I had help on the plot this Sunday

Its been a good week, I have managed to pick up a water butt and another composting Dalek but this one also come with an anti rat base, which I have never seen before, apparently they bought it as an extra. It's a little over a year old the owners for whatever reason decided they don't want it anymore and decided to freecycle it.

This Sunday I had help on the allotment in the form of my sister Elaine who committed to a couple of mornings on the plot, after I had helper her out in her words "as a form of payback".

True to her word she was up early and we met down at the allotment just after 8 and she worked solidly for four hours digging an area and assisting me in screwing the bed frames together and allowing me to prep and expose the next area to be worked.

I managed to edge the next 2.4m of dig and between us we filled up another 3 flower buckets of stone and concrete and I took away two sacks of couch grass and weed roots, wood glass and other detritus that came out of the ground.

After she left I trod the path area down with the feet shuffle and then using a couple of short scaffold boards to help consolidate and flatten. I then pegged some weed membrane in place, put a paving slab either end and the boards on top and will continue to load and consolidate the path.

There are those that say its a waste of time weeding paths, but to my mind as there is so much couch grass, If you were not to clear the path areas, it's only going to migrate from under the paths and back into the beds.

In the afternoon I decided to cut out a new 2.4m x 1.2m bed weed membrane with planting holes off the roll for three rows of potatoes as I have so many this year, and decided to try and video the process.

The first year I used weed membrane to plant through, I cut the sheets with scissors and after a year they all went shaggy as the edges frayed and the sheets weathered and started to come apart and unwoven.

The answer is to used a soldering iron to cut and weld the edges, and the sheets that have been made this way are as good 3 years on and I'm hoping for another few seasons out of them.

Below is the two attempts I make of showing how easy it is to use the soldering iron on the weed membrane. Take One what happens when your sister sends you a text message saying "I'm knackered lol x x" whist your daughter (Kelly) is using your phone to make a video.