Allotment sort out

Things are winding down a bit at the allotment so it's time to start sorting out ready for next year.

The wild flowers are still looking great though, here's are pretty poppy.

We decided to create more growing space to join two of the beds together and extended out into the path a bit. We have gained quite a lot from doing this actually. More space for yummy veg. Have of the bed is planted with garlic, red onions and fennel. The other have has been manured ready for runners, courgette and squash next year.

Clearing the beds we harvested leeks, parsnips, a few courgettes and the lovely lady next door gave us some potatoes and a squash which looks like a mini pumpkin. Very festive

Also picked some rhubarb and some cooking apples going free for some puddings.

Planting begins

Had a really busy day: moving more of the compost from the top down, we created more beds complete with willow edging; we levelled out the compost area ready for the storage box and compost bin (kindly donated by someone David works with); and started planting our first veg.

The runner beans, broad beans and strawberries went in, as well as the shallots.

The plan

Here is the rough plan we have for the layout of the plot. Looks good on paper, now let's see how it works in practice. We plan to have a 'working' area at the top, with a storage box and a compost bin, then 4 or 5 separate beds to plant into. A small bed at the bottom end will be for wild flowers.