Surviving the storm!

It’s National Allotments Week! The timing of which, on the back of these summer storms is interesting…! We all know that gardening is a lot of hard work but that it is good for you mind, body and spirit. Not to mention the rewards. If you follow us on social media, you’ll see that our glut of courgettes have gone into a batch of special piccalilli – or Kimalilli as it’s known:

If you fancy giving it a go, here’s the recipe – yum!

You might remember a couple of years ago, we blogged about bean poles – which poles to use, how to put them up, binding with twool for fab foundations for growing a bumper crop. Well, here’s an update!

This is the second year and the fourth season that the bean poles have been up, together with the original twine.  They overwintered outside in the same position and are still holding strong, even with this year’s bumper crop and 50 mile an hour winds on the slopes of Dartmoor. That is some twine!

 

Taken Saturday morning after the storm

twool twine is not going anywhere – it’s a proud twine manufacturer sort of day!

The reason for creating a British wool twine was because other twines (made from imported jute) just rot in our Dartmoor based garden. Jute just cannot withstand the weather conditions but wool can. The plot will need a rest once this crop has come to an end and we’ll have to physically cut the twool from the poles. The twool will go onto the compost heap to rot down naturally and release its nitrogen into the compost. The bean poles will be stored for next year where they’ll be used on a different plot.

 

You can’t beat a good old row of runner beans on the allotment. To see that ours have withstood the stormy weather is fantastic. How have your allotment plots and gardens coped with the summer storms? Share your pictures with us on instagram or twitter @thisistwool 🙂 Here’s to National Allotments Week!