Rory - isnt he great!

Here's Rory, the allotment mascot. He likes coming along to to the allotment and being with people! He is good at digging holes and likes to have a good root around the compost heap.

Respect! Us old blokes are cool...

Me and Bob (H) were gently grafting away and he was telling me about his recent ills...gradual loss of sight due to cataracts, and the huge impact that had on him...(they've been removed now, or at least one has, so he's got some sight back), and we were talking about how dry the ground was and that we needed rain. I said "Not for the festival that I'm off to in a couple of weeks...". Bob replied "Would that be Glastonbury? I went to the very first one, and the Isle of Wight as well, and saw Jimi Hendrix".

How cool is that!

Briefly, he told me what he could remember from 41 years ago. He drank in the bar at Glastonbury with Roger Daltrey, and remembers Jimi Hendrix as an unknown in those days.

Bob used to keep his own allotments but had to give them up when they were developed into housing estates (tut...). He says he's really enjoying the opportunity of getting back to the land now on the community allotment. He seems to know everybody, and went to school with the guy who keeps the allotment on the other side of the track.

Here's Bob, true Glastonbury veteran, (respect!), watering one of the sunflowers that he had planted the previous day:

Just a bit of sort of arty stuff....

This is it, that's all it is:

Fence posts

I was about to put up fence posts to support the trellis at the front of the allotment so we can get some height and have climbing courgettes or something like that, and one of the Age Concern Trustees called in with two bags of muck for us, squeezed into the back of her Mazda sports car. The car was a bit smelly in the heat, she said.

Then Bob (not Christian, but Bob House) came along to do some watering (it's still very dry), and I roped him into helping me put up the posts. They are not quite straight, but I tried....here's a pic:

This weeks update..8th June 2011

Good turn out this Wednesday, further work was done by a good handful of volunteers, including Rory the dog, who is great fun. Am awaiting pics.

The new NEA Report

Defra's National Ecosystems Assessment has been establishing the benefits of living in or near the natural environment.

A good summary of the report can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/02/uk-ecosystem-assessment-warning

25th May - Bob's take on it...

A splendid day on the plot with seven of us toiling away. John and Peter did a first rate job levelling and filling the latest raised bed. Others watered, planted, weeded. The improvements on the allotment have to be compared with what it was like before we started to be able to see what we have achieved. We now have some cabbage and brussels sprouts planted. Pat has given them a good soaking and they should grow. Maggie cleaned the raspberries and strawberries and despite the drought and that they are new plants, found the first strawberry. We are hoping to get lots of runners as new plants as they are very popular on the plant stall.