20. Stop Thief!

With the weeds almost getting to the height that they were when we first took on the allotment, we decided we needed a full day at the allotment. I had high hopes of weeding, planting green manure and harvesting tomatoes. The weather had other ideas. It was hot and sunny. I am no good in the heat, I get sunburn after being in it for more than 30 seconds, and I have no energy to be able to work on an allotment!

We weren't beaten though, a friend from the City Farm that we volunteer at, came to see the allotment and dug out all the weeds from two beds. I then planted my green manure in one of them. The rest of the time, I managed to harvest some tomotoes and tomatilloes and I pulled a couple of tomato plants out as they were looking a little worse for wear and the greenhouse is overcrowded.

Other than that I sat in what little shade I could find and planted some dwarf beans in a container. They had been at the allotment a week already and were looking a little wilted, so I decided against putting them in the greenhouse for now.

Mark was there as well, and was quite annoyed to find that one of his pumpkins was missing. It was a pretty good specimen, and was next to another one that had obviously been eaten by animals - a messy eater that definitely wasn't the dog as she wouldn't waste anything! The pumpkin in question had been removed cleanly from the stalk(?) and there was still the indentation in the straw that it had been resting on. Nothing else in the allotment had been touched, tools, raspberries, tomatoes etc were all fine.

We decided it had to have been stolen - there are plenty of gaps in the hedge if you are skinny! We had heard the horror stories of weedkiller being used on people's crops, holes being drilled into cabbages and squashes so they couldn't be shown. And it was happening to us!

Mark was annoyed because he was very proud of the pumpkin, you never think that it is as easy as putting a little plant in the ground and leaving it to it, so he was pleased to have done so well. And then someone had knicked the thing! But in a way, isn't it the ultimate compliment to have your vegies stolen for a show? I don't suppose they will be bringing it back though with a little red 1st attached to it though, will they?!

I thought our allotment site was the last place this would happen. Half of them are empty and full of weeds, and there is a dumping ground just inside the main gate where an allotment used to be.

Talking of shows, I made my show batch of chutney last weekend, it looked much better than the last lot as there were hardly any green tomatoes this time. Although, I may have gone a little overboard with the chilli. It had quite a kick when I tried it fresh, so I hope they don't get stronger as it matures. The little old dears doing the judging won't know what's hit them! Which reminds me, I haven't got a label for the jar yet...

Weather wise, I feel like I am in limbo. The mornings are getting cooler and it is getting dark, but the weeds are still growing like mad and it was too hot to work at the weekend.