Simon's Allotment: Getting gappy

It's that time of year when gaps start appearing on the plot as crops are harvested. I mulch the bare soil with compost or fork in chicken pellets depending on what I'll be doing with it next. I'll also be sowing green manures in some of the spaces which won't be being used over the winter.

Still plenty to eat - peas and beans, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, rocket, herbs - and fruit - raspberries, blackberries and the first plums and grapes.

Looking ahead I've been sowing mizuna, leaf beet, Chinese mustard and spring cabbage. And in the flower department foxgloves and larkspur.

These days, as you may have gathered, I'm more and more interested in making sure the plot is of use to wildlife, so I'm devoting more space to flowers for our bees and butterflies.