Photo journal of the jonah plot

I think it's been a hard growing year - fabulous if you can keep everything watered daily, pots have dried out in hours here and I've even lost my mint! Maybe we will all have to resort to growing under shade cloths?

I think it's been a hard growing year - fabulous if you can keep everything watered daily, pots have dried out in hours here and I've even lost my mint! Maybe we will all have to resort to growing under shade cloths?

I did have to laugh because ordinarily I'd be thrilled to have so much sun for the growing season... Turns out a balance would be preferable!

It's been a long time since I've had so much time and mental bandwidth for the plot, but we're trying to get into decent shape before the growing season proper this year.



We're trying to get a bit more onto the no-dig side of things, so we've bought in manure and compost this year.



       



We shared this six ways with others on our site (3 tonnes of cow muck). It was a learning experience - being in charge of a delivery to the allotment site, how much 3 tonnes of manure is...Our share covers about one bed, so we decided to buy in compost as well.



   



A mere tonne of compost. We're still working on getting this up to our plot (11 of 13 on the site...up a sloped grassy path...tiny violin).



       



I hand weeded a fair bit of the fruit cage before we committed to buying in compost. We covered the remaining weedy bits with cardboard and covered that with a couple of inches of compost. I'm the weird neighbor soliciting rubbish, but I don't mind as it's quite useful.



       



I cleared a pile of bramble branches from an area of the plot that has yet to be cultivated by us. It's been covered with black plastic for a couple of years (and bramble branches more recently). The soil is in such a good state underneath and I'm really looking forward to growing here this year. It's in a lovely sunny area of the plot as well. I had to fork it over to even out the mounded bed structure that we were left with by the previous tenant. I also pulled out any visible bindweed roots (the reason it was previously covered).



   

The compost is settling on the beds after the rain the last day or so.

   

The plot overall looks quite full of junk still. Please excuse the mess

   

It is a bit of a downer to arrive on site and see the junk and weeds, but the plot is actually getting in pretty good shape. I still need to clear a lot of junk from the old shed that we tore down and burned - a polycarbonate window, some wood with rusty nails, bags of gravel and lime and who knows what else. We're still clearing sections of the plot that we've never cultivated. But we have made so much headway in the last few years, during which time my oldest went from an infant to a preschooler and I was pregnant with my now-15-month-old younger daughter. We have a fruit cage and a shed, which make things a lot easier on the plot. We have a few water butts that need to be hooked up to guttering on the shed. We're investing the time and money in getting the plot into the best state we can this winter/early spring. Despite the mess and the difficult growing year last year, I'm feeling hopeful and positive about the coming year.

Great progress DJ, make sure you get photos all through the season

Great progress DJ, make sure you get photos all through the season

Thanks, Danny. I'll try to keep up with photos this year. The photos are good motivation for me and I enjoy looking back at the plot. I'm really hoping to get some wood chip on site this year because it keeps the mud down and really smartens the place up.

You've already made fine progress DJ and have some lovely places for sowing stuff. It must be exciting.

Hauled four bags of compost in my wagon today, from the Aldi to the plot. The wagon and I both struggled over that 0.6 mile journey.

   

Spread it over the former path between the flower bed and first veg bed, along with two preexisting bags. Photo of the bed is too big to attach. I'll come back later if I remember.

   

The darker compost in the back (where I recently cleared the dried bramble branches) is from the bulk delivery.

   

The sun was shining today, so my efforts felt well rewarded.

   

We have been busy at the plot. Here is a series of shots showing the general end-to-end view. You can see some weed piles cleared, ground uncovered, and wood chip added.

           

The paths had old wood chip on them that was composting down. We've been scraping it off to put the new stuff on.

       

Here is the combined delivery of wood chip we got for the site.

   

We are having another tonne of compost delivered on Saturday morning, so our barrowing days continue!

We still need to clear the top of the plot (nearest the camera in most photos) because that's where the old shed was. Meaning that's where the broken glass etc is now.

But we are going to have the most space we've ever had for cultivation. We are currently being rewarded by the tulips, which have been outstanding.