Too cold to rake

It seems only right that I should include one raking post in this advent post-a-day challenge. So here it is.

The weather in London has not been conducive to allotmenteering these last few weeks. Especially when allotment sessions generally need to be done in the company of at least one toddler. James wasn’t very keen on sitting quietly in his pushchair and watching me dig before the temperature dropped to single figures. We did take a trip to the plot last week though, just to have a look.

Back in October my friend Tim (with a little help from me and a few others) built these lovely raised beds:

In the middle bed I have planted shallots and garlic. I was hoping that I might see some signs of life, but unfortunately not. I’m not too worried about the garlic, as that needs a cold snap to help it grow, but I thought that the shallots should have some green shoots on them by now. Perhaps they will come to life in the spring. And if they don’t I can always plant some more sets I guess.

In the left hand bed I sowed some broad beans. If you look closely you can just see the rows of little green plants. I found on my old allotment that sowing broad beans in the autumn gave them a head start against blackfly, as long as they survive the winter that is. If there is lots of snow that might be a bit of a challenge.

The right hand bed has been partly covered in tarpaulin in an attempt to reduce the number of weeds. I put a layer of compost over the uncovered bit, which hopefully will help a bit too, but it’s looking quite weedy already.

Not as weedy as the back of the plot. The picture above was cunningly taken so that you can’t see the mess at the back. In spite of my hacking in the autumn and the cold weather since there are still plenty of nettles and brambles. Although even they look quite pretty in the frost.

I still have so much to do to get my plot in order, but that can wait until spring. Right now I would rather be at home, in the warm, with my knitting.