And 'sow' it begins...

Our weedy, untilled allotment has, in the week or so since we last visited, been transformed into a beautifully dug-over, weed-free plot. Not a miracle, just Peter from the allotment society and his rotovator. He did a brilliant job. He had to do it three times apparently. Our new aim for this year: improve the quality of our soil through adding as much organic matter as possible. We need to make another call to Phil the poo man.
So, into this newly rotovated soil, we planted the first of this year's crops. Potatoes. Three rows of Charlottes, and then a row each of Arran Pilot, Lady Christl and Vivaldi (the famous, 'slimming' potato - only half the calories of a normal potato! Amazing). We'll see which ones do best (and whether we get any less fat from eating them). We planted them in the corner of the plot that we never got around to touching last year.
We also planted a few rows of onions and half a row of beetroot. Don't worry, there will be more beetroot to follow. We just wanted to make sure we spread the beetroot love out throughout the summer and didn't end up with a glut. Although a glut of beetroot would be no bad thing, in my opinion.
We also planted some aubergines and leeks in modules. Our aubergines didn't do very well last year, as we left it too late before we planted them. We didn't want to repeat our mistake this year so they're already planted up and sitting in a nice warm spot on top of the washing machine,  ready to be planted out when it gets a bit warmer.
We got our potatoes and onions from the allotment trading hut. 40 or so potatoes and 50ish onions for about £4. It's good for the purse strings as well as the waistline.
We got most of our new seeds for this year from The Real Seed Company but we've also tried saving some seeds from last year's crops. We'll see how they do.
Here was the table on seed sorting day.

One thing we have learnt today: it is very difficult gardening with a hangover. We achieved probably 30% of what we would have on a normal day because we kept on having to have little sit downs.  Happy birthday to Andrew's brother Ben.  

It 'woodwork' better if it had a roof - the fruit cage post

This year we are determined to learn our lessons from last year. One major failing from last year: all our fruit got eaten by birds (or some other unidentified thief)

So yesterday we put Year Two: no-longer-newbies into action.

I got the bus up to the allotment while Andrew cycled to his parents' house to get the car. I felt like a true, die-hard gardener as I got to work in the greenhouse, listening to the radio, while the rain poured down outside. 

Andrew arrived soon after with a roof-rack full of wood, a saw, a spirit level and a hammer. Woodwork time.

We'd planned to build a walk-in fruit cage, but after chatting to Andrew's Uncle Paul at Christmas, we thought maybe a smaller, moveable one would be better. We had a look around at a few other fruit cages on other plots, and then set off for Homebase. The man at the checkout was slightly bemused by our purchases, and it took him a long time to find 'pond and fruit cage netting' on his till. He kept looking at the 'Chains' section until I told him it was a mesh, not a chain. Don't think he'd been working there long.

We came back to the allotment and Andrew got to to work with a saw, hammer and nails, while I did my best with the mesh and a staple gun. 

Then we put it all together to make this wonderful cage for our strawberries. Check out our awesome woodwork skills. We decided we'd make this cage just for the strawbs, and do something else for the raspberries and the gooseberry. I hope it works because last year we had a total of 1 raspberry and 0 gooseberries. Not a brilliant harvest. 

Yes we do realise it doesn't have a roof yet. We ran out of time and energy. Luckily there's no fruit for the birds to eat yet, so we've got a bit of time. 

Back in the growing game!

Last weekend we donned our wellies for the first time since the end of October and ventured back to The Allotment. We were both feeling a little apprehensive on the bus ride there... maybe others would look in disgust at our six month absence... maybe all the windows had been broken on the shed.. maybe our plot had been given away to some other happy newbies...

However all was well. Actually, it looked in a better condition that it was when we left it.  We spent the day clearing old produce that we'd left behind and moving big clods of grass from the area we never got around to using last year. We then took all the clods and used them to build up the path between our plot and Carol's plot next door. 

Here's what it looked like when we got there. Last year's canes and plenty of weeds. 

Here's what it looked like when we'd finished. Yes, we realise there aren't many differences to spot! 
We managed to secure the services of Peter, the Chairman of the Allotment Society, and his rotavator. So hopefully all the hard digging work will be done for us. Definitely worth £30. 
Here's some pictures of our first allotment lunch of the year, in our shed's little veranda. Sandwiches with chutney made from last year's produce. YUM.