There’s plenty going on at the allotment – things I’ve planted and an abundance of that tree spinach (Chenopodium giganteum) I mentioned the other day, which all came as ‘volunteers’ from last year’s plants.

I’ve also been blessed by wood chippings. A month or two back, a nearby oak tree was being taken down from where it had overgrown a local garden. It’s sad to see an oak go but one of my allotment neighbours spoke to the tree surgeons and arranged for the chippings to come to us rather than going down to the tip. Given that I’d been on the verge of ordering a load or two myself, I was very happy to find that I could dig into this huge pile to my hearts content for free.

That has let me finish covering most of the ground I’m not using with a decent layer of chippings, which is a better surface to walk on when it is wet and keeps weeds down. The chippings also help retain moisture in the soil. When I’ve had to push it aside to plant through, there are lots of happy little worms down there. That does seem to encourage some kind of animal digging around (badgers are what most plot holders seem to blame) but I can easily kick the chippings back in place and it seems to distract them from digging up my plants!