We had glorious weather over the weekend and although we had planned not to do anything, the weather was too nice not to be outdoors so we went up on Sunday.

As it turns out, I can’t be trusted near the plant section of Morrisons and on Friday came home with a blueberry plant, some tete a tete narcissi and a bleeding heart (also known as lamprocapnos spectabilis) to plant out. So we needed to go anyway so I could plant them out. I was also given six small rudbeckia plants by a colleague, they are pretty hardy so I’ve left them outside but they’ll need some time develop before I plant them into the ground.

First up we decided to build the first of the three new raised beds, so we went to Wilko to buy lawn edging, bird feed and ericaceous compost for the blueberry. The bed is built and I’m going to order the other 10 pieces of edging for the other two beds. We did consider buying the other raised beds but they would have cost £75 and this costs us £56. Then we have to fill them up. I know it’s not the cheapest way of doing it but it’s the easiest (DIY is not my forte) and it works pretty well. My plan for filling them is buy some compost every time I’m in Wilko because we won’t need the beds until May but it’ll be nice to have them built and have a feeling for how it will look when we do have things growing in them.While I was faffing with new beds and planting things, Ma was weeding and tidying the edges of the plot. The allotment committee is trying to get all of the border paths straight and I noticed that my lovely plot neighbour Tana had straightened ours which was great but we need to get to work on the other side too.

We also, much to Ma’s relief, tidied up the shed. We sorted out the bamboo canes, throwing away any that were past it (actually we added them to the bonfire pile) We’ve decided not to buy any more bamboo canes, they aren’t very durable and we have wilko garden stakes and lots of metal poles from the dead greenhouse. So we’ll use what we have and invest in more of the garden stakes because they are longer lasting and straighter and I’m less likely to cut myself on them! But the shed is 50% tidier and we’re also going to buy another set of drawers for storage and I’m going to paint the inside this summer.

The really exciting allotment thing didn’t even happen on my plot! My brother and sister in law, went to look at a plot and are going to take on a half plot which is going to be all rotivated for them, they’ll also have dibs on another half plot next door at the end of the year! Ben is already planning on a shed and it looks like we’re going to be a family that grows stuff!Another week has passed and I’ve still not managed to sow a seed! But I have got a work list for March, I still think we’re in really good shape for the spring so it’s not a long or difficult list.

• Finish new beds
• Sow celery, leeks, sweet peas and beetroot (indoors to go into cloche once up and growing!)
• Trim the rosemary and verbena bonariesis
• Have a bonfire
• Sow peas, spring onions, carrots and parsley (outdoors later in March)
• Tidy edges of the plot
• Grease bands on the plum tree
• Paint the shed inside and out
• Plant up the walking onions
• Plant potatoes in sacks (mid month)