Plotting not publishing!

I know, it's been a long time since writing. But since my neighbour boldly agreed to take this on with me and M, we have come a long way with the allotment - and just because we haven't been writing, doesn't mean we haven't been working!

It's hard to know where to begin again. We were literally wading through weeds that were taller (and thicker) than we were. I still have a lot to read, and learn about gardening.

We (according to the allotment office) are still only cultivating about 30% of the plot. Since the last post, we have, believe it or not, still been in the process of clearing and digging and removing vast swathes of carpet. I wrote to them, after their second letter saying it was 'generally unkempt, etc etc) politely detailing our hard work and albeit minor successes. I sometimes don't know what they want. I know at the moment there is a high demand for plots, but surely, addressing this doesn't mean lavishing negative attention on people who have had a plot for a mere few years. Our plot had been left for years and years, according to our allotment neighbours before we got it.

Every week since our last post, through wind, hail, rain and bleakly sunny days until this summer, me and my neighbour have toiled, sometimes with our babies strapped to our backs, to get this plot into shape.

I never would have thought, that this plot would change my life so much. For a start, having a baby made me more, not less determined to make this work. Maybe if E hadn't have come along, it might just have been another failed project. M of course, couldn't do a week day as he works full time, and we just seemed too tired for anything at the weekend.

My neighbour H has made all the difference to that scenario, and her son has been company for E. At first, when they were only about four months old, they wouldn't get out of their buggies at all. If we were lucky, we could park them side by side and they would sleep a good two or three hours. That's how we did all the hard work. We did six hour shifts up there, from 10am till 4pm, stopping for picnic lunches, and taking it in turns to babysit while the other pottered and plotted the schedule for next time.

Now, we can't keep them in the buggies at all. But now, there is a path! Now, there are beets and brassicas, potatoes and peas, courgettes and carrots, tomatoes and er, swedes.

We have had failures - oriental poppies grew where we planted parsnips. How did that happen?

The peas have had a bit of pea moth. Not enough though, to stop my little E from picking and eating a pea straight from the pod. How happy am I, knowing that my child actually knows where peas come from?

And the other day, I gave her a blackberry. She popped it in her mouth and said 'lovely', for the first time.