Saturday marked eight weeks of allotmenting.

This is what it looked liked then.It looks quite different now.

The weeds went haywire in between times  I was very lucky because the allotment was given up, not abandoned, the weeds were never completely out of control and there was stuff on the plot that has given me a crop. Hello rhubarb, raspberries and gooseberries. There is also a blackcurrant bush and some volunteer strawberry plants but they haven’t really produced. I also got some self seeded afgan and californian poppies.It’s true what they say about a new plot, clearing some ground and planting something really helps to motivate you to work on the overgrown bits. I was so lucky that I had permanent things producing already and friends that gifted me plants. Jonny gave me two large courgette plants, which are currently keeping me in courgettes.Being involved in the volunteer days at the allotments and joining the Facebook group was handy for advice on planning and free cherry tomato plants that were looking for a home. It’s been fantastic to put seeds in the ground and watch them grow. I have more or less taken the approach that the worst thing that can happen is that the seeds don’t grow or the slugs eat them and I have to go again. That was the case with the dwarf french beans. I had to abandon the first set that were planted out and sow directly and they did come up, not fast but they are growing. The same applies to the sweet peas (bought) and peas (sown) they are alive but not very tall.

The aubergine and sweet pepper plant that I bought and planted both have flowers (I really didn’t think it would be warm enough but I wanted to have a go at growing the things I love to eat!) And all of the tomatoes, including the two roma tomato plants that I bought have flowers too, although a couple of people have reported blight so I need to keep an eye on them. The courgette plants that I grew from seed (all 5 of them) are only eight weeks old and not producing fruit yet but I have a feeling that I’m going to be giving them away by August! The salad that I sowed has grown with minimal slug damage (they are very fond of rocket though!)I keep having to remind myself that it will all happen in good time. If radishes are considered fast and take six weeks, it’s all going to start producing in the next four to six weeks.

This weekend, I sowed runner beans, pak choi, spring onions, more spinach and rocket in one bed. Dill and coriander in the spaces between the beds and the weed fabric, better herbs than weeds, and carrots and radishes in a container. I also planted some supermarket mint in a bucket and took some cuttings of lemon balm to see if I can get them to root and pinned some strawberry runners into pots to try and get them to root as a start to my planned strawberry bed.I have long list of things that need will need to be done. I want to move the three gooseberry bushes and the blackcurrant to one area so I can protect them more easily from the pigeons. I want to set up a strawberry bed. I need a shed so I don’t have to carry tools to and from the plot. I would really like to put proper raised beds in. A lot of that needs time, some of it needs money but I think overall, I’m in a good place!