We're getting ready to head back out on the road again - kicking off at Portlethen Library on Monday 27th July. We'll be there from 10.30 to 12.30 and we'd love to hear how you're doing with your veg growing. We'll be bringing our usual tips and guidance and we also hope to have some extra free seeds for summer sowing to grow into winter.
Looking forward to seeing you all again!
Well, we have certainly had a bit of a challenge this summer. On the plus side Plot 9 has hardly needed watering at all thanks to the daily rain. I'm looking out of my window every day and hoping that there will be enough sunshine to bring my sweetcorn on. This rain can feel a bit depressing at times and you're probably finding that everything is growing a lot slower than you expected. I know I am!
This weekend at the plot I was looking around and realised that I could allow myself a treat. If you planted those free seed tatties from Aberdeenshire libraries and One Seed Forward they are probably quite big now. This is the time of year I lift one or two of my first earlies and give myself the treat of delicious little new tatties. These just need a little scrub and can go straight…
I'm just back from a great day at the North Scotland Garden Show in Turriff. I loved being able to spend the day chatting about allotments and seed banks. After a surprisingly full tent for my talk (who knew that many people would be interested in hearing me witter on about veg growing!) I spoke to lots of people who have used the new seed bank at Turriff Library. So many people have been enjoying trying new veg growing with the free seeds. There were some lovely stories about how much they are growing and what they plan to try next.
We also talked a lot about allotments and creative use of our outdoor spaces and the positive impact of this on our mental health and wellbeing. There were so many questions and I fear that there were many that there was not time to answer so I thought I…
I was thinking about the seed bank users and gardeners in the Oldmeldrum area yesterday when your weather hit the news. A couple of inches of hail fell in what looked like just a few minutes and I’m sure wreaked havoc on your veg patches. This year really has been a challenge to all veg growers - not just those starting out. I’ve been doing this for most of my life and this year it’s been incredibly challenging to keep seedlings going because the weather has been so unseasonal.
Don’t lose heart! We can still have good crops from our veg patches even if we have lost a few things. It’s not too late to restart peas and beans and you can put in more lettuces right through the year. If you’re worried about more weather damage you can pop some netting over things to offer some protection but do…
