Power tool time on the Allotment
With the threat of sun on several occasions, a main excitement was strimming the communal verges as opposed to last week’s shenanigans with spades and shears. Threading the strimmer quickly became a Krypton Factor challenge but perseverance won the day. Strimming commenced for 3 full minutes before the cord snapped. After re-threading at break-time we managed a further 2mins before reverting to a chain of ill-purposed tools – each one cast aside in favour of the next (see photo). Willpower won out and 10 bags of green waste taken to the recycling centre.
Perseverance was today’s watch-word, with a hardy group member spending the full day pulling out knarly clods of grass and unwelcome seedlings, finishing off the seating area to perfection with a couple of barrow loads of woodchip.
Harvesting of soft fruit continues – last of the strawberries also loganberries, blackcurrants and everyone’s favourite, plump little blueberries destined for porridgey treats. We decided to leave the redcurrants to ripen for a further week. Veg-wise: a second picking of sweetheart cabbage; broad beans; mange-tout and peas; small courgettes (before the slugs claimed them, as they have with our new Kale seedlings) and golf-ball sized beetroot – a by-product of the thinning process.
Other tasks from today: De-netted the strawberries, sweet pea picking, grass cutting and watering.
Jobs for next week
- Soft Fruit -tie-in new growth, net the boysenberry and blackberries, cut the old leaves off the strawberries and feed and water
- Veg – continue thinning the beetroot and carrots, sow more of both, pull the red onions
- Cut the grass edges, weed, harvest and water as necessary
