Getting the groundwork ready

Over the course of two or three weeks Mike and Cait went and hauled sackfuls of manure to the allotment. We all managed to get over there a couple of times lately. As the weather is warming up we hope we'll be able to get there more often. It's just not fair to leave the little ones sat in the buggy when it's cold and miserable. I don't like it much either.

Over the last couple of weeks we've managed to make a little more progress. We used rainy days to plan out the plot by using the free trial at Growveg.com. Using their words "GrowVeg.com is an online Garden Planner which helps you grow fruit and vegetables to the best of their ability, whatever the size or shape of your garden or plot.". Our free trial has just ended so I need to decide whether to invest £15 a year into an annual subscription, but I'm not sure if it's going to be something useful over the long term. I know it's only £15 a year but still...

On the plot itself we've...

...marked out raised beds:

... had dad's handy-work checked over by the team of "experts"

... and even got around to planting our first few crops. (For the record, first early potatoes, mangetout and peas).

Already, we're miles ahead of where we were this time last year.  It's just a shame we don't really know what we're doing!