Holding back The Weeds

At this time of year the weeds seem to grow faster than you can prepare the soil. So to slow them down I covered patches with some plastic sheets.

This held back weed growth until I could get around to it.

Salads on the deep bed

On this deep bed I decided to plant salads - some in the open and some lettuce under the cloch.

You can see I have started splitting the plots behind this bed. Next door has dug over a fair area of his plot too.

Horse or Mares Tail

When I took it on I was warned there was a bit of horse tail...

A BIT!!!!

Turned out the top half of the plot was infested. The previous tenant had a novel control method - he tried to hide it with chippings.

More Horse Tail

The only answer was to spray with Amicide. That puts the area out of commission for 8 weeks and if a second spray is needed 16. So that was my new cropping plan in tatters.

Still, next year it will have been destroyed. I don't like herbicide but for mares tail it is, I think, the only realistic route,

Runner and French Beans

The plastic sheets have gone and the soil has been dug and rotovated. Runner bean teepees on the left and dwarf French beans to the right

Women and Children on the allotment

It's nice to see that allotments are not an exclusive male preserve. And even better to see some children coming on board.

The little one has face paint on, by the way