I have a new tool. No more will my eyes be poked whilst clearing ground below the hedge.I met a new allotment neighbour, from two plots down. She kindly gave me some purple sprouting broccoli seedlings. This is fortunate, as the purple sprouting broccoli I sowed isn't looking so hot – it needed more light, and different compost.The couple of strawberry plants I was gifted are doing well under the coldframe. I've been taking them on holiday to visit the lucky comfrey. Bees are all over the comfrey at the moment, and I want them to have a chance to pollinate the strawberries too.I decided to salvage some abandoned yellow iris (suspected yellow iris), after resisting for a while and watching it turn into a dry husk over several weeks. It's bouncing back! I'm proud of the little winch I improvised. It allows me to lower the iris as I take water from the butt. This is a temporary home.Lemon balm is the latest useful thing I've identified growing beneath the brambles and dock leaves. It looks like mint but smells like lemon. Gardening gives you the opportunity to exercise all your senses.Finally, a load of woodchip not too far from the plot! This is free to take, I believe tree surgeons drop off here, however there is never enough. Demand is high.The early bird catches the worm. I changed my plans and made the most of flexible working to gather as much as I could. It took about 10 minutes to go back and fourth with a single barrow load. Nine-ish trips later I had enough woodchip to create a path down the back and to one side of the coldframe.I'm making reasonable progress clearing ground but still need to enrich this area with manure. I'll soon have enough space to add corn, tomatoes, pumpkin, and courgette – all of which are taking over our window sills!
