Monday, August 28, 2006

When the gardener is away the weeds will play...

....at mummies and daddies and produce millions of little weeedies.

Back Saturday from a week in Dorset, at Portisham, some nice looking allotments in Weymouth off Abbotsbury Road caught my eye, but I could not justify a visit when Lulworth Cove was calling. One village veg patch off the road up to Hardys Monument had a lovely raised bed, whole garden actually, with a drop down a beautiful stone wall to the stream that rushes down besides the street, fresh clean water on tap or rather bucket.

Back to my plots though. After driving home, sorting out the caravan, etc, I paid a brief visit on Saturday, weed seedlings by the ton, apparently we had heavy rain through the week we were away, the seedlings I had missed a couple of weeks ago are now mature plants in flower or early seed and the soil is warm and moist.

After girding my loins on Sunday I got stuck in, strimmed at home, along the main allotment track and round my plots. Mowed front and back lawns at home, then the main allotment track, four barrow loads into my hungry Daleks. (For any readers new to my blog, my house is a hundred yards from the entrance to my allotment site). Finished the boys toys bit by rough mowing the sides to the outside of the main gate and the carpark.

Weeded the bottom strawberry patch along plot seventeen, dug up two rows of Nicola second earlies, dead sticks for foliage, disappointing yield, both in quantity and size, but quite clean. Aslo sampled the carrots from my mini-raised bed, quite promising.

If Monday is dry I will continue with weeding and hoeing, plus get up the last two rows of Nicola, if it is wet the greenhouse desperately needs attention, bolted lettuce and a rampant squash have submerged the capsicums!

Looks like a week or two of steady weeding ahead. Quite annoying really as it was so clean, but that is the difference between continuous hot dry weather and rainy warm weather, germination happens in the later!

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