Productive afternoon

Wrapped up warm and pottered off to the lottie at half past three. The cart was filled with chitted potatoes, more seeds, the red cabbage seedlings and hammer and nails.

Planted out 17 potatoes in one of the beds that we had covered with cardboard. Definitely going to recycle all our cardboard like this from now on: it's rotted down really well and much of the sweetcorn stalks buried underneath had composted. The more organic matter there is in our soil, the better.

Harvested a bag of dandelion heads, partly out of consideration for our lottie neighbours, partly out of fear of getting a "Get on top of your weeds, you lazy, inconsiderate muppets" letter from the Allotment Secretary. And partly because I had a vague idea of making dandelion wine.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in the windy, drizzly cold weeding some of the beds, though didn't get round to the strawbs at the back. OH dug over more beds and planted out our red cabbage seedlings and covered them in fleece. Fleece tearing everywhere.... cheap stuff.

Sowed some leeks at the bottom of one of the onion beds.

OH took a break and sat in the shed for a bit chatting while I found some timber from our ex-shed pile and started to nail some green wire-fencing to it for a sweet pea frame. Very therapeutic, all this banging of nails into scrap wood. Were joined by John from across, an old boy, who regaled us with stories of the kids from the plot next door whom he could overhear and one of whom was forever trying to get his girlfriend to "go into the shed" with him. The story is a bit sad: it looks as though their uncle has decided to give up the plot and it's about to be 'cannibalised' by the old boys. So the kids probably won't be coming any more.

John left happily for his tea with a big bouquet of our curly parsley. Harvest for tonight's Allotment Spaghetti (see previous recipe) and for neighbour P:

spinach
rhubarb
coriander
dill
flat-leaved parsley

PS: I made dandelion tempura again but didn't end up making the wine because it looked like far too much faff. Lovely rest of the evening in front of Danish series The Bridge and my knitting.

Tomorrow I'm having to catch up on work, which is probably just as well as the weather is promising to be even colder and rainier.