I had high hopes that this weekend would be the weekend that we really got to grips with the allotment work.

But the rain the day before and the wind on Sunday were not fun. I’d been on a 3 hour walk in the rain the day before and Ma can work when her hands are too cold. So we didn’t get much done at all.We filled up the bird feeders, picked up an order from Wilko, and I planted the rhubarb crown. I removed the side of the brassica bed to show Ma how I’m planning to re-use them at the top of the plot. We also took the broccoli out of that bed and I pulled up a couple of raspberry twigs…

I am worried that there is too much to do and not much time to do it, but I’m panicking about nothing, we have a plan and we know what we want to do and we have time to get it done. It’ll all come together in the next couple of months and then I’ll be worrying about blight and watering.

To keep me on the straight and narrow, here is February’s work list, tasks crossed out are done.

• plant the rhubarb crown
• order new raised beds
• build new raised beds
• sort out the sides of the current brassica bed
• clear that bed of broccoli and kale
• create sections at top and sides of allotment for flowers
• fill the new raised beds with compost and top up the others
• trip to the dump
• dig up raspberries and the gooseberry at the end of the plot
• sort out the raspberry frames
• paint the shed
• cut the grass at the edges of the path
• prep the buckets and boxes for carrots, radishes and mint
• put up and secure the cloche
• bonfire
• sort out sowing supplies and start sowing leeks etc

As you can see I have a lot to do next week but I’m ordering the new raised beds tomorrow and they’ll be delivered on Friday. So we’ll get them set up next weekend which means the gooseberry bush will come out, I’ll sort out the sides of the other one afterwards. We’ve hired a car for  after that so we can buy compost and go to the dump so that’s seven jobs that will happen in the next two weeks, one more good day on the plot and we’ll be caught up. It’ll be fine.