'I was going to remove the turf on the first Sq. metre today. and then as I soon thought where am I going to put it? (is there anything I can do with removed turf? or should I just forget it?).' As pnbrown says do not discard the turf. Either compost it or put it at the bottom of the double depth trench. Look again at instructions for double digging. Find pictures of couch grass. If your turf is couch grass you need to shake off the soil and remove the roots. Don't dig them in or compost them because they will regrow. You can put them in bin bags and let them rot completely then put on the compost heap. Or burn them. Or bin them. If the turf is lawn grass just dig it under. Regarding 'first frost/last frost/frost dates', etc. All that really applies more to US gardeners who are working in much more clearly delineated temperatures than we are. I gardened for several decades before starting on these forums and never heard any of those terms until I came on here. You need to look up each plant you want to grow and follow advice for it. Don't assume there is a single rule. We could have one frost in September and then no more until Christmas so there's a lot of leeway. You can plant trees and shrubs all through the winter whenever the ground isn't actually rock hard. Broad beans and peas for overwintering need to be in when there is still enough warmth for them to germinate or they'll rot. ) October/ November is fine. Garlic can go in at a similar time. If your sister has access to manure, lucky you. Pile it up for 6 months before you use it or get it from the stables' oldest pile. Do use other allotment holders for advice. They'll be very pleased to see a youngster taking an interest, I'm sure. But you are still fixated on planting. Soil preparation is your top priority at the moment. If you can get say a third of the plot done this winter you can really get growing next spring. Meanwhile bash on with the rest of the plot prep.

I can't decide where to put her just yet... So I placed her by U. Albomarginata for now. She'll get the most direct morning and early afternoon sun there right now. But once Albomarginata unfurls, she'll overwhelm her, so I will have to move her before then. I'll decide on a good place later. Probably in front by Whee and Minuteman and Orange Marmalade, I am thinking.

Eh, it's getting to be way too much trouble to even bother making pizza, now that I've thought about it this much. I think Elery should just make pizza when he's at his place and I'll go to Pizza King for the grandkids. Voted "Best Pizza in Big Rapids" for about 11 or 12 years in a row now, and owned by a neighbor next door to the farm. Mike Mohnke, he also owns/runs the local funeral home. I'm not asking him what makes his pizza so popular, LOL. Annie

They are all so beautiful, Prairie. And how wonderful they are all living peacefully for those few special weeks of bloom. The clematis is exquisite..... I could never grow two New Dawn on a single arbor (I've grown several over the years separately). The one New Dawn I had growing on my arbor several years ago managed to break it good. Then my son in law fixed it and wrapped wire around the base, connecting the arbor to cattle fence posts he'd taken a sledge hammer to, driving the posts a few feet into the ground. The arbor is on a slight slope which makes things more unstable. Now a giant Colette grows on it and will probably permanently kill the arbor in the near future. At that point, I'll be through with climbers. One last thing-- your honeysuckle vaguely reminds me of the yellow trumpet vine I grew for years--devil plant. I'm still trying to get rid of the last of that one. It even managed to come up in our deep basement window wells. Now how, the heck did it get down there? Dee, my yard has become more shady over the years, and is causing a lot of problems for the roses. I can understand how shade limited you in the past, but it's nice you got some more sun at the expense of the trees, unfortunately. What stopped me cold from buying more roses was simply running out of room. This is a small yard, and the roses grow big here, so I was forced, like it or not, to stop acquiring more roses. I love all the new offerings, but it's pretty easy to refrain from buying, plus I'm too old to be expanding my garden. I'm really old. Diane