Time for some serious gardening...

So far this blog has been mostly about what happens when you try and set up a community allotment from scratch in about 6 weeks.

Now to the serious business of growing things - but what to grow exactly and can you just follow the instructions on packets and grow food?

One of the greatest parts of being on a community allotment is that you can ask these questions and people will stop, spend the time of day with you and give you their honest opinion.

This is great!  Because above all gardening is a social activity - not meant to be done in isolation!  So with the advice and general consensus of the plot holders I set about digging potato trenches for my sack of Kestrel potatoes.

 No one told me just how hard digging a potato trench is, especially when you need about 20 of them all 18ft long....Still thanks to Jim who introduced me to the mattock a serious bit of gardening kit.

I can't recommend it highly enough. It takes a significant effort to wield it in earnest  but boy if you have the energy it makes potato digging a piece of cake.  I'll take a picture of it next time and introduce you to it!

I have a new like-minded friend on the allotment - Leona has joined in on a Wednesday recently and we've been planning the next crops and planting the potatoes together.  Need to thank Piper here for her excellent contribution to potato sowing.