Finally – it’s here! the day we begin the project that is our allotment.

It’s taken a while – 18 months thinking about it and saying we really must do something about getting an allotment. Then another 12 months once we were actually signed up to the waiting list. But here we are!

5 weeks after being told we had moved to the top of the list and been given a plot, the previous tenant has removed as much as he is going to – there’s still plenty of plastic bits, broken poles and even a coffee table that looks as though it once lived a slightly grander life – but at least the old filing cabinet has now gone!

It’s certainly a challenge – this is a plot that hasn’t been weeded for at least a year – and so we must start the process with a clearing project.

We’re talking 5ft weeds here as you can see! But after our first session, we’ve made good inroads. We’ve decided to section an area off and concentrate on that – it’s about a quarter of the entire plot.

Two strapping Frackle gardeners and a whole range of garden tools later…

It’s been really hot today – 1st August and Buckinghamshire is steaming again – and we did choose the midday sun as our companion – what do they say about mad dogs and Englishmen??

So, we’ve made a good start, and it’s time to pack up the tools ready for a new visit tomorrow

But even after only our first session, we’ve managed to harvest a reward for our efforts – not strictly fruits of our labour, but finders keepers as they say…

We’ll have those tonight with our home grown lettuce from the garden – lovely!

And finally, a quick shot of the “after” so you can compare it to the “before” shot –

Tomorrow – the arrival of the strimmer!

Related articles

• Allotment Flowers (therookieallotmenteers.wordpress.com)
• The garden trowel: The gardener’s utility tool (greenreview.blogspot.com)
• Work begins on my allotment (kenallen1976.wordpress.com)
• Starting from scratch… (myallotmentgarden.wordpress.com)
• Day 1 – Clearing (myallotmentgarden.wordpress.com)