14. Lazy sunny days

I am ashamed to see that again, I haven't blogged for 2 months.

My little side project has also fallen by the wayside. A while ago, I decided to take a picture of the path leading from the main gate, each time I arrived at the allotment. It is quite a nice view of a worn out path with grass growing in the middle of the tyre tracks, and hedges and trees on either side. When I put them all together, it was meant to show the changing seasons. However, for the past month, when all the growing has been going on, I have forgotten to take my camera!

Anyway, more news on the wildlife front - Mr Fox is still visiting the allotment. I put some black weed supressor down over part of a bed. And low and behold, when I next visited, there were large muddy footprints on it!

The big news at the allotment is the re-hiring of a member of staff. I managed to trick Matt into coming to the allotment a couple of weeks ago. And he is hooked! He is now in charge of all the hard work - weeding, digging etc. And I do planting, watering and decision making. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, the weeds are still beating us, growing twice as fast as the vege's.

My brother managed to fix the water pump. He found a little hardwear shop, explained the problem and waited while the assistant went into the back room rumaging about, and of course had exactly what we needed. We now have almost icy cold, fresh water. It's great not having to pray for rain all the time. I think if we had to rely on the water butts, the tomatoes would have been long dead!

It's funny how, I now notice what the weather is doing more. I have never been much of a sun worshipper, but it seems to bring colours alive so I always welcomed it. This week though, I have had to go to the allotment everyday to water, and still a couple of the plants are wilting. I was only in the greenhouse for a few minutes on Sunday before I was losing my temper with the hydration system I was trying to set up!

On the vege side, things are looking surprisingly good. First Early, Second Early and Late potatoes are growing nicely, I haven't seen any flowers yet, but the grass is higher than the potato plants so it's not surprising! There are flowers on the mange tout plants and the peas. The onions are looking pretty good. However, they are overwintering onions and they should have been ready to harvest in April, but are still looking on the small side. The garlic is doing really well, people keep complimenting me on how well the leeks are growning, so that tells you how well the garlic is!

That is my update for now. I will try and add photos later...and update you again before August!