Christmas is over for another year and we can, at last, return to the allotment. It has been sadly ignored over the past week, apart from two very short visits to empty the overflowing compost bin. My haul this Christmas was allotment based, to say the least and I am very pleased for it all - the marvellous hoe, the large green bucket, gloves, book, magazine and hand cream. The weather today was very clement and we set off somewhat late in the afternoon - the Christmas festivities having taken their toll and we were both in need of a serious lie-in this morning. The plot looked good and nothing dreadful had occured in our absence. The onions are growing (slowly) and the rhubard is beginning to sprout and it looks good and healthy. I'm going to search out a bin that I can place over one of the plants so I can force one to get an early crop (hopefully). We then spent a little time tidying up the strawberries - removing the dead leaves and runners and so on.
When viewed as closely as this, the rhubard has a strangely alien appearance, but it should improve in a couple of days' time.

Most interesting, though, was that we met two of our allotment neighbours - a horticulturist and a gardener (talk about making one feel a trifle inadequate!) The gardener has just acquired a second plot and came to inspect it today. The horticulturist has a large stand of raspberries herself so I asked her what to do with them and she thinks they are summer fruiting - so I will read up the summer fruiting pruning and set to as soon as possible.