Bank holiday boom part 3

We managed another few hours at the allotments again and this afternoon was a scorcher! Still quite gusty but a lovely warm wind and sunny enough to get a bit of colour.

Neil’s main task was to continue building the cold frame. After a visit to screwfix for some hardware and a full charge of the power saw he was able to start putting together the frame he built yesterday and cut the Perspex pieces. He didn’t quite finish putting the Perspex in and he wants to design someway of keeping the top propped open but it looks great! I think he is planning on a coat of woodstain once it is all constructed.

I pulled up the brassicas from under the netted tunnels. Most had gone to seed bar one little cavolo nero plant which I left in as we can probably get another crop or two from it before it’s done. Was a bit sad that it was the end of the sprouting broccoli as we have had bumper crops compared to previous years and it has been so tasty. We had the last of it with our roast this evening. I think the netting creates a good environment for weeds as I had to pull loads of them out and lots of grass seeds had sprouted from the manure that had been around them so it was a good couple of buckets of weeds to remove.

I think I had the clearing bug then as I cleared out the strawberry bed on plot 97. It was the last bit of plot 97 to need any work doing so it was satisfying to finish that job. We had such a good year with the strawberry bed on plot 118 last summer and we have extended that with the runners we grew, so another bed of inferior cropping plants was unnecessary. So they were all dug up ready to make space for another crop. I kept a handful to one side and planted them up in a container as mum might like to try some for her garden.

The digging up of the strawberries brought the robin back for grubs and there were other signs of wildlife enjoying the sun.

I finished off with some weeding on plot 118, which is finished aside from the area where we have some green manures that need digging in. Hopefully the weeds won’t all be back by next weekend!