Sins and Forgiveness

 OK, so my worst "bad allotmenter" sin - confession time here, and it's a serious one - is the mass of bindweed that I've allowed to grow in the hedge at the top of my plot over the last 3 or 4 years.

I could see that not only was it going crazy on my plot, but it was also spreading to the next door plots too. It just seemed too out of control for me to get a grip on. 

I know ...

Amazingly my neighbours are far too nice to have ever mentioned it (I was not surprised when chatting to John yesterday I found out he was a churchgoer - I'm sure I've been testing his forgiveness and his "love thy neighbour" to the limit!) But now that I have tackled it properly - I put a picture in a few posts ago of all the roots I dug out of there recently - Ralph (my neighbour from the other side) came over with some encouragement and a cunning plan. He says he's going to dig up the stuff on his plot too, and then we should grass over the area leading up to the hedge, and if anything pops up we just mow it down again. Not rocket science, but not something that had occurred to me! I grass-seeded it yesterday, and put a net over it and was encouraged to see that it had rained last night. Who knows, it might just work ...

Ralph was not only generous with his wisdom, but offered me a load of raspberry canes that he was going to chuck. Far too good an opportunity to miss, and I put a whole row in when I was up there last week. There are green buds on them already, so I must give him a pot of jam in return at the end of the season.

Spring is finally on the way it seems. Here's what it looks like on my plot.