Not a lot of writing this year. Crops yes. Not enough of them. And plums not nearly so many as last year. Slim pickings. But we has loads of kale, tatties, beet leaf, gooseberries, and other things . But....the main aim now is getting right back to basic plot. And so digging, uprooting, hacking and pulling up of old spent fruit bushes and horrible weeds is major full on aim. Next year a full plot to work. Council proposing to raise rent 300% in...

Helen and Ellie and I went to the allotment on Sunday 5 January with some protective fleece for our tiny patch of beans, garlic and onions that we put in just before the winter set in properly. They are all sprouting as they should be, but needed a little protection from the increasingly cold weather.  It was so cold that we barely stayed half an hour. Despite lots of tales of sheds broken into, our shed and our greenhouse, both unlocked, were...

Plotting and Planting - Growing food and writing about it.

lots of cardboard down and lots of topsoil and compost on top. About two thirds of the ground is now in some sort of order, and with luck should be ready for planting next year. We have kept an 8 by 6 ft dug over bed, which is ready to sow now. Onions, garlic, broad beans for a crop early next year is the plan. The broad beans are in.   The little grass area is growing well...looks quite good from a distance anyway. I think I got too carried...

the shreds of plastic bag  buried deep in the compost heap began to move of their own accord after my spade unearthed them.  as if a little wind was blowing them. but there was no wind.  As we watched, a little hairless, pink baby rodent began to climb out of what had been their first and only nest. Then another, and another. They seemed blind, perhaps never having been in the light, only days old. there is a war against rats going on at the...