9th and 10th May 2009

All last week I was just longing to get to the allotment and planned to go straight there on Saturday morning but then got distracted by dividing Daisy and Fred's bedroom to give them each their own "room".

Then at 3'o clock I got a call from Alison to say she was up there so even though it had started to rain heavily and the wind was blowing wildly I abandoned the rest of the Lockets to the tidying and was up there like a shot!

The rain stopped by the time I got there but the wind was still strong and I came away after two hours with a bright red face from a combination of wind, sun and exertion!

On Sunday we all went up and got there at about 11.

Daisy, Fred and Alison's son agreed to help for a while at a rate of 50p per half hour (!) so we got them clearing the soil from the children's old bit of garden outside their shed.

(August 2008 - how their "garden used to look")

We'd laid carpet and then, using bricks, had built a temporary retaining wall in an L shape which we had then filled with potting compost so they could grow their own plants. But they'd never really been that interested, preferring to play with their friends than garden so I decided to reclaim some of the space for an extra bed which I plan to plant with a mixture of flowers and veg.

It means they have a slightly smaller play area but they tend to be running around from one allotment to the next so I don't think it really matters that much.

I ended up finishing clearing the area because Fred had an accident while playing "blind man's buff" - not a good idea at the allotment as he fell in a huge clump of nettles outside another plot and stung his hands, arms and tummy and got a massive nose bleed too. Mr Locket ended up taking all three children home at about 1.30 but I stayed til about 5.30.


The bed is now ready for digging - which will be a fairly tough job as there are loads of huge grass roots in it :o(

I also dug out the main weeds from the next bed to get it ready for a good digging over so I can plant my sweetcorn and beans there in a couple of weeks.


The other main achievement of the day was the rearrangement of the area outside the main shed - it seems to be an annual May event as I was looking back through old photos and found I had done the same thing at the same time last year!

I have created another mini bed just in front of the shed that I want to fill with sunflowers, sweetpeas and cornflowers.


So this morning I ache all over and am absolutely shattered - but I'd be back up there like a shot if I wasn't committed to something else today.