The first bit of good news is that I got the potatoes planted last month! And yes, that IS a tape measure beside the trench. I like orderly spacing! They’re growing nicely and have been earthed up a few times already. Plus, I’ve planted some onion sets and sowed my beloved beetroot seeds.
While it was too early to plant out any seedlings (just when IS that mythical ‘last frost’??) I cracked on with some plot clearing and tidying. We did a lot last month (here’s my first allotment blog post with photos) My husband made some repairs to the fence to make it rabbit proof. This was great until I realised that the iron gate has big gaps in it – I think rabbits will be able to find their way in there! So we fitted some chicken wire to the gate to (hopefully) keep them out.
We also gave the mini tool shed a makeover. As you can see, it was in quite a ramshackle state and, during the spring storms, the door had come off its hinges and the front had lost some sections.
The herb beds that run alongside the path were so overgrown that it was difficult to even get to the tool shed. A heavy prune (don’t worry, the lavender is already growing back healthier than ever) and lots of weeding later and we could start patching up the shed.
New pieces of timber were added at the top and bottom of the door. Then the structure was sturdied-up with some new pieces of framing inside. It no longer wobbles and I’m confident that it won’t blow away in a storm.
I then gave the whole shed a coat of bright blue paint, which covered up the new pieces of timber and tied it all together. I hope you’ll agree that it looks much better and, more importantly, it’s much stronger and will hopefully last a few more years now.
I’ve got a few more things I’ve been doing to tidy up the allotment but I’ll share some photos of those projects next time. One exciting thing is that I’ve had my first harvest of rhubarb! The plant was already on the allotment when I took it over, albeit just a stump. Now, it’s very bushy and I made a giant rhubarb crumble last week to celebrate!
I’ll be sure to share another allotment update soon and here’s the link to my first allotment blog post in case you want to have a look at the ‘before’ photos too. 🙂
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