Strange how the idea of digging a small bed can lead you off to digging up the area you thought would be the path, half way across the allotment, etc. My nice idea of digging the first of our beds for next years' planting (lots of planning in the evenings, aided and abetted by daughters additional scribbings) was somewhat scuppered by the roots of the weeds of the plot stretching for several feet in many different directions. The result was quite a bit of digging, a sore back (nothing serious, it's just not used to exercise!) and a fairly undefined area of dug soil. Still it's a start.
Also, with digging all the weeds out the level of the allotment in that area has fallen by about 6 inches. Guess I should get some manure in to boost it back up again. Most upsetting to see so many blackberry roots that need to be dug out, and even worse where they've been cut down they're sprouting again!
There are quite a few leaves across the allotment now, so I dutifully gathered up many of them and put them into an old plastic sack (not having a suitable area for starting leaf mulch yet. Plenty of chicken wire around though, so eventually will make a nice basket for them to rot down in.
More plots taken
Encouragingly more and more plots seem to be being taken on. At least two more plots were being worked on today, there is hope for the site yet! There are also a whole lot more mad people than I realised taking on plots with so many trees growing in the middle of them!
A new tap!!!
To celebrate the water being turned off for the winter, the council (I'm assuming it's them) have kindly provided a nice new tap for our 'lane', to replace the... leaking standpipe. I think they have had several complaints about it (and not just from me!), so they're probably wishing the site wasn't undergoing a revival after all. Let's just hope it survives until the water is turned back on in the spring...
Seeds
Well I was hoping to order some seeds from Real Seeds after finishing this, but after adding a couple of items to my 'shopping basket' the site seems to have gone down completely. More on that later - hopefully.
What no photos?
There has been a complaint! Apparently there are not enough photos to show what a wonderful setting the allotment is in (even if the allotment itself is not looking that wonderful yet!). It's true, there are not enough photos because I keep forgetting to take the camera down - which I managed to do once again. Next time I will be concentrating on taking lots of artistic photos of the new wheelbarrow and surrounding scenery ;>)
The site is just a few minutes drive from home (Crookes - a fairly heavily built up area of mainly terraced houses in Sheffield), but like many parts of Sheffield it feels like being out in the countryside at the allotment. We can only see a few houses above the trees over in Stannington, otherwise we can just see trees of the historic Rivelin Valley. And even better than that is the cafe in the nearby Rivelin Park - it is only about a 15 minute walk from the allotment through the valley and they do some seriously good cakes! Not to mention the breakfasts. OK so we've checked the place out a few times already, but I can see it getting a lot more use!
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