Allotment Diary – July 2008

It’s been a busy month down at the allotments on both the Melbournes and Waterhouse Lane sites. The main focus of activity on Waterhouse has been clearing of weeds and overgrowth to prepare the plots for the Autumn term, starting in September. Down at Melbournes, Charlie has been busy working with our volunteer group on Wednesday each week maintaining the site, harvesting a good deal of the produce we have grown (which is now ready to eat – including beans, potatoes, strawberries and onions and garlic). The courgettes from the polytunnel were planted out a couple of weeks ago and with much watering in the dry spell, are now firmly established in the vegetable garden.
On 9th July, Charlie and I had an early start and ventured down to the local DIY warehouse and filled our trolley with compost, organic slug pellets (they’ve been at the veg!) and a few new tools – some of our spades and forks have seen better days and with some new equipment our volunteers and school groups have been ploughing into the site with gusto. Thanks to everyone who helped us unload the truck at the other end and have put the new purchases to good use.
This coming Saturday, 19th July we have an Open Working Party at the site for the day and all our Friends and Supporters are invited to join us in preparing the site for National Allotments Week in August. We will be joined by a group from the Christian Festival in the morning, and among a number of jobs we hope to accomplish, repairing the leak in the wildlife pond is quite high on our list. During the afternoon we will be joining with the Melbournes Allotments Association for a social event, bringing together all the site holders to enjoy time with one another, along with a buffet tea and Strawberries and Cream. In the Marquee there will be a plant stall, allotment produce for sale and of course the teas. A nominal fee of £1.50 is being charged to cover expenses.
I’m off to the allotments shortly to meet with Dave Grundy from Moulsham High so he can see first hand some of the work that is being done, thanks to their support.