Got an early start this morning and managed to finish the bed system.

That’s Plot 1 complete and this will form the basis for my 3 part rotation system. It won’t be the only area where the vegetables will grow because i have more than enough land for that, but it’ll help me focus on one area while i clear and prepare Plot 2 throughout 2008.

One of the great things about keeping a blog is you can look back and see the progress you’ve made. When i think about that corner when we first stuck our heads through the gate i never thought we’d get the area clear in time for planting, especially as we only get the weekends to go at it.

The Weather changed by 12 o’clock and i had to leg it to the shed for cover as it went from light winds and sunshine to high winds and hail stones. After half an hour the weather was getting worse so i went home. Ron next door reckons were a month behind this year and like me, hasn’t planted any new vegetables yet.

It’s good friday and everybody was indoors lazing around watching tv and the snow flurries. I was bored out of my skull so went for a walk up by the allotment. I noticed the winds were blowing in a westerly direction away from the surrounding houses so i took the opportunity to burn off some rubbish.

Ron was down there and he had what looked like a big pile of straw smouldering away. We had a huge pile of grass and weeds from clearing up and i was going to compost it. Because the wind was blowing across the fields Ron told me to set them on fire, slowly add soil reducing the pile to a smoulder. He reckons you end up with a nice big pile of Potash fertiliser to spread across the soil.

Managed to get a few fires going despite the snow flurries and high winds and left them to smoulder and eventually burn out.