[snowdrops]

Sowed some more peas and netted them and hopefully get germination this time. 
Planted half of my calabrese and netted. They are bit small but were getting bit leggy in pots at home.
Need to plant other half but need to trim my debris netting at home.
More digging and weeding of last big bed.Hard going 
Have large pile of weeds now but at least they are piled on grassy weeds so stopping that growing 
Sowed row of swede, spring onions, lettuce and carrots.
Earthed up potatoes bit more.
Watered rows of seeds and peas and beans. The french beans have barely grown 
Feeling mostly on top of whole plot now.
Just need to strim around jungle of fruit bushes 

My French beans are poor this year,& the ones I direct sowed are very uneven germination.
Have you thought of covering the weed pile with thick plastic to let it rot down?

[chillimummy]

Yes will probably do that soon.
Problem is that I took on the other half to my half plot when it came free in December and it was quite neglected.
It now has patches of black plastic dotted all over it 
Under a lovely plum tree is a huge piece lent by my plot neighbour (probably concerned about weeds drifting onto theirs  )
There was a lovely wild flower patch which is bit too wild now so half covered by another piece 
Another lovely plot holder has taken pity on me and offered to strim my fruit bushes as they are like a jungle and can hardly get to them to pick all the lovely fruit.
Have gooseberries, blackcurrants, jostaberry, loganberries.
Another two piles of weeds mainly buttercup have plastic covering them until I can burn them.
Hopefully these newest weeds which are full of mares tail will stay dry until a piece of black plastic becomes available 
Have discovered two plastic bins under weeds around compost bin and my plot neighbour puts her mares tail in water and uses water on plot so now I can reach them will do this.
Will be worth the hard work hopefully by end of year when it seems more managable.
Am going to put weed fabric between fruit bushes with bark so cut back on constant weeding.
When I knew my neighbour was thinking of giving up her plot and it was getting neglected, I wanted to offer to dig and weed but felt a bit cheeky and also wasn't sure if I would get to take it on.
Now with aching shoulders, I wish I would have done 
Any advice is greatly appreciated   
   

[snowdrops]

Might be worth putting thick cardboard down,before you put the membrane & bark around the fruit bushes,I didn't & I wish I had & have had some mares tail poke through. To be fair it is easy to pull out,seems a bit weaker, but cardboard might have suppressed it more. Bike shops are a good source of large cardboard boxes, or find out when it is recycling day in your nearest town & get down there before the lorry comes the shops might even save you some

[chillimummy]

Might be worth putting thick cardboard down,before you put the membrane & bark around the fruit bushes,I didn't & I wish I had & have had some mares tail poke through. To be fair it is easy to pull out,seems a bit weaker, but cardboard might have suppressed it more. Bike shops are a good source of large cardboard boxes, or find out when it is recycling day in your nearest town & get down there before the lorry comes the shops might even save you some

Thanks Snowdrops. That sounds like a great idea.
Hoping to get the strimming done this weekend and looking forward to being able to get to my fruit bushes 

[chillimummy]

OH came with me to plot today.
Gathered together most of the piles of weeds dotted about and either incinerated them or put them in dalek compost bin.
Started putting cardboard on weeds around fruit bushes as snowdrops suggested.
Can get to gooseberries now 
Planted kale and rest of calabrese plants. Bit small but hopefully will grow to good size.
Have now got large piece of debris netting and managed to cover all of my brassicas with this.
So much easier than separate tunnels and don't need gaps between rows so more space.
Hopefully will stay in place 
Got two courgette plants for 75p each as only had one plant germinated so planted them.
OH rotovated last patch on new half plot.
Got fennel and pak choi to go there.
Gave everything really good watering.
Got so much done in 3 hours       

[robinahood]

Harvested early spuds, very poor yield, I can only think it was the really long dry spell, first go at them on the allotment. Learning curve! Put PSB and kale plants in their place, duly netted as pigeons had a go at the Brussels.
Weeding and watering. Harvested French and broad beans, beet, onions and chard.

[Aled]

Harvested some shallots, and one tomato and one cucumber, plus some lettuce!
Cheers
Aled

[Rhys]

Had a trundle onto the plot. Weeded round my caulies and carrots, also weeded round my spuds.
Where I've hit a weed patch with glyphosate has all gone brown. Good...


Picked a ton of rasps and some loganberries.


Also got a few comments on my first attempts at spud growing.. My Roosters are at least 4 feet high! Sarpo Mira are just over 2 1/2 feet high. I might dig a Rooster up to see how they're doing...

[Thrutchington]

Me and another allotment holder cleared a load of weeds from another allotment whose tenant is injured, we thought it would be a nice gesture!

[Aled]

Found out that I have planted Dwarf French Beans!
Cheers
Aled

[rowlandwells]

 after that lovely drop of rain it made working on the allotment quite a pleasure so we decided to put the rest of the raised  beds I  made on the plot ready to plant tomorrow that brings us up to 25 raised beds in total all numbered for crop rotation

[New shoot]

Put together a cane and netting fence for my sharks fin melon as it was escaping out of the net tunnel it was under and the deer will eat it otherwise. Got drizzled on.

Planted out cabbage, dwarf french beans and lovage.  Got even more drizzled on with bursts of heavier rain on and off.

Started a bit of weeding, got fed up of the rain and came home.  It stopped the minute I got back of course    Its really wet and drippy out there still, so rain has officially stopped play for the day.

It feels funny saying that.  It has happened so little for weeks so far this season

[miggs]

Just got back from a couple of hours tidying. OMG, I have got so many shallots, there are hundreds of them.
I have pulled the shallots and they are now drying. What do people do with them?
Do you store them as onion's or do you pickle them all?

[sunshineband]

I got pretty wet at the plot this morning too. Sorted labelling of everything as inspection day on Tuesday. No mice in the traps in the carrot tunnel today... they obviously didn't want to get wet!

Took out all the tomato "elbows" in the polytunnel and tied the plants up neatly. Gave them all a feed too. Plenty of fruit but not yet ready to ripen; really late with sowing this year

[New shoot]

Lots of weeding, plus sorted the tayberry and loganberry.  There were new canes everywhere, so they got tied in out of the way and the old fruited ones were cut out.

Came home and did even more weeding.  Weeds R us