We are on holiday for a few days so thought we would get on with finishing the Great Wall of China, aka our allotment fence. We did aim to start on Saturday but a late night with The Neighbours (of whom more later) scuppered that. Discipline is all in the allotment game. Well, discipline is alott in the allotment game.
Sunday saw us inspecting the plot after a week's neglect. Strange to say, everything was 
thriving, especially our friends the weeds. However, amongst the unwanted growth, a small miracle made itself known - the spring onions sown from seed are finally making an appearance. Whether it's too late in the season is too early to say. Needless to say, our Pumpking (the Barry White of pumpkins) is doing supremely well but we think he's had enough exposure recently so we won't show you a picture. The peas and even the carrots are making themselves known, as are the Speedy Leeks.
thriving, especially our friends the weeds. However, amongst the unwanted growth, a small miracle made itself known - the spring onions sown from seed are finally making an appearance. Whether it's too late in the season is too early to say. Needless to say, our Pumpking (the Barry White of pumpkins) is doing supremely well but we think he's had enough exposure recently so we won't show you a picture. The peas and even the carrots are making themselves known, as are the Speedy Leeks. 
Other excitements were the discovery of very comfortable caterpillars on one of the broccolis (swiftly dispatched in a non-humane manner), sprouting of the said broccoli with some side shoots that look uncommonly like - sprouting broccoli - and very confident looking sprouts.
We then set about finishing the North Face. It has to be said up front that this part of our boundary is wobbly. No really, it is. It is incredibly hard work, the digging up, laying down the fence so there is enough to curl under and then depositing the soil back in the trench, once the posts have been correctly aligned and the wire fence stretched as well as we can. We got to the end of our boundary, where the neighbours' starts, and decided to wait and confer with them before engaging with any closure of the boundaries. A good afternoon's work and we go home, cheerfully whistling and hoisting our spades over our shoulders, etc.
(Weather note - we haven't said much about the weather recently. It has been sunny and rainy. Not especially hot. No watering of the plot needed during the preceding week. What do you expect - Michael Fish?)
After an early night and lots of sleep, I entice N to the plot with the promise of a Garden Centre Breakfast, as we need to replace the broken shovel (blog passim), and get an "edging tool" like wot our neighbours have, and which we fondly imagine will make the job of doing the other long side fence (the South Face) that much easier. The breakfast was excellent, and we also met one of our allotment neighbours Sue Getley there, who chided us for skiving from the allotment. Oh no, we said, we're going now, to dig for victory.
We arrived at the plot at 12.30 and left at 6.30. The cutting of the trench this time was rather more efficient, as we actually stretched a line of twine between the two end points = straight line for digging. N did the cutting with the "edging tool" and I did the shovelling of loosened material, including some truly ginormous stones and miscellenaous geological deposits of chalk and clay. It was meant to feel easier but truly it felt just as hard as previous trenches, mainly because we started at The Stony Bit, which is actually quite long. N was the Gangmaster and I the Grunt. We stop for an icecream and a chat with Mr Nettle Patch who is truly awe-inspiring for the amount of progress he has made with his god-forsaken patch. Otherwise, the plot is much quieter than the weekends when we are usually there. Until...
we had an impromptu visit from The (Home) Neighbours, with Oscar! This is their first visit (although not Oscar's) and we are very honoured to show them the features of our plots, and of our (allotment) neighbours. They are impressed (we think) with our dedication and initiative, especially in the matter of recycled fenceposts. We are kind, and do not press them to lend a hand. We finish the fence as far as the Gate (or Portal as I prefer to think of it) which is recycled from cupboard doors donated by The Neighbours. Very exciting.Other joys were finding the original metal pole with the plot number on it (64) and spending 15 minutes looking for the sledgehammer only to find that we had covered it in our enthusiastic excavation of the soil. Boy, did we laugh - that's what passes for wit in the allotment. We also chopped quite a few of the potatoes, as they are clearly "blit" (struck by blight) and did a bit of judicious curtailing of the Love Pumpking's offspring (who were competing for resources with the future winner of the Novice Pumpkin Category). The potatoes will be dug in a couple of weeks. And now we are very tired indeed, and aching in all the right places.
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