I went to the farm on Wednesday, as usual, to work with other volunteers in the community garden. Not surprisingly we were a much smaller group as many were following the ANZAC Day parade in the city.
While the others worked on planting garlic and brassicas my personal challenge was the carrot bed which had been prepared with plenty of sand incorporated to give a free draining light soil for the carrots. Well, in the last week – weed heaven! Just about every weed known to man had taken up residence in that lovely light soil. The feathery topped carrot rows finally emerged from the green carpet of weeds. Very satisfying. Should have taken a photo – ‘before’ and ‘after’.
Morning tea was big social event as usual. Talk, eat cake, drink tea.
I finished off the morning at my own allotment. The salad bed is coming along nicely and I picked salad leaves and cherry tomatoes for my lunch-time sandwich. Doesn’t get much fresher than that.
The ground was pretty damp so I didn’t need to water but I did have a bit of planting to do. I still had a few more seed potatoes to go in, they were sprouting nicely so I should get a good crop from them. My daughter-in-law had given me a couple of Brussel sprouts plants the day before and I was keen to get them into the soil too.
I was delighted to find that the Nicola potatoes I had planted a couple of weeks ago were popping up their heads. You can just about see them. This pic looks as if these little spuds are growing in a bed of rock! I think it looks worse because I was trying to get a good close up of the shoots. Makes you wonder how they struggled through all that heavy looking soil tho’.
A bit of action in my garlic bed. Just starting to send up shoots.
And finally (as always!) I picked snake beans.
Allotment Adventures with Jean 