Allotment Spring Clean

We were invited to help in a "Spring" clean up of the communal parts of the site today.  So in the snow and biting cold, but good spirits, we dragged out wire, glass, plastic, tangled fencing, and old filing cabinets from the communal garden, the shared lock up and the recycling bin area.  

Any ideas what to do with an old portaloo?  Former plot holders had once rigged it up to discharge directly into our little brook, which sounds a) charming b) illegal. One current allotment tenant suggested setting up a compost loo, sounds like a great idea.  I wonder if you can get grants and/or advice for that sort of thing?

 Actually having extolled the virtues of green sewerage I should add that I once made a 50 mile night-time journey to get away from a farm I was supposed to be staying at that had a really basic compost loo. I felt certain I was going to fall into its deep brown, murky depths, and I've never really recovered from the horror. 

Back to today, and we found a frog sheltering under the plastic bags lurking in one corner of the communal garden, next to our plot. A good day for wildlife all in all as earlier we'd seen the first ever Goldcrest in our garden,  picking off the aphids on the emerging rose leaves.  Later I rescued a perfect nest box from the heap of trash at the site, so this will find a place on our plot. It'll be safer to keep it on site, than in the garden, where Pansy, Charlie, Freddie, Chester, Odd Bod, Weird Cat, Wild Beast Cat, Runny Bottom and all the other hundreds of other neighbourhood cats visit for daily birdwatching under the feeder. 

That means you, Charlie and Freddie (the neighbours' cats seen here relaxing in our garden)

And you, for that matter, young Ms Fox! 

Those pictures from last year remind me: one day it may be sunny again.....!