A cold, grey late Spring has proved challenging for the new allotment holders, although the chiily breezes and lack of sunshine has not put off progress – all but one plot has now been started.
A cold, grey late Spring has proved challenging for the new allotment holders, although the chiily breezes and lack of sunshine has not put off progress – all but one plot has now been started. Some look very well-established and all attract lots of looks and comments from people walking past.
After a very soggy water-logged winter, the plots are now dry and dusty – I think the water troughs are going to be busy stations!
We have now completed planting in our fruit and herb section and are excited to see lots of green appearing and most plants establishing themselves despite the cold wind.
A row of seed potatoes was our next venture , followed by seeding a wildflower and pollinator bank at the top of the plot along the fence. Our plot is slightly shadowed by an oak tree so we will need to keep digging up the acorns as they start germinating . To further encourage insects, and hopefully enable them to help keep any aphids and other pest away we have also added another wild patch near the composter with poppies and forget-me-nots.
As we gradually uncover the weed membrane as we dig over and plan each section, we are using it to make paths between the beds – our finances don’t really stretch to some of the sophistcated paths and construction works going on across on some other plots. It seems some people are in despair about the heavy soil and are using lots of planters instead .Back at home, we have lots of seedlings in propogators and two mini-greenhouses to get vegetables and tomatoes established. Over at Alexandra allotments the winds mean that ony more sturdy greenhouses are staying put.
One Sunday morning in March there was possibly a visit to review the site as several black-clad elderly people toured the plots and were asking some people lots of questions, but no-one had announced this…..as they were not wearing masks or social distancing I did not feel inclined to go and ask!
One plot-holder has set up a Whatsapp group to share free stuff and ideas, so hopefully a community is growing amongst the allotmenteers.