Beating Back the Weeds

After a really busy week at work without a moment to stop, I finally made it down to the allotment for more than a quick visit. The weeds were beginning to dominate several of the beds and I have an ongoing battle with the weeds that insist on growing over the paths. With the feathery army fed and watered, I made a start on weeding along the path.

Armed with a bucket, I worked my way down the edge of the plot. There is something quite pleasing about seeing how much better it looked. By the time I reached the end of the plot, I was on a roll. I turned the corner and carried on. The path at the back of the coop was massively overgrown with weeds. I loathe these particular weeds. They insist on growing up the wire, twisting itself so tightly that it’s impossible to get rid of them. As if that wasn’t enough, the grass also decided to grow through the green netting we put up for Flockdown.

It took multiple attempts to get the worst of it out, but I persevered. Several buckets of weeds later, the whole back of the coop was weed free. I also weeded along the side of the Community Garden. Pleased with my progress, I headed up to the shed and chose a bed to start weeding. Borage is a lovely plant but it gets everywhere! I pulled up tons of it and I know there will be more appearing tomorrow! It’s also a little prickly which isn’t a problem if you have remembered to wear gloves. Note to self: wear gloves.

Before I left, I headed across to Geoff’s plot to see how our potatoes are doing. I don’t think they are far off being ready which is very exciting! I spotted that two of our overwintered garlic’s were ready for harvesting. Usually when I grow garlic, it’s a complete disaster. On the rare occasion I have managed to persuade the plant that life is worth living, it has stubbornly refused to grow any larger than the clove it grew from. Imagine my delight when I pulled two of the plants and discovered they were massive! Without doubt, it’s an absolute fluke and will never happen again. But for one glorious moment, I felt like an accomplished allotmenteer! 

So the plan for the next couple of days is to confirm the arrangements for Tommy and Gordon. Gordon will be moving home and will have a special sleeping spot with a blackout cover to ensure he doesn’t aggravate the neighbours. We will keep him inside overnight and only put him back with the girls after 8am. This should minimise the crowing although, as a friend pointed out, our street is always loud, so hopefully no one will notice the addition of a small cockerel crow to the unending cacophony!