Old Bean

I cycled to the allotment this morning. It was very lovingly tended by the previous tenants until they both fell ill, which is a huge shame - and was designed for their needs, not ours. Their needs were met by lots of herbs, all of which we'll keep and fruit bushes. We've kept the raspberry canes in situ as they are by the side, happy and not interfering with our plans, and also the goji berry bushes. Goji berries - in Roxburghshire?! Who knew?! We pruned and dug up 8 other bushes for transplanting into my garden. I'm pretty sure one is gooseberry, there are at least two aronia berry bushes (I never knew such a thing even existed) and then the others are surprises. All I know is that they are not currants. Given that we have goji and aronia, I'm not sure I'll know what they are even when they fruit...

More digging tomorrow after work to get the bushes in before the next frost.

I was very excited to see an allotment with a healthy crop of artichokes. I used to grow them in Wiltshire but wasn't sure if they would survive up here outside of a walled garden. For some reason none of the globes have been harvested - I'll contact the tenant and see if they will let me divide some of their plants for transplanting into my plot.

It's all go...