This morning I was down to the allotment bright and early. In this case, it wasn’t to get the best of the weather (it was already overcast with a very fine drizzle) but because I’d arranged for a delivery of free soil improver from the gardens team at the University.

What is soil improver? The trimmings of plants, including lots of shrubs and trees, shredded up and given some time to blend together but not necessarily on the timescales to produce fully mature compost. I’ve previous purchased something similar from council tips but it isn’t available at the local one and, anyway, the price of free can’t be beat.

I’ll be using it on some of the beds on my allotment. Because I’m using a no-dig system, I’ve got quite a lot of compost and manure on there but this will add some more body to the structure and also act as a mulch layer. If there’s a decent uptake from other plot holders, I’ll see if I can get some more – I understand the University has tons of the stuff and is keen to share it around to free up space.