Helpers!

Yesterday, nana and grandad accompanied us down to the plot. It was quite exciting, as it was the first time Si and I had had a full day down there together, so we were revelling in the lack of time pressure. Thanks to the time and extra helpers, we achieved a lot. Si and grandad put the first path down. It is very stable and makes the wheelbarrow-ing go a lot more smoothly, with less chance of injury (although with me and tools, there will always be a reasonable risk, I'm sort of a Daddy's Girl in that sense). 

Grandad and I planted the dahlias and another plant, the name of which currently escapes me but is quite like a large colourful daisy. The new flowers look gorgeous and really brighten up the plot. 

After Si had finished digging out the rest of the trenches, we also put the maincrop of potatoes in. I sprayed our early potatoes with Dithane, as the allotment site has previously had a lot of trouble with potato blight, so we are hoping this will fight it. (Please note I was in charge of a serious chemical and everyone is currently alive and well).  I find potatoes and other tubers quite worrisome, as you can't always tell how they are doing until they come out of the ground. It's very much a surprise. Hopefully, from the healthy and bushy-looking leaves, it will be a nice surprise. 

Nana and Grandad also erected a netting contraption over the front of the greenhouse. This small stroke of genius means we can leave the doors open and keep flies out. When the weather has settled down, we can leave it open overnight so they can breathe more easily, as it does get ridiculously hot in there! We were also given 3 more tomato plants, which are looking good as we are a bit more clued up on what to do with them now. Our original 2 (which you may remember were subjected to a lot of love, worry and attention in their early days) are surviving on luck and quite a lot of tomato food...

The boys also got stuck into the wilderness that is the second half of our plot. Don had already given them a head start, with the strimmer, but it's still quite a challenging area. However, quite a lot of progress was made, so it shouldn't be too long before we get some fruit in. 

We had another quick visit to do some watering and general pottering today, and managed to harvest a cucumber! It is the most delicious and cucumbery-tasting cucumber I have ever had, and we put it into a completely home-grown salad for tea. Hooray for cucumbers!

We had a small set-back recently during the winds, as our small cloche which protected the lettuces was blown away and destroyed. We are currently in disagreement as I want another, but Si says the lettuces don't need it. I'm not at all happy about them being exposed, but we have agreed to look into other cloching options to try and come up with a compromise. I suspect Si may be right, and that this is only my innate desire to protect things, but I can't let it go. In fact, a new garden centre has opened near Wigan, and a visit may solve this very problem. (Except it is apparently not a garden centre, but a "gardening, home and leisure destination", according to the brochure. I haven't told Si yet, as he is likely to refuse to go on the basis of that pretension).

That's all for now from the Green Team!