A quick wander down to the allotment this evening and its a little overwhelming how much we need to do down there. Despite hours weeding the other day the weeds seems to be coming back with vengeance, it’s almost as though we hadn’t been there for weeks, if not months. A worry when you are about to leave it for a couple of weeks!
Right, only half an hour, so some emergency watering – just enough to ensure that we have a thunderstorm and torrential rain, and then we have to go….
Okay, a ‘quick nip down the allotment’ is Never only half an hour and you can’t help but do other bits and bobs whilst there! Our hosepipe had sprung a bit of a leak and so hubby had to fix that first, so time for me to have a quick nosy about to see what was up….
Of course it is that time of year when the courgettes, if left to their own devices for more that a minute, turn into marrows; ours seem to have been having a race with the weeds to see which could grow fastest! We brought home over a dozen, but left more at the allotment, some for others to take and a few more to bring home tomorrow, oh and more beetroot!
From those courgettes and marrows which we brought home, we will use a few, but most have been given to friends. They are so prolific and yet it would be a shame to let them go to waste. Fortunately we bumped into a lady down there and we got talking about the amount of produce which might often go to waste at our allotment. No one wants this to happen, which is why we have a shelter where we put such produce, so others there can help themselves. Having said that, there are some things which are so productive (like courgettes) or which we all grow, that they wont be taken – so what to do? Well the idea has come up that there is an ‘all night cafe’ down the road, which provides food and a roof for the night for the homeless in the area, which might be able to make use of some fresh produce. The idea is we revamp the notice board down at the allotment and make this a suggestion for everyone there, but until then it’s going to be an outlet for all our extras.
The other thing I noticed was, for all the plants we put in to provide flowers, there are other which will also provide us with those little flashes of beauty…..
The self seeded wee pansy, the thyme in the herb border, the runner beans, they all provide their own little bit of beauty, sometimes you just have to stop to look around….
Oh, of course there are also the weird shaped fruit or veg!
