Allotment Tales – 1st August
At last – T-shirt weather has arrived (at least for the day!).
Alas! The slugs have eaten yet another crop of juicy young bean plants. Optimistically we planted yet another batch. In a bid to out-fox the wee blighters, we chose a different bed and constructed a perimeter barrier. Stay tuned for next week’s exciting instalment of ‘SLUG V HUMAN’.
The wave of soft fruit continues. Today we put the strawberries to bed, cutting back old growth and applying blood, fish and bone fertiliser. New growth on the boysenberry and blackberry was tied in, in the opposite direction to this year’s briars to distinguish between the two. Whilst we all love the blackbirds, we selfishly netted the berries to keep the harvest to ourselves.
Harlequin carrots
Thinning and harvesting the root veg continues. Today’s treasure included multi-coloured Harlequin carrots, beetroot and Snowball turnips, giving the smaller fruit space to expand. This task was not without its challenges, courtesy of a nest of angry ants – but we survived!
We also harvested more first early potatoes, along with courgettes, broad beans, mangetout and peas and filled several punnets with white and red currants. Jelly recipes at the ready!
Potatoes
Weeding of the seating area was completed and a carpet of sweet-smelling woodchip added to enhance future break-time experience. The communal verges are now pristine, and the ground under the fruit trees weed-free (for at least a week). Everything was watered and some of us left clutching a well-earned bunch of sweet peas.
Jobs for next week:
- Continue harvesting soft fruit, root veg and legumes
- weed and edge the paths
- check all labels in advance of the Open Day on 25thAugust
NOTE: The pruning workshop is now fully booked. We look forward to seeing those of you who have booked on the 25th.
