Dastardly docks

This is the wildflower meadow a month or so ago, when I'd cleared the plot (or so I thought) of pretty much all the weeds, give or take a few tiny ones.



This is the same site now, looking more like a den for docks than a wildflower meadow, although to be fair, a few hardy souls have managed to rise above the rest of the weeds. Is it any wonder I close my eyes and dream of docks....


On a much more positive note, these lovely sweet peas (which I wish you could smell via some sort of computer smell-a-vision) were given to me by a fellow allotment holder, Jimmy. Coincidentally, I'd seen him on his plot from the community garden and was heading up there, secateurs in hand, to cadge a few blooms to tide me over until ours get going. As I arrived at his gate, he was holding this bunch of flowers, about to head down to see me.


I had some extra help for a few hours this morning from Ruth (the local teacher who runs the Greenfingers Club) and her husband. They worked really hard on the school beds and also did a spot of weeding on the main potato bed as well, which was an added bonus.

While weeding their main crop potatoes, they came across this strange alien-looking growth, and as the plant itself was looking a little worse for wear, we decided to pull it up. The spuds underneath looked pretty healthy, so it was a bit of a mystery until Alan told us that it was simply seeding itself. He's seen it dozens of times apparently, but this strange object was a new one on me.

I manged to get the asparagus/strawberry bed weeded, some straw around the fruit corner and David put the finishing touches to his information boards, as well as tackling some of the more wild patches of the garden with a grass hook.

As my water butt is no longer full to brimming, I had to resort to the allotment tap this evening for the first time in ages, and also, as a special treat for the tomatoes, tested the soaker hose in the polytunnel that I'd put down months ago, by connecting up the hosepipe - a rarity on our plot.