Lettuce Be

When is a weed not a weed? When it’s a flower

It’s been a month since we were last at the Cherry Orchard Allotments on Stoke Rd and what a difference a month can make! Especially when we’ve had such temperamental weather over the past few weeks.

On arrival we went to have a look at the plot to see what we could do and straight away the 3rd bed in took our attention. The weeds were huge! But when has that ever herbed our enthusiasm?

With a 9 strong red army of volunteers tonight we knew we could tackle the thistle in no thyme at all.

Happy Appy

But it was very handy having the plant app on Jen and Peter's phones as we could clearly see the weeds which looked like weeds but what were the ones that looked like weeds yet were not?!

The app told us they were:-

• prickly lettuce;

• Beetroot;

• Mustard;

• Joseph’s coat also known as Chinese spinach

Phew! At least we now knew what was what rather than leaving it to trowel and error

I took charge of the wheelbarrow today and lucky I had a license to ‘drive’ that! (I had recently parsley the test!)…. With plenty of journeys back and forth, I was too whimpish to offload the weeds using my hands so I used two tools from the shed… but shhhh don’t tell anyone that (lettuce keep that secret)!

Within 40 odd minutes we had removed all the weeds from two beds. Good job everyone.

Next week we will be at St Paul’s church on Stoke Rd helping to tidy up their outdoor space. Our meet up point is Masaani on Shaggy Calf Lane (towards Wexham Rd).