Back on the blog

Been a bit of a mad few weeks - Download festival took some time to recover from - must be getting old (hence the allotment...)
Anyhow, was losing the battle against the couch grass so finally took up the offer from Malcolm on the next plot and got him to rotavate a patch. Put a few rows of Musselborough and Autumn Giant leeks in there - they finally seem to be thickening in the mushroom trays I seeded them in. Anyhow, I think I'd advise people on this site to use some mechanical method to get on top of the weeds. The combination of fairly heavy soil and heavy couch infestation makes weeding manually a tough task. I'd say that I'm on top of about a 3rd of the plot now and I'm making heavy use of straw as a mulch to try and keep it that way.

Had my first crop of earlies last weekend. To be honest the potatoes and onions at the far end of the plot have mostly been left to their own devices and have suffered from thistle and dock encroachment. Still, got a fair few potatoes from the first row that I cropped. That end of the plot now looks a little like an Afghan poppy field - thanks to a nearby farmer who went for a colourful look 'n' feel a year or two ago.