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• Post #4377379

  I was thinking last year for this year of getting into growing more dwarf or micro dwarf tomato varieties and then held off as I was gifted large fruiting indeterminate varieties to try. Regretted not going ahead with that plan as it's felt a long wait for my bigger varieties to produce (especially with the difficult weather stressing greenhouse plants). Wondered if others here in N Europe have thoughts or experience on using dwarf varieties for early(er) harvests? #allotment #growyourown

• Post #4231954

  I'm finally bringing home decent amounts of green beans (or purple and yellow) thanks to the weather cooling off a little. Traditional runner beans are still setting next to nothing. Total I've picked ~20 cherry tomatoes from my tumbling plants. Greenhouse tomato plants that were struggling to set now have teenie fruits which is a relief. Bonus red dahlia flowers pic. The bumblebees have been living on the dahlias, lavender and sunflowers through the heat. #allotment #growyouro...

• Post #4231953

  Buffalo mozzarella with nice bread and home grown basil and tomatoes for lunch. Small joys #growyourown

• Post #4231952

  Today's posy #allotment #bloomscrolling

• Post #4231951

  I'm putting together a July blog post round up of allotment stuff but got distracted with a very large Mr Whippy ice cream. At that size it's one and done for the year 😅

• Post #4231950

  New blog post: July allotment update I've included lots of photos this time, it's helpful for me to look back on what and how things were coping at this time of year with difficult conditions! https://notes.laurenheywood.com/allotment-july-2026/ #gardening #allotment #growyourown #gyo

• Post #3797516

  It begins 🍅 #allotment #growyourown #gyo

• Post #3761358

  Attempted a garlic braid. Usually just do braids of 12 but hubris made me try 25 at once... and without using string up the braid. Made it far harder work and it's not very even but it'll do :) #allotment #growyourown #gyo

• Post #3746173

  Bumblebees on the drumstick alliums yesterday evening #allotment #bees

• Post #2651883

  At this point I seem to have lost the ability to take in-focus photos of flying creatures. A quick trip to the #allotment between hail and showers.

• Post #2651882

  New blog post: Allotment April 2026 https://notes.laurenheywood.com/allotment-april-2026/ #allotment

• Post #2651881

  New blog post: Zines for allotmenters The beginnings of me making a collection of resources for my #allotment community. https://notes.laurenheywood.com/zines-for-allotmenters/

• Post #2651880

  Brought these two home with me today. The cabbages have been slow to head up but it'll be tasty all the same #allotment #growyourown

• Post #2366592

  Poached egg plants at the plot #allotment #bloomscrolling

• Post #2300529

  I have four species of nesting birds on my #allotment plot this year: house sparrows, dunnocks, great tits and blue tits (although I think the dunnocks have moved on now). I usually have robins nesting but I seem to have swapped them out for tits this year, I've sometimes had wrens too. Also saw a mistle thrush on the lane leading from the allotment site yesterday, there's usually a nesting pair but that was my first sighting this year 💚

• Post #2238151

  #allotment #bloomscrolling

• Post #2238149

  This evening's arts and crafts destined for the #allotment

• Post #2088019

  Looking for advice on what's wrong with this rose plant! (I'm in the UK) It has patches of red leaves alongside white spots / variagation on the green leaves. I've been away for a week and it looks worse with a small branch withering. In other years it's had green leaves and been healthy, although last year it did have some black spot which I pruned back. I'm thinking it could be mosiac virus, in which case I need to remove the plant? But happy for any...

• Post #2088018

  Bean plants are looking good. And today's best attempts to photograph bees on flowers #allotment

• Post #2088015

  It's the local May Day festival so I'm using the increased foot traffic to clear a bunch of eenie weenie succulents. Some of which I grew from seed and kept alive in my semi-catatonic era. Also two sizeable jade plants. Don't worry, my home still has a chaotic number of plants.

• Post #2088014

  I unmulched my dahlias today (I overwinter them in the ground). For the last couple of years I've successfully used milk jugs as cloches with rosemary and garlic oil sprinkled around as a slug deterrent. The cloches provide warmth after the mulch mound has gone too. Also mounded up my 1st earlies (Lady Christl variety), dug out the diseased rose bush (replaced with a munstead lavender), weeded out half a bucket of horsetail, and started sawing up reclaimed wood for a diy project. #al...

• Post #1582019

  My Empire of Beans (to the tune of Hurt). Green beans: Runner beans Flat purple french beans Miracle of Venus (gifted by a neighbour) For drying: Greasy (from seed swap) Cherokee Trail of Tears (swap) Mystery dwarf white bean (look a lot like cannellini, gifted from a Bulgarian couple who said they're for soup) And a few sunflowers to make up numbers. #allotment #growyourown #beans

• Post #1564782

  Visited the plot this evening after being away for a week. I was mostly just having a nosy to see what has changed. Spotted my first baby pear, on my 2yo Jargonelle tree (one of the oldest cultivated varieties of pear, first recorded in the 1620s). I should knock it off so the tree can continue to mature but I was excited to see it! Means the Duchesse d'Angouleme tree next to it has successfully pollenated it so at least I know this pairing of pears works! #allotment #pear #growyourow...

• Post #1120275

  I was really saddened by this story. The viaducts are well known to me as I walk past them often when visiting family in that part of the country. With everything happening in the world individual cases like this can seem a negligible tragedy, but accumatively it has a devasting effect on our biodiversity. There is no excuse for things like this to happen. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/10/anger-as-swifts-nesting-holes-in-derbyshire-rail-viaduct-blocked-up

• Post #1029832

  Pond plants are in. Hornwort, slender-tufted sedge, marsh marigolds, pennyroyal and waterlily 'aurora'. The orange handle is on the lily. Atm its pot is sat propped up near to the waterline so it can acclimatise, once leaves reach the surface I can drop it down to the bottom. I'm in the dark with all this except for watching youtube videos and trying to replicate some of what I've seen 🤷🏻‍♀️ So here's hoping some kind of wildlife likes it. #allotment #pond

• Post #966551

  I've been brave and ordered some pond plants for the #allotment. A lily, pennyroyal, marsh marigold and slender tufted sedge. Should be a good start between the tub pond and lined pond. Both already have hornwort in.

• Post #966549

  Planted out gypsophila and gladioli today, first time growing them. And the row of tulips are making me happy. The slight mound/s of wood chippings in both photos are keeping my dahlias warm in the ground. I brush the chippings back in early May and place a large plastic bottle over the top (with the base cut out and the lid off) to use as a cloche. I then remove after a couple of weeks when the plants are outgrowing them. #allotment

• Post #938668

  Went to the #allotment site earlier so I could secure my greenhouse windows with the winds picking up. Took the opportunity to walk around the site to see other people's spring plots. This is one of the lanes. Helebores, forget-me-nots, stocks, primulas, heucheras and other pretty plants beside the hedgerows :) #bloomscrolling

• Post #841909

  Even though it's a cold blustery day (accompanied by short bursts of hail) I spent an hour at the plot in my big coat to repot the scabious plants I've grown from seed. They should be happier with this compost mix and space. 12 Giant scabious and 10 Macedonian scabious so I'll have plenty to give away. #allotment #gardening

• Post #841903

  New blog post: a recap covering what I've been up to at the #allotment garden this month https://notes.laurenheywood.com/allotment-march-2026/