Summer 2021 -Week 3 , 26th May 2021

What a busy day we have had at the allotment! We began our day by clearing back some of the weeds in our orchard area. We spotted lots of fruit growing including plums and apples. Joseph helped to put a stake into the ground which was used to support one of our plum trees. This is our first year of growing plums successfully so as you can imagine we are very excited!

We have started the process of moving all of our flowers and plants from our greenhouse to the poly tunnel to make room for all of our tomato plants. They are growing very big and we are looking forward to sampling them. There is nothing quite as delicious as homegrown tomatoes. We did find a little visitor in our greenhouse who was happily hopping about as we worked. A huge frog! Unfortunately we had to relocate him to a safer area whilst we worked. He didn't mind and went hopping off to the pond. 

After a drink and a snack it was time to finish moving the old compost bins to our brand new ones. The children (and staff) worked tirelessly to move wheelbarrows full of compost and weeds. The area was then raked flat and is now ready for all of our new beds to go in. How exciting! 

Around the allotment the children separated off into small groups. Some chose to help weed the beds while others transported old plants to our compost bins. Some children chose to help carry our pots to their new home at the side of the greenhouse and others chilled happily in the shaded area of our fire pit chatting to their friends. 

We stopped continuously for drinks and snacks throughout the day and checked our list of jobs, marking them off as we went. The children were amazed by our huge strawberries which we hope will be ready to eat next week. To protect them we built cages and covered them in nets. 

The children all worked really hard and soon time had arrived for our tired and muddy faces to head back to nursery for a well earned rest.

Summer 2021 -Week 2, 19th May 2021

This week involved watering, watering and even more watering! It was a hot sunny day, and the plants were growing everywhere! Before we started anything else we got the watering cans out to give the thirsty seedlings a refreshing drink. We were ready to plant some of the vegetables we had grown back at nursery but before we could do that, we needed to prepare the beds as they were a little overgrown due to all the rain that we have had. We talked about the different tools that we could use to dig in the beds and which tools would be best for the job. The children decided that small spades and gardening forks would work the best. The children chose a tool each and made their way safely to the big vegetable bed. Before we began digging, we talked about how to use a spade or fork to turn over the soil. The adult then role modelled this for the group and the children then set to work. Max used his foot to push his spade deep into the soil and then showed Oscar his technique. Oscar then copied this and was very proud of himself. Before we knew it the weeds were gone and the soil was lovely and fresh again ready for our sweetcorn to be planted. 

We are looking forward to tasting our sweetcorn very soon. Our potatoes and onion beds are looking very healthy and we are looking forward to all the dishes we can make using these ingredients. We wonder what changes we will see next week on our allotment.

Summer 2021 - Week 1, 12th May 2021

The children were very excited to return to the allotment and wondered what it might look like. The children could not contain their excitement as they waited for the minibus, and the bus ride was just as exciting as Auryn was sure he could see all the way to London from the window and wondered if that's where the allotment was?

As we opened the gates to the allotment the children gasped and were keen to begin looking around. The adults showed the children the different areas of the allotment and explained what they are used for.  The group were excited by the pond and spotted some tiny tadpoles moving around in the water.

There were lots of jobs to do at the allotment, so we chose to either pull out the weeds from the vegetable beds or help to repot the plants from the greenhouse and poly tunnel.  Digging in the soil was very popular and before we knew it the bed was clear of weeds and the compost bins were full.

The poly tunnel was bursting with flowers and vegetable plants ready for our plant sale at nursery. The plants had grown so well and were ready for bigger pots.  Daphne gathered lots of bigger pots from the greenhouse and began repotting our flowers. She worked hard to ensure all the plants were re-potted ready for our plant sale. Each pot was carefully filled with compost before the plants were carefully tucked into their new home. A little watering later meant they would grow big and strong in their new pots ready for next week. As we re-potted, weeded, and watered, we spotted many different minibeasts. The worms were a favourite with the children trying to find the biggest worms.