Anyone with an allotment?

P.s the poppy here had flowered when I arrived yesterday, petals dropped already today #blinkandmiss

1 Attachment

Wow! What type of poppy is that?

Not sure, they just turn up! Looks similar to the ‘pom pom’ types

Rats got all of these last year. Netted better this year, first pick today.

1 Attachment

This weekends work! Dug out a small bed at the far end as well so will get some late maris peers and some spinach in asap so I see something this autumn. It's all very exciting.

Currently lusting over the niwaki catalogue trying to avoid becoming an allotment #buyer ..

1 Attachment

niwaki

They stock some of their stuff at Deadstock in the NQ MCR, so nice. I aim to buy at some point.

The Opinel pruning saw is v.tempting too.

Was all a bit like this at the allotment this afternoon:

https://youtu.be/TE28JF9Rz10

Picked soft fruit, went home.

2 Attachments

Horseradish is going mad. Yum.

1 Attachment

put in lots of wild meadow and bee / butterfly friendly plants this spring and the garden is alive with buzzy things

defintely a good year for the poppies, got an ornamenta mix 5 or so years back and keep re seeding the ground, lovely, i also put a quite a few around the edges of hackney marshes early spring and am seeing those in flower now

gonna chuck out a jam jar of seeds this afternoon in various spots in my neighbourhood

ooops thought this was the gardening thread, sorry
just wanted to show off the poppies after the last page

Opinel pruning saw is shit. Buy a Silky Gomtaro 300mm and you’ll never look back. There’s a damn good reason that it’s the weapon of choice for wood butchers and gardeners :)

Good tip, ta!

On a similar note @edmundro what gloves would you recommend in the 'hardcore protecting your hands' department? I got a bad infection and cellulitis recently that I think was from the garden and whilst I'm in no mood to garden ATM I want proper protection for the future.

I wear Towa powergrab every day for work, they’re washable unlike most rubber palm work gloves but come in at £4-5/pair.
When it comes to serious thorns I wear my PMI rigging/steel cable handling gloves over the top.
They’re leather unfortunately but as a waste not want not vegan I couldn’t bring myself to pass them on when I gave up the swine. No idea what I’ll replace them with when they perish.
The main piece of advice I’d give is not wearing the same pair for a whole day and powdering your hands first.

If you have an Arco nearby they stock the widest range you’ll come across. In 12yrs of tree work I’ve settled on Towa but for high summer I use super thin rubber palm ones. I usually end up chucking them after a day or two which is wasteful but I can’t bring myself to wear dirty sweaty ones.

In wet weather I’ll put a dry pair on every few hours and try to wash/dry ready for the next day. There’s prob 30+ pairs in my works truck right now.

Despite my best efforts I still have skanky nails and battered knuckles but still in far better shape than the lads that go gloveless year round.

Oh and no rubber palm glove will ever protect you from pyracantha or berberis. Welders gauntlets will help but really you need a couple of layers at least. Or just don’t touch that shit and use a pitchfork to handle it.

Thanks for that. I'll give towa a go to start with and maybe look for some leather ones for the really thorny stuff.

Asparagus doing OK, only another 3 years to go

1 Attachment

first lettuces poking some shoots up. got a massive pile of wood in the garden to make raised beds with. it's a buzz isn't it!

We got a takeaway and ate it at the plot in the sunshine this eve, fresh Strawberries & Rasberries for pudding picked there & then too.

It's great!

I did a couple hours at mine this evening with the strimmer, the back half of our plot was getting out of control, I don't plan to tackle it until later but need to keep it under control at least!

Picking stuff

1 Attachment

Lovely

I'm pretty sure these weren't there last week!

1 Attachment

Loganberrys ‘foraged’ from the empty allotment next to ours :) they’re more delicious than raspberries- taste like fruit sweets!

1 Attachment

Picked this lot this evening, the first thing I've had off our plot that's not lettuce!

1 Attachment