Thursday 7th June
After arriving early to help unload a delivery of compost to the Trading Hut, I planned to stay all morning on the plot. I wondered if I was going to be rained off at first but it was only a shower and I managed to carry on in a coat and hat until I got too warm. Then ensued a rather comic situation as the zip got stuck on the jacket too high for me to slip it off over my head. I eventually escaped with help from a nearby plotholder friend and had to cut into the zip to undo it.

​One of last year's patches for root crops had become overgrown as well but many of the weeds were flowering and some old protective netting was tangled in them. I used my billhook to cut the netting free and then started cutting everything down with it. ​​I had almost finished when something made me start pulling the weeds by hand. I found some of them just broke off but a good proportion came out by the roots. It was so much better that I finished off pulling weeds out from by the fence.

​Once I had finished on the main patch I had a huge heap of seeding weeds I cannot compost so will have to dispose off some other way. All else failing I shall have to take it all to the tip!
The soil is already very dry so I shall probably have to soak the patch before digging it as I have seedlings growing on in the greenhouse which can't wait for rain.

​At last the plot is beginning to look reasonable; though don't look too hard at the bottom right (very weedy strawberry patch) or up round the shed!
Before going home, I drowned the bindweed and harvested asparagus, rhubarb, new potatoes and 4 radishes.
Back tomorrow hopefully leaving me clear on Sunday for the Working Party. We've got a bit of clearing up round the Cabin and its new decking and lots of potholes to fill in!

Sunday 3rd June
It was warm! And I had to put in the posts for my runner bean frame!
I arrived with my trailer full of bags of garden waste from a neighbour that had stuck to the waterproofing paint on the bottom of the posts.
Having dropped off at the Trading Hut to get some compost, some pots, and the thumper I set the posts in position having separated them from the bags. By the time I had thumped the posts in I was very hot and I needed a break so returned the thumper and went for coffee and cake at the cabin.
Refreshed, I went back to the plot and screwed the rail in position and set the canes in position with the runner bean shoots wound round them. Finally I wrapped some one foot high wire netting round the row to keep the red legged partridge from pecking out the growing points, something that has happened to me in the past.
I removed some weeds growing alongside the path and around the plum tree only to find multiple suckers growing from the base of the tree, which I removed. I then gave the ground inside one of the Brassica tunnels a quick hoeing and watered the seedlings.
By then it was too hot to work so I cut some asparagus spears and went home with them and some Pak Choi a neighbour had given me.

Friday 1st June
Having been rained off yesterday I grabbed the chance to spend part of this afternoon on the plot.
I first emptied the kitchen waste bin into my compost bin and worried that the smelly mess was exposed so, after chopping it up with a spade, I covered it with some of the grass cuttings already in the bin.
Next I started on earthing up the maincrop potatoes in an effort to reduce the chance of a blight infection (following the Blightwatch warning yesterday.) I remembered to scatter some slugbait along the rows before I started as well as what was left in the pot of potato 10.10.10 fertiliser. This is almost the only time I use my 3 prong cultivator and draw hoe. I loosen the soil by drawing the cultivator along the side of each row and then use the draw hoe to pull the soil up into a ridge over the plants. The first two rows (Sarpo Mira and King Edwards) have made so much growth that I couldn't cover them but the second two rows (a second row of Sarpo Mira and a row of Cara)  finished almost totally hidden.  Hopefully the slugbait and the fertiliser will do a good job.
​That done I moved on to digging out the chard that was going to seed. There was only three plants of rainbow chard but there was a whole row of Swiss chard. I cut the tops off the rainbow chard and a couple of tops of Swiss chard to take home, the rest became very expensive green manure as I chopped and folded the stems into the compost bin. That was added to by the seeding parsnips which I then also pulled up. I kept two of the best parsnip roots to try and make parsnip crisps at home. Finally I hoed off the weeds that had sprung up in the shelter of the row of Swiss chard, leaving them to die off inn tomorrow's promised sunshine.
I then decided to hoe between the rows of seedlings in the new roots bed as the weeds are growing at a fantastic pace and overwhelming the young plants. I had almost finished when a flash of red in the bed beside it caught my eye. It was a ripe strawberry in amongst the weeds smothering the strawberry patch. When I looked closely I found several more and started pulling out the weeds to expose the fruit. I soon found it necessary to fetch a hand fork and began weeding in earnest. While I found no more ripe fruit there was quite a crop developing, as well as a heap of weeds. Fortunately all the weeds are shallow rooted and came free fairly easily and I soon had completed nearly half the bed.

​Having exposed the strawberry plants and their ripening fruit I realised that the birds would also find the crop so I had to go and find the length of netting I had stored away and cover the whole bed. That done it remained for me to tidy up and go home, cutting four more asparagus spears to have with my evening meal.

Saturday 5th May
There was lots of discussion with lots of other plotholder including one who had a letter from the council who wanted advice on what to do next.


When I got onto the plot I went into the brassica tunnel to plant potatoes: the tunnel will be moved to the bed next to where it is now. I planted two rows, one of Sarpo Mira and one of King Edward. The latter is very susceptible to blight but the wife likes that variety so I plan to protect the row with Sarpo Mira on each side and see if that works. Both rows had a sprinkling of slug bait in the trench together with some 10:10:10 potato fertiliser before being covered over.








​I then pulled up several immature cauliflower plants to eat as Spring Greens, clearing the ground for the next rows of potatoes. A couple had miniature caulis in the centre but far too small to eat. The patch will have to be prepared for the second row of Sarpo Mira and a row of Cara which I bought as a last minute purchase from the Trading Hut when they were marked down.

​Next I drew out the drill ready to sow parsnips and one of the roots on my next visit as I had forgotten to bring the seeds!

Wednesday 2nd May
I arrived on the plot in the afternoon after a cold night wondering whether the potatoes had been affected by frost. I was pleased to see there was just a touch of brown on the biggest plants.

With the potatoes fully ridged there was no problem as they would soon outgrow the damage. However I got a surprise when I looked at my neighbour's potatoes.

​They had been badly hit! I think the brassica tunnel offered more protection than I realised.
I then dug over about half of the bed in the other tunnel ready for my maincrop potatoes. I went on to dig over the strip on the next door bed ready for sowing a late sowing of parsnips and left happy at the progress I had made.

Monday 30th April
I arrived on site at midday as I had been asked to supervise the delivery of the Council's order of roadstone. The wind was rather fresh so I was waiting in the car by the gate wondering when he would arrive when a plotholder came to say he had heard noises from inside the Trading Hut containers and was worried someone could be trapped. Needless to say I went and unlocked to find stored furniture had fallen over. Tidying up required taking the new mower out so I decided to do some mowing while I waited. Sod's Law came into effect as the truck turned up as I was about to start the engine.
After some manoeuvring to avoid a low branch beyond the Trading Hut he was able to leave a pile of roadstone by the cabin and one at the far corner of the site.
Once he had gone I spent a little time using the new lawnmower to tidy the front area of the site before locking up and finally going onto the plot.
First I took my cordless drill to unscrewing the the securing stakes holding the brassica tunnels down ready for then to be moved.
I removed the last of the leeks to clear space for sowing some new crops after I dig the cleared patch over.
I went on to dig out a few more parsnips, one large one and a couple of normal size. I then pulled up a load of immature brassica plants I had set out too late last autumn - lots of spring greens!
Lots of digging to do before sowing and planting new crops.

Sunday 29th April
The wind was bitter this morning but I started helping committee members clear some rubble ready for a delivery of roadstone.


The council has realised the potholes are a serious problem and finally decided they cannot wait for a free delivery from Dorset Highways and have ordered some real roadstone. We also took some broken glass down to the tip collected from the rubbish at the end of the first track.



That done I visited the cabin for coffee and cake and some crack before going to the plot.






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I was very surprised it was already midday so didn't have much time but couldn't but admire the display on my crab apple tree.​

​​However, there was much to do. I earthed up my 3 rows of potatoes but not before scattering slug bait which hopefully when buried will kill the black keel slugs that live underground and burrow into the potatoes. I also scattered some 10:10:10 potato fertilizer along the ridges to give them a boost.

​​I then decided I really had to return my neighbour's builder's bags which contained the leaves he gathered for me from his garden. It took some effort to lift and upturn each one into the wire netting bin and pack it in level.

​I then set about digging out the rooted off-shoots from one of my blackberry plants. I put the plantlets out on the leafmould bin at the front of the plot for anyone to help themselves but forgot to publicise it or put a notice out.

​Then checking out the other blackberry I realised the newly planted summer raspberries needed weeding and collected quite a pile of weeds to add to the compost bin.

​​Finally I cleared 7 leeks to leaves as they showed signs of going to seed and then saw that the forced rhubarb had lifted the cover up so removed it and pulled a large amount of rather twisted stems and then left the cover off to let the crown rest. I will pick from the other rhubarb plant for the rest of the season.

Thursday 26th April
After a weekend away I got back to the plot to find there was alot of crops ready to pick. I needed space to plant new crops so I started by digging up 5 parsnips. I gave away a couple and took the rest home to give neighbours.
I had to pick a massive amount of purple sprouting as most of it was already overblown before pulling the plants up to clear the space for planting potatoes. A couple of plants went to neighbours with chickens as they love to peck at the greenery. The greenery from the rest went into the compost and the stalks will go to the tip. I also pulled three immature spring cabbages that do not look as though they are going to heart up, probably because I was too late planting them last autumn. I need the space for potatoes anyway and they will make good spring greens.
Before I had chance to pack everything away I was summoned to a water leak further down the track. A pipe had just disconnected by the tap and water was gushing everywhere, including all over the poor chap who was struggling to repair it. Two of us went to the gate to try and locate the main stopcock. Once we had managed to prise open the cover I had to lay full length on the ground inn order to reach down so I could just reach to turn the tap. Returning to the problem pipe I found Mark Merritt had the repair well in hand so it wasn't long before I returned to the stopcock to turn the water back on.
Going back to the plot I noticed the asparagus shoots poking through and cut some very short but very fat spears before packing everything away and going home.

Wednesday 18th April
My normal Wednesday morning ramble didn't happen today so I came down to the site to do some work installing a gas locker for the new Association cabin. That task done I went onto the plot for a short session.
The soil had dried out enough to make it worthwhile hoeing the shallot bed again to remove the weeds that had survived the previous work with the hoe because it had been so wet. I then moved on to the asparagus bed and cleared that of weeds before the asparagus shoots appear.
Getting my cultivator out I produced a fine tilth next to the shallots and sowed half a row of beetroot and wedged a pair of boards into a tent over the row to shade it from the sun so it stays moist.
After that I saw that the purple sprouting was ready so I picked several lovely quite large heads before going home.

Monday 16th April
I arrived on site with a couple of Association tasks to do at the new cabin and Trading Hut. Having had to bring the rotavator out to access other equipment I decided I might as well take the chance to use it on my plot.
Having completed my RHAA work I got to the plot and started by emptying the two large bags of grass cuttings from a neighbour into the compost bin. I was then pleased at how the rotavator started so quickly after the repair work done by Don Hilton. His work meant that using the machine was much easier.
Despite the difficulty of using the machine in small spaces I managed to go over all the beds that had been dug over and reduced the lumps to a fine tilth. I was also able to go over the beds mulched with compost and leafmould.
After returning the machine to the store I used my hand cultivator to break down the lumps on the strip I dug yesterday inside the brassica tunnel because the machine doesn't fit through the doorway! I then put down a line and planted my 'Kestrel' seed potatoes. I was one seed potato short for the row so I cut one in half that had several shoots emerging. A dressing of slug bait in the hole with each potato may reduce the underground population of slugs so there might be fewer holes in my crop.


As the soil was reasonably dry on the surface I spent 10 minutes or so treading the soil down on this year's brassica patch as brassicas like firm soil and I want to repeat this year's success with growing Brussel Sprouts!.


I then ran the hand cultivator over it to give it a thin mulch of crumbly soil to help keep the moisture in.
I then finished up by using my hand cultivator to even out the ridges left by the rotavator. It was evident that the mulched beds were in much better condition than those with plain soil. However there was rather too much leafmould mulch on the bed for peas and beans. I obviously should have spread it over two beds. Hopefully the peas and beans will still grow well in the rich mixture.