New Year 2020

So - the key was lost! By the time I discovered the fact and had gotten around to asking Ian for a replacement, the Covid-19 situation had started, and the council-approved locksmith had shut up shop and was nowhere to be seen. At a bit of a loss I was going to email Ian again, when he contacted me and asked politely if I was going to be taking care of my allotment this year. In a bit of a panic (I didn't want to get on the naughty list!) I emailed back explaining what had happened. He very kindly came over and dropped a spare key into my letterbox. Then joyously I went back to the plot to see what several months of neglect had done.
To my surprise it wasn't that bad. Unfortunately I don't have a photo, but it looked pretty much the same as the last photo of the previous post.
This year my son, Eric, has been helping me out and the first job we tackled was changing the plastic sheeting over to the other half of the plot. We saved and moved some of the strawberries, and one of the rhubarb plants, then pegged down the sheeting. The strawberries now live in a perpetual bed on the north side of the plot, which is nearest the railway.

Strawberries only give their best for about 3-4 years. So planted in rows like this, you plant the runners from each year into the next row along. Then by year 3 (or 4 depending on how much space there is) you take out the original plants and plant that year's runners in their place. Then in the year's after, you take out the oldest plants and add the new runners. That way your strawberries will always be at their best.
Everyone in the family loves strawberries, so this is a priority bed!

As you can see the plot is quite different to when we started!
We have also planted some seeds in the polytunnel (this was one of the few really useful things we found in the shed when we emptied it), set potatoes into the bed next along, and dug out much of the rest of the uncovered plot.  We created a "palisade" fence at the west end near the shed out of old wood that was lying around. The birds use it as a we perch to scope out the pond area.

Here we've planted two small cherry trees and a cherry bush (I didn't know you could get cherry bushes, but it seems to be doing well so far). This area will be kept as grass under the fruit trees.

We also turned the shed right around and added a window. This was made entirely out of bits lying around the allotment - so we're well chuffed that it looks so good!  The inside is so tidy now as well. You can see my neighbour's compost areas next to my shed - it was impossible to get the wheelbarrow out of the shed and onto the path with those large compost areas directly opposite. Now it's easy to get the barrow out of the shed, and the door opens the right way to allow easy access into the heart of the allotment.  It is so much better!

This is the area between the main beds and the north fence next to the railway. it was really overgrown with raspberries and had an awful overgrown pond. It was so overgrown that it took us a while to even see there was a pond there!  We dug out the pond, which turned out to be an old water tank, and filled the hole.  We'll be re-siting the pond next to the glasshouse (when I finally save enough money to get one!)

Best thing about the 'pond' is that it is really deep. Enough for toads to hibernate  :)
That's us nearly up to date. Future posts will be more of a diary of what we're doing - partly so I can remember what we planted and where. I imagine such things will come in handy next year.