We are doing well with the allotment. We had some purple sprouting broccoli which was so exciting I had been trying to hoard it in the fridge to show to ralph's mum when she visits. Seeds have been going in on time and we have been making progress with the works to fix the years of neglect, dealing with the huge bramble hedge and working through the patches of bindweed roots. The bindweed grows everywhere so we have been working in patches to fork over and remove as much of the root as we can. It's a really crap job, no fun at all and made even more frustrating by the knowledge that we have to do it because the people who had our plot before were neglectful and had no consideration for the future people who would take over the plot.
The broad beans overwintered really well and I'm in love with the peas.
As part of the our progression through the plot, clearing areas and establishing a layout, we have been pulling up the carpet-matted roots-soil-weeds 'weed suppressant' that has been left to become one with the earth. There's nothing quite like attempting to dig a hole only to find that several inches into your stride, under what you think is earth, is a size indeterminable layer of matted plastic that is impossible to break through. We have been finding the edge and pulling it up. One of these areas is the main path onto out plot, we pulled it all up, cleared out the roots and set out a new edge bed for flowers and crops and put clover seed for a new path.
And then..... we are told that all is not well with this. The lady next door is worried.
She has contacted the secretary to find out what we are doing/complain/fuss. Apparently she needs to walk on this area of our plot, because she has ME, to water her plants and now our plants are in her way. We were told that our plot came up to the edge of her raised beds, we checked with her and yes, "that is yours, do what you want there" etc etc. We had a meeting with the secretary and explained this and asked to confirm where our plot ends, which actually is all that matters in this discussion. Off the top of her head, there and then she appointed our boundary about a foot into out plot, you know, the width of a path for our neighbour. We can't argue with this, we don't know where it's meant to be as we can only go on what we are told but it doesn't half seem like a haphazard way to divvy up the plots. Just tell people whatever with no offer to check plans or anything. To argue about this would be painful and to ask for clarification would be seen as us being difficult and unfeeling. But now we know the 'official' boundary we'll just have to establish some kind of stompy-footed-sneaky-selfish-fag butt dropping-neighbour protection. I'm annoyed that she made it all our problem rather than looking at her own bed layout but hey, she wants all she can get. All she needed was to leave a walkway down the middle of the bed she needs to water. And maybe not build her greenhouse right up to the edges of her plot (another part of her argument as to why she needed access). Bah to her.
Our crimson clover is lovely.
I've been working on the potato experiment, no-dig potatosie planting. With a think layer of newspaper and card, manure then a compost well-trench. Spuds in, a layer of cut comfrey and then compost over the top.
Seedlings in the bed of contention. Calendula, spinach, love-in-a-mist, borage etc.
Ralph likes to do the digging with the adz.
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