Thursday, 11 June 2026

Oakland Gardens & Greenfingers Charity

  

Regular readers of manvslg.uk will recall that I was blown away to find out that we had won a Runners Up Prize in the 2026 Allotment Competition that Oakland Gardens have run in the £500 category allotments with 40 plots or less that ended on the 30th May 2026. 

I didn't know there was going to be a Runners Up Winner in each category. Now here is the thing, if we had won the first prize with 19 plot holders we would have had £26.31 each to spend, as it is with the £100 Runner-Up Win it equates to £5.26 voucher credit each.

We discussed the Oakland Gardens win on out allotment Whats App group and have decided that we would like to donate our £100 voucher to the Greenfingers Charity.

The charity aims to provide all life-limited children, their families, and carers, within their hospice, emotional support through the power and pleasure of nature.

They create beautiful, well-designed outdoor spaces for children to enjoy with their family, friends and siblings, whether through play and fun, or therapeutic rest and relaxation. 

Greenfingers Charity is driven by the belief that time spent outdoors, away from the bedside, can offer children and families under considerable stress a vital opportunity to embrace the benefits of being in the fresh air and engaging with the natural environment.

They are committed to creating specially designed, stimulating garden spaces that can bring many benefits to children with life-limiting conditions. Whilst many people may take for granted the simple pleasure of being able to enjoy a garden, for these children, their siblings and their families, the chance to spend time together outdoors and away from the bedside is precious.

I contacted Lee Ward of Oakland Gardens and they were more than happy for us to donate the £100 voucher to the Greenfingers Charity. 

I spoke to Linda Petrons the Director of Fundraising & Communications at the Greenfingers Charity about our donation, and the likelihood is that they will use it to get items to raffle at their forthcoming Summer Charity Event. 

I did suggest to Oakland Gardens that they may also like to donate some goods for the Greenfingers Charity Summer Event to help them raise funds.  

I do recommend that you sign up for the Oakland Gardens Newsletter so you receive notifications on news and special offers. 


This Link shows all posts featuring Oakland Gardens on manvslug.uk
This Link shows all posts featuring The Greenfingers Charity on manvslug.uk 

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

The Kindness Of Plot Neighbours

 

It's not always been the case, in the past we had a couple of plot holders who caused lots of trouble and fell out with many of the other plot holders. In my time as the Mill Green Site Rep (2012 - today) I have seen a lot of plot holders come and go. 

The ones that don't realise just how much work is involved in keeping on top of things and the amount of hours need to be sunk into ones plot. 


I always think of John, Wally and myself as bit like the three old blokes in The Last Of The Summer Wine, I'm not quite sure which one of us is Compo but I have my suspicions. 

Wally very kindly popped to my home and picked up Runner Beans, Climbing French Beans and Dwarf French beans, and has cleared the bindweed off the fencing of the climbing framed greenhouse. He has weeded the beds in the CFG, and sown the beans for me, so that I will have something to harvest when I finally get back to the plot. 



Wally also sent me these photographs that show potatoes growing in the raised beds, that John planted for me as I didn't get time to plant them in buckets as intended before I became ill.  I had hydrated the coir blocks and was about to mix with compost and soil but that didn't happen. 

John weeded the beds, they had mares tail and bindweed in them despite all the removal of weed roots I had done when constructing them.

Other plot holders have helped me to lift bags of compost as I have arthritis in all my joints following the cancer treatment in late 2023 and a hernia from lifting my wife who had lupus before she passed away in January 2023.

We have a great bunch of plot holders on Mill green who are willing to help each other out, we share any glut of young plants and any harvest later in the season. 

The girls got a no-cult for long grass, and I had a push mower that I got off Freecycle and don't use, so I gave it to the girls so they could cut their grass. I'm a Ryobi man so I use a battery strimmer.   

I can no longer manage two half plots, so that's why I'm giving up plot 1A and the end of this growing years (September) I have already found a home for my green house on plot 1A.

I need to find out if I can transplant my grape vines from plot 1A to Plot 1 or take cuttings. 

Tuesday, 9 June 2026

Vein Viewer / Finder

 

I had and appointment at the SDEC unit at St Helier Hospital this morning for them to look at my leg and to take blood and look at my infection markers. During the blood taking process they used this Vein Viewer / Finder as I told them that during my weeks stay they had put so many cannula's in my hands and the veins were so small that they failed and had to find another in, that both hands were mullered, bruised and tender to touch. 

My question was WTF had they not used this during my stay rather than try multiple unsuccessful attempts and caused so much damage to my hands? 

It appears it's a matter of cost "They are expensive, and we don't have many and not each ward has got one" The cost appears to be about £1,500 ish. These are not new they have been around for 10 years. IMHO Every ward where they fit cannula's should have access to one of these machines.

A vein viewer / finder is a medical device that uses infrared or LED transillumination to project a real-time map of blood vessels onto the skin. It helps healthcare professionals and phlebotomists successfully locate veins for IVs and blood draws on the first attempt, reducing patient pain and procedure time

These devices are particularly helpful for patients with difficult venous access, such as infants, the elderly, obese individuals, and those with dark skin tones.
Types of Vein Finders
  • Infrared Projectors: Advanced devices (like the AccuVein or VeinViewer) project a digital image of veins directly onto the skin. They often feature multiple colour modes and brightness levels to adjust for different skin tones and room lighting
  • Transillumination Flashlights: Handheld LED or UV devices that are pressed directly against the skin to illuminate superficial veins. They are highly portable, more affordable, and frequently used in smaller clinics or homecare settings.

Monday, 8 June 2026

More Scaffold Boards For Raised Beds

 
Now that I'm building raised beds and a mini allotment in my back garden, I need additional boards to complete the build. I sent my list over to David at Rugged London and he gave me a good price that I'm happy with. I explained that at the moment I can't walk very well and he offered to walk the boards through the house and stack them in the back garden. 

Once again, I'm very happy with the companies communication and service. The boards are coming Friday and I will blog about the quality of what I receive. I look forward to giving Rugged London another 5 star rating. If you are interested in obtaining scaffold boards for your own projects contact:-

David from Rugged London can be contacted on 0203 1501248 
or mobile 07804 444409 email David@ruggedlondon.co.uk
9am to 5pm Monday to Friday

I read the Trustpilot reviews before I contacted David & Rugged London for my original order with them back in November 2025

They were most complementary of the company & of David and his staff.  

The reclaimed un-sanded boards retail at about £2 per foot, but if you provided David with a schedule of numbers and length you required he will give you a price including delivery. You can even get a 10% discount on your first order by signing up for the company newsletter.  

David then sent me a monzo payment link for payment for the boards, and we arranged for the delivery at my home address on Friday, and David will advise me of the ETA in the morning.

Use this link to read all posts featuring Rugged London  

Sunday, 7 June 2026

B&Q Are Bloody Useless & A Waste Of Space!


Regular Visitors to manvslug.co.uk will know that I finally had to bite the bullet and get replacement timber decking tiles as the originals were downright dangerous and my daughter fell through one tile. 

They were a good brand and pressure treated and had anti-slip lines in them, but alas that style is no longer available. The concrete patio area under the timber decking is all over the place and the falls come towards the building and the first thing I did when I bought the property in 1991 was to install an acco drain parallel to the external rear wall to collect the remove the water. 

It had been saturating the external leaf of brickwork and there was a tide mark where capillary action had taken the moisture up the brickwork. 

I made small concrete mole hills of support at the corners and a mid- points of the original decking tiles and levelled the top. The water that flows down the garden path and off the decking tiles, travels via the concrete patio under the level decking into the acco and off via the surface water drainage system. 

These are the only 500mm x 500mm decking tiles I could find they are not treated or anti-slip.       


I need 82 tiles to replace all the old decking tiles, which equates to a cost of £492. 

I could have ordered them for delivery but at least 50% of them would be of inferior quality with splits or too many knots in, so I would rather go and select the best of the bunch.



There are four branches within easy reach of home, but only two hold stock of the items. 

I have laid some and needed another 48 tiles to complete the project. Now here is the rub and what's basically pissed me off. 


Stack available as of Sunday morning. 

My daughter and her partner went to get as many decking tiles as possible. as I needed another 48 Tiles. 

The went through those on the rack and selected the best which amounted to 9 tiles, They spied another load of the same tiles, however the banding was still on them and they could not be picked through. As we can see Sunday morning they report 89 available.

I apologise for this term for the B&Q staff, but the "Arseholes", would not take the banding off the next lot of tiles for my daughter to get the remaining 39 tiles I need.

They informed her that "they want to sell those still open on the rack before they let anyone have access to more"!. Cleary we were not going to purchase the shitty ones. It was also raining and perhaps they were afraid of getting wet as the tiles are stored outside? 

Doh, I'm sure with them having 89 in stock, we would have been able to get the additional 39 tiles we needed, and they would have taken another £234, in addition to the £54 for the nine we got from the open pack. 

Shame I was not there as I would have bought a Stanley knife and taken the banding off myself.   
   
So B&Q Head office, the helpfulness of your staff is non existent, you have pissed off a regular customer, and yes I have informed everyone on here how poor your customer service is at your Croydon Branch, and If I could go and get them from anyone else other than B&Q I would.  

Now I will have to visit another one or two times, and hope I find more friendly staff if there is a bundle there that needs the banding on them removed, or just take a pen knife with me, and do it myself. 

Freecycle Find


As you know if you visit manvslug.co.uk on a regular basis, currently I'm just out of hospital and I'm laid up and can't drive at the moment.  

My daughter Kelly and her partner Frazer went to Mitcham and collected them for me from James. 

I can now fix the broken fence post in the back garden, once I can get out there again. 
 

Wednesday, 3 June 2026

I Have Not Passed Away

I've just been very, very sick and ended up in hospital 


This was the state of play of the Back Garden Allotment on the 11th May 2026 after I went to Halfords to get cardboard to line the bottom of two more raised beds. 

Due to my Autoimmune disease, and stepping down my steroids month on month, I caught one thing after another and ultimately my left leg increased in circumference by 2 and a half inches, and I was admitted to St Helier Hospital and they found I have Thromboses. 

I was discharged on the 1st June 2026 and today on the 3rd June the photo below is the state of play of the back garden.  


The brambles and weeds in front of the shed have gone mad with all the sun and rain and the grass between the beds is in desperate need of cutting. Currently I can hardly walk and there is no possibility of me getting out there to do it. 

I've also not been down to my allotment during this time, for obvious reasons, and I really hate to think how the bindweed would have taken over everything. 

I did ask a plot neighbour to get my potatoes into a number of the raised beds I had prepped down there and he has, so at least I will hopefully get a harvest.    

Monday, 1 June 2026

We Got A Runners Up Prize !

 

I was blown away to find out that we have won a Runners Up Prize in the 2026 Allotment Competition that Oakland Gardens have run and ended on the 30th May 2026. 

I didn't know there was going to be a Runners Up Winner in each category.

Oakland Gardens have engaged with a number of allotment groups and has run various completions this year. It really worth registering with them for their newsletter and updates. 

   

Planning and Reviewing June In Previous Years

 Reviewing the diary over the last Thirteen years for June

2013 - Potting up tomatoes & peppers, potatoes, cabbages, sprouts and sweet corn, dug beds 7 & 8  
 
2014 - Watering system installed on Mill Green plot 1A, Potted up Tomatoes into buckets, installed bed 12, Marrows in manure covered in cardboard. Beetroots, Harvested the first bunch of Spring onions. Harvested first early potatoes from buckets. End of the month bed 13 completed, second bed of runner beans sown.         

2015 -  Not many posts in the blog for this month in this year, it was however my first Vlog from the plot. first year trying French beans the family didn't like them and it they have not been grown again since. Potted tomatoes from vending machine cups into pots that were taken to the grow house on the plot. First year growing Marketmore cucumbers. Sweetcorn planted on Fathers day, First year for successfully growing a whole bed of Parsnips. First year for peas. Cherries on the cherry trees. Sent two Crimson Crush tomato plants.   

2016 - Very cold June. Grow House heaving with plants, Burpless Cucumber transplanted into pots, Tomatoes potted on from vending machine cups, Sprouts failed and I had to buy some. Third sowing of beetroots, First year for celery. Flooding at Wallington Railway Bridge
Second sowing of sweetcorn due to slow germination then the first sowing germinated after the first ! Drying Coffee Grounds

Mill Green - Runner beans planted out, sweetcorn planted out into beds mulched with cut comfrey, Sprouts planted out,    

Spencer Road - Onions, Potatoes, Beetroots and infrastructure works. 

Home - Tomatoes finally get transplanted into flower buckets.  

2017 - Due to wife being very ill and in hospital a couple of times, everything was late and many things just didn't happen. Sweetcorn was sown about a month later than usual, so were Beetroots, and the first early spud in buckets experiment for SoilFixer was also a month late. Very large double size Dalek picked up off Freecycle for Mill Green

2018 - Community work, clearing weeds from plot 4 for Sarah who has burn injuries and can't work her plot.  Crimson Crush & Rapunzel tomatoes planted on the plot.  Lark Sweetcorn planted, Moving slabs and kerb stones from Spencer Road to Mill Green, Sold my Handy Tiller & Generator that I had bought and had never used, Trimming tomatoes and giving a Comfrey feed, Butternut Squash in the bottom of Plot 1. Clearing Spencer Road Allotment and bringing items to Mill Green. Sowed more carrots, Spring Onions in cut down flower buckets, 24th June Cucumbers transplanted, Fixing the chairs, Comfrey pipe from Spencer Road plot set up on Mill Green, Shed maintenance replacing feather edge board, Trees from Jersey Plants Direct, 

2019 - Lots of potting up and growing in the Space Saver Greenhouse, Purchased CMH Heavy Duty Plastic Trays,  Lots of rain and flooding in the early part of the month. The contractor working on the property behind the wall cut down the trees and left branches on my shed. Lots of plums on the tree and the some bastard picked them all!  Beetroots disappointing this year wiped out by the intense heat and slugs. 24th June Butternut squash planted out, cucumbers starting to climb their framework, Trial of Nemaslug sent but they had to be stored in the fridge!, Weekend Heatwave with temperatures in 40C .Watering visits as a very dry and sunny June, Potatoes in buckets drying out very quickly, must consider toeing into the bed next year.  

2020 - Due to Covid and the lockdown I  didn't visit the allotment during June as I was shielding my wife. My daughter and son in law visited and tried to keep the allotment tidy and undertook weed management. All of my growing was done in the back garden.

2021 - First week potting on tomatoes into vending machine cups. Met Jane from idverde and she undertook the plot inspections and served no cult letters on two of the plot holders. Planting Sweetcorn into the beds. Gherkins and cucumbers potted on. Second week of June really hot and dry, mid week watering visit required. 300mm x300mm paving slabs off Freecycle used to make the path between SFG Beds 1 & 2. Making tomato planting membrane for the new narrow beds on the plot. Buying 3" spring clamps to hold the debris netting to the tube was a game changer . Lined the inside of the plot 1 Greenhouse with blue Debris netting and made it look like a TARDIS. Beetroot bed a third sown and growing. Tomato Bed 2 weeded, compost added and plants planted. Path between Rhubarb Beds 1 & 2 weeded and formed. Quadgrows finally set up in the plot 1 greenhouse.

2022 - Lots of Raspberries harvested this year, Onions harvested before they go to seed, First trial of Postiplugs from Suttons, Planting Membrane production, Kelly and Emma cleared Mares Tail, Poor sweetcorn germination so late starting off on kitchen towel in a take a way container, Sowing Cucumbers and Courgettes.

2023 - Trying to get everything up to date because of the proposed reconstruction of my jaw. I have cut back on sowing new vegetables as my girls will want to come and see me in hospital and not be down the allotment planting out watering and weeding. Setting up the Hotbin worm farm, Harvesting Raspberries , Karmen (Red), Pink Panther (Pink) and Snowball (white) Onions and Lazy Housewife French Climbing Beans, Crystal Lemon & Crystal Apple cucumbers.

2024 - Climbing Frame greenhouse planted out and decimated by slugs and snails, Summer Solstice 20th June, Questions when viewing a prospective plot article written, Rhubarb, Raspberry and Blueberry harvest, Remedial works to the loft extension on plot 1A,  24th Yellow heat health alert for the UK, Formulating plan to alter the low framed beds on plot 1 to smaller raised beds,  Arranged a woodchip delivery end of June .Raspberries unrestrained and bindweed knitting rows together, action needed to prevent this in 2025 .End of June excavating SFG Bed 1 ready to extend and make a raised bed.

2025 - Type up info >> 

To Do List  

As only released from Hospital on the 1st and with my leg and foot two and a half inches larger and not being able to stand for long and definitely not being able to drive for a while, it could be a few weeks until I'm able to visit my allotment.  

Mill Green - Plot 1
  • Greenhouse 1 - Currently being used to house all the cardboard to be used in the new raised beds, The Loft Conversion is failing and needs remedial works.   
  • Infrastructure - Convert standard 2.4m x 1.2m beds to 2 number 1.2 x 0.9m Raised beds with a path between for bed 

Mill Green - Plot 1A
  • Greenhouse 1A - Set up more Coffee to dry out 
  • Daleks - Dig in the additional Dalek by the Hotbin 
  • Apple Trees - Prune & Stabilise
  • Grape Vines - Prune   .
  • Blueberry Ares - Weed and make a base then fence in using spare panel  .
  • Potatoes - All Now Planted in raised Beds thanks to plot neighbour John   

Sowing and Planting Plan for June    

June
Week 1              Asparagus - stop harvesting
Week 1              Cucumber (ridge) - plant out (grown indoors / shop bought)
Week 1              Carrot (early) - harvest those sown under cloches
Week 1              Lettuce - begin to harvest
Week 1              Sweet Peppers - harden off
Week 2              Cauliflower (summer) - begin to harvest
Week 2              Kale (curly) - transplant to final position
Week 2              Plum - prune from now to mid July
Week 2              Potatoes - potash feed fortnightly
Week 2              Swede - thin seedlings in stages to 25cm apart
Week 2              Sweet Pepper - move to final position
Week 2              Turnip - begin to harvest
Week 2              Melons – F1 Mangomel - Plant Out
Week 2              Melons – Rugoso di Consenza Giallo Plant Out
Week 3              Carrot Onwards- harvest as they become ready
Week 3              Cauliflower (autumn) - plant outside
Week 3              Cucumber (ridge) - prune main stem
Week 3              Spinach - harvest spring grown leaves
Week 3              Radish – Sow fortnightly
Week 3              Spring Onions – Sow fortnightly
Week 3              Lettuce – Sow fortnightly
Week 4              Cauliflower (autumn) - begin weekly feed