07/28
The key day in the year for the renter of the plot that is to be an R J Harris-style allotment is the first day of the September moon's first quarter.
Find which day this is in most pocket diaries and wall calendars.
It is shown as September's New Moon. Usually, "New Moon" is accompanied by a New Moon icon: a black circle. New Moon day is always the first day of the lunar month, no matter which lunar month that happens to be. It is also the first day of the first of the lunar month's four quarters.
On the first day of the September moon's first quarter are sown the first seeds of the allotment-to-be that is proposed in this instruction -- in which, to meet basic nutritional demands as well as to facilitate instruction, the vegetables and soft fruit cultivated initially are dictated, not left to the new allotment manager's choice.
For the September sowing to be possible, the allotment's permanent seed bed must be ready for use on that day.
For that to be possible, the allotment's eight basic component parts must be present in outline form on the first day of the September moon's first quarter, their shapes, sizes and sitings indicated by garden canes thrust into the soil and linked together by gently-taughtened garden line positioned at ground-surface level.
The eight basic components of the R J Harris-style allotment are
- a two-metre-wide service area at one end of the rented plot, extending from one side of the plot to the other