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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…

This weather really has been something and Plot 9 has taken a beating. My poor little seedlings have really been bashed by some of these downpours and they’re looking a bit worse for wear. They are mostly big enough to recover so I’m going to hold my nerve and hope for the best. You can offer your seedlings some protection if you feel they are struggling. Netting can be good for this but be careful that it is letting the water through rather than creating a heavy build up of water above your delicate little plants.

I had to take extra steps on my balcony this week to make sure the potted plants weren’t getting waterlogged. Some of my pots were sitting on flat surfaces and that isn‘t usually a problem but this week they looked like they were sitting in puddles. To help with drainage you can pop your…

It's been great being out and about meeting people who have been using the new library seed banks. So many of you dropping by for more seeds and to let us know how you're getting on. It really is so fantastic hearing about all the things you've been growing and we're glad we've been able to help out with extra tips and guidance along the way.

One of the most frequent comments has been from folk saying how rewarding it's been having a bonding experience over growing veg with the younger and older family members. It seems that access to free seeds has allowed generations to really come together with purposeful outdoor time. I had a wonderful conversation with a woman who said that she had been growing veg with her father. He suffers from dementia and she said that he always had a wonderful veg plot but had stopped…

We had a wonderful time out at Macduff and Oldmeldrum on May 19th. Huge thanks to everyone who came along and said hello. We met so many brilliant veg growers and even picked up a few tips ourselves. We had conversations about everything from carrots to compost and all things fruit and veg.

It was so good to hear how your veg patches are making a positive impact on your mental and physical health

even in this very cold spring! Lots of you said how it was great to have this extra reason to get outside. Our next drop-in session is at Inverurie Library on May 27th.

Hope to see you there!

On Tuesday May 19th we have the first of our library drop-in sessions and we’ll be at Macduff in the morning and Oldmeldrum in the afternoon. We’re bringing extra free seeds and lots of tips and guidance for anyone growing fruit and veg at home. If you’ve been getting your library seeds on the go and are looking for some chat about how things are going - this is definitely the place to go.

See you there!

We‘re just sorting the final details for the first of our library drop-in sessions. 5 libraries around Aberdeenshire will have drop-in sessions where you can come along and ask us questions about your veg growing and tell us how your seeds are coming along. Watch our facebook page for dates and more information and we‘ll be coming out to Macduff, Oldmeldrum, Inverurie, Portlethen, and Fraserburgh.

We‘ll be bringing extra seeds and lots of tips for growing food for the table for spaces of all sizes.

See you there!

The weather has been amazing and I managed to get my pea seeds in the ground this week. I’m a very lazy grower so I just scatter them in a shallow trench and cover them up with soil. I do put some netting over them because the birds and mousies love a pea. I also grow more than I need.

One for the mousie

One for the crow

One to rot

And one to grow

That seems to be about right. I’m growing Sabrina peas (the same variety as in the Aberdeenshire Libraries Seed Banks) so you can see how I get on.