22nd September 2021, Flowers, fixing and food…
Making sure that there is space for flowers on the allotment was a key design consideration right from the start. It is difficult when looking at a flat piece of grassy, weedy, uncared for land to imagine a space for beautiful flowers.
The raised bed however is not just about beautiful colours, fragrance, and looking at nature's amazing gifts. It is also an attempt to attract and help propagate insects that do the work of pollination. Watching the bees and other winged creatures making the most of what we have managed this year has been very rewarding. Looking forward to even more of this in the years to come.
Even vegetables produce amazing blooms. The aubergine flower really is exquisite but care is required as there are tiny needles on the stems, which can act like splinters and are difficult to see / remove.
You can begin to see now the construction of the raised bed and fixing of the polytunnel. Spurred on by the catastrophe earlier in the year, we know that more is needed to ensure the polytunnel survives winters. Hence now our attention turns to securing the frame and this is what we’re doing here, whilst providing a bit of growing space and the frame for other projects in this vicinity of the allotment.
Even at the end of September there are lots of plants still enjoying the warmth that remains in the sun, it is still up in the range of 20C+ so very pleasant and crops still coming for us to enjoy. Here the picture from the middle of the plot, a veritable forest of vegetation.
Whilst we tidy up and continue tending to jobs across the plot, a fire, and a BBQ with the sausages is cooking on our makeshift facility. As we have more time for this kind of activity we will improve and develop this into a more functional BBQ, as we do love outdoor food, and we have a nice terrace to sit and eat now.
