Tiny, Tiny Weeds

Another session where we were on our knees wading through weeds. Only this time it wasn’t taming a thick forest of strange plants, but rather picking out the small weeds starting to take root. Despite the fact we were denied the Rambo-esque ego trip that you get from single-handedly clearing an area of land for cultivation, it was a nice break from digging. However, our dear friend Wes decided he didn’t need a break. He spent this week digging up even deeper weeds from the newest bed. I suppose the moral of the story is that even if everything else is subjective, on an allotment digging is inevitable.

Our lovely weed-free rows

Working together

Wes working hard

A Productive Snow Day

Snow suffocated our vegetables like an over-affectionate grandmother, while the cold sought to penetrate our winter clothes and drive us back into the student accommodation from whence we came. However, since everyone was appropriately dressed and our student houses were about as warm an igloo in Siberia, the allotment was not cancelled. Much to everyone’s delight, the shed was cleaned and an inventory was recorded. Now we can finally fit our wheelbarrow in the shed and find the spades when we need them! We also found some interesting new tools which we hope to utilise when the weather is kinder. The vegetables in meantime will just have to hang in there. We are thankful the ground is better insulated than our student homes!

Snow, snow, snow!

There are some vegetables here...somewhere...

A still rather full but cleaner and tidier shed.

Re-Freshers' Week

After a holiday of drinking, eating too much, and generally avoiding strenuous activity, slogging away on the allotment on a cold Saturday afternoon was not the first thing that came to mind. Predictably, our band of vegetable volunteers was delicate from re-freshers week (otherwise known as New Year's!), and therefore striving for fresh air, socialization and sympathy. They would doubtlessly have got this if Matt was in charge, but this week there was new sheriff in town. Yes readers, with Matt absent the reigns of the allotment had fallen to me; a regime with no time for shirkers! In an hour a new bed was de-weeded and all personal friendly feelings towards me had disappeared. Everyone was unsurprisingly grateful that Matt’s authority would be restored next week…

Another bed cleared!

Our broad beans are coming on nicely.

From left to right: peas, garlic, broad beans.

We're Back!

Nature's Garden is back for more in 2013!

Join us this Saturday 12th January at 12 for more fun digging, delving, and getting dirty!

For those of you who want to learn how to grow your own herbs from, the next few weeks are for you. We'll be digging and preparing a new bed for our herb garden this week and hopefully planting at the end of January.

If organic, fresh herbs aren't your thing, we've got lots of other ways to get involved and even more fun to be had!