Bank Holiday Monday and Another Allotment Visit

Bank Holiday Monday here was a quiet one.  I was booked into a Zumba class at the gym at 10am, so I was up early, and out with the dog on our usual Monday morning walk.  The difference was it was lovely and quiet, no children on their way to school and people hurrying off to work.  I found this book that had been left outside a house on our route and brought it home, as it sounded like a good read. (If a bit sad)

I bumped into another dog walker I hadn't seen for a long time, she'd found a new job and was out much earlier these days.  It was good to catch up and see her lovely dog.

The class was good and I headed off to Lidl afterwards to do my weekly shop.  No, I haven't completely fallen off the organic wagon, but funds are so diminished this week, that I just can't afford to buy organic groceries.  Almost all of the meat we'll be eating is organic and is what I have left over from previous shops this month, having been put in the freezer and some of the dairy products we will be using will be organic, but as far as fruit and veg and other things are concerned it was back to good old Lidl and our local green grocer's, until next week, when funds will be available again. Buying and eating organic is definitely a luxury and sometimes it's just not affordable, especially when my monthly budgeting has gone to pot. I made sure that I put lots of fruit and healthy options in the trolley though, so we'll still be eating healthy.

I had a lovely big salad for lunch and then in the afternoon, I made a much needed visit to the allotment.  I had some homegrown sweetpea, cucumber and sweetcorn (bought) plants ready to go in

and there were some lettuces there that needed transplanting.

Here's the sight that awaited me when I got there.  As you can see the comfrey and nettles around the edge of the plot had grown up since my last visit.  I was forced to tackle them in the back right hand corner, as I couldn't find my gardening tools until I did. They were buried underneath all the growth.

It didn't take too long to do and looked a lot better when I'd finished, but I did get nettled up to the eyeballs and there's still lots more to do.  Baby steps.

I put the sweet corn and cucumber plants in and then turned my attention to the lettuce.The seedlings were looking good and ready to transplant so I replanted them all over the plot.

Some of them look a bit bedraggled in this photo, but they should perk up and grow to full size once they settle in.  At least now they have the room to grow. I couldn't find any room to put in the sweet peas, so they came back home with me.  I'll have to plant them in the garden somewhere.

It felt great to make a bit more progress.  Here's a final picture that I took before I left.  It's looking well cultivated this year for a change.