Roll me over, in the clover...

After the last few days it is hard to believe that last year was such a washout. The air has been clear and fresh, the ground white with frost and the days filled with bright sunshine. The nights do, however, get a bit cold, but only just under zero, not the minus twenty Polish winter that was a feature of the last couple of years.

Because of all the moving that went on in 2007, my parents’ allotment got a bit neglected. So we said we’d take over half of it and try to help them out while, at the same time, get somewhere for our own produce and therefore reduce the risk of a crappy non-existent tomato harvest like we had over the previous summer. The last couple of weeks have been perfect for gardening. The sun warms the ground and, by the time we manage to get there in the early afternoon, the earth has warmed up enough to allow for some gentle digging.

How it looked before we started.

Last week we managed to plant most of our onions, and our garlic and they are sitting there neatly in the freshly turned ground. Trenches have been dug for the potatoes and were filled with some of the steaming great pile of dung delivered during the week. We have plans to add tomatoes and beans and also add a couple of patches of flower colour, to attract a few hoverflies – which eat aphids – and bees – which pollinate the flowers of any fruit and vegetables.

Sharing the plot is ok, but not ideal and there have already been minor clashes about what we’re doing and where, but a smile and a nod of agreement keeps things cool before we go off and do our own thing again. If the weather holds over the summer then I am sure we’ll spend plenty of time on the plot. Not ours, but enough to whet the appetite.

From the first weeks of digging. Agnieszka in her plastic bag overshoes before we bought some wellies.