Murder, Murder! Someone Call the Allotment Police

It's a sad day for the allotment. I arrived today to find that our local slug population have decided to test our brassicas out. They've done a pretty good job of decimating the plants and we are suitably unimpressed. I'm thinking we need to get some protection around these in the vain hope that they'll come back.
I've loads of empty plastic bottles at home so I reckon we'll make some cloches from those to support them a bit. Also gonna be getting some cheapo lager in to create a slug trap for the pesky buggers.

the murder scene

My main bit of work this week was clearing the open bed at the very back of the plot to make a bit of a flower garden for my daughter. I threw the rule book out when it came to looking cool in order to clear this patch. In order to avoid getting nettle stings all over my hands, I invested in a pack of marigold washing up gloves and went to work. I wish I had a before picture for this part of the allotment but I didn't think to take one first. Here's the end result though:

You can see the rhubarb to the left. There's also some cornflowers at the very back. I bought a few random packs of flower seeds and sowed them all over the shop with some deliberately placed sunflower seeds towards the front. Now it's just a waiting game.

Our pal Michael has given us another gift today (the guy is a legend!). He was showing us round his plot and we got talking about his gooseberry bushes and how easy they are to grow on from cuttings. Then he offered us one as he's got loads. Not being ones to turn down freebies, we got the plant and took it back to our plot. I'm not expecting miracles out of it this year but it's gonna be doing us proud in next year. Here he is:

Also happening this week, we did a little tidy up in the greenhouse as the shelving was starting to lean forwards (a little too far for my liking) but it's amazing what a rolled up bit of newspaper can fix! The tomato plants are still coming along a treat. A couple of them are starting to curl up a wee bit and we're not 100% sure what the deal is. We're gonna keep them watered and hope that they sort themselves out. If anyone out there knows what the problem is, just drop us a message on the blog. 

And to finish, here are the other bits and bobs and how they're looking: