Saturday 28th Feb

Today was the first day that we have spent on the allotment this year.

Hannah and I did the digging and Nat did a little light weeding, but he did mend the compost bin.

The cabbages are a bit battered and have been well nibbled by something, the broad beans have caught the frost but the onions look OK.

Nat has decided where he wants to put a small pond and we found a frog - so lets hope he stays to enjoy it this summer.

No Visits Thursday Friday

Not been up either today or yesterday. Finished work 8am Thurs but had to go straight to bed as I had the night off to attend Nat's performance at the De Montford hall in the Thomas Cook Show (it was brilliant!!). Came home and popped to shops to get a few things. Nearly KILLED - as I was cycling back from Asda the handlebars of my bike came loose and suddenly I was in close intimate contact with the ground. Two very kind and concerned drivers stopped to ask if I was OK which was extremely good of them. Battered and Bruised (and somewhat shocked) I had the fun job of trying to push the bike home, sans handlebars which would not reintall into steering column, whilst carrying 2 bags of shopping. It took me approx 30mins to push the bkie 500 yards. Feeling very sore today so have stayed in bed and rested. Work Tonight!

Back to Work

I'm back at work tonight (I work 4 nights on/4 nights off) so I won't be going up to the plot today. However, my new library card and pin have arrived today so when I've finished this I'm popping up there to see what books they've got on allotment growing etc. Whilst I'm there I must remember to order the Neutronium Alchemist for the holiday.

Hannah and I - Tuesday 1 July 2008

I didn't go alone today. Nat's got his extra lessons on Tuesday, so I thought it might be nice if Hannah and I went up together whilst he was there and did a bit of digging together. She did her best, bless her, even though she's got quite painful stomach ache from the constipation she's suffering from. Whatever else, she's great at filling daddy's hat with water, which was very cooling and much needed. We started clearing the weeds about the patch we had covered over on Sunday and made fair headway. Deb and Nat arrived later and we carried on until about 05:30 then went home for tea. The photo's of today are included in yesterdays post as unfortunately I forgot to upload yesterdays photo's separately from todays so their all togheter (if that makes any sense). Here's a couple of photo's of Hannah doing her bit.

All Alone - Monday 30 June

Oh well, the kids are in school, Deb's at work I've taken the dog for a walk it's 12:00 and I can't put it off any longer - it's time to go solo. First problem, how do you carry a fork on a bicycle? With difficulty!! Thought I'd get some more digging done (see photo's) so I started work on the section just up from the broad bean plants (we did in front yesterday). After a couple of hours got this turned over, nicked a chair from the allotment next door and sat down to enjoy a well deserved beer. Whilst sitting George happened along and we got chatting. Seems he had a very interesting job before he retired designing machine parts. Anyway he gave me some tips which I'm desperately trying to remember and we chewed the fat (as the yanks would say) for awhile. Left at about 03:15 to be home in time to take Hannah to the doctors.

More Digging - Sunday 29 June

Came up at about 11.00. Went to the allotment shop and paid fees and key money and purchased some black ground cover sheeting to cover over the area we dug yesterday. Think I got my measurements a litttle confused as when we laid it we appeared to have a couple of extra yards! Today we dug up the front of the plot on the other side of the pathway (see photo's). We did about 3 hours and I can honestly say we were all totally knackered at the end of it.

First Day on the Job

Saturday 28 June 2008. Well, it's time to make a start. The four of us arrived mid morning with good intentions ready to being turning this overgrown piece of land into something that will provide us with fresh wholesome food for the foreseeable future. With the price of food rocketing as it is and with no end to this in sight this could be the best decision we've made in a long time. We got started, I did the digging, deb did the weeding and the kids did what they could. I think the photos will show what we managed to get done.