Volunteer Treat

The hard working volunteers were today treated to a Cook and Eat, skilfully prepared by Jill D and Mary.
We had a spicy vegetable stew, with ingredients being freshly picked from the allotment - carrots, runner beans, onions, garlic, courgette to name but a few, together with a fresh salad from lettuce and cucumbers grown in the polytunnel.  For dessert, blueberries were freshly picked from the plants outside, plus some more pastry treats from Dan (thankyou!).
It all went down very well and we had a good number of volunteers to polish the lot off.  Karen thanked the volunteers for their dedication this growing season and I'd like to take this opportunity on behalf of the vols to thank Karen for all of her help too and for putting up with us!
Many thanks to Jill and Mary for preparing such a tasty feast, it was enjoyed by all.

One of these cucumbers sacrificed for lunch ...

Dan with a duck-shaped patty pan squash - quackers!

SDGHA Show

It was the Stapleford & District Garden Holders Association (SDGHA) show today.  DigIn entered some produce into some of the show categories, namely longest Runner Bean, Most Unusual Shaped vegetable, Grapes, Runner Beans and Vegetable Marrow.

The most unusual shaped vegetable entered was a potato dug by Emma and Izzy which looked a bit like a seal.  The long runner bean was over 39cm when measured on the Weds before (forgot to measure it on the day!), the vegetable marrow was a yellow one that was spotted on the morning of the show, along with a selection of runner beans and bunch of grapes.

Once all  the entries had been displayed in the hall, the door was locked for the judging to take place.  After what seemed like an age, the doors were opened again and all could enter the hall to see the results of judging.
We were absolutely thrilled to find that DigIn had been placed 1st for Grapes, 1st for Vegetable Marrow and 1st for Most Unusual shaped vegetable.  Not bad going!

Here are some pics of the entries.

Grapes, 

Marrow, 

Seal spud

Longest Runner, DigIns is bottom row, 2nd from right

Runner Beans

Proof!

Well done and thank you to all volunteers who have helped to grow award winning fruit and veg on the DigIn Community Allotment.

Sunny Wednesday

A lovely sunny Wednesday session today, had a hint of autumn to the air.  The early(ish) sun inspired a couple of pictures of the pond and surrounding area.  Twelve volunteers enjoyed a good morning gardening and sharing in the produce.  Thanks to Dan for spoiling us all with some Italian pastry treats at tea break.

Pond

I loved the way the sun shone through the Mirabelle tree ...

Mirabelle

The little critter below is, we think, some sort of shield bug with very long antennae.

Shield bug

Polytunnel

Here are a few pics taken in the polytunnel on Sunday.  It was a quiet day at the allotment for a change but still lots of jobs were done.  The plants are looking really good in there at the moment, and its the first time we've grown aubergines with this degree of success.  The fruits actually look like aubergines!

Aubergine

Cucumbers

Courgettes

Tomatoes ...

... just starting to ripen ...

.. hurry up, or its green tomato chutney!

Archive beeshed photos

Here are a couple of pics from the archives of the bee area at DigIn.
It was a very muddy area, not good for growing anything, so ideal for bees!

Transformed into a bee area, complete with the two colonies of bees.  Hard to believe a muddy swamp could turn into such a brilliant place.  All thanks to the hard work of DigIn volunteers of course!

Flower of the Day

We have lots and lots of nasturtiums at DigIn at the moment.  They're covered in bumblebees and planted close to the runner beans so that the bees will pollinate those for us as well.  They're also providing a good meal for the caterpillars.  Hopefully they'll fill up on the nasturtiums and leave our cabbages alone!

Holly Blue ?

This blue butterfly was a constant companion while we set seeds in the raised beds yesterday.  It was tricky to get a good pic, but I think its a Holly Blue.

August At Dig In

Here's a little tour of Dig In Community Allotment after a busy volunteer session.

Needs no caption!

Cabbage Corner

Nasturtium take-over

Sensory Garden - recently re-vamped

Teasel and friend

Purple Haze

Raised beds & horseradish

Wish you could see all the tadpoles!

Polytunnel in the rain

A shower of rain neatly coincided with lunch, so into the polytunnel and looking around as I munched I thought how good everything is looking at the moment. Here's a few photos to show you. All that potential!

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Here's a pic of a cinnabar moth caterpillar on some ragwort at DigIn.  Hard to believe that it will turn into a red and black moth.  Equally stunning in both stages of its life.