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Phew just missed the rain.............

28/6/2016

We spent the afternoon at the allotment digging in containers next to the tomatoes plants- to help water down to the roots. However, the heavens opened up shortly after we left, so it does seem a lot of wasted effort at the moment but it will pay off if we have a dry spell. We also put in marigolds in amongst the tomatoes plants - to encourage the pollinators and predators.

The comfrey is coming on nicely. We are going to soak some leaves in water for a couple of weeks and use the liquid as a fertiliser on the tomatoes ( it has to be watered down before use).

We're still getting some nice strawberries and we picked a few raspberries, black currents and gooseberries - there first of many as long as the birds don't get them first.

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Carpeting the allotment

26/6/2016

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We've been laying down old carpet and unwanted off cuts as a weed suppressant; it's worked really well. As ever there is some discussion around how eco /organically friendly this method actually is and we'll be investigating some other methods to try out next season: no-dig and lasagne methods.

Any way, on Friday we lifted some of the carpet we laid several months ago on the second plot and the soil looked great, apart from a few roots the ground was clear of weeds and only needs a light digging over before planting can begin.

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Rain stops play

18/6/2016

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Unfortunately we couldn't go ahead with the afternoon session at the allotment yesterday due to the heavy rain. On that note - we plan to fit a water 'harvesting system' to our new shed ( which we are looking to have insitu very soon). We already have the water butts, hopefully we will be able pick up some pre-used guttering pipes.

The shed will also give us somewhere to work when it's raining or when it's too cold to be outside during the winter months. Having this facility is really important; the project can run for most weeks of the year.

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Strawberries

15/6/2016

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We've had a few juicy strawberries already and we're on course to have a good few more this season.

We attempted to net the cherry tree over the weekend. We managed to net the top before the heavens opened up and we had to abandon the plot.

The roses are fantastic at the moment with some lovely blooms and loads of buds, I've teamed the blooms up with some apple mint to make a bouquet that not only looks nice but smells great. Below is a picture of the roses and of another 'vase' of garden flowers using mint and lemon balm as foliage.

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Phew......... the tomatoes are in

11/6/2016

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At last we have managed to get the tomato plants in, along with some marigolds, all being well we'll be adding basil to the bed sometime soon. To help with watering, I've always planted squashes in shallow wells: water drains straight down rather than running off. Yesterday we did the same with the tomatoes - brilliant, I'm not sure why I didn't start doing this yonks ago!!!

All the brassicas now have bottles dug in next to them, so we can water straight down to their roots; which means we will use less water and not help the surface weeds along by giving them a drink. The tomatoes will be next to be 'bottled up'. Looking round the allotment site I've seen a few other allotments using the same method.

The sunflower with the ashes around it seems to be flourishing - However, it's probably a little too soon to declare ashes as the answer to the slug problem!!

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Coffee grounds

8/6/2016

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Oh dear, the poor lone sunflower we put coffee grounds round to prevent the slugs attacking it, isn't faring very well - the slugs/snails have had a good old feast. We've put a second sunflower in and sprinkled ash around it's base- watch this space to see if this one gets on any better.

We heavily pruned the roses and fruit bushes last winter and did worry whether they would come back to life this spring - it has actually done them a world of good, they look very healthy with plenty of new shoots, buds and fruit.

The potatoes, onions and garlic are really coming along. However, the vegetables in the salad bed don't seem to be doing as well. In fact they don't really seem to have grown very much since we planted them two or so weeks ago - maybe we needed to dig in more manure when we planted them?

Our main focus this week is to get the tomatoes plants in. The tomato bed is next to the water tap - working on the principle of planting the plants that will need most watering nearest to the supply. Hence our potatoes, onions and garlic are over the other side of the plot as we rarely water the potatoes and onions and garlic don't like too much water either.

The two comfrey plants we were given have really taken off - we'll be using the leaves to make liquid fertilizer for the tomatoes, it's great stuff but it 'don't alf pong'. Additionally, we will put layers of leaves in the compost bins which will act as an accelerator to speed up the decomposing process.

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Phew just missed the rain.............

Carpeting the allotment

Rain stops play

Strawberries

Phew......... the tomatoes are in

Coffee grounds

A few words

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