Summer Colour

It's not all about the vegetables down at Lotti. Flowers have brought a burst of summer colour. I'm going to let them speak for themselves in this picture post. What flowers are you growing on your plot? What have you found goes well with the veg? Leave us a comment and let us know.

The good, the bad & the ugly

 The good news is that after the snow comes the thaw. Snow can be great fun but there's a limit to how much can get done on the allotment.
There will be a period when Lotti is a bit soggy but we should be clear of snow and ice for Hillside Harvest's first open day on 16th February. The day is free and includes workshops, hot lunch and opportunities for volunteers to get stuck in. Considering the amount of planning it would be a shame if these couldn't go ahead because of snow.

The bad news is that the polytunnel got squished by the weight of snow. Our polytunnel is really useful for extending the growing season and allowing us to grow things that might suffer outside. Losing it would be a big blow, particularly as we don't have a  greenhouse. 

Today a rescue was underway. First the snow was pulled off with the flat side of a rake, taking care not to puncture the polythene membrane. Once we could get inside we discovered things were not as bad as it had first looked. The flexible plastic tubes, that form the arches over which the membrane is pulled, had not broken as feared.

 Some of the wooden supports had. makeshift wooden supports were fashioned from spare wood and put in place to prop up the tubes. Further repair will be needed, along with permanent central supports, but the polytunnel lives to last another season.
 












And finally an ugly truth. These are, or were, allotment sites. Now they are an overgrown wilderness. Wilderness has its place but it is a shame that this has been alllowed to happen at a time when waiting lists for allotments are on the increase. The Rivelin Valley could see a vibrant allotment community but too many sites look like these. The silver lining to this particular cloud is that community allotments like Hillside Harvest do exist. So if you're on the waiting list come and join us. This weekend we found out once again that we can achieve a lot more working together than we can separately.

Winter weather

Weather affects what we can grow and the work we can be doing in our gardens and allotments. Here in Sheffield, as with most of the UK, it has been snowing. Perhaps more pertinently there have been sub-zero temperatures, freezing the soil and limiting the work that could be carried out. As a result our open day for January was cancelled.

Before the weather turned really cold I did make it down to Lotti where more preparation was underway. I have previously promised more on crop rotation and i will get around to it. I'm waiting for our open days on 16th February & 16th March, where there will be free workshops on composting and plot planning to take advantage of. I've already mentioned that we've been preparing our raised beds for this season's planting. As well as clearing the beds we've been topping them with manure  - where we can get it - and well rotted compost for the brassicas.

I admit this may not be the most exciting of photographs but it does demonstrate the culmination of some very hard work. It will be all the more satisfying when we come back to it later in the year to harvest the veg. Fingers crossed the weather permits better growing conditions than last year.

In addition to the work on Lotti, Hillside Harvest is working with Sheffield Council to improve access to the allotments. Personally I walk down and if you've seen my earlier blog on Rivelin Valley you'll understand why. For others who live further away, or with equipment to carry, a car is really useful. Parking on Hagg Hill is not ideal so we're working on a path to link the lower allotments to a car park off Rivelin Valley Road. There is a path through Reaps Wood but some work remains to connect the path to the allotments. There is a small brook to be crossed and some undergrowth to be cleared. We are hoping that we'll have volunteers to help on our next open day and possibly a sleeper or two for a small bridge and steps up the bank of the brook. If all goes according to plan there'll be a more pleasant and safe route through the woods for all the allotment holders toward the bottom of Hagg Hill. I'll be reporting on progress as it happens.

Back on the allotment we were also moving fruit trees. Hillside Harvest has had to scale back operations and has handed back a couple of plots to the council. Recently some fruit trees were replanted on our main site. I think they'll make an attractive addition to the site entrance and hopefully be bearing fruit for many years to come.