Wednesday 21 December 2016

Christmas at Dig In

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all volunteers and supporters of Dig In!

We've had a fab year - thanks to all of the volunteers for their hard work.  Its been great to welcome new volunteers and to see all of our regulars too.

We're going to be taking a couple of days off over the holiday period, so we'll be closed on Saturday 24th Dec and Wednesday 28th Dec.  Open as usual on New Year's eve, Sat 31st Dec.

May all your sprouts be perfectly cooked :o)

Sunday 30 October 2016

Pretty as a Picture

Just a few pics from Saturday.  We don't often see grasshoppers at this time of year but this one was enjoying the mild, if drizzly at times, weather.


Also a couple of nasturtium shots with the morning's dew still on the leaves.



Autumn Harvest 2016

A big THANK YOU to all visitors who came to our Harvest Event on Saturday afternoon.
We thought we were going to have a dry & sunny day at one point, but then we should have known there'd be a rain shower or two, there usually is when we have an event.  No fear though, we have tents, gazebos, a polytunnel & other places to shelter so nothing stops us enjoying ourselves.  We hope all our visitors had a good time and don't forget, if you fancy joining in with our allotment group you can come along any Weds or Sat, 10-12.  Just ring the bell on the gate or drop us an email to enquiries@diginstapleford.org.uk
Here are a few pics from the event.


Flowers
More Flowers
Bee
Hearts
Apple pressing

Apple pancakes - yum!

Pumpkin Carving

Jar decorating

Willow craft

Thursday 6 October 2016

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Autumn work

When's the quiet time of year? Not now for sure! We're busy clearing away the summer veg and planting overwintering lettuces, chard, and chicory, sowing seeds of black radish, green mustard, etc., and harvesting potatoes!










Sunday 2 October 2016

Saturday's Produce

Just a couple of pics of the produce that we picked at DigIn on Saturday.

Basil, apples, green tomatoes, vine cuttings, sweetcorn


Saturday 17 September 2016

Pond-dip, Bug Hunt and Cook & Eat

Take a tray of just-picked veg... a lot of friendly volunteers and a lot of enthusiastic children... some pond-dipping, a newt and some bug-hunting, and there you have a lovely meal!
(NB We didn't eat the newt!)









Sunday 4 September 2016

Sunday catch up

Everything is growing so quickly at the moment, we have lots of French beans (haricot verts as our French volunteer would have it) and runner beans.  It seems as soon as we've finished picking some there are more ready, not that we're complaining, there's nothing quite like picking veg & then cooking & eating it soon after, so fresh and virtually zero food miles!

We've had a good crop of onions too.



The pumpkins, after a slow start, have really caught up.  We were hoping to time it right so that we'd have pumpkins for carving at our Harvest Day coming up on Sat 22nd October, but a couple of them look ready now with 7 weeks to go!


The (ahem, award winning) vine cuttings that we took in January are looking very healthy.  They've been nurtured in the polytunnel and have put on a lot of growth.  Check out the picture taken in May and one taken today to see the difference!


Saturday 20 August 2016

SDGHA Show 2016

It was the Stapleford & District Garden Holders Show on Sat 20th Aug.  After last year's success, DigIn decided to enter again this year.  We entered onions, a cucumber, Borlotti beans and a bunch of grapes.  The onions weren't placed, but we got a 3rd place for the cucumber, 1st place for the Borlotti beans (in the "any other vegetable" category) and a first place for the grapes.  In addition to that, the grapes were awarded the Webro cup and £10 for the "best fruit in show".  A very good result for DigIn, especially considering the high quality of the other entrants.  Well done to all of our volunteers!




Webro cup

Thursday 11 August 2016

Wednesday session

A busy day at the allotment on Wednesday, lots of volunteers helping with all the tasks that need doing this time of year.  We were thanked by way of onions and cucumbers from the allotment and probably the last of the summer raspberries - yum!

Two visitors from the Tesco Toton Community team came to donate a new waterbutt and some drinks & biscuits!  How did they know?!  Thankyou for your kind donations, I'm sure the volunteers will appreciate them!

Tesco Toton Community team & donations

Cucumber plants with abundance of cucs

Just some of the Wednesday volunteers
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Sunday 7 August 2016

Sunday catch-up

A few pics from our lovely Community Allotment.  Hope you enjoy them!

Red tailed bumblebee
Barbut's Cuckoo bumblebee?
Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Lavender and bumblebee
Fennel
More lavender

Ladybird assists with aphids
Pumpkins ...
Close-up