Hut update and a visitor from New York

The roof has been started

The hut, surrounded by trees, is in a lovely spot

We had a visitor from New York who is involved in community gardening visiting us twice! Lenny Librizzi visited Empty Common back in 2018 - read the blog post of that visit here. He visited again this year and wrote this wonderful update - click here to see it. Both blog posts have some wonderful photos, thank you Lenny for your kind words and for spreading the news about our blog. 

Charlotte sent us some information about pollination to try next year. The Guardian has an interesting article on pollination of tomatoes and other members of the solanum family using an electric toothbrush. This article made her realise that they pollinate better when buzzed at. Charlotte explains: "We have our polytunnel closed off from the buzzy insects quite a lot of the time and from the breeze. Perhaps we should try it next year with our tomatoes, peppers, chillies and even aubergines. Another factor for good crops of the solanum family that I have just read about is to go for the smaller fruit varieties. I have noticed this with our tomatoes, but not thought about it for peppers and aubergines."

Something to think about and let's hope the roof is on the hut before winter strikes. It has been mild, with few frosts so far.