At last

Finally, the plot has been strimmed! I went yesterday armed with shears, fully expecting to be cutting down the nettles by hand, and found the council had been there before me. So I was able to start clearing up. My first harvest was a large quantity of broken glass, some half-rotten garden fleece, bits of hardboard and rusted lager cans.

I managed to rake out quite a lot of dried grass and weeds, and have put them in one corner where I plan to have the compost heap. The end of the allotment furthest from the shed looks the most promising place for first digging - there are fewer nettles there and it is fairly level.

Having cleared the worst from the middle part of the plot, I put down one of the pieces of black polythene. I'd naively thought I could weight it down with stones - much too windy for that on the hillside, so I had to get metal staples to peg it down. It still seemed likely to blow away, so I found some heavy pieces of wood and a couple of bricks to lay on top of it. I need to do this twice more, and then wait until next spring before I begin to work that half of the plot.

Now that the nettles are gone, the full horror of the shed is visible. It is full of rusted old junk, but less sinister now it stands on open ground. Somebody will have to be found to remove it, as it's too big a job for me alone.

I also met more neighbours yesterday, and their dog George. They were pleased to see me - another weapon in their armoury to combat weeds. They also showed me the proper boundaries of the plot, which is smaller than I thought - something of a relief.

Next jobs are building a compost heap; making a plan for the beds; then beginning to dig.