towards the area where the garage was built, small amounts of asbestos started to appear. The Local Authority did a site survey, took samples away for analysis and decided that as it was potentially dangerous and employed a specialist agency to clear and decontaminate the site. At this time (February 2015), and after taking the garage down with my future son in law (Andrew), and shortly after ordering a poly-tunnel, I was struck down with Brain Cancer and started 6 months of high dose chemotherapy followed by a Stem Cell transplant. My plans were turned upside down. I spent a huge amount of time in hospital and had no energy to do any work on the site when I was home.

As part of the decontamination process the whole site was rotavated. This was a great benefit, all we would now need to do is remove weeds as they appeared. Fortunately my wife (Shirley) along with our daughter ( Charlotte) and Andrew successfully took over the management of the plot having an excellent year growing a wide range of vegetables. Fellow allotment holders were a great help to the family during this period, not only asking after my health but also providing practical help and advice. One even gifted a very good shed which has proved beneficial to us to store tools and equipment.

Needless to say I didn't really do anything on the site after being told I was in remission in September. Christmas came with relatives buying seed packets as presents but still the poly-tunnel wasn't constructed and the weather at the start of the year made it difficult for us to make a start. However about two weeks ago the weather changed and with the help of a neighbour, me and Andrew, started on its construction. The instructions were not easy to follow and a few phone calls to the supplier helped us make progress to get it finished on the 3rd April.

We've bought staging etc. and we will soon be sowing seeds, for what we hope will be a successful year.