Mowers and cabbages

The plot is looking really good at the moment, I replied to a FREECYCLE offered email for a Mountfield petrol mower which needed a bit of tweaking to get it back into workable order but it is now running well and helping us to keep the plot looking neat and tidy! I'm amazed at what people are willing to chuck or give away, this mower is only 2 years old!!! It cost us £15 to have it serviced and Bob's your Uncle!

D is doing a bit of a catalogue pose here in this picture as he waters the new leek plants....bless him!!

Several of the beds are now empty and need to be properly dug over to remove perrenial weed root which still persists from our initial digging at the beginning of the year, we are beating it though!

Once dug I'm going to be sowing some green manure on them to stop weeds growing and to add some goodness to the soil.

The beds by the shed are really coming into their own now as the crops in them are growing like mad. My favourite bed is this one with Cabbage, carrots, parsnips and french marigolds in, I think it looks really fab.

The sweetcorn is also nearly ready, I'm really looking forward to trying this as it's supposed to be fantastic when eaten fresh from the plant.
There is now a real feeling of Autumn coming, the mornings have had a definite cold feeling to them and the nights are drawing in (which I hate!) I'm determined to get the broad beans in during the Autumn to get a head start and I'm also wanting to put Japanese onions and Garlic in.

We've seen several new people up at the plot the last few times that we've been up, there has been a bit of a push to let out the empty plots and apparently we have a waiting list now to get onto this site.
It feels odd to see strange faces after being only a handful of us for so long but it is nice and hopefully it'll secure the future of the site a bit more and give the place some life!

Littleover allotments open

Whilst visiting friends in Derby this weekend we managed to shoe horn in a trip to an allotment site which was open to the public under the 'National Garden Scheme' which helps raise money for charity.

I am an avid fan of the website 'Allotments 4 all' and it was through this site that I found out that the allotments would be open.

I have to say that I am SO jealous of the plot holders that manage to get a plot on this site. 'Littleover' allotment site is the most wonderful place with it's own museum, school reception centre and purpose built loos!!

It's a huge site with long pathways between neatly clipped hedges and the mix of different plot styles is fantastic.

The 2 pictures below show plots owned by 2 fellow 'Allotments 4 all' users and in my humble are 2 of the most amazing plots I have ever seen!

Above and below

Plots belonging to 'Allotments 4 all' membersThe next 2 pictures show an amazing plot which belongs to a wonderful lady who insisted that we take some plants home with us. She has created a mix between ornamental and productive garden and it looks fantastic!

A lot of these plots also back onto houses so people have been able to rent the plot behind their house and extend their growing space.

Above and below

Ornamental and productive plot

The next pic was taken whilst standing inside a Dahlia growers plot, the most amazing array of dahlias I have ever seen, this pic only shows a small selection of them but it also shows the incredibly neat hedging between plots and the sweet little gateways that each plot has.
And the last couple of pics show how inventive we allotmenteers are when it comes to shed building. Regular readers of my blog will know I LOVE allotment buildings and especially ones that look wonky and are quite obviously made from left over bits!

I would urge anyone to visit this site when it is next open, we had a great couple of hours, the site was beautiful , very peaceful and the people were some of the friendliest people I have ever met. They opened in May aswell this year so I'm hoping they will do the same next year and we'll squeeze in another trip.