Lici, Tom and I were greeted at the Living Under One Sun Community Allotment by big smiles from Sarah and Natalie. We joined their weekly community gardening session on a beautiful Thursday morning. Lots of tête-à-tête and crocuses were already in flower in this brilliant garden.

Our primary task was to empty a number of 200 litre barrels around the garden which contained water and weeds. These tireless plants are difficult to stop in their quest for a foothold so need to be isolated away from the beds.

Firstly we fished out all the vegetation and barrowed it to compost bin two where we layered it with the well rotted contents of bin one. We then had the pleasure of redistributing the nutritious fluid that was left on to growing fruit trees, garlic, beans and rhubarb.

The last barrel was such a thick sludge that it was transported to bin two and poured over the compost en masse.

We left the garden with mission accomplished and lots of produce springing forth in the well tended beds.