A Productive Saturday

This weekend, I decided to get up early on Saturday and do a bit of shopping with LB.  I needed to buy her some new walking boots for an upcoming Duke of Edinburgh expedition and I also needed some seed potatoes and paving slabs for the allotment. Saturday morning was the only time we could really go and as OH was using the car to take the dog on her special Saturday morning walk, he dropped us off at a local retail park on the way and collected us on the way back.

We only ever really venture out in the car on weekends early on a Saturday morning, because from 11am onwards traffic on the main roads in and around London can get really bad, so we try to avoid getting caught up in it like the plague. In any case, it worked out perfectly, because the shops don't tend to be too busy this early and we managed to get everything we needed by the time he came to pick us up.

Once we got home, we had lunch and then OH, the dog and I  all ventured across to the allotment to lay the slabs and get the potato seeds in. I'd worked on the plot on three separate occasions during the preceding week, but hadn't quite managed to finish weeding and digging it all over.  There was just one quarter left to do. It didn't stop us from getting the potatoes in or the slabs down though.

Once we'd done that we all headed off to the nearby park to bag up some free compost.  There are several massive piles of compost and chippings that are left in there by the council for anyone to help themselves to.  We consequently filled about 13 sacks and with the help of a wobbly wheelbarrow borrowed from the allotment site, managed to get them back to the car. To be honest, we didn't even make much of a dent in the pile.  I forgot to take a photograph to show you, but I may take one if we go back for some wood chippings for the back garden, as there was an even larger pile of these there that we might just help ourselves to at some point.

We took the compost back to the plot and continued working on it. I managed to dig over a bit more and get the compost on the surface of about 70% of the plot.  There's just one small patch now that still needs digging over and we left a couple of bags of compost there to spread on this once it's done.

Here's a couple of pictures of what the plot looked like as we left:

The paving slabs will make it so much easier to get across the plot, especially when the ground is muddy, as it is at the moment and they give the plot a bit more structure too. I just need to finish digging the last patch you can see in the photo and then sow some seeds and we're up and running again.

I feel so much better now I've got properly started on the plot. If I leave it too late, it feels like a lot of pressure to get the plot cultivated well enough by the time the inspections come around. I feel like I've got a head start now. I'll keep you posted as it develops and throughout the growing season.

By way of a celebration for all our hard work, tonight we are treating ourselves to a take away supper. I think we deserve it.