Some recent tasks on the allotment. Various beds defined, dug over, weeded of couch grass, manured and ready for planting up in the weeks ahead. I can see the virtue of "no dig" approaches but I think it was worth having a good go at the couch grass at the outset; the allotment had been out of use for at least a year and it's extremely tenacious.

 Potatoes will be some of the first things to go in- four each of 8 varieties. No point in growing the standard shop potatoes so these are a selection of unusual varieties e.g. purple spuds, also several kinds of Sarpo potatoes which are said to be very resistant to blight. These are red spuds- I don't mean the colour, they originate from Hungary back in the days of the Iron Curtain.  
 I've got some seed potatoes chitting i.e. exposed to light ahead of planting to get shoots growing out of the 'eyes'. Some maintain it gives them a head start but others say it doesn't really matter so I'll try both ways.

 Comfrey is a great plant for the allotment. Bees love it and it's reckoned to be a nitrogen fixer with the leaves being full of goodness when composted or steeped in water.
 Conveniently some White Comfrey (Symphytum orientale) had self seeded into this pot a few years ago then clumped up. So it was easy to tip out the root ball and divide it to make four separate plants- one went back in the pot and the other three I planted into rough ground at the back of the allotment.

 A bit of basic outdoor carpentry. My father salvaged this pile of timber from a roof being gutted so I'm cutting a number of metre lengths that can be used to make various things in a modular mode e.g. raised beds, a cold frame, compost bins etc.