July 10th - visit to Morden Hall Park

So many beautiful flowers

Cosmos

 It was a rainy day so after drinks and snacks in the Community Building we all headed for Morden Hall Park to have a look round the garden centre.

Waiting for the bus by Brockwell Park

Trying out some new seating for the plot!

Poppies

Bee hives in the orchard at Morden Hall

Looking for some new fruit bushes for our plot

We got lots of ideas for plants we want to grow next year, some more raspberries, black, white and red currants, a plum tree and a grape vine.  These are all growing well on other plots at the allotment.  We had a late lunch sheltered outside the National Trust Cafe and made our way back home.

July 3rd - A shady place at last!

It was very hot so we made sure we wore suncream or were covered up.  Some of the tomato plants in the shed were looking very dried up so we took all the seedlings out into the shade and gave them lots of water.  They perked up and we planted them at the end of the session.

The soil was very dry so we watered everything at least twice

Butternut squash bud

Runnerbean flowers

There was plenty of work to be done, earthing up the potatoes.

Diluting seaweed fertilizer to feed the plants

        Our parasol is up!! Thanks to Rosendale Allotments Association and the Lottery 
        for the funding, and Sheila and Barbara's hard work work last week putting  it up.

Our group were able to relax in the shade on the hottest day of the year so far.

June 19th - Watering and woodwork and a new volunteer.

Our new volunteer, Sheila, enjoying her first day on the plot.

    We dug up lots of couch grass and bagged it to
rot down before composting, to stop it spreading

.

We cut the grass and did all the usual watering and weeding

It was another sunny day and the group wanted to get the
     parasol up so we could have some shade. We had to make a
            hole in the table.  Then we ran out of time so the parasol goes up next week!

June 12th - hot, hot, hot!

Seedlings getting some fresh air after growing in the shed.

Lots more strawberries and they're getting bigger!

Some of the seeds were only planted last week and have shot up in the sun.

The strawberry runners we moved to the top bed are enjoying their new position and it looks like we'll have a good crop.
The group enjoyed strawberries at lunch time and took some home.

One of the group is taking some time off so brought in some goodies to share.  We had a delicious lunch.

It was very hot so we couldn't work too long in the sun.  We had lots of cold drinks and spent some time in the shade.  The grass round the tree got a good cut!  We managed to plant out some tomatoes and dwarf French beans, and we potted on some pepper seedlings given to us by another plot holder. There was a manure delivery so we got a couple of wheelbarrow loads to improve our soil.  

Lots and lots of watering.

We were all very happy when our new parasol arrived!
The next job is tidying up the top plot!

June 5th - More digging and weeding and some tasty rewards

Digging over the top bed and weeding. 

Sorting through the seed collection.

Potatoes earthed up and beds ready for planting.

Our first strawberries of the season.

May 29th - Digging, weeding and plant rescue

The butternut squash we planted have been eaten by snails and slugs!  Not even a tiny bit left, but most of the beans and sweetcorn have survived.  Some of the group went to the Garden Centre to buy a giant tub of slug killer, one that's good to use with edible plants.

We earthed up the potatoes, which have been growing really well in their new raised beds.

We're making more raised beds this year as a lot of the compost we dug into the soil last year was washed away with all the winter rain. The soil on the plot is heavy clay and needs lots of organic matter dug in to keep the plants happy.

We did some digging and weeding on the top plot and just made it down the hill before the rain came, for a welcome cuppa in the Community Building.

We planted some more seeds to grow on in the shed, Mignonette and Dianthus,  some flowers which we may be able to sell at the Lambeth Country Show, and chili, purple sprouting broccoli, pak choi and dwarf french beans.  We also tried to make a cage of netting to protect the cherry tree from hungry birds, but it didn't work as it was too windy.

22 May 2014

We planned to have a barbecue on the plot
but it was raining on and off all day, so we stayed around the Community building.  We were still able to cook our food and enjoyed the first barbecue of the season.

Plenty of salad though none of it home grown yet!