Page 14 - ALG Issue 3 2022

the young plotters club
Hi everyone!
I hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather we have been having. I love the seasons at the allotment, and I have been busy this spring building a bug hotel to help look after all the wonderful creepy crawlies we have around us!
My dad helped me to cut up an old wooden pallet into even pieces and I just stacked them on top of each other. I found old material laying around and used them to fill up the gaps to give the bugs somewhere to hide! I found an old piece of pipe that I put in and filled it with straw. I am hoping voles or mice might nest in there!
I cut up some old bamboo canes and put them in a gap as wasps and bugs like to hide in there and lay eggs. Did you know, when they have been in there, they seal the entrance up to stop other bugs from going in? They are so clever!
I used an old brick with holes in and
I put some straw at the bottom to hopefully get some hedgehogs visiting. I put mine next to our allotment pond and I hope I have lots of visitors to it. Only yesterday I saw a beautiful stag beetle land on it! It’s already working!
If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know I have beehives! They are doing really well, and I have seen them bringing in some really bright green
Queen bee in the middle
pollen on their legs! Hopefully I will be able to get some honey from them this year to share around. I asked my dad if we could leave some of our allotment free for wildflowers to grow. These really provide lots of food for bees and the best thing is when they come to your plot, they also help pollinate all of your fruit and vegetables.
One fact I wanted to share with you, did you know that it is only the bumblebee that pollinates your tomato plants?! The bumblebee has to land on the tomato plant, and it only releases its pollen when it is shaken. The bee vibrates the tomato plant by buzzing on it to open the flowers. It is called buzz pollination and the bumblebees are brilliant at doing it!
My chickens are enjoying the longer days and they have been helping
me around the allotment when I am planting! I have been busy planting seeds and I am really surprised how well my sweetcorn has worked this year! I have planted them all out in the ground now and hopefully the mice won’t pinch too many! I have tried planting lots of things this year, some things do well, other seeds haven’t come up at all. Don’t get upset if yours don’t turn out as you had hoped. Just keep trying. The most important thing is that you have fun doing it and enjoy being outside!
Tom Wells
My chicken helping me planting!
Stag beetle I saw
Me building new bee frames for the bees to make honey
did you know that it is only the bumblebee that pollinates your tomato plants?
Bug hotel
My sweetcorn planted
14 Allotment and Leisure Gardener