Spring cleaning the allotment

The fine weather we have been having in February has been a great chance to catch up with all our winter jobs on the allotment. It's given us time to get straight before the rush of spring jobs gets under way.  I have had to keep reminding myself that it is still early in the year for planting and sowing outside.The beds are now cleared, manured and covered ready for growing again, the fruit beds have been weeded and manured.

There have been lots of bark chippings delivered to the allotment site and everyone has been  to and fro with their wheelbarrows using the chippings to mulch their paths. We have found these chippings really useful to cover different areas of our plot, hopefully this will help to keep down the weeds.

One important job to do was to clean out the greenhouses. They were still full of the old tomato plants so those needed clearing out first. Then they needed a good sweeping out before I gave them a scrub down with disinfectant to get rid of the moss and algae. Whilst I was doing the inside Richard went round the outside cleaning the windows. I'm always so glad when this job is done, the greenhouses feel really fresh and clean now. The staging is back in and its all ready to start sowing seeds.

The next job was cleaning out the shed. Now this is a job I really hate doing. It involves brushing down cobwebs and chasing massive spiders out of the shed. But once that was done the shed was all tidy and organised again. Once I had the bottle of disinfectant in my hand I was well away, cleaning the cold frames, pots and seed trays too.

It won't be long now before the frogs arrive in the pond. I'm always surprised when we arrive on the plot to find the pond full of frog spawn. So I decided to get the pond ready for them by getting rid of the dead leaves and pond weed and generally tidying up the bog garden around the pond. The bog garden is one area which had a layer of bark chippings spread over it.

Now at the end of February it looks like we are in for a spell of rainy weather, but at least the plot is  looking much better and we are all ready to start sowing and growing again.

Our new garden project 8--a shed and a gate

During the summer we had the back wall of the house rendered so put our garden plans on hold until it was finished. I couldn't wait to get the next stage of the garden sorted as it involved a shed! I just love a garden shed.

The shed was to go at the top of the garden near the house wall.

 Once it was in place the inside needed organising--shelves, a bench to work on and hooks to hang the tools up. I really enjoyed getting the shed organised.

Now it is done it is lovely place to spend time. I can work at the bench looking down at the view of the garden. Everything is where I can find it, instead of being all over the garage in different places as before. It is my own little space.

The other job was to put up a fence across the back of the drive with a gate leading in to the garden. Rather than buying fence panels, Richard built the fence and gate himself. This has really made a difference to the garden now providing us with some privacy and also makes the patio area into a little secluded space.

That was all done last autumn, so we have had a break from gardening work during the winter. Now the weather is improving and we are able to get out into the garden we will be starting work again soon.