Bottle plot

We have yet to meet the person who runs this allotment, not far from ours. The sides of all the raised beds are made with wine bottles, mostly. Perhaps he or she is inside the shed, sleeping off another effort at recycling.

Rhubarb and broad beans

T told us he used to run a seafood restaurant on the coast. He also donated this rhubarb. It's gone into the only bed in our 'holding' plot, a narrow strip to the left of our allotment, adjacent to B's plot. In this holding plot, still fairly neglected, we plan to put the veg perennials such as artichokes, asparagus and anything that needs to be housed somewhere temporarily.

We're keeping an eye on what's happening to B's broad beans, planted outdoors at the end of last year. He's got them in three rows, planted 2" deep, 5" apart. He soaked them in paraffin "to keep the mice away".

Onion sets

Here's a good example of just how disorganised we are. October 2007: buy onion sets for planting out, keep them in lovely champagne bottle tin container for the moment. Nov, Dec, Jan: eat lots of onions, bought in supermarkets and at Farmers Markets. February 2008: wonder what we're keeping in lovely tin container, open tin, discover onion sets with weird long shoots. It's rather late, but we have now planted them anyway ...

Greenhouse mid-Feb sowings

On 12 February we sorted through all the packets of seeds we've accumulated, wondering where to start. We just sorted them into four piles; sow NOW, sow end Feb, sow March, sow later. Wearing wellies equals quick decisions, clearly. When it comes to more sophisticated, sequential planting, we can always fine-tune next week or next month or whenever we'll be more organised. A is VERY GOOD at sowing and enjoyed using her brand new tools for dibbing?? and patting?? (I'll find out what they're called.) The image shows part of the new set of seedlings: two types of tomato (Marmand and Gardener's Delight), parsley, brassica oleracea gemmifera i.e. Brussels sprouts, artichokes, mixed leaf.

Grape and blackberry

Last week, we planted our first dessert grape, a Sauvignon Blanc. Behind it is our blackberry, a Fantasia, donated by Chef T.

The tomato bed

The tomato bed will be on the left as you enter the greenhouse. Back in October, A had spent a whole morning weeding the ground on both sides of the central path. We then covered this in newspaper and cardboard, hoping to smother any remaining weeds. But they're back. Or perhaps they never left us in the first place. Perhaps the cardboard and newspaper mulch kept them nice and warm and snug and just right.

But we're not giving up. I spent the morning of 6 February weeding the tomato bed by forking out the soil to more than a spade depth and hand-weeding this of all visible signs of couch and dock. I also removed bits of stone, plastic and pottery. Before forking it back in again, I lined the bed with cardboard, the idea being to keep out the weeds lurking beneath the paving slabs on which the greenhouse sits. I have no idea whether this is going to work. Unusually, none of our plot neighbours were available for their free advice. Another allotmenteer, Q, told me that couch grass quickly disappears when it finds itself near a tomato plant. So we may be okay.

The photo shows part of the tomato bed with some of the dreaded weeded weeds in A's garden sieve. Apparently, says A, it's possible to make a liquid fertiliser out of couch and water topped off with a layer of vegetable oil. I rather like this very wholesome let's-not-throw-anything-out idea but not in my kitchen. So more on this later, perhaps.

Oh yes, the greenhouse

Here's a short clip on the state of play in the greenhouse at the start of February. On the whole, it's a bit messy, yes. But if you look carefully at the exciting array of gardening items on the top ledge, you can see the trays of seeds A has planted. There are two varieties of sweet peas in the tray on the left and broad beans in the tray on the right.

Raspberries

Towards the end of January, we dug two more beds, weeded them, mixed in a few handfuls of organic manure and then had another look at our two newly-bought 6-pack raspberry canes called Autumn Bliss. We weren't entirely sure what to do next, having forgotten what we'd read about planting raspberries. Did the containers consist of one plant each or were we meant to separate the canes?

We found the watering can on the Help Yourself section of the site.