Growing season

The allotment has really come to life in the last couple of weeks. Many go the long-term plot holders are now visiting more regularly and enthusiastic new plot holders are getting stuck in. It’s interesting to see people’s plans for the season starting to take shape and the remodelling projects that people undertook over the winter are now looking good.

SEEDLINGS

The greenhouse is full of seedlings, some of which are ready to be planted out, but the weather has been a bit unpredictable recently. We’ve had some particularly cold nights so we’ll wait until next weekend before any major planting, just to be on the safe side. Nearly all the seeds that we have sown so far have grown well and we’re wondering if we are going to have enough room on the plot to plant them all out.

WEEDS

We’ve been making an effort to keep on top of the weeds… for the time being. The phrase, ‘Never walk past a weed’, is good to bear in mind, but it can prevent you from ever getting on with jobs other than weeding. Dandelions are extremely plentiful this year and it’s really hard to get rid of them permanently due to their long roots. Even if you do, there are so many of them in the shared areas around the plots that sooner or later they’ll be back.

RAIN

The small amounts of rain we’ve had over the last week have been very welcome but what we really need is a couple of days of steady, heavy rain to really soak the soil and replenish our water butts. The lack of rain does have one noticeable benefit though – a very obvious lack of slugs. We’re yet to see any slug damage to any of our crops this year, though the rabbits and birds are trying their best to grab what they can when our backs are turned.