What Hedge?

A couple of visits later and most of the offending hedge has been cut down. Well OK, it's still about 20-30 foot high in places, but the vast majority of the bits encroaching of the allotment have been cut down. The rest can stay as it is for the time being as we need to get rid of what we have cut down first. I sense another bonfire approaching...

Some of the longer pieces have been trimmed and the sticks have been put to good use forming the outline of a tepee. Suzanne started to weave some of the smaller pieces around the top to hold it together and provide some shelter. Four year old son, still unimpressed - "I didn't want an Indian tent". Tough, we're not making another and we already more time on that than clearing the rest of the allotment!

A play area
There is a smaller area towards the bottom of the allotment that is bordered by the remains of the greenhouse (a small brick wall) and a small stone wall on the other side. The plan (currently!) is to clear this and create a safe area for the kids to play in. This is now relatively clear, apart from the rhubarb. So once a new location has been chosen for this we'll probably cover the ground with a weed suppressing membrane and put some bark chippings down. This will hopefully keep the children entertained/contained long enough for us to actually start digging some weeds out from the rest of the allotment.

Planting!
Well OK we haven't planted anything yet, but the garlic (Thermidrome) is on order from The Organic Gardening Catalogue and will hopefully be in by next weekend. Also we have purchased some tulip (40) and daffodil (20) bulbs from the local garden centre - which we can cut next spring to save on my florist bills! More details when I can remember the names...

Another neighbour?
A few people came to have a look at the vacant plot next to ours. Had a quick chat to them and told them it's not as bad as it looks (!), so who knows may have someone else to chat with. Which reminds me, we now have the key to access the 'lane' to our allotment and this Sunday we drove the car down there for the first time. I've not looked at the scratches on the side of the car yet and we couldn't actually get to our plot as it is so overgrown, but it's a safer way to take the kids down with us. Apparently the council clear it once a year in the autumn... Looks to me like it's been some years since they bothered down there.

Possibly some pictures later in the week.