allot of veg

Hibernation

2011-11-02T22:23:00.000Z

Long time no post.
Why didn't I post?
As others have reported from time to time you just run out of energy.
Nothing much was growing - even the beans.
Nothing got watered at the right times - the eternal battle of the taps.
Yeilds were low.
Motivation within the ranks of the small (and bigger) helpers was low too.
So no posts.
But now I'm back.
Onions and garlic at the ready, 2012 is go!
Hibernation is for hedgehogs (and do check those bonfires at the weekend).
I'm going in...
(Well technically up to)
THE ALLOTMENT BECKONS.

How many beans make five?

2011-08-15T23:40:00.000+01:00

One bean, two beans, a bean and a half and half a bean. That's how many beans make five.

That will probably be the sum total of my harvest this year too as some toothed critter seems to have slunk by and mowed them all off at about four inches high.

This is what happens when you let the internet sway you. Yes I blame you lot out there in cyberspace with your talk of crop rotation and soil starvation.I have always grown beans in the same place, by the fence in easy reach of the water supply. This year I read about crop rotation again and thought that even though all the old boys always grow beans in the same place year after year and even though I get great harvests I would move them.

So no beans this year then.
Not enough water and "what lies beneath" seem to have done for them. I have put a few spare plants in and sown some more in hope than anything but...tonight I will be dreaming of plates of runner, french and borlotti beans drizzled in butter steaming in a dish in front of me and next year at about this time will be moaning about a glut of bl**dy beans and what on earth will I be able to do with them all.

Funny old game isn't it?

Pooh! Is that you?

2011-07-26T20:23:00.000+01:00

We made some stink food.
You know the stuff - stinging nettles ferment in water for weeks, small boys pee in it when they are caught short at the allotment, the odd beetle and raspberry drop in it on passing and it really stinks?
We use it to feed the pumpkin growing in the compost heap.
Tonight I spilt it down my leg. I smell. I smell bad. I have bathed. I have rubbed in body cream. I have showered and soaped and still I smell. OH will be home later - hopefully his cold will not have improved...

YS's current favourite book seemed appropriate.

techno torment

2011-07-15T20:04:00.000+01:00

Haven't been posting so much this year but am experiencing the usual gluts:

Raspberries - 24lb of jam and fresh ones given away to relatives and people in the village.

Broad beans - the children are rebelling - I am freezing bagfulls to surprise them with later - oh and there are another two rows not ready yet as I did successional sowing.

Lettuce - another crop to be distibuted widely.

Sweet peas - make good gifts for teachers and grandma/nanny/aunty

Courgettes - and this is just the first week of that bounty.

The techno torment? Well currently no camera and no internet connection. If I'd wanted a job in IT...

He loves me

2011-06-27T00:47:00.000+01:00

Whilst I was at w*rk one day last week OH made this for me -

my own private potting bench. I love it! And I love him for thinking of it and making it happen. Onwards to the potting bench, I have lettuce to sow.

When I said weeds...

2011-06-16T23:43:00.001+01:00

When I said weeds I meant weeds. I guess the only thing to do is a bit of public humiliation and then I might just get on with it!

The raspberries.

The strawberries.

The critter damage.

So these are the before pictures. Who knows how long until I post the afters? Wish me luck, and let this be a lesson to you all - don't take holidays in June.

Optimism

2011-06-02T12:13:00.000+01:00

What is the definition of optimism?
Me hoping to get onto the plot without a machete after not visiting for a week?
Or my 91 year old neighbour frantically giving away tomato plants? "I've grown too many - I just enjoy growing them..." (Estimate of around 250 plants)
I hope when I am 91 I still have the optimism to grow for another season in magnificent volume and can share my plants with the village and don't get overtaken by the weeds in the meantime.

And of course tomatoes were my never again plant. 2008 blight, 2009 blight, 2010 blight
but how could I say no? Here we go on the emotional rollercoaster once more.

They're here again

2011-05-22T21:17:00.001+01:00

You would think with the lack of rain in these parts (24.2mm since April 1st) that the weeds might be a little more subdued this year. But they aren't. I have just spent 2 hours weeding and I'm still too ashamed to post the pictures...

You can do a lot in half an hour.

2011-05-05T23:45:00.000+01:00

As alluded to in the last post, time is of the essence these days at the allotment.
It is productive - look radish! ( Don't you just love the pained expression? "But why do you want a photo of me holding radishes?"). It is also still very weedy. Grass paths were definitely a mistake and at some point this year they will go.
So the plan for managing an allotment in half hour slots?
1. 10 minutes weed what is already planted. Most important.
2. 10 minutes water. Else it will die. Hopefully a higher authority will help me out on this soon, otherwise OH will have to fix the hose.
3. 10 minutes harvest. Radish & rhubarb - savings to be made here my girl!
4 10 minutes sow/plant new crops. Ahhh...

Wait a minute my bean counting makes that 40? That'll be why I'm still behind then.
Maybe tommorrow?

The covers are on

2011-05-03T19:54:00.000+01:00

OS signed up for another season of cricket on Friday. Tonight a ground frost is forecast - is it just me but is the start of the cricket season always bad news for the garden?
Anyway, armed with the weather forecast I rushed to the allotment, earthed up the potatoes, covered the courgettes, cloched the lettuce and fleeced the strawberries, and depressed a plot neighbour who had just finished watering. All in a world record time of 27.5 minutes.
I once read a book called " The Half-hour Allotment" (here should you be interested).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-hour-Allotment-Royal-Horticultural-Society/dp/0711226059/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304448700&sr=8-1
Half and hour is for softies...

Where the green woods laugh, and cry

2011-04-29T18:52:00.000+01:00

We live in a lovely part of the country and in bluebell time it becomes even more beautiful. So after the boys had tolerated a good amount of Royal Wedding watching, we hot-tailed it to the woods where they could collect sticks, drop stones down holes and bury dead frogs. This is an ancient woodland, part of a mediaeval deer park and linked to Lady Jane Grey (the 9 day queen more famously associated with nearby Bradgate).
The boys of course are oblivious to the history of today and yesterday.

And so to the present.
We took the cucumbers and squash outside for a watering - they will be going in again though - it has got awfully nippy in the evenings lately. A reminder it is not summer yet.

The crying? Eldest was investigating a ditch looking for an old fence. He found it, unfortunately by tripping over it, and landed in a patch of nettles. OUCH!

I'll have a pea please!

2011-04-10T22:18:00.001+01:00

Was very short of time (again) this weekend. It's a dilema, the garden is crying out for attention now! But so are the family, the housework, the olds, you get the picture...
So the sum total of my gardening achivements for the 4 days I have not been at work are:

Installed Mum's new compost bin - more complicated than it sounds - a sorry tale involving a barrowload of twitch (couch grass) I hate that stuff.
Mow both of Mum's lawns.
Prune some of Mum's shrubs
Fill Mum's new compost bin with a mix from old composter - now deceased in a fallen to bits and on pile to go to dump kind of way - prunings and grass clippings.
Fill garden dustbin with twitch - ha! good riddance!
Mow our lawn
Install our new compost bin - much less complicated (thank goodness)
Fill our new compost bin with kitchen waste and grass clippings
Only then arrive at allotment for a scant 1 hour time slot - planted two rows of peas which were escaping their toilet roll root trainers.
Picked some more rhubarb.

I need more time at the allotment. Please stay fine tommorrow amd no more family crisis so I can go after work tommorrow. Pretty peas!

How do they know?

2011-04-03T18:57:00.000+01:00

We were up at the allotment briefly this morning and chatted to some of the old boys, after harvesting the rhubarb and getting some chives for lunch.
"It'll rain later" says one,
"How do you know said OH-what signs are you looking for?" (hoping for some old country saying I think)
"I listened to the weather forecast!" was the reply.
"Ah!" says OH

I'm late! I'm late!

2011-03-29T19:00:00.002+01:00

I booked an appointment in at work yesterday. "See you next week then - that's the 6th April".
6th April next week? How did that happen?

We haven't made many visits to the allotment this year in fact when we visited two weeks ago it looked like this,

Oh dear!

We cleared a bit

but didn't make much of an impression.

So as I had a day off today I thought I 'd better get the season under way.

I dug and planted and composted and emptied compost (it was lovely stuff!) and dug some more. I had done some gardening so I had things to plant, chitted parsnips, beetroot plants, broad beans, garlic, onions, shallots and chitted potatoes. Oh and a yellow raspberry another blackcurrent and a thornless blackberry.

I also sowed seeds of radish and spinach. After that little lot it looked like this,

Still plenty of work to be done but at least I have made a start. The old boys enjoyed it enormously they kept coming over and admiring my soil - now they could see it.
I pulled some rhubarb and dug some Jerusalem artichokes - hurrah for first harvests!
Then it was home for a cup of tea and a quick bath before getting the kids from school. A most satisfactory day.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-17T00:14:00.000Z

Not much action at the plot lately.
Well to be honest no visits to the plot for quite some time but in my defence this happened.

I managed to salvage my Christmas potatoes - but we've eaten them - oops!

Now we are spending our time visiting polar bears

and that man in the red suit - oh well there's always next year.

We will be digging the bean trench on Boxing Day (providing I can get the spade in the ground).
In the meantime hope you and yours have a Happy Christmas. Here's to good gardening in 2011.

A century

2010-10-28T19:18:00.000+01:00

This is my 100th post - and boy has it been a long time coming!
We have been very busy this year with family and work commitments but have fitted in quite a lot of travelling too so the blog has had to take a back seat.
The allotment is winding up for the winter now - I wasn't in the right place at the right time to plant much to over winter just a few parsnips, brassicas but no sprouts (disaster - we love our sprouts) and that's it. the boys picked grandma a boquet when we were clearing up at the weekend . But who would give it to her?

as you can see they have their own way of sorting these things out!

Tonight we have been making preparations for the weekend. The pumpkins may be small but they look quite good I think.

We have two parties a disco and a school non uniform day to prepare ourselves for - Hallow'een was never this important when I were a lass. So off to polish up my face painting skills YS wants to go as a "zombie ear basher with a scythe" ,whatever one of those may be.

Bean at the plot

2010-08-31T21:52:00.001+01:00

School holidays, holidays, w*rk and family have all combined to make the visits to the plot less frequent than ever this month. Tonight, after returning from the annual bank holiday camping trip we all mucked in to try to get some winter crops in the ground and see what there was to harvest.
The harvest was beans, beans and beans (oh and courgettes) and then some more beans. So now I am of to chop blanch and freeze, leave carrier bags for the neighbour, Mum and Aunty and work out how much of the remainder I can realistically get through and how much needs to be gifted.

We did manage to plant leeks and winter caulis and a few sprouting broc plants but I need to do some land clearance before we can finish the rest of the winter planting. I am trying enviromesh this year in an attempt to foil the butterflies/pigeons/ everything else that made last years brassicas a near write off - the cost made my eyes water but I'm hoping it will last for several years (it had better!).

Soon YS will be off to school and I may be able to sneak an extra lottie session in each week which should make next season a lot more comfortable/ productive/ planned but the best laid plans... We shall see and in the meantime we shall eat beans.

Visit to Tyntesfield

2010-08-12T09:21:00.000+01:00

On the way to the French ferry a couple of weeks ago we stopped off at Tyntesfield Estate near Bristol.
We had a game of football (obligatory OS's choice), climbed the scaffold tower to the roof (YS), visited the tea room (OH) and finally visited the kitchen garden (Me!).

They were selling homegrown fruit and veg but we weren't impressed with the prices!

The cutting garden was spectacular - this in no way does it justice.

They have more staff than I do.

Up the tower

Cute box in the shop

Where are the photos of the veg?

This was as close as I got - there is a fan pruned cherry in the background...

I think I was so busy admiring the straight rows and lack of weeds I must have forgotten to take one. My, but their onions were big - you'll just have to take my word for it!

We had a lovely time there is a lot of walking involved in the visit, the gardens are a long way from the car park etc but well worth it. The guide even took the trouble to show the boys where the 10yo gardeners boy would have slept in a cupboard above the benches in the potting shed when it was his turn to keep the boiler going during the night. OS pronounced this "cool". If you are looking for a stop of the M5 this summer it's well worth a look.

I've got a red one!

2010-08-03T18:55:00.001+01:00

Tomato that is. The reason that this deserves it's own special post?
Last year I got not one. The dreaded blight swept through whilst they were all still green.
I watched Alys Fowler's programme and she said that this year she wasn't even going to try, and I felt the same, but then...
Isn't gardening always like that? A series of disappointments and small victories.
Today was a victory. I hope Alys changed her mind too.

Courgettes

2010-08-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

Today we had courgettes for lunch.
Today we had courgettes for tea.
Today we had courgettes for pudding too.

I guess the courgette season is here?

Lunch : Pasta with ribbons of courgette fried in olive oil with a cream sauce, chilli flakes and black pepper. Served with a green salad, smoked salmon and a wedge of lemon.
Pudding: Chocolate courgette cake, raspberries, cream.
Tea BBQ sausages, courgette marinated in olive oil and a little lemon, salad, potatoes. And ketchup.
Pudding BBQ chocolate bananas, toasted marshmallows.

Yum!
Today I am liking courgettes.

(camera is broken again - but I guess by this point in the season you all know what a courgette looks like...)

The birds and the bees

2010-07-29T22:53:00.000+01:00

My 4yo is a child of the soil.

One bedtime last week we were answering the age old question of "Where do babies come from?".
I told him that Daddies plant seeds inside Mummies and a baby grows. He thought for a bit - "is it a carrot seed?" he asked. "No", I said "because that would grow a carrot". "Oh yes! I must be a baby seed". "Yes" I said. "That's good" he said - "because you can't grow carrots..."

(We then got onto the mechanics. After flatly dismissing the anatomical explaination of the "special cuddle" that Daddies give to Mummies he seems to have decided that Daddy keeps a magic wand in his trousers that he waved over Mummy. A trip to the magician will never seem the same again!)

On the gardening front after a week away in Brittany I am dusting off my courgette recipies.

Sunday lunch

2010-07-11T13:40:00.000+01:00

I am quite pleased with myself this afternoon, not only did I cook a delicious Sunday lunch but most of it was home grown.

We had:

potatoes - look YS is so talented he grew them himself. Maybe now he will believe me when I tell him he will grow potatoes behind his ears if he doesen't wash...
Delicious roast lamb, home grown french beans (two sorts), homegrown broad beans, carrots (we'll gloss over those shall we?), homegrown roasted garlic - yummy!
While we are on the subject of garlic mine seems to be growing bulbs half way up the stem - is this normal? never seen this before...

For pudding we had berries picked by OS

didn't he do well?

So I have a new camera and my gardening mojo is back thanks for all the support.

Lessons I have learnt.

Do not leave 7YO in charge of camera
Do not post on blog after drinking the red grape.

Have a good weekend!

Reaping what I've sowed (or not)

2010-06-28T20:21:00.000+01:00

I've had a bit of a rubbish year at the plot this year for several reasons, but mostly due to lack of effort - particularly effort at the right time.
Tonight I nipped to the plot to do a bit of watering the first for over a week to find the peas and broad beans cropping like mad but beginning to go over - water last week might well have helped. The radishes are small and firey again water is possibly a factor.The strawberries were also going great guns in amongst the weeds and there looks like a bumper crop of raspberries on the horizon (probably just in time for my hols).

But I feel a bit despondant, some of the beans have gone crispy - still in pots waiting for more canes to be brought up from the village, nowhere to plant the brussel sprouts out yet and they are more than ready, and oh the weeds.
To top it all it seems I (well probably OS) have lost my camera which makes me less likely to update the blog, so less likely to get to the plot to have something to write about so more neglect and - you see where this is leading?
So I am resolved to pull myself together and get up there and pick the strawberies and weed again tommorrow. I will replace the camera and get my gardening mojo back.
Meanwhile OS has just been sick in the wash hand basin - events are beginning to conspire again...

Gardeners World (not weeding)

2010-06-20T23:18:00.001+01:00

I gave the weeding a break this afternoon to visit Gardeners World Live at the NEC in Birmingham after winning a pair of tickets from Deb on Carrots and Kids http://www.carrotsandkids.com/ thanks Deb! I took the family along too.

We had a pretty good time

Celebrity spotting ...

Tony who? Joe who? Said OH

We found a few veggi gardens (I bribed the boys with the promise of an ice cream for this photo)

Ice creams and the cactus and suculent stand - what more could a girl want?

Not to have her photo taken unexpectedly it seems...

So what did we think?

Well we didn't stay that long - just over 2 hours was enough for the boys so I guess we barely scratched the surface but all in all it was a sucess. The food was horrendously pricey but as the Good Food Show was next door it seemed rude not to try a few samples. There were some very silly things to buy, I failed miserably - I only managed to buy one £1 packet of seed. But there were some lovely moments (why did that man have a red and white sheep slung over his shoulders?) and a nice atmosphere to the whole place. The ask the expert bit was very middle England and easy to mock but what's not to like about people being passionate about their sweetcorn? So all in all a good afternoon out, I probably wouldn't have been as happy if I'd driven further or I'd paid £21 per ticket and next time, I'm sorry boys, I'd leave you at home.

This evening we got back to the lottie and I pulled weeds with new vigor. I'm so close to finishing 2009 winter digging - maybe by the end of the week.

Can't blog

2010-06-06T19:12:00.002+01:00

Can't blog - weeding!

Me

2010-05-31T23:26:00.000+01:00

A while ago I read this post http://nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/favourites/ on nipitinthebud's blog. The photo montage captured my imagination and I wanted to do my own and so many moons later here it is. It holds the answers to the questions:

1. my name
2. my year of birth
3. siblings?
4. my birthplace
5. favorite food?
6. favourite drink?
7. shoe size?
8. favourite pudding?
9. trait valued in others?
10. favourite animal?
11. favourite book?
12. how I keep fit?
13. pets
14. favourite pastime?
15. one word to describe me
16. what I love most about life
Follow the instructions in the original post if you fancy a go - I really enjoyed it!

Rain

2010-05-26T22:16:00.001+01:00

Finally it is raining -just in time for the Bank Holiday. I'm disproportioantely excited but felt that you lot might understand - unlike some I could mention...

The benefits of being a slacker

2010-05-14T21:41:00.000+01:00

I hate to boast but...
There was very little frost damage on my plot.
This was beacause:

1.Nothing has been planted out yet.
2.I had forgotten to undo the greenhouse and therfore didn't forget to do it up.
3.The most tender plants have not yet progressed from the conservatory.
4.Beans don't get planted until May 10th (it is the law in my family).
5.I didn't earth up all the potatoes - but the ones I hadn't done I had absentmindely parked the grass clipping pile on - (the compost is full up) thus saving them from damage.

So it appears there might be method in my madness after all.
In other news - I might be able to finish my winter digging this weekend (winter 2009). There again, maybe not.

Bluebell woods

2010-05-09T22:36:00.000+01:00

I was skiving from the lottie again today - feel free to remind me next time I moan about weeding, being behind etc. We went to Rutland Water, the bluebells in Barnsdale wood were beautiful and smelt lovely too. They are definitely my favourite spring flower (OK and daffodils...).

It seems Anne Bronte rated them too:

The Bluebell

A fine and subtle spirit dwells

In every little flower,

Each one its own sweet feeling breathes

With more or less of power.

There is a silent eloquence

In every wild bluebell

That fills my softened heart with bliss

That words could never tell.

(then it goes on a bit...)

If you haven't seen any bluebells yet - get out there!

Guilt

2010-05-08T18:13:00.000+01:00

I took the day off work on Wednesday, put YS in nursery took OS to school and got set for a full day at the plot. so did I get everything done?
No.
I got my hair cut at the girl barbers, it seemed too good an oppurtunity to miss and then as I was in town I had a look round and one thing led to another but not to the plot.
I finally spent a measly hour weeding the new seeds.
So many good intentions.
I had a lovely day off but wish I didn't feel so much guilt!

Poor Sad Baldie

2010-04-27T20:27:00.001+01:00

He started out like many others - full of hope

He grew and grew. The caterpillars liked him. We didn't like them. Together we fought them off.

We talked about netting him to stop the pigeons. It was just talk. He survived extreme cold and snow.

Old Baldies friends were uprooted and consigned to the compost heap. But in a neglected corner deep amongst the grass, (how did that get there?), sits Old Baldie and a few mates.

And now we've found him we're gonna eat him...

PSB -YUM!

Apologies for the weather

2010-04-17T16:29:00.001+01:00

Not now - obviously - it's gorgeous here, but this summer I fear will be a wet one. I have just bought a new hose. OH has been, I would say happlily but I would be lying, putting it together for me as like everything at the moment it was flat packed.

So whilst he got on with that, I planted out the sweet peas, a second wave of peas, some beetroot and a row of carrots. So you can expect much weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth in about a months time when the carrots haven't grown/ have carrot fly/ have been eaten by slugs/ have been dug up by a cat/ have been got by volcanic dust...
Meanwhile

OH had triumphed over the hose and watered them for me. The boys sat in the car and played with a whoopie cushion. Philistines.

First signs of sping (1-10)

2010-04-11T16:39:00.001+01:00

1.I heard the first ice cream van.
2.Oh and the blossom is out on the cherry tree.
3.Trousers dry on the washing line.
4.The eggs are getting bigger.
5. The lawn needs mowing.
6. There isn't much lawn left after over winter footballing.
7. Remembering to close the greenhouse when you have already got into bed.
8. All horizontal surfaces contain a seed tray.
9. The collection of toilet rolls is at an all time low.
10. Bare chests in the garden (not mine obviously).

Hope you had a good weekend. Back to work for me tommorow after a very enjoyable Easter break At least I can get to the plot in the evening now though!

A fruitful day

2010-04-06T18:37:00.002+01:00

At last we got something done at the plot!

We planted two gooseberry bushes that had been neglected all winter in two small pots - I've no idea how they survived but they have leaves so deserved a chance. Planted 5 Autumn Bliss raspberry canes. I love raspberries and I'm hoping these will fruit this year.

Planted the potatoes, Premier, International Kidney and Pink Fir Apple. We had two Int Kid left over so I will put those in the recently vacated dustbin at the bottom of the garden. The boys had had enough after that lot so carrots were postponed until next time (carrots are always my nemisis). Just as I popped the tools back into the shed I noticed there was a bit of rhubarb worth having. So we had 5 sticks for tea with "puffy pancakes". All in all a fruitful day. (For the pedants I know rhubarb is a vegetable - but that doesn't fit with the title...)

Sow sow

2010-04-03T19:15:00.001+01:00

I feel so far behind this year so it was time to have a day of sowing seeds. I sowed brassicas (though why I bother...), more peas, various flowers for companion planting and cutting, lettuce, beetroot and more sweet peas as my overwintering ones look a bit weedy. Look at me being peat free!

The boys helped by racing around my ankles on a bike and a go cart - and yes I do have the bruises to show for it. I have put the seeds to bed in a mini plastic greenhouse to keep them a bit warmer and prevent the chickens having a nibble. Yes you Farah!

First Earlies

2010-04-01T21:36:00.000+01:00

In my shockingly lax gardening style I haven't really thought about planting potatoes yet. Too cold (snow again this morning) but they are chitting well ...

Maybe in about a week or so the soil will have warmed up a bit and I might consider venturing up to the plot.

This morning YS pointed out quite how lax my gardening has become. "Mummy are you ever going to get the potatoes out of the tub at the bottom of the garden?" cue Mummy muttering "What are you talking about darling, what potatoes?". But lo!

Look what we found, not a mess of rotting potato flesh as anticipated, but a handy tractor load.

(YS loves his tractor).

Note to self - keep better records - if I can lose a tub of potatoes what other delights might be waiting for me? Tommorrow I will venture again to the bottom of the garden.

The boys are back in town

2010-03-26T23:01:00.001Z

We went to the allotment twice last weekend. Once on Saturday which was a short wet visit. Luckily we like mud and the washing machine is fully functioning. We went again on Sunday, and what a difference a day makes - look what the sun brought out - us in T-shirts!

We planted beetroot, spring onions and radish. Manured the potato bed-to-be (watch this space) and adjusted the compost heaps. We also found a few interesting bugs.

This is a shield bug. I don't think it does much harm and it kept the small boys interested for a while.

What will this weekend bring? It feels like spring but the forecast is for sleet and a hard frost on Tuesday/ Wednesday so I'm debating whether to dust of the fleece. On the plus side I won't be able to see the weeds if the fleece is on and the frost should be OK. On the minus side putting the fleece on might mean tidying the shed. What to do...

The vernal equinox

2010-03-21T21:09:00.000Z

The flowers are out. They know it is spring!

I dig digging

2010-03-16T19:52:00.000Z

I love my family dearly, including those who came to partake of a Mother's Day lunch of roast beef and all the trimmings and chocolate fondant pudding with poached pears - yum!
But - it was still nice to nip to the allotment for half an hour and dig over the potato bed whilst the boys cycled around the garden and OH did the washing up.
I am sparing you the picture of a dug over potato bed - I kind of guess you might have seen one before. I took one for posterity though - bare weed free soil is a bit of a rarity on my plot - the moment needed to be recorded.

Slowly, slowly, catchey monkey

2010-03-08T19:10:00.001Z

My OH (to be known for the remainder of this post as lovely husband LH) looked after the boys for an hour and a half on Sunday so I DID get something done.

Broad beans under the cloches, peas under the glass lean to radish planted between the sticks, onions under the netting and a bit of digging to boot. Still some way to go though. I'm sure I was much further on at this time last year. Will the winter digging be done before August, will the weeds ever be brought under control and will the boys ever want to come out into the cold again. All this and more to be answered in due course...

The inside of the shed

2010-03-07T17:51:00.000Z

Soilman http://www.soilman.net/?p=2212 posted about the state of his shed and dared us to show ours. I think it is fair to say that I am not a (rude word deleted as I am a lady) but I am a little untidy. OH is horrified that I would publish this. It did have a positive side though, instead of tidying it I weeded the strawberry patch another task I do no undertake lightly - although the results were far from impressive...

I've bean planting

2010-03-06T11:26:00.001Z

We went to the allotment yesterday YS and I. It was a lovely afternoon and my companion was very enthusiastic (it always helps). It was two hours until OS finished school so I had a chance to get lots done.

First the broad beans. now beginning to get a bit leggy it was high time they were planted out. So we set to. My companion began to mutter about being cold and wanting to go and see grandma. I jollied him along but the mutterings turned into moans, so I increased my pace. Two full rows of broad beans were planted out in twenty minutes and that was it. Time up. Grandma was lovely, as always, and the tea and cake was very welcome but I NEED TO GET THINGS DONE! Grrrrrr!

So no photo either...

Plotting

2010-02-28T13:28:00.000Z

Still haven't been to the lottie as this week's weather is torrential rain and after watching OS play football in it this morning I really can't face getting bone cold again. So we are at home plotting what we are going to plant this year. The window sills are already filling up and the lovely lady is getting a bit crowded. (I see the windows need washing and the fence repairing too...)

This weekend YS and I have been planting flowers. Marigolds, Dahlias and Lobelia as well as some herbs and sprouting mung beans. The peas and beans are ready to go under cloches, the sweet peas are ready for the cold frame the parsnips are chitting on paper towel and the potatoes are laid out in trays in the conservatory. There are definite signs of sping in the garden though. Here's hoping that next week there will be more outdoor progress!

Winter's last blast (hopefully)

2010-02-20T20:46:00.002Z

Well the snow is back in Leicestershire. We were sledging again yesterday so it looks like yet another weekend of inactivity at the plot.

All is not lost however, I sorted my seeds out, and to the comment you can never have too many seeds I have to say - I can!

February fill dyke

2010-02-12T17:12:00.000Z

We used to sing a hymn at school.

"Glad that I live am I,
That the sky is blue,
Glad for the country lanes
And the fall of dew,
After the sun the rain after the rain the sun,
This is the way of life 'till the work be done"

So I'm looking forward to the sun as it is pretty wet at the lottie. I've clocked up 3 visits since Christmas totalling about 4.5 hours. I consoled myself by buying some (more) seeds.

Leeks tommorrow I think.

Ready, steady,sow!

2010-02-03T18:02:00.000Z

I always get into trouble at this time of year as I'm desparate to get on with things (not sure why as the digging / clearing up / pruning has not been done yet) so YS and I dusted off the toilet rolls and planted peas and broad beans to try and get an early start after the over wintered ones didn't.

We get pleasure from small things in this house so when YS went to the toilet this morning he was very excited to find...

a pea!

So he had one, and that created another toilet roll and so the cycle continues...

January Blues

2010-01-31T12:51:00.001Z

The snow put paid to any early broad beans

The pigeons ate the brassicas (as predicted so why didn't I NET THEM?)

But we loved the snow!

It hasn't been the best start to a new decade hence my lack of posts but this week we planted some seeds (broad bean, peas, sweet peas) to replace those that got a bit too hardened off and bought our seed potatoes and shallots so the season is a go (and I just got a post in before the end of January).

Onion seeds and leeks are next on the agenda.

Here comes Summer!

2009-12-21T21:49:00.000Z

So that was the shortest day.
Here's to longer ones. And warmer ones.
Allotment news: I have some sprouts for Christmas. Just got to get my fingers cold and go and pick them.
We are making allotment truffles for presents (raspberries, carefully frozen in summer, will be lovingly encased in a white chocolte truffle and dipped in white or dark chocolate) I will post a picture if any make it past the testers to the waiting boxes.
Hope you are all having a happy Christmastide.
Must dash ho ho ho and all that.
- and soon we will be (hoeing that is).

Christmas lights

2009-12-06T20:43:00.001Z

The next few weeks seem to be a whirl of parties here, discos there, concerts both here and there, and of course none of them are for me.
I was hoping to get to the plot this weekend but the weather has been so wet I thought I'd do more harm than good.
Yesterday I went to the garden centre to buy some prepared hyacinths for planting, and it was fully Christmassed up ( they even had a lifesized animated camel) so we came home and put up our tree. This morning football was cancelled so I just nipped up to the plot to pick some kale, parsnips, sprouts and chard (bright lights - get it?) and then took OS to the Beaver Chrismas party whilst YS and I went and put Grandma's tree up for her. On the way home I had a brilliant idea, so we nipped into Leicester and looked at the Christmas lights there and had a lovely time. I really should have taken a camera.
It was nearly a no spend day but there was a little fair in the middle of town so the boys needed - apparently - to go on the spinning teacups. Ah well!
I feel all warm and Christmassy now.

All the fun of the fair

2009-11-29T17:09:00.000Z

There is a street fair in the local town, the boys went on the train, we all went in the hall of mirrors and OS and I went on the ghost train and on the wild mouse. YS opted to blow bubbles at Daddy.

Talking of the wild mouse, he seems to be nibbling my broad beans at the allotment. I hearby declare war.

The curious incident of the lost boot in the nightime

2009-11-20T20:59:00.000Z

We didn't go to the allotment until after school today as the weather has been so foul. So by the time we got there it was a case of harvest as much as you can carry and get home again. Some of the parsnips were holding on for dear life it seems so it all took rather longer than I thought.

Which leads me to the question: if OS runs quickly down the path in the twilight and his boot flies off - how long does it take to locate it and retrieve it fronm a patch of nettles?
The answer was quite a long time. We had to visit Grandma for a fish and chip supper to get over the excitement. No washing up. Result!

Remember the plot

2009-11-10T21:57:00.002Z

Remember, remember the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, Treason and plot...

Ah yes the plot. Well what with three bonfire parties and the village Rememberence Day parade we didn't have a lot of time this weekend. I did think about posting more photos of digging parsnips, or me putting the rhubarb to bed under a layer of well rotted horse manure, or a shot of my pumpkin on the compost heap, all of which we did do. Be thankful that you got OS having a lovely time on Saturday just before he got soaking wet and covered in sugar (again). Normal service might be resumed soon - but frankly we are having allot of fun!

Happy Hallow'een

2009-10-30T22:19:00.002Z

We carved these pumpkins, OS did the skull by himself, though we did use a transfer, I think it looks rather good. YS's is a spider, mainly done by me, which is less sucessful - there is a moral there somewhere! So what has this to do with the allotment? Absolutely nothing, the squash we grew this year were too small for carving and tasted divine so I couldn't waste them. Something to aim for next year maybe - a squash of our own to carve?

Hope you have fun and are not bothered if you don't want to be. I know it isn't everyones cup of tea. The law as issued at OS's school is visit people you know, stay with an adult and only visit houses that have a pumpkin lit outside. We are going to a party with the boys cousin and have apple bobbing, sweets in flour and doughnuts on strings to look forward to. We have made witches fingers and spider cakes this evening,and have been practicing our party pieces in readiness. Even OH has promised to dress up...

A Winter's Tale

2009-10-27T21:03:00.000Z

The old boys up at the allotment usually know a thing or two. When they are not shaking their heads at my untidy plot and odd plants that I grow (flowers and "foreign muck"), they are usually happy to give advice, seeds and the odd cabbage.
I couldn't help but notice on Sunday afternoon that lots of their plots are now totally empty, dug over, manured or limed and looking expectant. Now I know the caterpillars did a lot of damage to the brassicas but even so, my plot still seems to be full of stuff to the extent that I haven't got room to plant out my garlic and have only managed to get three rows of onions in (see exciting picture above).
So am I behind or in front of the curve?
I'm hoping to be dug over by Jan uary/February but until then it just keeps growing.

Autumn harvest

2009-10-23T09:23:00.004+01:00

Went to the plot yesterday for the first time for a week or so (it's half term so we've been to the beach instead) and the parsnips are still going strong - who can believe that they started off on damp kitchen paper back in March http://allotofveg.blogspot.com/2009/03/parsnips.html and were lovingly nurtured in toilet rolls to produce these beauties! We also harvested a swede, a leek, some borlotti beans, some french beans, some little turnips and some kale. Soup anyone?

Summer goodbye...

2009-10-07T20:45:00.000+01:00

The last summer harvest from the allotment at the weekend. I've started to clear the summer things away tonight. So the beans are has-beens the courgettes and corn are composted and the parsnips are poised to come on stream.

The seasons are definitely on the turn.

We are planning a bonfire to toast marshmallows on, a manure digging session and some onion and garlic planting. What a difference a week makes.

I'd like to thank...

2009-09-22T20:38:00.009+01:00

I've planned for this moment for some time - I'd like to thank my parents for teaching me, my family for allowing me the time, the cats for not digging in the seedbed...no maybe not.
I do have an Oscar speech planned, should the occasion ever arise, but not a blogspeech. I'm touched (some say very) to be given this award by Maureen at http://mylottieheaven.blogspot.com/ and glad that at least a few of you read the blog.

OK I've been tagged, so if you are still with me here are 10 facts,(though not necessarily about me),(or true).

1. Redheads are bad tempered. This is usually because they are continually asked if having red hair means you have a bad temper, and in the end they snap and say, "Yes it bally well does now buzz off!". Having red hair is special. I hated as a kid, except when old ladies admired it, but love it now, I think I've grown into it. Redheads also get sunburnt whilst weeding. Memo to self, do not weed in low rise trousers. If one needs to weed in low rise trousers apply suntan cream to parts not previously considered to be 'where the sun does shine'.

2. Wasp stings hurt. This was a recent discovery of mine. I do not intend rediscovering it any time soon.

3. My tomatoes got blight - again - this year. Not that I'm bitter or anything you understand. Please do not post any further tomato photos on your blogs.
I don't eat tomatoes. Well I don't eat them raw (or naked as OS calls them) but this year I was going to try...

4. My plot is one of the untidiest on the site. I regularly blame this on my helpers but my desk is the untidiest at work, and my house isn't very close to minimalist either. I have to face facts it just might be a creative mind at work.

5. My day job is a 'bean counter' just lately at the plot I've been counting beans, one of life's little ironies.

6. I am over committed. I am also 'over seeded'. I need to "just say no!" on many levels. A job, two businesses, a family, caring for an aged parent and 8 different varieties of bean - see, over committed.

7. My Dad taught me to garden and I didn't appreciate what a gift this was until I wasn't able to thank him for it. I'm trying to teach my kids now, and feel I know a bit more about my Dad too. It is a very cathartic thing.

8. Having an allotment has improved my cooking skills no end. However, disasters do still occur, salt instead of sugar in rhubarb, even though it is a vegetable, is a bit too savoury, don't do it! Similarly if your helper does accidentally tip some brown rice instead of oats into the crumble mix, can I recommend you sieve it out rather than take the "Oh s*d it!" route. Even if your friend is a dentist.

9. Are you still here? I don't sleep much. Apparently I am like Mrs Thatcher in this regard, but not in any other (I hope), although she possibly had someone to remove caterpillars from her brassicas? Or is it only Gordon who has had a vegetable garden at 10 Downing St. Maybe I should stand for PM.

10. When not gardening I like to read, but my reading group will not do a "Joy Larkcom" or the T&M seed catalogue as book of the month. We did do ' Lady Chatterley's Lover' which involved a bit of shrubbery, but no oriental vegetables.

and that's me in a nutshell.

I'd like to pass the award on to Drooling at http://www.thedroolingvegetable.co.uk/ and Carrie at http://growourown.blogspot.com/
Feel free to join in, or not, as you please (I will still read your blog!)
Appolgies for links - if anyone can tell me how to - I will

Lost and found

2009-09-16T20:34:00.002+01:00

Well with all the excitement of the wasps on Monday night it wasn't until I was driving to w*rk on Tuesday that I realised I had a few problems:
1. I was in pain and still swelling up. The sting on my arm made my arm go red from my arm pit to below my elbow and ached as though I had flu. The ones on my stomach were very painful and I was beginning to look pregnant. So after a brief "What the heck has happened to you?" type conversation I nipped to the chemist. Nine stings she thought and recommended the doc (but I ignored that).
2. I had lost the key to the allotment and the shed. OS is 'gate man' on the occasions when we take the car and had left them in the padlock, not an uncommon occurance, but I forgot to ask for them in the panic and there you go - lost.
3. This loss of key seemed to momentarily tip me over the edge and there was I weeping at the thought of not being able to get to the allotment or my lovely tools.
OH checked the padlock after a frantic phone call. No - lost.
This morning I had a new perspective on things and stuck a sticky label with my phone number on the gate post to the lottie track and this morning whilst I was at w*rk OH rang and said he'd just been and collected them and had a cup of tea with a gentleman in the village.

Faith in human nature restored and antihistermines working, the world is a lovely place again.

Now I just have to take the bag of shredded paper to the allotment, I wonder if the wasps are gone...

Ouch!

2009-09-14T20:11:00.003+01:00

Went to the plot tonight and not there very often neighbour turned up too, which was nice. We chatted as we got on with stuff.
I was de-caterpillaring my brassicas and chatting to her when all of a sudden I heard a squeak, turned round and there she was topless and running round her plot flapping her jumper. I didn't like to comment but YS asked what was wrong. Wasps, was what was wrong, she had disturbed a nest and before we managed to tidy up and make a hasty exit I had been stung four, count them, four times.
Happily the boys didn't get stung as I put them over the fence to go the long way round. Neighbour has promised to go to the plot tommorrow and see what could be done. Paraffin and matches were mentioned but I'm keeping out of it.
I'm off to look at my arm, leg and stomach and get some sympathy from the OH.

Oh yes, neighbour was stung once, the wasp was up her jumper.

Flowers for Grandma

2009-09-12T19:22:00.002+01:00

Finally got to the plot today to pick more beans and courgettes. The beans are still non stringy and delicious so I will freeze another batch. Then we picked caterpillars for a good 10 minutes - and still the blighters come. I've already written my Christmas list and enviromesh is up there! Several people have been blogging about leek moth disaters but I think the wind at the plot must keep them away as no one seems to have any touble so far (touch wood). The wind has blown a few rows of beans over (not mine - I tied the poles to the plot fence) so I need to think of strategies for keeping cloches on my own plot this winter. Whilst I was doing this the boys picked an autumnal boquet for grandma which is very pretty I think, grandma thought so too. Just in case you think it is all so idylic at my plot - shortly after picking the flowers we had to go home due to a fight (about spades).

I'm jammin'

2009-09-07T23:19:00.005+01:00

"Let's go to the park" I said
"It's bedtime" said OS and then realising his mistake "yeh! I'll get my trainers"
"Which park?" said YS
"The one with the blackberries of course!" I said.
Groans all round.
"You are such a pikey!" says OH (supportively)
"O contraire" says I "'tis all the rage these days to gather food from the wild and grow one's own"
"Never thought of you as a trendsetter" he replied.

Half an hour later and I was on the way home to bath and bed the boys and knock off a swift five pots of blackberry jam (seedless - does that mean it's jelly?)

Yum!

It's bean too long...

2009-09-01T22:18:00.003+01:00

... since I last posted. We've been camping over the long weekend, we had a lovely time but it's a releif not to have 'wasps on toast' for breakfast. I nipped up to the plot tonight to see what had happened whilst we were away and came back with this little lot. Two sorts of beans, pak choi, calabrese and the obligatory courgettes/marrows. Not much of a harvest? Well I did stop at Mum's on the way back and she took a carrier bag full of beans off my hands...

Feeding the 5000

2009-08-23T18:17:00.002+01:00

We had a family lunch for 12 of us today and the lottie provided all of the veg. We had a big garden salad with lettuce (4 different varieties), cucumber, radish, spring onion, carrot and pepper. We also used onion, garlic and potatoes in the main course all from the lottie. I've got beans and courgettes to weave into next weeks meal plan and a lovely bunch of calebrese from a plant I had given up on. Hurrah for the productive days of August!

Firming in

2009-08-18T21:15:00.002+01:00

I emptied the big compost bin onto the main bed for winter brassicas. This is OS helping me to "firm" the soil prior to planting. Well I guess that's one way to do it...

On the harvest front I'm still eating courgettes and beans most days, the next wave of lettuce is not quite ready and there is a cucumber on my plant I seem to have rescued from whatever it had. It still looks distinctly under the weather but has grown two more cucumbers so I'm not complaining. You know what they say - don't judge a plant by it's leaves - or something like that.

Allotment essentials

2009-08-14T13:22:00.005+01:00

I've got my gardening mojo back. After the disappointment of the tomatoes I was a bit less enthused than normal but now we are back to twice weekly allotment visits. Last night in the bath (sorry for putting that image into your mind) I was pondering what my allotment essentials are.
I came up with this top 5 list:
1. A stainless steel border fork, just the right weight for me and I can do most jobs with it - it is far and away my most used tool.
2. Grow your own vegetables by Joy Larkcom. My essential no nonsense reference book. I stopped buying books not long after this one because I didn't need any more.
3. My trusty knife. Working overtime on the courgettes today.
4. Muscle if required. OH is very patient with me. I am a slightly obsessive gardener, apparently it's not normal to read 6 month old gardening magazines in bed.
5. My gardening companions (see above) I wouldn't be without them - although I'd definitely be more productive! Photo taken as we gathered bits for bithday lunch for OS who requested "allotment rice". I'm off to get the party started, but in the meantme do you have any gardening essentials?

Squashed tomatoes, no stew

2009-08-07T18:15:00.002+01:00

Today is the lotties birthday.
I haven't visited yet today but I may still get round to it (as cricket practice is off due to a waterlogged pitch). I was thinking of doing a retrospective post, what have I learned over the last year - you know the sort of thing. I just had a quick garden inspection outside before posting and discovered that the tomatoes have blight. I'm really disappointed as I got blight at Mum's last year and thought the change of location might be enough, not sure I'll bother with tomatoes next year. There is nothing better than a fresh picked tomato - but since I don't seem to be getting any of those... and then just to cheer me up even more the cucumber has cucumber mosaic virus. The gardening year starts full of hope and expectation and then my dreams come crashing down in a pile of caterpillars, molluscs, fungus and viral disease.
Ah well, on with the autumn planting.

Nothing but blue skies

2009-08-05T20:24:00.004+01:00

Here's a shot of me not weeding on Sunday. Look at the beautiful blue sky! It certainly made a change from the weather on Saturday when we were forced to go and visit the fish at the garden centre (one of our favourite wet day things to do) and there just happened to be a half price seed sale.

Disaster! I now have even more planting to do which will mean less time for weeding. So I now have melon flavoured turnip(?) and two sorts of radish to look forward to as until the PSB gets too big I may as well under plant, and another two varieties of french bean (but I think I'll save those for next year). The boys found some things to spend pocket money on so it was a case of "rain, rain, go away, you've cost me too much money today". Now my Mum tells me that Wilkinsons have got a sale too...

I've decided weeding is overrated. Just look at the sweetpeas, and I've not weeded them.

Look what the sun brought out...

2009-08-02T19:01:00.002+01:00

...a rare sighting of the lesser spotted hubby, drafted in to chop through the cauliflower and cabbage stems. Of course he just dug them up. Now why didn't I think of that?

YS is digging - again against a backdrop of sweetpeas. The "full frontal" of the boys had some graphic shots of weed in the background, hence this more "artistic" pic. Although now I look again, there are rather a lot of weeds here too. Are my posts following a pattern here?

We dig dig dig...

2009-07-31T22:37:00.004+01:00

We love potatoes, they are the earth's buried treasure, there is nothing quite so satisfying as turning over a forkfull of soil to find, who knows what? The boys have taken the job of digging them up as their own and mutiny when I suggest we limit ourselves to just one row at a time. This ungency has it's advantages though as space is still at a premium. Today I planted pak choi, beetroot, onions (too late?) and four, yes count them, four brussel spout plants. Only another 56 brassic plants to find room for then - and that's not counting the lacey ones which I fear will go straight to the compost, without passing go.

Rather a lot of weeds in the background again - honestly I do try.

That's shallot

2009-07-30T19:17:00.005+01:00

The local town made the news this evening. Apparently we have had 170mm of rain today, although it all seemed to be in one shower around lunchtime. We went up to the allotment first thing and did our harvesting so while the rain fell we had a surprising amount of fun plaiting our onions, shallots, garlic and my hair, although not together. These are the shallots that I am saving for next year.

The plants I had put in the paddling pool so I didn't have to water them whilst I was away in the week have had to be rescued. Their pots were entirely under water, the plants were all trying to snorkel. The wormery also had to be rescued as the worms were having to swim, hopefully they will recover - I feel very responsible for them.

One of the least sucessful things this year (apart from carrots) have been my brassica seedlings which grew well and then suffered from terminal neglect. They have become lace curtain like this week and the boys spent a happy 10 minutes relocating caterpillars around the garden. I will try to salvage something when things dry out a little.

Mornings

2009-07-26T10:32:00.002+01:00

Mornings are usually a chaos of people needing to get somewhere quickly and small boys climbing into my bed at unearthly hours. This morning was different. Last night I took the small boys out to the opening ceremony of the special olympics. It was a late night for them. So this morning I woke up and went to the allotment, all the harvesting had been done yesterday so I weeded the strawberry bed, planted some lettuce, weeded the beans and still manged to get home in time for breakfast. Which was a lovely relaxed start to the day. Which makes a change.

I even had time to contemplate the dahlias, I'm quite proud of them, from a packet of mixed seed from Wilkos I have splashes of colour all over the allotment. Which is also good for lifting your spirits in the morning.

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake?

2009-07-20T19:40:00.004+01:00

With apologies to Crowded House. We really enjoyed the chocolate courgette cake definitely one for the recipe file. This photo doesn't do it justice. Today we mainly weeded. Again.

The next generation

2009-07-18T19:51:00.004+01:00

Here they are, the "peeps". We have been in charge this week as the neighbours are on their various holidays. So we get to look after the peeps, Peter the confused, and the Ladies who lunch. Boy the peeps are serious eating machines! Feeding twice a day, cleaning out every evening - and they don't even lay eggs. But they are undeniably cute, as most creatures are at three weeks old. I'm sure by the time the summer is over they will be being ushered from the kitchen with the broom like the rest..

Currying favour

2009-07-16T22:20:00.003+01:00

Living near Leicester with its high Asian population, we love a good curry in these parts. The kids get fed curry at nursery and at school and my work canteen always has it as an option, but we had curry for dinner tonight. Hurrah for you, you might cry, but the point was it was made with love with stuff I grew.
Garlic, from the allotment.
Onions (I'm using up those that bolted) from the allotment.
Corriander from the pot in the garden.
Cauliflower, from the allotment.
Courgette (one of those bad boys) from the allotment.
Carrots - yes well as I've mentioned before they have always been my nemisis.
Rice - looks like a crop for the future based on this weeks weather!
We'll gloss over the cheats curry paste.
You get the picture.
I had four clean plates and it was so satisfying. Lots of chat, "This is the courgette I planted", "Did I dig this onion up?" and even "Isn't Mum clever Daddy?".
(They all agreed I was).
I'd give you the recipe but it was grab what's ready in the garden, cook until the broad beans are podded and in the freezer. Fix the rice and nan and serve.

July is bountiful

2009-07-15T20:54:00.001+01:00

The harvest just keeps coming. I got a carrier bag full of broad beans as well as this as I've pulled up the winter planted ones now. I need the space. Brassicas are go!

When courgettes go bad...

2009-07-14T21:13:00.005+01:00

Whilst we were doing this

Those bad boy courgettes were doing this

and this

now where is that chocolate courgette cake recipe?

Peas release me...

2009-07-06T20:09:00.003+01:00

We have been harvesting again. The peas have been great this year and I still haven't managed to get any near a saucepan. Here is OS demonstrating his technique.

Coo! What's that?

2009-07-05T22:08:00.006+01:00

Pigeons, don't you just hate them? Tonight I was planting kale where the onions used to be and all I could hear in the tree was a pigeon cooing. I swear he was calling his mates and saying, " Dinner's at my place lads - be ready about 9.30".
Poor kale I will go and read it the last rites tommorrow evening.

Yes I know I could net but all the nets are in use and the plot is in danger of being mistaken for some kind of spider web.

Oh and while I'm on the subject - squirrels - leave the raspberries alone!

I feel better for getting that off my chest.

harvest home

2009-06-22T21:32:00.002+01:00

At last a proper harvest, it must be summer!
Onions(2 varieties), Pak choi, Strawberries, Broad Beans, Peas, Sweetpeas, Potatoes, Radishes and a lonely garlic. Now we just have to eat it all.

Hay making

2009-06-17T21:39:00.003+01:00

I nipped up to the plot last night once the littlies were in bed - sometimes I just need to get things done. Weeding was on the adgenda. This ladies and gentlemen is my potato patch...
Todays top tip, make sure you dig hungarian rye grass in thoroughly if you use it as a green manure! Weeding with shears, whatever next.

Sweet Peas

2009-06-14T21:08:00.002+01:00

Well I do grow the flowers, but we have just harvested the first lot of peas for this year. I sent OS on a treasure hunt amongst the weedy pea vines. I would have photographed the harvest but we didn't manage to get them home. I suggested to the boys that they might like to try one freshly picked and that was the end of the peas! It was a revalation to them, at first YS refused to try them "don't they need cooking?" and then there were fights, "Mum he's not sharing!".
So I'll count that a sucess then.

Minimal posting this week as YS has been poorly. Now on the mend (see mention of fighting above)hurrah!

Gardening conundrum number 2 of many

2009-06-06T17:14:00.003+01:00

Why is it that the tomatoes I'm nurturing in tomato corner are in flower and look like this

All very fine, full of flowers, etc.
But the ones I have abandoned, not potted on, forgot to water, in neglect corner look like this

See tomatoes! Why is that?

Beans,beans

2009-06-05T17:28:00.007+01:00

Beans, beans they give good heart,
The more you eat the more you ...enjoy them! Here's to a good season. YS is podding the first proper crop for me.

Didn't we have a lovely time...

2009-05-27T20:57:00.005+01:00

This is the kind of thing we like to do in an hour at the allotment, YS digs holes - isn't there a soil test that goes something like this? I've no idea how long the hole took to empty though as it kept getting refilled. Whilst he was busy, I planted a 2 sisters bed (the beans will go elsewhere) and checked out the broad beans. The 2 sisters bed looks as if it is surrounded by weeds, tragically it is. We also had a harvest! 2 cauliflowers grown by me from plugs, 12 radish grown by os a few of the larger broad beans grown by me and the ever present rhubarb from the previous plotholder although nurtured by me since. Of course I forgot to photograph my harvest box and now it has all been eaten so you'll just have to trust me.

The road to...

2009-05-27T20:46:00.003+01:00

Or rather the road from. From the allotment that is. It struck me the other day when I met a tourist on the path, what a pretty part of the world we live in. First tourist I've ever heard of in these parts though!

Feast and famine

2009-05-21T19:11:00.002+01:00

Weeds everywhere! Plants where I didn't put them - the parsnip is from 2 years ago and the potato from last year. Disaster in the asparagus patch, where one plant has not appeared at all and one got broken during todays weeding session, there were only three to start with. Snails back in the compost bin. Will anything planted by me on purpose ever produce a harvest this year? Not so far but os's radishes made a tasty snack as we ate the thinnings, the rhubarb is still going strong and I have pods on the broad beans and green strawberries and an almost courgette flower. I love this time of year!

Water Water Everywhere

2009-05-18T19:12:00.003+01:00

You might think with all the rain we've been having watering wouldn't be top of our list. The shelf thingy in the background is excellent at stopping chicken nibbling so we use it a lot, but layers 2 and 3 stay very dry no matter how much rain we get, so ys helps me to water each day. Layer 4 is not used as the chickens like to shelter here from the rain and stand on anything they don't fancy eating. The chickens like to nip round to see what we are up to so ys has invented a chicken drink station and that needs watering too.

It's a small world

2009-05-16T20:11:00.010+01:00

It's strange this blogging business we all do the same stuff at the same time. Like Carrie at growourown, I have discovered the perpetrator of the crime - maybe the ladies were innocent after all? Look where he is heading...The lettuce are doomed,doomed I say!
And like Maureen at allotment heaven we have also been creating free bouquets, this one was created by ys for Grandma's birthday, the present giving mylarke is pretty easy when you are 3, Grandmas are satisfied with pretty much anything at all. Pretty though isn't it?
So the challenge for this week will have to be, do something original. That lets me off weeding for a week then...

Growing, growing, gone

2009-05-14T19:21:00.009+01:00

We sent most of the plants outside "on their holidays" to harden off today, the tomatoes have grown considerably since I last showed you. The cute pictures of YS planting the sweetcorn are irretrievably lost in the great camera disaster, but the results he's got are good. Just after these pictures the chickens (who I am no longer refering to as ladies) pecked off two sweetcorn, uprooted another and pulled a couple of leaves from the tomatoes. Perhaps they heard we had chicken in black bean sauce for dinner? Now where is that air rifle? (only joking - for the moment at least...).

Shed break ins

2009-05-11T21:09:00.002+01:00

Apparently 4 sheds have been broken into up at the plot over the weekend. Yesterday evening I was up there until 9.15 so I'm not sure when it was done but I'm in shock. You read about these things but I didn't think it would happen in our rural paradise. Reality check for me and a slight uncomfortable feeling about being out on my own in the near dark which I so love. Damn them!

Away to the woods

2009-05-02T19:15:00.002+01:00

We went for a lovely walk in the woods this afternoon, the bluebells were magnificent. A photo would have been good wouldn't it?
Ah well you can't have everything...
On the plot the weeds are still growing well. Weed control will be the main task tommorrow.

Lovely weather for frogs...

2009-04-28T21:27:00.002+01:00

I nipped down to cut the grass on the paths on Sunday evening and saw this little fella hiding in a clump just before he got familiar with the shears.
Hopefully he is enjoying the weather and having his supper - I found 47 snails when I finished digging out the compost bin. I need something to tip the balance back in my favour!

Gardening conundrum number 1 (of many)

2009-04-19T19:12:00.002+01:00

Why is it that the things I want to grow (like carrots) don't, but the things I don't want to grow (like Jerusalem artichoke)do?

I spent over an hour weeding last years Jerusalem artichoke bed and found a carrier bag full I'd missed. Luckily the plot neighbours wanted to give them a try - so I am the spreader of goodwill. I'm sure I will still have lots of artichokes this year too - I can't seem to get rid of the blighters (but I didn't tell them that).

Preaching to the converted

2009-04-12T20:16:00.003+01:00

"Can I try a bit of your rhubarb Mummy?" said OS today as I was tucking into a bowlful for pudding.
"No" says I, "you don't like it, it would be a waste".
"Can I try a bit?" says YS. "No, I'm afraid not, I don't want it wasted it's just too good to waste".
"Please?"
"Well if you are sure you won't waste it you could have a little bit..."
Two screwed up faces and silence and then a smile from OS.
"Actually it's really nice!"
YS screwed up his face some more, "Can I try some tommorrow - I might like it then?"

OK you can't win them all...

Knowing your onions

2009-04-07T23:37:00.002+01:00

I seem to have gone overboard with the allium family this year (amongst other things...) but they all seem to be growing well. I'm already starting to think along the lines of second crops as I'm rapidly running out of room but I guess the onions will be here until at least midsummer, when they will become roasted onion tart with salad eaten under the tree close to where they are currently growing. The food miles will be 1.7 and that will include taking them home to cook. Of course others will be cooked on site when we crank up the BBQ they wont even register on the food mileometer. I've made myself hungry now...

Pole dancing

2009-04-05T21:51:00.003+01:00

I expect to get some new visitors to the blog this week!

We(I)put up the bean poles in anticipation - not that I've planted any beans yet you understand. I persuaded OH to come and help me. OS is still digging out the compost YS is still digging up the asparagus (I could lose my sense of humour over this)and OH followed their lead and did his own thing (tidying my shed). So I did them on my own. It was a bit fiddly and involved some new moves that I don't normally associate with gardening, but still... They are not bad, even though I do say so myself. I can almost taste the beans already.

In case you were wondering, the green stuff in the background is work in progress, otherwise known as weeds. Ah well, a girl can't do it all on her own.

Rhubarb

2009-04-04T19:50:00.002+01:00

We picked a kilo of rhubarb today, I had some for pudding it was delicious. I will disguise some for the boys as the think they don't like it. They will. Rhubarb and custard cake anyone?

The exponential growth of seeds

2009-04-02T18:14:00.004+01:00

How is it that you start off with just a few innocuous seed packets, and end up needing to move house? The tomatoes are a case in point. One packet sown in two pots transplanted today into twenty pots...

I'm counting the weeks until we are safe from frost.

More brassica disaster!

2009-03-23T19:56:00.002Z

I put the seedlings out in the garden on Saturday to harden off. The chickens ate all the brussel sprouts, plus two sweet peas and some onions/leeks. (not sure which as they seem to have pulled out all the labels as an appetiser...)

It's not straight forward this gardening milarkie is it?

A riddle

2009-03-21T22:24:00.004Z

Q. What do you need to keep a small boy happy on an allotment? A. A riddle. So here is a riddle and a happy ys who likes getting his hands dirty. And his face judging by this picture.