(Hey, Flighty, I remembered the camera today.)

I didn’t manage to get down to the plot during the week. I had quite a busy week, a lot of it involving school governor business, and when I got to Friday, the first properly free day, I felt I needed to catch up on admin, e-mails and phone calls (although I didn’t manage to get everything done).

This morning’s start wasn’t as early as I’d hoped, as there was some umming and ahhing about who was doing what and where the girls were going to be, and then Jenny threw a tantrum about my insistence that she put a plaster on her thumb, which she’d cut yesterday, as I wanted her to keep it clean. Eventually that was sorted and we headed off to the plot.

Julie ND was already there and had made some more progress with the digging. She reported that some fellow allotmenteers had popped by and they’d chatted about the Gardener’s World special on Friday last about allotments. I’d taped it and had managed to watch it last night. It was great to see some many different people with their plots, and I think it helped to dispell the impression still held in some quarters that holding an allotment is the preserve of old men in flat caps. That’s certainly not my experience.

We’re not ready to put anything in yet – we’re still chitting the potatoes – so it’s still more digging.

As you can see we had some helpers. Even in today’s less than favourable weather, the ground was relatively easy to dig. The girls didn’t really do much. Rosie is quite keen on communing with the worms and transferring them to a different part of our plot. Jenny also wanted a turn in worm transferral.

Yes, I know, Rosie had the spade round the wrong way, but we sorted her out.

The rain persisted, and in the end we downed-tools for a cuppa in the clubhouse. It also meant that the girls could be under-cover.

Whilst we were clearing up, I took some photos of our neighbour’s plot. Judith has some lovely daffs – OK, they are probably narcissi, but be kind to me, I’m a novice.

Julie and I were also interested in her pond.

I’d been reading over at Plot 29 about veggie friends and foes – which plants and creatures to introduce to your plot to combat pests, and how to achieve that. I think a mini-pond would be great to attract those froggies who can munch away on our sluggy-visitors.

Mindful of Monty’s advice on Friday about the correct posture for digging, I kept myself aware of my alignment whilst working today. But, even so, I think I’m going to ache more tomorrow than I have on previous weeks. It probably won’t help that I had a busier than usual day yesterday for giving reflexology treatments too, and that sometimes really tires my upper back. Ah, well, it’s all good exercise.