Allotment gardening

After a week at work, I am keen to see if anything is growing at the allotment. It has rained a lot this week and it is still drizzling when I nip down to check on progress. The first thing I notice is that quite a few of my fellow plot holders seem to have put fresh horse manure down on their patches. I then notice a big pile of horse manure on a vacant plot. It looks like there has been a delivery for communal use - possibly quite a few days ago as it looks like two-thirds of it has already gone. A quick look at my plot shows that more broad beans are coming through and, at last, a few peas seem to be growing. A closer inspection shows a little line of thick green shoots pushing up through the earth. Things are looking good. A quick look at the onions shows a lot more of them have green sprouts sticking out of the top. I am very pleased - things really are going well. As I leave, I notice that the Korean couple who own a nearby plot have sprinkled horse manure round some of their crops. I might try to nip down again tomorrow and get a few wheelbarrow loads of manure. I could use it to cover the crops and fill in the bare patches on the biggest bed which has green manure growing on it. I could also use it to improve the bed that was carpeted and put the rest in one of the compost bins for later use when it is well-rotted. I did think the work might ease up over the winter - oh well, at least we seem to be getting somewhere.