Poppy day

This is a random poppy left over from the Greenfinger Club's mini wildflower patch, which suffered a little last year when it was dug over too soon by an over-enthusiastic volunteer. But, undeterred, a few flowers have come back this year, with this beautiful poppy being the best example to date.

It's been, amazingly, a little too hot to do much on the allotment lately, although before the mini-heatwave that probably is summer, Alan and I managed to nearly finish the chicken run. It's safe and secure, but needs an extra layer of chicken wire.


The courgettes and squashes in the polytunnel are almost taking over the place; they really appreciated the pile of dung! We tried one of the tricolour courgettes (pictured, yellow and round) on the BBQ yesterday and it was lovely.


The strawberries and raspberries are doing really well and I need help to eat them, and luckily someone seems to come along just in time in the guise of one of the other allotment holders looking for a tasty snack.

The strawberries are doing much better after a bit of sunshine and a good helping of bark mulch and are producing enough runners to extend the patch a bit next year. They're definitely the most popular item we've grown so far, proving that you really can have tasty, blemish-free strawberries and be chemical-free (naturally, a few chickens to hoover up the slugs/snails nearby helps, even if they do take an occasional nibble of a berry on the edge as part-payment).

Raindrops keep falling on my head

I'm sure I'm not alone in being fed up with the unseasonal amount of rainfall we've being having over the past few weeks. On the plus side, I have two overflowing water butts, but the poor waterlogged plants need a little less of the wet stuff and a lot more warming sun's rays instead.

Strawberries which were oozing with flavour a little while back are now decidedly watery (they actually taste much like many shop-bought ones as a result, but I expect better of these!) Raspberries are still reddening, but again, lack that vital punchiness.


The lettuces above are ones I'm trialling for Garden Organic and they're doing really well: I mulched them with grass cuttings ages back to keep the moisture in (which seems a little redundant now) but whatever the secret was to their success, they're merrily growing at quite a rate.

There's been plenty of weeding done by my two new volunteers, Maria and Victoria, which has been great as I've been able to come along and plant out the brassicas and leeks etc. without having to weed the beds first for a change. David's changed the compost over to the other bin, as we were full to overflowing, and it looks pretty well rotted already, so that will save us a bit of money.


The maypole is up, with the beans ready to climb (I think they're on hold waiting for the sun as they don't seem to have moved much since I put them in) and spinach seeds have been planted underneath. The turnips have also been transplanted, mostly to the high raised beds in the hope that the slugs won't spot them all the way up there.

Peter and I began on a living flower display for a friend's wedding, which has proved to be a lot more work than I anticipated (and taken up a lot more flowers). I completed the second display today (and my back is not thanking me for all that bending) so fingers crossed that the sun will come out and give it a boost so all the flowers come out in time for the big event at the end of the month.