the january catchup begins..........

January, and a little warmth and light have crept into our dark winter today.

Chance to begin the big catchup on the long list of jobs that are needed to get the allotment ready for planting up in spring.

Today, the focus was the paths. We had covered the paths between each bed with wood chippings, but they have all been incorporated into the soil so the paths between beds are slimy and muddy.

Unusually, there are still piles of autumn leaves waiting in the car park, so today I forked and barrowed for about three hours so that half of the allotment now has paths that are covered with leaves. No more sticky boots!

The leaves will break down and be incorporated into the soil by worms but this will take some time.

Other jobs done today include protecting the broccoli, pruning blackberries and cutting off the asparagus fern foliage.

We were ambushed at the gym today and placed in a 'spinning' class for forty five minutes of high intensity bike training. Add to that three hours of gardening and I needed a long sit down when we got home!