Saturday jobs

Finished my first bed! Sieved the soil to get out the huge lumps (chucked them on a bed further down to hopefully break down a bit), raked it over, then covered with manure to protect the soil a bit. Used my new lawn shears (from Homebase) to trim the grass round the edge.

Started weeding the second bed. Covered the bit I did with cardboard to (hopefully) protect the soil - from more weeds sprouting, and from drying out too much. 

My first crop! Kind of, the Rhubarb stem a bit too bendy for my liking. Not sure if it's ok to eat a previous year's crop, or whether I should cut it down and start again.. 

First seeds sown

I was able to get up to the allotment for just over an hour today. It was a beautiful evening. I pulled some weeds out, raked the soil and planted a few lettuce seeds. The plan is to plant some more every two weeks or so. The bottles and egg shells (and coffee grounds which you can't see) are my (possibly futile) attempt at protecting the seedings from slugs.

The line is measuring out a foot - I thought I would try some square foot gardening principles, as the usable space I have at the moment is so little.

I also managed to pull up some weeds along the outside of the bed, and trim the grass a bit. The shears left on the allotment aren't really up for that job (although they're great for brambles) so I might invest in some proper lawn shears.

Finished weeding the first bed

Finished weeding the first bed. Took nearly an hour, just to go round the edge! Then added compost and raked it over. You can see from the big lumps on the left why you should NEVER DIG THE SOIL WHEN IT'S WET (as I did on Saturday) - the lumps are absolutely rock hard and unworkable. I'll have to take them out and wait for them to break down.