The kindness of the allotmenteer

Having worried last week about not speaking to or seeing anyone at the allotment, today we met Harold. A lovely bloke of 72 who has 2 plots on the site. He gave plenty of advice on what grew best and very kindly gave us a whole load of veg to take home, including some samples of 'Cara' - a potato he recommended for the site, which I had not tasted before. Tonight we will be sampling the parsnips.

Veg courtesy of Harold

Today my labourer and I (thank you Mr HappyMouffetard!) double dug two 4 foot wide beds at the bottom of the plot. We dug out plenty of perennial roots as we went, but no doubt plenty more remain. Another couple of months and we'll have all of the beds dug (no point over-exherting ourselves!). The soil is nice & rich, with a sandy layer below - ideal for decent drainage. Now I'm just waiting for my asparagus plants to arrive.

On the home front, I've just trimmed the lawn edges, and done some deadheading of Dahlias and Rudbeckias (annual and perennial) to try and encourage a few more final blooms. I'm planning on buying a Viburnum shrub for the front garden, to give some fragrance over winter. I've found Crocus a good site for shrubs - excellent quality and the shrubs don't seem as expensive as the herbaceous plants they sell!