Mid June plot - put the flags out

Went over to the allotments to make a photo record of the plot after a morning of much needed rain.On the way over the flag iris were in full bloom on the dub.

The spring has been generally cool ,often with a biting wind, and either very wet or very dry! The clayier sections of the plot (ie quite a lot of it) have been hard to work so I decided to form some no walk/less dig beds edged with a mixture of new boards ,others from the original raised beds in my garden plus some mainly broken paving flags from a supply that have come our way recently.

Each bed is a bit over 4 feet wide with the space between kept to a minimum of about 14/15" or effectively less when you take account of the netting spilling over ,so it doesn't feel like I'm wasting a lot of potential growing area. Over time I'll try to build up the soil with suitable bulky material.
I'm still cultivating the top half of the plot more traditionally but have noticed that the gaps between planting are in fact the same or wider!

I inadvertently bought twice the amount of new boarding than was required for this project ( 480 cm lengths cut in half rather than buying the 240s as originally planned ,don't ask!) so phase 2 might happen on the top part by next spring.Might go for long rows across the plot and already have some more stone sets given to me which will make up enough materials to complete the job.

This will get back towards how I worked the plot in it's first year, in long heaped no walk beds which seemed to suit the heavy soil conditions.

Top half of the plot on 16th June 2012

Oh.The Tibetan prayer flags were made in Nepal.I bought them at the Kellerjoch Hut in Austria last year. Many of the Alpenveriens huts have Nepalese cooks who are allowed to supplement their wages with souvenir sales.