Allotment Tales 18th May 2026

Thursday was overcast but mild . The threat of rain didn’t materialise until we were leaving – so good timing.

Weeds are exploding everywhere! A lot of time was spent amongst the beds and along the woodchip paths, trying to keep on top of them. But everything seems suddenly smothered.
On a positive note, we have a lovely new arch! No more ducking under the cooking apples in Autumn. Thanks to Pam and Richard for installing this new reinforced model.

Alongside today’s weeding focus, we did get other things done.

• Wood replacement around the beds continues
• Netting around the peas and young sweet peas was sorted,
• Tatties were earthed up
• Experimenting at the polyculture bed – the mangelwurzel seedlings went in (these started life as an envelope of amusingly named seeds in a Christmas stocking but bizarrely hit social media headlines momentarily a few months ago- seems we’re ahead of the curve!)
• We sowed more carrot and parsnip seedlings,

Plus we harvested rhubarb and spinach and uncovered 3 flatworms under paving stones. The peas are looking a bit peely-wally, so we gave them a dose of evil smelling comfrey feed to boost potassium and nitrogen levels.

Jobs for next week: plant French and Climbing beans; lime the brassica beds in preparation for planting out, remove some of the Jerusalem artichokes, brew a fresh batch of comfrey tea, weed!