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| Nigella |
Been up and down to the allotment a lot recently due to the very dry weather. Its just coming out of that phase where the winter veg is over, there is lots to do and nothing to harvest. Until this week. The autumn sown broad beans are good, the rocket and lettuces are ready to be picked (and about to bolt...) and we harvested the the first strawberries and gooseberries this week too. Early, we think. The nets are on the blackcurrants and blueberries so that we might just keep ahead of the wood pigeons that nest in the old Oaks that line the paths there. When we arrive they fly up into the trees. They are a bit like Brabazons - they are so fat and full of our soft fruit that they flap away and we wonder whether they are ever going to get off the ground.
The herbs are doing well, as are the patches of poppies and nigella which will be cut and dried to use on the summer wreaths I am working on for the events we are doing this summer. We are going to be at the Clifton Garden Party at Emmaus House on Saturday 11th June, The Stoke Bishop Community Fair at Cedar Park on Saturday 18th and will be joining in the Bristol Zoo's 175 year celebration at their Big Village Fete on Saturday 16th July.
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| Canford E Allotments Bristol May 2011 |
We have the allotment equivalent of the water cooler at Canford - the communal trough.We stand around comparing blackfly and sooty mould, muttering darkly about the lack of rain whilst filling up the watering cans, talking of the hot summer of 1976 and how this coming one, this time, could be another one of those. Anyone else would welcome the prospect of a long hot summer (especially anyone organising any of the events we will be at), but for the Canford gardeners who are not allowed to use hoses, it is a bad, bad thing. We do little rain dances and curse the inaccurate weather forecasts....However, summer is coming whether it rains or not. Bring it on
