A visit to Innox Hill allotments in Frome on June 8th 2008. More pictures here.

Thanks to Tricia, Simon, Graham, Ruth and their friends for a dreamy summer Sunday afternoon at the unique Innox Hill allotments in Frome.

My thoughts, apart from deep pleasure, were that in seeking to incrase substantially local food production, we must not reproduce the faults of intensive agriculture. So what I appreciated was the wonderful mixture of food crops, flowers, hens, wildlife (we saw newts, tadpoles, and a slow-worm.

Thanks for the cakes too, and to Veronica O'Donaghue who took over as photographer after I had broken the camera! It has now gone away for repair.

Vallis Veg
Food Frome members and friends visited Chris and Cordelia's Vallis Veg smallholding last Sunday (25th May 2008). More pictures here or visit the Vallis Veg website.

The past couple of years, I have been working hard to try and secure a better spread of vegetables through the year on the allotment. I have been using a makeshift cold frame - an old floor-board, 8 galvanised nails and an old window from the house next door to the allotment site - to grow lettuces. We have kept the window slightly open except in coldest weather so that the air doesn't get stangant. I am experimenting with a few different varieties, but this week we had a 'Valdor' with chives and salad burnet, also from allotment.

The new asaparagus bed went in at Orchard Street Allotments last week. We used an old under-used herb-bed, dug it thoroughly to get out all old roots, weeds and a few bits of couch grass, then dug in horse manure a spit deep. Then some weeks later planted as shown in picture. It does look odd, doesn't it?
We shall have some to cut next year but 2010 is the year to look forward to. A long-term commitment is asparagus. We still have to work out how to share it our fairly among the 6 plot-holders!

APPLES TREES, APPLES, JUICE, VIRTUAL ORCHARDS…..
THIS IS A CONVERSATION THAT WAS ON EMAIL AND I FELT MIGHT GET A BROADER INTEREST IF POSTED HERE……

1ST EMAIL REFERS TO A Co-op of apple pickers and eaters who have been going from Frome to west Bradley to pick and collect:
Dear all,

I got these seeds from the Heritage Seed Library (Garden Organic). As you can see, all nine have germinated using the toilet roll inner tube method (!) of propagation in a frost-free greenhouse. Does anyone know about Martock beans? And what is the connection with the village in South Somerset?

I took these on the 23rd of December 2007, a fine frosty morning.

While there is a lot of 'non growing' pictures, it features my garden, Orchard Street, and the Welshmill Allotments.

If anyone wants to use them feel free!

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/7499905

John

I came across this orchard while out cycling yesterday. I took a few of the apples home to taste, they were quite bitter so I think they are cider apples.

Somerset's small cider orchards are under threat despite the recent increase in popularity of cider. Gaymer's no longer buys apples from small producers and the EU is reviewing the exemption from excise duty of small-scale cidermakers.