During April we have been working on the construction of our pergola. The plants are making good progress. Today I planted some bolloti and butter (spagna bianco) beans that I started in the greenhouse. It is very early for these to be out on the plot. We have planted these out under a square glass cloche. These beans need a long growing season and, if we are lucky, they will survive and produce a tasty crop.

The greenhouse is well ultilized in preparation for summer

We are using our greenhouse to grow vegetable and flower plants for both LottiePlotFour and our home garden. The night-time temperature is not yet consistenly above 5 degrees so the non-hardy plants are being pampered overnight in our lounge, but many seedlings are on the go.

Spring sunshine brings life...

Improved weather, although we did have hail and frosts yesterday, has allowed much progress on lottie plot four. Onions, garlic and early potatoes are in. This is along with a good variety of fruit. Despite the gales a few weeks ago, I managed to get the strawberries planted under weed fabric. These are in a raised bed. We are pleased to say that this is now the only weed fabric that is present on lottie plot four! Last year we covered over half the plot in heavy duty weed suppressant matting. We did manage to grow a good crop of pumpkins though this, but it was not a long term solution. This did allow us time to weed through this section strip by strip. The whole area was heavily infested with bindweed so this was a slow process and the main project for over winter. Today we reached the momentus occassion of removing and weeding the last strip of fabric. In addition; over the last few weeks we have prepared many of the raised beds. Some of these are covered with cardboard until planting, others have been filled with wigwams which will hold various climbing beans and peas. The main planting season is a while off as we are in the chilly north, but I have planted 2 short rows of beetroot in a raised bed. The 7ft high mountain of compost we inherited is now moved and we have levelled the area in preparation for laying a patio. The plan is that we have a pergola next to the shed for shelter during the summer months. We will also have a storage area all nicely slabbed for easy maintainance.

Lottie Plot Four February Update

A splash of colour pre-spring

While we are waiting for the growing season to start on lottieplotfour our Amaryllis is providing some well appreciated colour.



The variety is 'black pearl'



It won't be long before the allotment springs into life!

Almost half a plot sorted...

Today we levelled the area for 2 more raised beds, put them in, levelled the paths, got a few barrows of woodchips to cover the paths. Argued a bit, drank tea :p

Photo from shed end.

Next job will be to clear the pile next to the oil barrel and build three 3'x3' compost bins.

Time on plot: 6 hours
Barrows of woodchips: 8
Tea drunk: 1.5 litres
Biscuits eaten: not enough, tin ran out :D