We've reached a turnong point

It seems that no sooner have we planted up all our allotment beds than we start to clear them.  The period of time during which the plot looks its best is short-lived. 

We may not have enjoyed the weather during July but the weeds certainly have. We spent much of last week when we were not harvesting, clearing weeds. Several barrow loads were popped on the compost heap. We have separate bays in our compost area. One part is where we compost weeds and another for more desirable composting material. Guess which heap is the larger! The weedy compost is usually left for longer before adding it to the beds, Many advocate not composting weeds, but that would leave us with the problem of what to do with the vast amount of weed growth and also we reckon that weeds will continue to appear regardless of whether or not we spread weed generated compost. On an allotment site, there are plenty of weed seeds travelling from other plots.

To try and control the weed growth, once beds have been cleared and dug over, they will be covered with weed control fabric. This will be removed over winter when weed growth has more or less stopped and the beds will be recovered once the weeds start to reappear. We have found that leaving the fabric on overwinter can adversely affect our soil.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Is this really summer?

At the moment, there never seems to be a happy medium where our weather is concerned. June saw us lugging watering cans in the level of heat not ideal for that type of work. Now in July, which should be the height of summer, it doesn't seem to want to stop raining and the temperatures have dropped considerably. No heatwaves in our corner of Europe! Some evenings our heating has even come on. I am sitting writing this with a thick cardigan over the tee shirt which, without the cardigan, is my more usual summer wear.

Our only trips to the allotment have been to harvest and then it has been a case of dodging the rain.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Great weather ... for ducks

There is never a happy medium where our weather is concerned. Only a couple of week's ago we were struggling to keep our plants watered. The soil was dry and we were lugging watering cans around in conditions that really were too hot for any kind of strenuous activity.

Now we are dodging the frequent, sometimes heavy, showers. At least we have had a break from watering.

On the allotment, we have managed to get a bit of weeding done. It's not only the desirable plants that have welcomed the rain.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

A break from watering

At the beginning of last week, although we had some light rain, we were still watering, The heavy rain that was forecast seemed to be determined to miss us. 

We had to follow a different watering regime as we needed to allow more time for harvesting. We decided to concentrate on watering one section of the allotment each time we visited.

There is little to show as far as work on the plot went as, other than watering, we spent time weeding which doesn't make for interesting photos.

Harvesting is taking up more of our time. Picking berries is very time consuming especially when there are nets to negotiate.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

June in pictures

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I have a new way of displaying my monthly photos - on my actual web page nor here -- now if you click on an image you will access a full size photo. Hope you like it.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Everything is being battered

It seems to happen every year at this time. Everything in the garden and on the plot is planted out and settled in and looking lovely.  Then as soon as the cardoons have developed flower spikes we know what comes next - gale force winds.

Everything now, both in the garden and at the allotment is being battered. Our allotment site is like a wind tunnel. It has been known for sheds to be upended which is why our shed is fastened to fence posts set firmly in the ground.

Anyone who, like me, wears contact lenses will know that the wind is not a friend.

We just hope that once the winds die down - as surely they must - things will recover.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett