At last sunshine and good weather. For the first time this year the allotment is full of allotmenteers (and their children). It is such a good sign to see these children growing up getting used to the idea of producing their own food. Their parents are much better than I was at involving their children.Our bee keeper is here tending to the bees. He tells me they are not pleased to see him after a short time away, not being used to him. The bees have had a bit of a rough time with the temperatures shooting up and down. Hopefully they have coped with the aid of all the blossom around them.

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The children get a honeycomb to 

eat 

After all the rain everything looks beautifully green and we are all keen to get more plants into the soil.

On my plot the salads and brassicas seem to have stopped growing, although broad beans look the best ever and asparagus continues to produce.
                                                 

                                                lunch




planning meeting on site                                                                                             


                                                 


Our neighbours are upset because we have had a large pile of compost delivered , and it does smell a bit, although there is disagreement among plot holders as to how much and how much a problem it is. I suspect that it will disappear quite quickly, but this is unlikely to appease the more discerning inhabitants in the surrounding houses.

                                                                    

No-one could escape the irony of a drought with so much rain. The allotment soil is sodden and impossible to work with. The sweet peas have suffered quite a set back with the cold weather, but the rest of the plants seem to be coping with  the weather and some are flourishing. The fruit trees are galloping away and the lettuce, and broad beans are growing fast.

Planting the broad beans in
January has worked well,
 I don't think I have lost
any and they are flowering
well.

I am keeping an eye open for black fly before I nip the tops off. Strawberries now flowering well. I have them both in the allotment and in a strawberry tower in the garden. Not sure this tower will be the way to go for the long term.

I have hung up a plum moth trap in the plum trees, last year about a quarter of the fruit were spoiled by this pest., so look forward to a completely free crop this year.

Some pictures from the garden for April May

through the kitchen window

Clematis Montana and a self seeded biennial whose name I forget

Clematis Pink Champagne (a bit tattered by the rain)