Since our last blog, we've had repeated heatwaves and England’s driest July on record to contend with. The lack of rainfall has made the soil harder to work than usual, which has slowed some of our usual jobs down.

Despite that, we've got through a lot over the past couple of months, and our co-workers have kept up the pace. Here's what we've been up to.

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We have bees again!

If you've followed our Instagram, you'll have seen that bees are back on our allotment site for the first time in three years. Thanks to Darren at the Cambridgeshire Beekeepers' Association for his support and guidance throughout. Darren helped us refurbish our hives, and the group built a frame for a flight screen, so bees fly up and over it on their way out rather than at head height. This is standard practice for hives in community spaces like ours.

Our co-workers have affectionately named the new setup the "Abee Stadium," a nod to the real Abbey Stadium just up the road.

Trail cams

Our allotment gets plenty of visitors, and not all of them are human. Our trail cams recently picked up birds, muntjac deer and squirrels. See the photos on our Instagram.

Harvesting through the heat

Despite the dry weather, we've harvested potatoes and both red and white onions in August, with more potatoes and garlic still to come.

Fixing, building, and planning ahead

We repaired an old petrol hedge trimmer that had been out of action and used it alongside hand trimming to get our hedges back in shape. We've also built a new work bench and started clearing the old timber from our viewing platform, some of which we've repurposed as a base for the beehives. The space will eventually make way for a new water feature area.

Elsewhere, we've been sorting our seed library, sharpening and cleaning tools ahead of Autumn and Winter, and planning our next few months of work.

It's been a demanding season, but between the bees settling back in and the jobs we've ticked off despite the heat, there's plenty to carry us into Autumn.

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