Well, Gosport's Camden Allotments' Plot 53 is finally showing some signs of progress. Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago I had the first attempted break-in on the shed As there's quite a chunky lock on the door, the thugs had decided to prise the walls apart, which resulted in a couple of snapped boards. The ridiculous thing is that there isn't anything of value in there at all - unless you count 2 kilos of Onion sets! Once they'd seen this the thieves/vandals apparently vented their wrath by punching a hole in the side of my nice and new Green Johanna food digester I shan't repeat here what my reaction was, I'm not sure there's enough asterisks on the keyboard

I picked some bare-root raspberry canes up at the end of last year from a chap on ebay: 2 varieties each of Autumn and Summer-fruiting types. It was a big moment when I was actually able to plant something in a site that a mere 6 weeks earlier I was ready to give up on. From that point onwards though, I've been down on my lottie as often as possible - if the weather's been good that is.

The photo's below should show some of the progress made. I picked a greenhouse up off ebay for £26, and whilst it is only a 6'x6' jobby, it was the most I could fit in the car. I collected it in bits from the seller, but it actually went together surprisingly easily - until I smashed the last pane! Why is it always the last one? I think it must be an international law or something... Anyway, I now feel ready to get down to some proper gardening, but there's a problem...

I've got my shed, I've got my greenhouse, I've even got my compost bin, my tools and some willing helpers, and most importantly I've got a bucketful of seeds, but all of a sudden I'm beginning to feel incredibly intimidated. Now I know that may sound ridiculous, and that's becuase it is, but despite all of the books I've read, and all of the magazine articles on inter-cropping, pricking-out, transplanting, spacing, harvesting, storage and cooking, I feel like I haven't got a clue what to do next.

It boils down to having such a long list of things to do, and so little time before I have to get things in the ground and growing. So it's head down, fingers crossed, and in with both feet. At least I'm enjoying myself

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