Daylight Saving Time

 

Mulching Raspberries

As I walked in via the metal gates I could see that idverde had been and cut the main path

11c clear and a cold wind in the allotment today. I have not been down to the allotment for a few days due to medical appointment and bed weather, but this morning and early afternoon (until the rain came) I was clearing the raspberry beds, spreading coffee grounds and adding mulch quality woodchips to the Tulameen Pearl (mid) Raspberry Bed

View from the entrance to Plot 1 down the main path of the allotment.

Path between plots 1 & 2 and !a and 2A still looking good.

All Gold Raspberries growing well in the boundary beds

The couple of flowers from all the bulbs that were planted a few years ago

Polka (late) Raspberry Bed 

Autumn Treasure (late) Raspberry Bed

Tulameen Pearl (mid) Raspberry Bed

Autumn Treasure (late) Bed and Polka (late) Bed

Bind weed is now actively growing in the Raspberry beds, and I need to find a long handled light weight pruning device that's easy to use with my arthritic hands and ideally one hand, and lighter than normal long handles secateurs that needs two hands to use, and normally heavy. 

westland Seed Sowing and No 2 potting-on composts

Westland Seed Sowing Compost back of sack

Westland No2 Potting-On Compost Back of Sack

westland horticulture seed & cutting super fine grade compost

westland seed and cutting super fine grade compost.

westland seed and cutting super fine grade compost.

I also fed the worms in the Hotbin and took the Westland Horticulture compost I bought at Blue Diamond gardening centre down to the allotment and decanted 25Litres into two 10 Litre buckets with lids. Yes that's right a sack that says 25 litres when filled decanted into 20Litres of storage capacity.

How is that possible? I'm feeling short changed.

Meet the Brassica Bunch !

 

Rotating Seasons

 

Very cold weather arriving from Wednesday onwards

 

The cold spell I was warning about from a couple of weeks ago is coming later this week with day time temps down into single figures even mid single figures for large parts of the country. With sleet, snow and hail in places and night frosts where skies clear so be prepared to protect any tender plants

(c) 2026 Keith Wheeler of Facebook Group Allotment Life For Beginners UK

I love these informative posters that Keith produces and I have made a Keith Wheeler hyperlink label so you can find them all.  Used on manvslug.uk with permission. 

Vote For Your Local Allotment

Please take the time to support your local allotment, or at least Mill Green Allotment in Sutton  

Vote Here 

Smaller site category (Yellow Pins) £500 :

Three Pits Allotment Society
Kimberworth Park Allotments
Castle Hill Allotments
Sydney Street Allotment Association
Tullos Crescent Allotment Association
Community Plot (Gavin Morgan)
Mill Green Allotment Site (Sutton)
Carter Royd Allotments

Larger site category (Red Pins) £1000 :

Armstrong Allotments
Bayer Street Allotments
Brandon Allotment Association
Hellesdon Allotment Holders Association
DALGS Forest of Dean
South View Allotments Association
The Saltings Allotment Association
Stainforth Allotment Association
Pontygwindy Allotments

Vote for Mill Green Allotment (Sutton)

 

WIN £1,000 or £500 FOR YOUR LOCAL ALLOTMENT!

We’ve just launched our Oakland Gardens 2026 Allotment Competition — and this one is all about community support.

There are 17 allotment groups across the UK taking part, and the winners will be decided by public vote.

Two prizes up for grabs:

• £1,000 worth of Oakland Gardens vouchers

• £500 worth of Oakland Gardens vouchers

As we’ve got a mix of different sized allotment sites taking part this year, we’ve split the competition into two categories to keep things fair.

Even if you’re not a gardener, people love supporting local projects

Allotments taking part:

Smaller site category :

Three Pits Allotment Society
Kimberworth Park Allotments
Castle Hill Allotments
Sydney Street Allotment Association
Tullos Crescent Allotment Association
Community Plot (Gavin Morgan)
Mill Green Allotment Site (Sutton)
Carter Royd Allotments

The winner of this category will receive £500 worth of Oakland Gardens vouchers.

Larger site category :

Armstrong Allotments
Bayer Street Allotments
Brandon Allotment Association
Hellesdon Allotment Holders Association
DALGS Forest of Dean
South View Allotments Association
The Saltings Allotment Association
Stainforth Allotment Association
Pontygwindy Allotments

The winner of this category will receive £1,000 worth of Oakland Gardens vouchers.

The allotments with the most votes by 31st May will win.

Vote here: Oakland Gardens 2026 Allotment Competition Vote

Vote for Sutton — Mill Green Allotment Site

How it works:

• Anyone can vote

• One vote per person

• Support your local allotment — or simply vote for your favourite

Get involved:

If one of these allotments is in your area, get behind them and help them win.

Share this with:

• Friends & family

• Local Facebook groups

• Gardening communities

• Your own feed

Let’s see which communities can rally the most support

Good luck to all allotments involved — and thank you to everyone taking part!

Cutting Grass Paths

13c Sunny down on the allotment from mid-day today various higher readings in the potting shed even with the door open whist I was there.

We have had 4 dry days in a row but also ice on the car windscreen. The grass and weeds have started to grow, so I decided I would trim the boundary beds with the all gold raspberries especially as some wanted to grow in the main path.

Photo above the first trim along the boundary bed

I also went up and down the path between plots 1 & 2 and 1A & 2A it involved a rest break and water and a battery change

Look at that clear blue sky and first trim up the path between plots 1 & 1A and 2 & 2A

Half of the path done on the way up

Second trim off the boundary beds, with a more powerful battery

Lots of Raspberries now pocking their heads up out of the woodchips

Grass cut on the main path to the plot 1 entrance, that will stop my trainers getting wet due to rain or dew 

Path to the plot 1 entrance

Trimming Completed

Full Path width (way over 600 recommended) now cut.

 

Spring Begins

Astronomical spring, which is the one people typically think of, starts at 10:46 a.m., March 20th. Astronomical seasons are based on the position of the Earth to the Sun. Meteorological spring started on 1st March 2026.

We still had lows of 3c overnight and ice on the car windscreen yesterday morning!

So You Have A New Allotment Plot

 

(c) 2026 Keith Wheeler of Facebook Group Allotment Life For Beginners UK

I love these informative posters that Keith produces and I have made a Keith Wheeler hyperlink label so you can find them all.  Used on manvslug.uk with permission. 

Bed H1 Topped Up and Completed

Morning on the allotment 17c Sunny and light winds It was between 44c - 30c in the potting shed, which gave me a buzz as the coffee grounds are in the sun drying out and the potting shed smells delightful.

More 30L pots with handles of soil decanted into Bed H1, then Wally arrived and helped me get the two sacks of soil conditioning compost on the top and I cut the sacks with a Stanley knife and decanted and spread the material over the bed.

Plastic Hoops installed ready for debris netting.

Bed H1 filled with additional soil and hoops added

Bed H1 topped off with conditioning compost

Bed H1 topped off with conditioning compost

Chitting Potatoes

 First Early  - Sharp's Express - Taylors 

First Early / Salad Potato - Pentland Javellin - Taylors

Second Early - Charlotte - Taylors 

 Main Crop - Desiree - Taylors

The morning and lunch with the Diginator and Emma, and then down to the allotment in the afternoon when Digs needed his nap. Grandad will be growing Digby some sweetcorn this year.

14c feels like 10c Sunny. I spent most of my time in the potting shed after finding the mushroom trays that I use for chitting potatoes.

I should have got them out of the carrier bags faster and into the chitting trays, they have all grown hair and look like Boris Johnson, and will need a trim, they were a little sweaty, so nothing like ex Prince Andrew, but they can now breath better.

No one has taken any woodchips yet, nice mound

First Early / Salad Potato - Pentland Javellin - Taylors

First Early / Salad Potato - Pentland Javelin - Taylors & Charlotte Salad Second

Charlotte & Sharpe's Express - both Taylors

First Early - Sharp's Express - Taylors on the left &
Main Crop - Desiree - Taylors on the right

Potatoes in Chitting trays, I need to make some labels up one label for each row as I put 4 in the 30Litre Pots with handles from the looks of things I'm going to need 27 - 28 Pots with handles. Easter Good Friday Falls on 3rd April this year.

I need to find out when the water will be turned on as I have coir blocks to hydrate.

Potting shed bench top.

Starbucks Coffee Grounds laid out for breaking up and drying out.