A Final Allotment Visit Before Re-inspection

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I'd received a neglected plot letter for my allotment, as the Committee thought it was overgrown with weeds and under cultivated.  I was a little disappointed, but they did have a point.  Here's what the back of the plot looked like around inspection time.

The nettles, comfrey and mint had got very out of hand and I just hadn't got around to clearing it.  

I've been struggling for a while now to keep on top of the plot, as it is a lot of work, especially now I've committed myself to two days at the CS each week.  In addition, the rain we had this spring meant going to the plot quite often wasn't really possible.

As a consequence, on receiving notification that I had six weeks to improve it, I asked the Secretary if there was any chance I could transfer to a smaller plot, on a site around the corner from my house. In order to do this though, I had to try to get my plot up to scratch.

It's taken a few visits over the last few weeks, I've put 12 to fifteen large bags of weeds into the compost bins and it's been a lot of hard work, but yesterday, I went for what will probably be my last visit before re-inspection on Tuesday. I was pretty pleased with my progress. Here's what it looks like now:

It's not perfect and is still a little under cultivated, but I've done my absolute best with the time I could find to go. 

It is difficult at this time of the year, to find things to put in it. I did transplant some spinach plants that had self seeded onto my plot from a neighbours, but as I left they were looking very wilted in the midday sun.  I'm hoping these might recover and make the space at the bottom of the plot look better cultivated, but I'm not holding my breath. Alternatively, I may try to get there and plant some onion sets into this space before the re-inspection.

One of the side beds was also tidied and planted with some kale and courgettes.  Here's the before:

And here's the after.

The other side bed, however, hasn't really been tackled yet.  Something had to give.  It is cultivated with nasturtium and raspberries though and once the raspberries have finished fruiting and have been cut back it will be a lot easier to get to the weeds at the back of the bed along the fence.

Finally, I did sow some autumn salad seeds into a few of the gaps to cultivate them a bit more, and I'm hoping I've done enough and the Committee will appreciate my efforts at getting on top of it. In any case, there's not much more I can do for now. I'll let you know what happens.  Wish me luck.