Tag: grown your own

Happy Birthday to My Blog

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 16, 2012
15 Comments on Happy Birthday to My Blog

Greenbenchramblings is one year old today! Yes, I have been rambling away from my old green bench on my allotment for a year to the day. Each time I celebrate a birthday with a nought in it I give myself a challenge. When I was 30 I decided to get up before first light, taking a not so willing family with me, travel to a nearby area of deciduous woodland and await the dawn chorus. It was pure magic! The song of each bird as it awoke joined in the chorus until the wood reverberated with song celebrating the new day. The atmosphere was electric – an unforgettable experience.

When I reached 40 I decided to buy some new walking boots as a stimulus to get out into the beautiful Shropshire countryside more.

At 50 I began studying a garden design course.

A year ago I reached 60 and decided to start my Greenbenchramblings blog, to record my musings and photos related to our garden, our allotment, gardening and wildlife. So Happy Birthday Blog! I have been delighted with the response to it, enjoyed the comments and feel I have met new friends from almost every continent. I share all my gardening visiting, my lottie gardening, the development and maintenance of the garden at home and the walks in the countryside with Jude, also known as The Undergardener or Mrs Greenbenchrambler.

The surprise of the blogging year was when Willow Cottage Gardeners nominated my blog for a Versatile Blogger Award, hence the rather handsome green logo on the top right of my blogs. As a part of this award I have to write a list of 7 things about myself that readers of my blog might not know and suggest 15 blogs for nomination for the award.

So here goes with the 7 things you might not know about me;

1.Forty years ago I had an altercation with a lorry and the lorry came out best. I was put back together and I am now registered “Bionic”.

2,My favourite gardeners are Beth Chatto, Dan Hinckley, Carol Klein and Monty Don.

3.I have had allotments for over 20 years.

4.I have been a fisherman since I was 4 years old. When I retired my ambition was to catch a 30 pound carp. The biggest so far is 29 pound 15 ounces.

5.I talk to my chickens and they talk back.

6.My favourite garden designers are Dan Pearson, Piet Oudolf, Tom Stuart-Smith and Cleve West.

7.If I could choose anywhere in the world to live it would be in the South Shropshire Hills. I live in the South Shropshire Hills!

My 15 nominated blogs;

1. www.lensandpensbysally.wordpress.com

2. www.aerialediblegardening.wordpress.com

3. www.latebloomerbuds.wordpress.com

4. www.fennelandfern.co.uk/blog

5. www.soulsbyfarm.wordpress.com

6. www.gardeninginthelines.wordpress.com

7. www.mytinyplot.wordpress.com

8. www.gettingfreshblog.wordpress.com

9. www.gardeningcanuck.wordpress.com

10. www.100squaremetres.wordpress.com

11. www.pbmgarden.wordpress.com

12. www.arignagardener.wordpress.com

13. www.grandparentsplus2.wordpress.com

14. www.wanderingwoody.wordpress.com

15. www.indiansummerfarm.wordpress.com

As followers of greenbenchramblings know I carry a camera around with me wherever we go and my favourite subjects are plants, especially plant portraits, allotment gardening, and the creatures who live in our gardens, on our allotment and on the plants. It seems apt to finish this One Year On posting with a few pics of these favourite subjects.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, grown your own, insects, poppies, wildlife

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials meadows natural pest control Shropshire wildlife

A Wander around the Allotments in May

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 31, 2012
4 Comments on A Wander around the Allotments in May

May is a busy month on the allotment, seeds need sowing, seedlings need thinning, weeds need hoeing and early crops reward us with early harvests. And of course our grass paths separating the four areas of the plot need regular mowing.

The Hawthorns in native hedges around the site are smelling good and looking good.

The wildlife all around is equally busy, seriously going about the business of breeding with all its inherited trials and tribulations. The weather, predators, prey availability and the search for food for both adults and nests full their young all contrive to make their lives difficult.

We shall begin our May lottie wander on our own plot to see what is going on. The soil is now easily worked so using the hoe to remove seedlings is easy so the plot is looking tidy.

Our brassicas are coming along well underneath their protective cover.

IMG_4145-1 — The perennial bug borders are looking good.

Whenever we are working our plot or helping maintain the green spaces around the site, we are entertained by birds of prey, Buzzards and Kestrels soaring or hovering over our heads and around our feet Robins, Blackbirds, Blue and Great Tits, and Song Thrushes search for food for their young hoping we disturb grubs and bugs with our digging, raking and hoeing. More secretive in their search for fodder for young are the Black Caps, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. Overhead the hirondelles, (Swallows, Swifts and House Martins), having recently returned from their winter haunts greedily scoop up insects on the wing.Although the weather has been warm and dry for a few days now the end of our plot where the clay comes nearest the surface and the topsoil is very thin, water still saturates the land, making working it impossible. But in this wetness in the ridged soil our Red Duke of York potatoes are pushing their purple tinted foliage out towards the sunshine.

Red Duke of York appearing above the algae tinted soil.

Our cordon Red Currants are flowering heartily and starting to set fruit.

In the orchards and over the meadows wildflowers are blooming alongside naturalised ornamental bulbs, attracting butterflies, the crinkle winged Commas, the Orange Tips with orange tips to their wings and the wonderful ethereal Holly Blues.

Bulbs and Buttercups under the fruit trees in the orchard.

We attract predator insects into the orchards with these insect homes. They are a wildlife friendly pesticide.

The Buddleia Borders are coming to life now and the Spring Garden remains very colourful.

Two plot holders, Phil and Doreen, have created a new bed in a shaded area near their plot and made it accessible for all to enjoy.

Most plots are ready for sowing and planting or partly planted up and sown.

Our May Working Party jobs were decided upon by where the shade was, as it was too hot to work in the full sunshine. We managed to get most of our tasks completed though.

Kneeling down on the job attacking those pernicious weeds that creep into the meadows.

Our Willow Dome has had its doorway and windows woven and neatened up and the sides pruned and woven. It is a favourite feature with children as somewhere to listen to a story, or as a play den, and as adults for somewhere to escape to at coffee time from the heat of the day.

As we have recently launched our site’s Wise Watering Campaign it is heartening to see guttering and butts appearing on several sheds.

Tags allotments, birds, community gardening, conservation, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, harvest, insects, meadows, organic gardening, red currants, wildlife

fruit and veg garden photography gardening grow your own hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs photography roses shrubs spring gardening trees

May’s Burst of Growth

A week into May the rain stopped, the temperature rose a little and the skies cleared, bird song increased in volume and in response the garden had a burst of growth. Fledgling Robins, although only hours out of the nest began to follow us around the garden as we worked as if they had an inbuilt knowledge of the link between gardeners and Robin food.

DSC_0045-2 — Variations in foliage colour is strong in early May light.

Leaf buds on trees and shrubs started to unfurl and herbaceous plants looked greener and fresher with the new leafy growth. Flower buds fattened ready to open in the next few days.

DSC_0008-1 — New seedlings of mixed salad leaves.

DSC_0013-1 — Fresh growth on Bowles Golden.

The deep reddish bronze foliage of this Rogersia contrasts beautifully with its green-leaved neighbours.

DSC_0025-2 — Aquilegias are about to flower in every border. Can’t wait!

DSC_0065a — Grey Hosta spear soaring skyward.

DSC_0028-1 — This herb valerian self seeds throughout the garden and its scent is welcomed wherever it blooms.

The surge of growth will hopefully allow Mother Nature to catch up a little. The rose bushes are often clothed in fat buds a few of which burst before the end of the month, but at the moment their leaves are still not fully out. Similarly the flowers of the Cercis are usually out now flowering on the bare stems and trunk but their buds are tight shut while the foliage is bursting into life.

Rose foliage emerges a deep shade of red.

The new fresh leaves of Cercis display a deep bronze colour.

Our fruit trees do not want to miss the fun – their leaf and blossom buds burst into life.

Apple blossom gives us so many shades of pink to enjoy.

DSC_0076-1 — Very late emerging bud on our Hampton Court vine.

Flower buds are bursting – they do not want to be left out!

DSC_0055-2 — The first flower of the Persicaria bistorta stands alone in the lush foliage of the Bog Garden.

DSC_0066-4 — The yellow scented flower of this deciduous rhododendron are nearly with us.

DSC_0051-1 — Misty blue Cammasia buds opening.

Fat Allium bud rising from the whorl of leaves.

Red Campion buds ready to burst cluster atop their stem.

The most unusual coloured new buds appear on our two miniature Horse Chestnuts.

DSC_0107-3 — Delicate pale bronze new hands of chestnut leaves.

Tags apples, foliage, foliage plants, fruit and veg, fruit., garden photography, gardening, grown your own, ornamental trees, shrubs, spring, trees

allotments community gardening meadows

April Working Parties.

Mid-April saw our second allotment site working party. The weather forecasters warned us of regular showers with some very heavy and accompanied by thunder. They were so wrong! We had a bright warm day when we worked away under a clear blue sky. Plenty of busy helpers turned up and I set them to work.

The urgent task was to prepare soil in which to sow a wildflower mixture donated to us by the RHS to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. Digging over the patch was hard work as we kept bringing up pieces of old broken bricks. As a nearby plot has yielded a couple of very old clay land drains we came to the conclusion that we were digging up the site of an old stable yard.

But soon the area was dug over by Di and Jude, rotovated, and raked to a fine tilth. The bed was divided up into square yards to help even seed distribution. Jill and Jude then carefully broadcast the seeds. A little firming with the back of a rake after a gentle raking over to ensure the seeds were in good contact with the soil and the job was done. They should germinate quickly as the soil is moist and quite warm.

The seed left over was sown in a bed we dug out to extend the Autumn Garden.

The heaviest task of the day was to begin to sort out the site’s compost area, which has to be moved ready for the development of the new site extension. The good compost was utilised in growing areas and the poorer bits used to level a rather bumpy slope which we are slowly planting up with wildlife friendly plants. John, Pete, Gerald and Geoff toiled away at this for several back-breaking hours.

By noon we were all ready for a well-earned rest with coffee and nibbles. Some of us eat healthily with our fruit while others enjoy their chocolate biscuits and cake. All good for energy though! And we certainly need plenty of that to tackle jobs for a few more hours into the afternoon.

Our existing meadows needed a weed so Julia, Di, Jill and Gill set about weeding out any pernicious weeds. On hands and knees aided by kneelers they cleared the meadows of thistles, dandelions, creeping buttercups and groundsel, the rampant spreaders and prolific seeders. So we sow some native plants and weed others out, but it does make sense, as we do not want these pernicious weeds spreading onto plots.

The path in the Turf Spiral needed some more wood chip spread on it to level it off and make it feel softer for the children to walk on.

A few days later a few of us returned to complete a job we didn’t have time to do on the Working Party, fixing wooden edging around our Withy Bed. It was hard work bending the planks around the curved edges and then hammering in stakes to hold it in place. Wielding sledge hammers and lump hammers for hours wore us out but we did get a few coffee breaks, forced on us by occasional heavy showers. The day after we all ached in our shoulders and upper arms, but it does look good now it is done and will make keeping the edges tidy as we can trim the grass right up to it.

So we succeeded in getting lots done to our communal green spaces in April. All that’s left to do before the end of the month is to prepare the Working Party tasks for May.

Tags allotments, community gardening, garden photography, gardening, grown your own, meadows

allotments birds community gardening fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control wildlife

A Wander around our Allotments in April

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 24, 2012
12 Comments on A Wander around our Allotments in April

The key moment in April came when our allotments featured in a national gardening magazine, “Grow It”. A great article full of photos! And then towards the end of the month the lottie chairman, John and I were interviewed by Matt Biggs for an article in the “Edible Garden” magazine. (Please excuse the name dropping!)

So let’s take a wander around the site starting at our own plot, number 37, where the last of the leeks are still in the ground but the kale is beginning to go to seed. Seeds we sowed a few weeks ago are now germinating and popping their heads above the soil. The autumn sown broad beans are flowering as are our currants and gooseberries. So it is all systems go.

Jude harvesting the last of the leeks with our Wolf weeding tool.

The incredibly coloured flowers of Crimson-flowered Broad Bean.

As we began our wander we were pleased to see two families from the nearby estate wandering around our interest trail with their children. Later they were sat in the willow dome reading stories. This is what community allotments are all about! We shall start our wanderings at Hut 2, one of our communal huts and move on to the Autumn Garden, one of our “Gardens of the Seasons”.

Colourful welcome to Hut 2, our information centre.

A species crab apple, Malus floribunda, is a recent addition to the Autumn Garden.

We planted the malus to attract bees - it works!

Japanese maples grow in the dappled shade of the trees in the Autumn Garden

Moving on from the Autumn Garden towards the first communal orchard we follow a native hedge in which for the first time a Song Thrush has nested. the parents are busy feeding their young and collect worms and bugs from plots right under the noses of the gardeners.

April lottie 2 — Thrush collecting food for its youngsters.

SAMSUNG — The empty thrush egg we found a few weeks ago alongside the hedge.

We are trying to encourage wise watering on the plots so lots of new guttering and butts are appearing.

In Crowmeole Orchard flowering spring bulbs are coming to an end as Camassias and Allium push up their flowering buds. The apples, pears and plums are covered in pink or white blossom.

Blackthorn - bees love the blossom, birds love the fruit and allotment holders love to make sloe gin from them.

Homes for beneficial insects who will help pollinate the fruit and predate on pests.

The Fruit Avenue getting more colourful by the day.

As we wandered through this orchard a flock of Long Tailed tits in their pink and brown livery flew off in the bouncing flight pattern, having fed on the peanuts in the feeders. Their long trailing tails followed on. We moved on following paths between plots towards the Spring Garden and Sensory Garden near the old oak tree. Plots are full of ridged rows of sown potatoes and white plastic plant labels marking newly sown rows.

Phil and Doreen have planted up a border alongside their plot.

Several plot holders are topping up their paths with wood chip.

The Spring Garden in its second spring is looking so good and has become a popular place for allotment holders and visitors.

The most colourful spot on the site in April is the Spring Garden.

Forsythia flowering in the Spring Garden.

Through the Willow Tunnel is one of our many picnic benches where we stop for coffee on our April wanderings. As we enjoyed our brew curlews called in nearby fields with their mournful song and the Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew busily overhead.

IMG_3602a — We have just started to shape the willows into a tunnel.

The Sensory Garden is growing well now the weather is warming up.

The Winter Garden has passed its peak after being so popular for months. We have been busy giving it a sort out.

The stems of the White Stemmed Rubus look magical in the spring sunshine.

The dogwoods and willows grown for their coloured stems have been pruned hard to encourage fresh wands of growth.

Fresh Fennel foliage in front of a Euphorbia.

We wandered next through the Woodcote Orchard where the paths are cut short and neatly through the long grass, and looked at the Turf Spiral, a favourite of the children.

Follow the trail post down the neat path.

We have been adding another layer of turf to the spiral to create somewhere to sit.

Our final stop on the way back to the car park was the Herb Garden where herbs are now well established. This last section of our lottie wander took a lot longer than the others as we enjoyed a good chat with Dave and Jean. We put the world to rights and shared details of how all our crops were getting on.

Tags allotments, apples, birds, community gardening, conservation, dogwoods, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grown your own, insects, meadows, organic gardening, roses, spring garden, wildlife

garden photography gardening grow your own hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs photography Shropshire

The National Garden Scheme and our Open Day

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 20, 2012
3 Comments on The National Garden Scheme and our Open Day

In mid-July each year we open our allotment community site for charity, which we do under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme. So we appear in the famous “Yellow Book” of gardens open throughout England and Wales. Our first opening was in July 2011.

The weather was exactly what you would choose not to have on an open day particularly in mid-July. Strong winds and heavy rain! But we had to go ahead and lots of volunteers spent the morning preparing for the afternoon, creating a tea shop out of Hut 2, putting up gazebos and putting up direction signs, car park signs. toilet signs, tea shop signs – lots of signs! Throughout the previous week members had been tidying up their plots and cutting the communal grass areas. A working party the previous weekend made the green spaces look spick and span.

As the time drew near Jude the Undergardener and Di, a fellow plotter, set themselves up to sell the tickets.

We nervously awaited the time to open and the weather just kept getting worse so we were worried that no visitors would turn up. But at the time of opening our visitors started to arrive. It was too windy to use umbrellas so they wandered around braving the wind and rain, stopping for frequent cups of tea and home-made cakes.

We judge the site’s scarecrow competition on the day and the entries give extra interest for the visitors. The fine couple in the photo were modelled on one of the plot holder’s parents! For 2012 our scarecrows will be based on the Olympics and/or The Queens Jubilee.

In the end we sent about £460 to the National Garden Scheme treasurers, so we were quite pleased. We hope for better weather this year when we open on Sunday 15th July.

In the Spring each year all the gardeners who open their gardens meet to launch the new season of openings, and the Shropshire gardeners meet at the home of the County Organiser Chris Neil at Edge Villa, close to where we live. We all meet up again to chat, find out about how successful the county’s gardens were the previous year and have a glass of bubbly and nibbles (extremely tasty ones they are too!). This year Chris announced that 2011 had been a record year with over £60 000 being raised.

At the end of the formality Chris and her husband, Neil invite us to wander around their own garden. So come with me and share in some highlights.

To find out more about the famous Yellow Book and the National Garden Scheme look up http://www.ngs.org.uk. And to find our entry in it look up Bowbrook Allotment Community in the Shropshire section.

Tags garden photography, gardening, grown your own, National Garden Scheme, NGS, ornamental trees, scarecrows, trees, Yellow Book

allotments community gardening gardening grow your own

Wise Words on Sheds

Since our allotment site opened three years ago, many allotmenteers have put plaques on their sheds and signs have appeared in all sorts of places. Words of wisdom and humour!

Let’s take a wander and see what we can find.

I fixed this quote to the side of one of our communal buildlings. it is very popular with visitors.

Even the site's manure wheelbarrow and a breeze block have signs.

IMG_3583a — I wonder what goes in that barrow?

Two youngsters, Ethan and Elliot, seem to have forgotten their Mum, Mandy, when they made their sign. Mandy’s plant labels are so attractive and original.

Tags allotments, community gardening, fruit and vegetable growing, gardening, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, sheds, signs

birds garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs trees

A Wander around our Garden in April.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 16, 2012
6 Comments on A Wander around our Garden in April.

DSC_0003ab — Flowering Currant and Muscari.

It is already into the fourth month of the year and so this is the fourth in this monthly series of garden wandering posts. So much happens in April, so many plants start into growth, so many seeds are sown and the weather changes so often. Frost, hail, sun, mild, cold, windy, calm – everything comes randomly and we gardeners get caught out inappropriately clothed. Wildlife is equally confused, with bees, hoverflies, butterflies and wasps appearing on warmer days and disappearing as soon as it cools down again.

DSC_0004-3 — Taking advantage of some bonus sunshine.

Some spring bulbs are going over while others are in full swing, some tree blossoms are going over while others are just coming into flower. There is so much to do in the garden, productive or ornamental, and it feels good to be out there doing it.

As soon as April arrives we know the garden will look and feel differently every day. Come around our garden with me and my camera and see what is going on.

The front garden glows in the afternoon sunshine, with every shade of green in new herbaceous growth splattered with the many colours of bulbs.

The Shade Garden is soon to reach its peak time, with its fresh leafy growth and the tiny, pale jewels of flowers. Pulmonarias, Dicentras, Anemones, Arums and Corydalis are all budding up and beginning to flower while the ferns are hardly showing any signs of awakening.

DSC_0020-3 — Silver splashed Arum leaves.

On the gravel patch, which we call our “Chatto Garden”, new foliage is bursting through. Irises, Euphorbias are starting into healthy growth. The large terra-cotta pot of bulbs is bubbling over with the blue of Muscari and a sprinkling of tiny mauve species Tulips.

DSC_0035-2 — The glaucous sword shaped iris leaves.

DSC_0026-3 — Spears of Euphorbia griffithii "Dixter" piercing the gravel.

DSC_0032-3 — The thistle like spiked and variegated Galactites tomentosa.

DSC_0029-2 — Muscari blue and tulip mauve give a gentle colourway to the big pot.

DSC_0038-2 — Bright welcome at the gate - yellow Mahonia and red Cydonia.

Trees and shrubs are a little later coming to life in the spring, the miniature Chestnut’ sticky buds are only just bursting while the Amelanchier lamarckii and Spiraea “The Bride” are in their full white ball gowns.

DSC_0042-1 — "The Bride" is always such a good arching shape.

DSC_0046-2 — The long arching raceme of Spiraea.

DSC_0041-4 — Chestnut buds burst out in salmons, russets and reds.

In the side garden by our main entrance the two potted apple trees are in full flower, with blossoms of many shades of pink, promising lots of juicy fruit to enjoy. We have added a second House Sparrow nesting box giving six nest holes altogether and hopefully a little less noisy bickering. The new box is apartment living as opposed to the terraced original. Right by our doorstep is a pot of violas in an unusual colour combination of blue and brown. In front of the garage door our replanted alpine troughs are beginning to come to life.

DSC_0064-1 — Our miniature apple trees welcome callers.

DSC_0066-2 — Apple blossoms - pink beauties.

Alpine troughs protected from the cold winds.

DSC_0065-1 — Unusual colour combination.

Wandering into the back garden it is hard to know where to point the lens first as so much is happening. The fruit trees are in blossom, tulips add their jewel colours in every border and new leaves are appearing on most shrubs and perennials.

DSC_0079-1 — A mass of Damson blossom against a blue sky.

DSC_0128a — Jude, "The Undergardener" at work in the "Shed Bed".

The garden is full of sound, scents and movement. In the pools Pond Skaters perform their dances on the surface and tadpoles wriggle in black masses in the shallow pebble bay. Around each flowering shrub bees and hoverflies flit and buzz. In nearby fields Skylarks sing their “high in the sky” songs and the haunting call of Curlews reach us from the damp land alongside the nearby fishery. But the strangest sound of all is the regular sound of Tawny Owls calling to each other – have they lost their biological clocks? The calling starts mid-afternoon on most days.

DSC_0105-3 — Lush growth at the pool side.

Scent is provided by Viburnum, Mahonias, Wallflowers, Flowering Currants, Hyancinths, Daffodils and the last of the flowers on the Daphnes. Herby scents come with the new fresh greens of the mints, thymes, marjorams and fennel.

DSC_0022-1 — Strong in scent beautiful in colour, the last flowers on the Daphne.

DSC_0097-1 — The complex flower head of a viburnum.

In the Secret Garden it is the tulips that take centre stage, in so many colours and shapes.

Some of the most impressive new foliage is to be found on our acers, growing under the trees we grow as a wind break, acid green, lemon yellow, flaming orange and salmon.

DSC_0119a — New brightly coloured foliage shines in mottled shade.

We have eventually relented and cut down the last of our many grasses. We leave them as late as possible and often leave some too late and end up cutting new growth coming up within the old. This Miscanthus napalensis was left until last, understandably.

Just to show how fickle the month of April can be, the day after I took the photos for this blog we woke to three inches of snow and large flakes continued to fall all morning. Many tulips and daffodils were flattened and our clump of Black Bamboo was pinned to the ground by the sheer weight of snow.

I shall finish with two shots – one before the snow and one after. This lovely old oak tree root is our miniature stumpery – all we have room for!

Tags apples, April, birds, chestnuts, foliage, foliage plants, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, ornamental trees, scented plants, tulips, viburnum

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own meadows natural pest control wildlife

A Day on the Lottie – mini-meadows and brassicas.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 10, 2012
4 Comments on A Day on the Lottie – mini-meadows and brassicas.

Yesterday we spent the day up at our allotment, with the aim of sowing mini-meadows and planting out Brassica plants. But firstly the grass paths separating the plot into its four beds needed a good cut. That done we prepared two narrow borders along one edge of the plot, raking the soil finely but adding no fertilisers or organic matter, for this is where we were creating our mini-meadows.

We sowed a mixture of 3 packets, a white cornflower called “Snowman” a native cornfield mixture and a Californian wildflower mixture. It seemed so strange to feel how light the seeds felt in my hand – a meadow in the palm of my hand.

We hope that our little strips of meadow will look good for us and fellow plotholders to enjoy, attract beneficial insects and bring in attractive butterflies. We particularly want bees to arrive to help with crop pollination. And of course they all entertain us while we are gardening.

After a quick coffee we scattered chicken muck pellets and fish, blood and bone fertiliser onto our brassica bed and raked them in well. I then trod over the area to firm the ground and raked again. Brassicas enjoy firm soil and they are less likely to bolt and help them fill out better.

We decided to plant the Brassica plants in trenches with raised sides to act as min-dikes. With all the talk of drought and possible hose pipe bans we are trying out ways of watering wisely. These trenches should ensure that any rain is directed towards the plants.

We packed away our tools and locked up the shed after a busy, productive couple of hours. Back to the community hut to collect one of the site mowers and the grass strimmer, and we were off to mow the grass around the community meadow area and the turf spiral. But we wandered around the site first and found three real little gems.

This first gem we found was a native fritillary growing in a batch in the first of the community orchards and the second, a more unusual fritillary, in a small patch in the Hazel Grove.

The third gem was a hatched shell near one of the native hedgerows. This little sky blue beauty is the egg of a Song Thrush, so we were delighted to find it. Thrushes are becoming more frequent on the site as our community wildlife areas are becoming more established. We often see them feeding under the feeding stations or rummaging in the leaf litter beneath the hedges.

We mowed and trimmed for a couple of hours before our backs shouted “Enough! Enough!”

Tags allotments, birds, brassicas, community gardening, conservation, fritilaries, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grown your own, insects, meadows, organic gardening, song thrush, wildlife

allotments community gardening fruit and veg gardening grow your own

Time to Sow

The long-awaited and eagerly anticipated day arrives. First outdoor sowings on the lottie. A big flask of coffee, a bunch of bananas and half a dozen apples in the trug and we arrive at our plot with blue sky above and warmth of the sun making us feel good.

We began by tidying our paths, I mowed and Jude, “The Undergardener” trimmed the edges. Instantly the plot looked the business. We removed the cloches that had been warming the soil for a fortnight and discovered warm, moist soil below all raked to a fine tilth.

Cloches in place warming the soil ready for sowing.

The tools for the job collected from the shed, seed packets at the ready and the sun on our backs – ready for off! I use a range of tools by Wolf – three handles, short medium and long, and a range of inter-changeable heads. For today’s sowing I got ready a wide rake, narrow rake, cultivator, drill-maker, seed-sower and hoe.

Where the soil had been warmed with a covering of cloches we sowed legumes, Broad Bean “Super Aqualdulce”, Pea “Sugar Ann” which we enjoy by eating the young pods whole, Pea “Oregon Sugarpod” a mange tout type. First job is to take out a 2 inch deep drill six inches wide with a draw hoe and then keep watering along it until the water stops draining away quickly. The seeds are then placed in the drills and covered with dry soil to keep in the moisture and a final topping of compost to act as mulch and to clearly mark where we have sown. Although we label our seeds as they are sown we take this second precaution against the Blackbirds who enjoy pulling our labels up and throwing them on the paths.

Waiting for the heavily watered drill to drain.

Two rows of Broad Bean seeds neatly set out.

The darker compost mulch marks the rows of peas and broad beans.

When we returned home we planted up our first batch of seed potatoes, Rocket and Kestrel. The Rocket will be ready first, hopefully within 11 weeks and the Kestrel a few weeks later. Kestrel looks good with its purple eyes and tastes good too.