Summer?

At the risk of tempting fate, there seems to be a bit of a change in the air, with sunshine making an appearance at last and temperatures on the rise, which is good news for the garden, even if I would miss the ever-full water butt, thanks to the constant downpours of late.

The peas are ready for picking, and I managed to rescue a few for dinner from fellow allotment holders who were 'just checking if they were any good' and eating them straight from the pods. I've been really impressed with the crop on the heritage variety and amazed that I've managed to get them past the slugs and snails.


Just lovely in a salad, these nasturiums are a blast of colour among all the green in the garden, and attract plenty of beneficial insects as well. A few visitors have scoffed at my flowers, and one even said that they didn't grow nasturiums because they were always covered in blackfly.

And there was me thinking that was the point, to take bugs away from other plants and attract the others that like to eat them! Mind you, saying that, I don't seem to have any blackfly at all at the moment, but saying that is like inviting a swarm to drop in tomorrow.


This rose, which I think is called Tequila Sunrise, was rescued from among the 6ft weeds when we took the garden on in the winter. I gave it a pretty drastic prune and moved it to a safe place, and it has thanked me with a glorious show of bright orange blooms which even seem to glow in the dark.

There is so much to do in the allotment at the moment and it seems the docks grow a few inches every time I turn my back. I read the other day that dock seeds can lie dormant in the soil for up to 50 years, so I guess I've got my work cut out for a while yet.

Luckily, both Ian and Alan have been helping dig over the roots bed this weekend, which has made a real difference and I hope to get some seeds in for over winter soon.

I've been getting my ear bent by a few of the allotment holders about my 'mad organic ideas' concerning the use, or rather non-use, of weedkillers. I'm well aware that a good dose of weedkiller would put pay to the docks pretty rapidly, but I also know that it's not only detrimental to the environment but will also mean the weeds build up resistance and the roots will still come back. And I'd never get so many interesting bugs come to visit either. So, it's the arduous, painstaking hand weeding for now until the docks are gone in 50 years time...