Recently by Katharine Capocci

Been enjoying the fruits of the allotment of late, in particular the eight
rows of tatties, which have yielded some great earthy specimens.

Hubby makes the most fabulous mashed potato ever - he doesn't stint on milk and butter - so we've been filling up on pan-loads of the stuff. Quiche with mash, tuna fishcakes with mash accompaniment, frying steak plus a dollop of mash...

All is thriving down on the allotment at the mo - and the recent rain has been a welcome sight.

The potatoes and onions - lots of them! - are holding their own and help to keep the allotment looking a tad tidier.

Plot thickens...

It's all systems go again down on the allotment...

The plot is three-quarters dug over as we speak and a dozen bags of manure-rich compost have been bought and stashed, ready to be worked into the soil.

It's all looking pretty bare at the moment - a blank canvas we like to think - but we're prepping the ground ready for the year's fruitful endeavours, we hope.

There are onions in one raised bed and we have bought the scaffolding boards for another couple of raised beds too.

The tatties are ready to go in. And there has been much plotting and planning with regard to what goes where. It's all still fluid but the seeds have been started already for cauliflowers, white radishes, leeks and courgettes (a big success last year). Also planned are green beans on wigwams, raspberries, strawberries, various herbs and lettuces.

And next door to us have been busy bees. Quite literally. As the neighbouring plot has plans to move a beehive in. Should bee interesting... Watch this space.

After a fruitful 2010 on the allotment we start the new year with a virtual blank canvas.
In all honesty, there's an awful lot of work to do, but at least we have notched up a good year under our gardening belts.
The soil has been completely worked over last year and we have a little more allotment know-how, so sowing the seeds this time around should be that little bit easier.
On our last wintry foray, the plot was pretty bare and dismal looking, if I'm honest, the soil rock-hard. A very few hardy souls were out tending their patches.
We dug out a few turnips for casseroles and checked out the raised bed of leeks. The fruit trees are hanging in there, and the shed is still intact after all the snow.
Still, can't help feeling hopeful that we can get cracking anew in a few weeks' time. Now where did we put those spades...

What Will I Do with All Those Courgettes? is not only the title of a (really useful) book by Elaine Borish, but also much uttered when hubby comes back from the allotment, jute bag full of them.

Well, it's been a hive of activity down on the allotment site. Fellow
plotters have been out in force these past couple of months busy working
the land. And I have to say the entire site is looking really green and
attractive. Everything seems to be taking grip and blossoming.

It's such a tranquil little haven - and so cut off from the outside world.
Only wish I had more time in my life to devote to this little piece of
paradise.

Spring is sprung - and us being of the fair-weather variety of allotmenteers - that means there's been much in the way of plotting for the new season.

We've had allotment discussions galore over at least one dinner and several coffees with our dig-in family helpers Julia and Doug.

And there's been much digging this very weekend, ridding the plot of pesky weeds and prepping the ground for a host of new plants and seedlings.

Just when you think the digging's all done for a bit, another bunch of those pesky
weeds pop up.
So a two-hour stint spent digging and bagging up down on the allotment one Sunday afternoon and pilgrim Paul's making progress.
Now we feel we're eventually getting on top with this allotment, our minds are turning to manure.
But we need to move fast before the bridge to our allotments is closed for repairs. And while the ground's still in reasonable condition for digging now winter's on its way.
Not looking forward to this at all, and hope I'm not standing downwind of it.
We're not sure whether to go for a half load or the full monty.
Decisions, decisions. Oh, what glam lives we lead...

Well, the allotment plot is now more or less completely dug over, the wild raspberry and blackberry brambles cut back and tamed, and the potatoes dug out.
We can't take full credit for the digging, though, as sister-in-law Julia and her husband Doug have very sportingly stepped in to give us a hand.
But we did resort to the good old-fashioned manual method of grafting with a spade, rather than hiring a rotavator.

I BLAME the lure of a few packets of free seeds on our new allotment. Sat vegging out in front of BBC Gardeners' World back in the spring and up popped a feature on their Dig In campaign, a national grow-your-own-grub initiative.

And with it came the offer of a bunch of free seeds to get you started - squash, beetroot, Lollo Rossa lettuces, tomatoes and carrots among them.