Wimborne allotment

It was a very warm day but I managed to fit in a run all the same, taking me alongside the banks of the river Stour which runs past Wimborne. Just under 4 miles in beautiful countryside and a very sweaty start to a few hours at the allotment. I'd had to drive Maria to school as she'd had to pop in to see the Doctor and was going in late. That meant I was able to take along some sunflowers and lettuce in pots for planting out, something I'd have struggled with on the bike.

It didn't take much strimming, as the lack of rain this week seems to have stopped the rampant growth of recent weeks, and looks nice and tidy, especially after hand weeding and hoeing. The onions and garlic are almost ready for harvesting and then early potatoes won't be far behind. The photo shows some of the onions and they are a good size. The beans and greens and so on are doing well and I picked more broad beans and spinach, as well as getting the seedlings in and watered. 

I had several trips to the water pump and gave everything a bit of a soaking and also filled the upturned dustbin lid with water for the birds to use. Having made sure there was plenty to drink for everyone else, I took myself down the road to the Green Man for a pint and then back for the strawberries. There is a bumper crop and I got nearly a kilo with many, many more to come. Once home we had some fresh strawberries on their own and didn't they taste wonderful. It's a cliche but they taste so different from the chilled ones from the supermarket. 

Having a sheet of puff pastry, I did a strawberry tart and that was delicious too, though I say so myself. That gave me a boost before spending two hours at the latest village hall committee meeting. I hadn't been expecting it to have been quite so long.