Starting to clear ground for the greenhouse

Grass clippings and cut up bramble, gathered in a pile.

Cleared ground next to the shed

The days are still short, of course, so there's not much that can be done in a day.

I've got a greenhouse!

It took three days to dismantle and transport over (well, half days rather). Now it's all down the allotment, waiting to be put together. First, we will need to cut the grass between the shed and the compost bins, level the ground and set the slabs and bricks for the base and then the big puzzle laying begins!

Weeding, onions and daikon

Today's visit was probably the shortest on record. When I walked towards the plots from the parking area it was already five minutes to sunset. The border pictured above is anything but straight, it will need quite some digging. I did mostly inspecting and planning today, because of the time constraint.

The girls' onions are coming along fine, and there is a lot of fungi there too!

The onions in this bed were planted first this year, and look a bit sad, so I decided to tackle this today.

After weeding it looked much better. A few daikon (mooli or white icicle radish) are growing and there were about eight onions poking up, with room for more.

So we planted some more!

Digging

Very short visit, but I got a little digging and a little cutting done.

The onions are starting to push through the manure.

Little and often...

Little and often is key, they say... But I feel it's too little sometimes. We did some cutting, removed the so-called fence between our two plots, and the youngest two planted two sticks in the onion bed! 

A few more onions in

The first bit of the new onion bed was dug over and topped up with manure, then I planted onions in it.

I had some help from the kids who were digging behind me.

Quite a lot of weed roots were dug up, that's just from my little patch of the bed, and it's mostly blackberry roots.

DS 15 years old worked on the second bed in their area.

DD did most of the cutting with the trimmer today.

The stormy winds exposed a new bed!

Some more trimming done.

The path from the top, slow progression

The strong winds in the past few days have ripped up the weed suppressant on my second plot, exposing a new bed. I'm taking it as a sign that I should seize the opportunity and grow there right now (smile). Onions or field beans? I'm leaning towards onions. DD nearly 12 thought the soil would be too hard to work with, but it's not.

The path from the bottom.

There are bramble runners going over the suppressant, will have to deal with them, without secateurs, they're still at home.

The path after sweeping off the grass clippings (and youngest dear daughter, three years old, well dressed for the cold).

Dear son, four years old, is a hard worker. He digs patches everywhere...!

Treacherous ditch between the path and the new onion bed, and impossible to see for all the grass.

Taking more of the suppressant off the area.

Brambles off and weeding started.

All the black berry branches that were cut, with a weak and dull scythe. No proper gloves either, only these knitted Thinsulate ones, that get caught in all the pricks. I grabbed some of the branches with my woollen coat, which worked pretty well as protection and was easier to release from the pricks.

Bonfire finally lit

The wind was freezing cold, but it was relatively dry and the bonfire took off on the first attempt and with no effort!

With the bonfire, thinsulate gloves, double socks and wool coat I didn't feel the cold anymore. The kids came and warmed their fingers and toes by the fire, whenever they weren't playing or hiding in the shed.

Blackberry branches were added

The bonfire kept going right until I put it out with water, sometimes only showing a thick smoke from the wet or semi fresh weeds and grass.

Only one accident, thankfully, I accidentally threw my son's glove on the fire when I was trying to stop a fight between him and his little sister over some leaves...

I did do a little trimming too, once I managed to get the girls out of the shed to supervise the bonfire.

The path that was trimmed, seen from the top.

The pile of brambles is gone (it was put on the other pile as it was burning)

That rusty sheet was put on the manure to prevent the tarpaulin from blowing off again.

The trimmed path, seen from the bottom

Pathetically little done... The battery seemed to go dead quickly today.

Quick update

The weather forecast is predicting some heavy rains in the coming days, followed by a big drop in temperature, so I dashed off to the allotment with some cardboard boxes to get them into the shed where they can stay dry. DS 13 yo tried the trimmer for a bit.

I forgot to take the compost there and forgot to bring thyme home, but did remember to take the secateurs so I can cut the tree branches at home (apple, plum and willow, maybe I'll do the roses and cherry too).

Dropped off some compost material

Went late with, nearly 12 yo DD, just to drop off two bags of leaves and weeds from our front and back gardens. 

DD tidied up a bit and gathered all cardboard in one pile and all the bags with compost, grass clippings and leaves etc in another pile.

I did some more cutting with the trimmer, mainly the top border. DD tried the trimmer for a bit, but found it too shaky.

Half successful attempt at the bonfires

What variety fungus is this?

Found an old carpet in the ground, ugh! Trying to pull it out rips it into threads...! That's carpet strings, withered plastic bags and other rubbish in that bag there.

Managed to lit the bonfires, but couldn't keep them going as it was very windy and the piles are still quite wet. Hay and cardboard worked to get them started and going for a short while.

Two old bags with compost material found under the grass (leaf mould and grass clippings)