Photos from week 27 of 2017.

11/07/2017 Theveggrowerpodcast

So here we are in week 27 of 2017 and another collection of photos from this last week.

Tidying and clearing the allotment shed.

One job I have been meaning to do for a while now is to empty and clear out my allotment shed. It was bad full of bits of junk and items I haven't used, all just thrown into the shed with no regard for access.

In-fact it was so bad that opening and closing the door was getting difficult. So Sunday morning while my breakfast was cooking I emptied the shed. I threw out anything I hadn't used in the last year and tried to put thing back in a tidied fashion. I achieved a tidied shed but it is still too small for me and my junk as you can see below.

After tidying the shed. — After trying to tidy my shed I realise its just too small or I have too much stuff.

Looking at this now I need to rethink my shed plan.

Observations.

At this time of year things are really growing and I can really see this in my allotment. As I stand and look across my plot and think about how much I enjoy being on my plot I am reminded just how lucky we are to have such wonderful green places in our little country.

I also find myself thinking that growing food in this little area that will feed my family, is such a good use of land. I discuss quiet often on the podcast about the benefits of growing your own food and how I feel it benefits everyone when we do it. I despair when I see empty parcels of land that aren't being used for anything productive.

My next photo is an observation I noticed on my grape-vine down the allotment. As you will see its starting to come into flower.

Grape vine starting to flower — Grape vine coming into flower

I am very pleased this is starting to flower as I was a little worried that the late frost had killed it off. however it has survived and is flowering. Is it too late for grapes, we shall see.

Weeding the raspberry bed.

This year I have been trying to keep my raspberry bed weed free. This has provided almost impossible to do and the weeds quickly grow back.

This bed had raspberry growing when I took the plot on. I had planned to keep the raspberry but after trying to dig out all the couch grass and bind weed I feel that these may have to be dug up and started again.

A bed full of raspberries and weds — Trying to clear the weeds from the raspberry bed

Drying herbs.

This weeks podcast had a feature about how I dry herbs. You can find that episode here. Over the weekend I decided it was high time that I started preserving more herbs so I would have a good supply throughout the year. So I have a few photos of the herbs drying.