Everything's coming up potatoes!

A busy day today, as we had 2 groups from New College Nottingham along to help us.

The NCN Land Team

A member of the NCN artist's team

The NCN land group got to work helping us to clear the compost store into builder's bags to make room for our new fire pit, and also made a great start on fighting the mare's tail that is growing up through the paths. They also harvested the first potato crop! Of course, this was too good an opportunity to miss, so we immediately prepared the spuds, cooked them and ate them with a little butter or cheese for lunch.

We dig and dig and dig!

Some of out finest potatoes!

Mare's tail: here today, gone tomorrow!

This means that we managed to have a lunch with very few food miles, since the cheese and the butter were local too. We're keen to help people think about food miles, as part of our remit to help make the allotment into a showcase for sustainable growing. We are also very keen to enjoy food at its best, and these potatoes certainly were really tasty - in fact NCN folk said they were "Awesome!"

Whilst the NCN gardeners were doing their bit, we also had some of the NCN painting team back to keep working on the decoration of the raised beds. These are close to being finished now, and look amazing. One more session is planned in the first week of July and then we are hopeful they will be ready for a grand unveiling.

Of course our usual team were also busy, Helen and Alison worked in the polytunnel to weed the beds and tie up the tomatoes which are beginning to grow like crazy. Ellis was also on hand and got busy with some late seed sowing and plant care. It's a good time to plant florence fennel seeds, as the soil and weather are hopefully warm enough to let them grow without running to seed.

Helen and Alison weeding away

Helen poses with one of the NCN ladies!

The allotment is really starting to look great, with all the poppies and other flowers in the meadow and crops growing happily in most of the beds. Thank you to all for your hard work. It's really appreciated!