At last we've managed to get the squashes and courgettes planted - they were a little pot bound to say the least.

​Runner beans went in over the weekend.

Weeding is high on the to-do list for next week as is getting the comfrey and nettle tea started off AND planting the beetroot AND planting more squashes an endless list of things to do as usual.

Seedlings Galore!

We've had a number of 'rogue' plants appear over the allotment. Fennel and spinach have sprung up in various places and two very healthy looking broad beans are nestling amongst the elephant garlic.

We've decided to leave them alone and let them flourish where they are.
​It's very temping to take them out as invaders but they aren't doing any harm or affecting the other plants around them. We've been harvesting the leaves and using them in salads, one of our gardening group members said they made a lovely spinach and potato curry.

I've noticed most other allotmenteers on our site haven't started planting out yet. It's REALLY tempting to get going. However,when we looked at the frost forecast for last week there was an 85% chance of ground frost on Tuesday night.

Yesterday morning started off warm and sunny but by the time we arrived at the allotment it really was cold and breezy with a real wiff of rain in the air.

We decided to press on with weeding the huge compost heap and the onion beds. We covered most of plot two with carpet pieces at the start of winter and there have been some good results. In some places the weeds have totally died away and the ground only needs a quick turn over to be ready for planting up.

Almost half of plot two is now weed free. Originally we thought  we would plant squashes on the compost heap and make some flower  beds on the rest of the cleared area. However, the germination rate for our pumpkin, honey squash and courgettes seeds has been fantastic and we will now use the whole area for squashes - a mini squash field !
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Before we went home we all picked some spinach and couple of people took fennel leaves - taste good sprinkled on tomatoes.

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