It’s all go now. Manure has broken down nicely into the soil. I’ve dug over a couple more beds, but the gist of it is, the ground is already much better than at this stage last year. I repaired a broken greenhouse panel, which blew down in the bad weather in February, and we’ve been potting seeds in there. Outside we’ve planted the first phase of carrots – we’re planting in phases so we don’t get gluts – and root parsley. The second photo up above is of the random corner bath, which now contains strawberries at the front and onions planted at the back.

The grassy area behind the shed is in full swing as well, with our two new trees showing life. Last year that was full of glass, which I think came from a former broken greenhouse; and bits of slate which, cleaned, have proven quite useful. This is the thing with some city allotments – it’s not a perfect world, and they’re occasionally used as dumping grounds. People move on from their plot, leaving things in a right state. It’s technically against their contract, but the council tend not to chase the matter up. This is the sad side to allotment sites in Nottingham. Whereas some of the more prestigious sites in the centre of the city get a lot of funding, ours, which lies at the periphery of the city, is rather forgotten about…