Cheltenham & District Allotment Holders Association
So, that was summer then? What a strange month August proved to be, a real mish mash of unpredictable weather, that knocked over and knocked out. It tucked into everything above three feet, pushing over canes and cages and tumbling immature fruit. Not that the fruit issue worried me too much as pests have beenRead More
Mmmmmmm…so we waited for the rain and then it came, the perfect fillip for new plantings. The beans romped and everything puffed up and grew masses of leaves. The turn around was amazing, at the start of June, the message was that rainfall was at an all time low and then within days the newsRead More
May rolls away, a muddled month, disrupted by Bank holidays and frost. Gardening confidence stayed high and lively throughout though, whilst on a daily basis, we (growers) tripped in and out covering and protecting as the teatime news indicated another after dark crash of temperature. It was all very wearing, the tease of nature changingRead More
The sting was certainly in the tail of last month, my goodness there was some treachery, particularly around the middle of the month, when a watery sun offered thin disguise to a cruel wind, that cut through everything. Every other person drawn by the deception nursed a cold. The pollen was lively too, with HazelRead More
Tick, tick, tick, the seconds turn to minutes and another month is gone. Totally mad, Christmas seems so far behind us and the seeds that were my Christmas present sit on my desk and tease me. January was an acceptable mix of confusion, with the weather not wanting to work to a plan, so weRead More
Encouraged by the boisterous mix of weather across August, we stumble ragged in to September. The beans took a hammering battered and bruised by sun, wind and rain they somehow still managed to produce a crop, early spuds sulked, but do look as they are bulking up a bit and all sorts of pests cameRead More
And the craziness continues… What a frustrating season, with gardens and gardeners all out of step. In mid-April the consensus was that we were three weeks behind with our planting and before much could be planted there was still the preparatory stuff. Every hole filled with water, so many of us have only just putRead More
Well, August was a funny old month wasn’t it? The heatwave seemed long lost by the second week and it rained. The nights began to close in too and there has been a real feeling of autumn some days, with the temperature dropping close to single figures. There were berries everywhere you looked, with hedgerowsRead More
Wow, that was a hot one! The dry spell was punishing, indeed quite debilitating for a day or so and just for a moment gardeners stopped. We sold a lot of ice cream. Every splash of rain raised the humidity too, which has been great for the pests and diseases. Crops have continued to grow,Read More
April bounced along, in fact it flew once Easter had arrived. The late Easter was the starting pistol and we had the benefit of a few weeks of light evenings ahead of it to prepare. So many people use it as the start time for gardening, so there were many lined up for the chargeRead More