As always, we’ve had a productive and enjoyable last few months at our community allotment. Here’s what we’ve been up to since we last posted an update!

June 2025

We touched on the beginning of June in our last post, but here’s the rest of the month!

A visit from Woodgreen Pets Charity

On the 19th of June, Lottie, our allotment cat, had a special visitor! Kattie, Outreach Officer from Woodgreen Pets Charity, came for a special Health and Wellbeing check. The good news is that Lottie is in great health, and we will be in touch with Kattie on a regular basis to keep a close eye on her ongoing needs.

Thank you, Darwin Nurseries!

Ruth and Siobhan visited our friends at Darwin Nurseries to pick up some more vegetable plants which they have kindly donated to our community allotment. We’ve now planted them and put them to good use!

July 2025

A haven for our wildlife

A very hot month at our allotment, contending with the heatwave and a lack of rain. Our froggy friends used our wildlife ladders during the month to get in and out of the rainwater troughs to keep cool. We always love having wildlife visitors and saw plenty despite the hot weather – including deer, robins, frogs and bees!

Pruning and harvesting

The group saved seeds from some of the flowering plants this month. Sean pruned the sweet peas, and Gary collected the seed pods from the poppies. They will be dried and sown in the autumn and next spring. We also harvested our potatoes – any spoiled ones were added to our compost heap.

Siobhan and Jo were also busy in the polytunnel, pruning the basil. We grow smelly/oily herbs like basil in front of our tomatoes in the polytunnel as companion planting, which has worked well over the last couple of years to prevent aphid infestations. Plus, you get delicious basil!

Natural remedies!

Kayleigh, our Cambridge Cyrenians’ Community Fundraiser, is a big hay fever sufferer – as are many of us, with symptoms increasing in the heat. We picked her a bag of nettle tops to make a tea infusion with when she gets back to the office. Nettles have natural antihistamine properties and lots of iron and vitamins for allergy and immune treatments.

August 2025

Lammas celebrations

We had a slightly belated Lammas celebration at the beginning of August, marking the occasion with blackberry toasted vegan marshmallows and a delicious ‘Lammas Allotment Ratatouille Stew’, made from our own grown veg. It tasted fantastic!

Nigel made a traditional fire with natural fibres and a flint, and Siobhan and Jo prepared the veg. We cooked it all up on the fire, and enjoyed mint tea harvested from our own herb patch.

Thank you, Cam Home and Garden!

A big thanks to Robin at Cam Home and Garden (based on Milton Road, Cambridge), for the donation of compost bags. They’re being put to good use. Spot the Lottie!

Solar power!

We unboxed our brand new solar-powered power bank and set it up outside the barn. Even though it was an overcast day, it charged up to 46%!

Next, we’ll be fitting the solar panels to the tea shed roof, giving us enough power to run a plug-in kettle, perfect for fresh brews on site. We’ll soon be testing just how many cuppas it can make in a day!

More harvesting

We picked more fruits, vegetables and herbs – including apples, tomatoes and basil, and have started cutting back and training the willow hedge and arch. Our group members get to take home the produce we grow and pick, making for healthy, tasty dinners.

Fond farewells, and a new welcome

In August, we sadly bid farewell to Ruth, our Allotment Project Co-ordinator, who has moved onto new adventures after being with Cambridge Cyrenians since 2012. She’s been a fantastic member of the team, transforming our allotment space into a warm, welcoming and therapeutic space. We wish her all the best of luck with what comes next!

With Ruth’s departure, we now give a huge welcome to Kevin Walshe, our new Allotment Project Co-Ordinator. He’s got a lot of experience with Cambridge Cyrenians, as he was already a Project Worker with us, and has settled into the new role brilliantly. If you have any enquiries about our allotment, please now direct them to kevin@cambridgecyrenians.org.uk. Good luck, Kevin!

September 2025

So far, September is off to a good start. We’ve continued with our harvesting and getting ready to plant for the autumn.

We’ve strengthened the latches on our deer-proof veg plots after some cheeky muntjacs managed to sneak in, and we’re cutting back hedges and retraining our willow.

More to come! Keep an eye on our Instagram for weekly updates.

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Join In!

We run the seasonal gardening and forest skill sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays on 6 allotment plots at the Whitehill Allotment site, off Newmarket Road.

Our small groups are usually made up of about 6 to 10 people on both days. If you would like to talk to our coordinator about joining the groups, please get in contact or speak to your project worker about it, and we can arrange to meet you.

Contact: kevin@cambridgecyrenians.org.uk