We now have shelter and shade!
Lots of people on the plot today: Willow and Amanda were joined by Claire, Karl, and Laura and their leader Justin from the ARC and some of the volunteers from the Friday group came along- such a lovely friendly bunch!
We did lots of watering first and the planting table was set up for those who wanted to look through the seed packets and find things to plant supervised by Julie and Wendy.
Looking at the seeds planted 3-4 weeks ago, the lettuce and chard has come on well and some big enough, with strong roots ready for planting.
Our cucumbers were looking a little under the weather, so Claire helped to give them a watering can of seaweed feed, we’re hoping they’ll recover by next week.
Marian (from our Friday group) helped Claire to clear and prepare a small sunny bed for a tray of chard plants. We chatted with Claire about the need to give them space, how they grow ‘tap roots’ (they look a bit like carrots!) and how gentle we need to be with the young plants. Claire worked really hard getting them all just right - well done Claire!
Steve had fitted some sturdy posts on one side of the decking and today he fitted a lovely ‘sail’, donated by Saffron Walden Mencap, between the posts and the new summerhouse, which gives us much needed shade over the whole area. It was so lovely to sit under it at lunch time, with everyone able to stay out of the sun for a while.
Willow enjoyed sitting amongst the dwarf beans carefully harvesting the ones large enough to eat - she knows exactly how to do this and we gave these to Marian who was going to have them with her dinner - she deserved a treat after helping us so much today!
Willow and Jacquie were planting lettuce in our raised veg bed while Karl helped Duncan in the neighbouring plot to spread mulch over one of his beds when the ‘lunchtime’ call came at mid-day. After birthday cakes and a ‘happy birthday’ song for Laura, apples from Duncan’s potted trees, and lots of Wendy’s tea and coffee, it was soon almost time to tidy up!
Harvests today were tomatoes and courgettes for ‘shop and cook’ at the Arc tomorrow and beetroot and courgettes with flowers for Café Cornell.
We welcome any Mencap member to join our ‘Dig-it’ club, why not come and see for yourself how we have fun learning so much about being real growers of food in the fresh air every Wednesday? Just speak to Steve, or any committee member, to find out how to arrange a taster session.
We hope you love our photos!
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