Cute allotment-y cards

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Elli Moody card on folksy

 Paperlovelypress card on etsy

Yellowcakecrafts card on etsy

TheCheckerdRabbit card on etsy

Fiskandfern notecards on etsy

Andy Lanham Art card on folksy

 Andy Lanham card on folksy

Surreal! Love the carrot :) Kikichoo cards on etsy

Cherylzmiller cards on etsy

Local nursery trip - the purchases

So, I went to Dundry Nursery yesterday. Seems like a good find. Lots of healthy plants at good prices and a vast range of seeds. Of course, I didn't leave empty-handed! I found these pretty marigolds in amongst the more ugly (in my opinion) usual marigold varieties. These are 'disco mix'. I also got some dahlias, salvia and a vegetable spaghetti plant - I have given up trying to grow one from seed! The veg-spag plant is quite upright so I may train this up some canes. It seems Dundry are not only potato specialists, but also cultivate a vast number of chillis too. I didn't get any this time but will remember them for next year.

I also snapped a couple of ideas I may use down the allotment. This low, sturdy trellis could be recreated with scrap wood...

...and these wigwams are a bit different from how I'd normally do it but they look pretty funky like this tied lower down. I think I might try this with my runner bean/black-eyed susan vine plants.

I thought I'd take a couple of pics of the 'shed end' as it is starting to come together. In fact the whole plot is really shaping up.

Thinning out, planting & harvesting

Last night I popped to the allotment. Just for a little while after work... but then stayed 'til it was dark! That's a habit I am getting into. Too many jobs, not enough time.

My seedlings did pretty well sown directly into the soil in rows, under the cling film cold frame. I took the frame itself off a while back when the frost had gone and almost everything I planted has gone great guns. So much so, I think I have too much! The kohl rabi was my task last night. I thinned out all the seedlings and planted them in-front of the sugar snaps/cornflowers. There was a reasonable amount of weeding to do but the soil is lovely up this (shed) end of the plot and the weeds came out easily. I am very pleased with the kohl rabi seedlings and I am hoping they will now start to swell. I had some seedlings left over so I gave some to a plot neighbour and some to a friend at work. She also got a chinese lantern - seedlings are popping up from one I bought last year which I thought had died a death, and some cosmos - also self-sown from last year's plant.

I also harvested some radishes which look mighty fine :) I thinned the seedlings a couple of weeks ago to give them room to swell. I like this photo :) Anyone know any good radish recipes?

These are leeks I grew from seed. I am going to thin these out too and sow them in place. I ran out of time last night.

I read somewhere you can germinate shop-bought seeds. This is my 'bean experiment' so I will see if anything grows. Just a bit of fun really. Not the end of the world if it doesn't work!

I picked my first ranunculus too. It is a bright poppy-red but looks orange on this pic. Pesky camera!

I also planted out the aubergines, patty pans, butternut squash and marrow plants I bought from Potten Farm in Kent. I did this is the dark though so no photos yet!

I've just been to the nursery near work to get a few more things. As the seeds I planted did nothing and I want to grow them, I bought a tray of self-blanching celery and two trays of celariac. I also got more seeds and some flowers. Photos to follow :)

After saying I wouldn't grow them again, like I did with the tomatoes, I bought a pot of runner beans! Aww, but... there were 8 healthy plants in one pot... it wasn't much money... last year's were super-tasty (but SO prolific!)... ah, I am sure I will enjoy them this year. Note to self - create a STURDY frame this time! No idea what sort they are. It just said 'runner bean'. Hmm!

Local nursery trip - the plan

As I am a little short on plants and time is ticking on, I am going to get some fillers. It is what I did last year - I was too late to plant seeds then. Next year I'll see if I can get better results from growing from seed.

I think this weekend I will take a trip to Dundry Nursery. I stumbled on their website when I was browsing seed potatoes a while back. It seems they are somewhat of a specialist in such things. Their website is: http://www.dundrynurseries.co.uk/ if you wanted a nosey. Looking forward to it :) My purse probably isn't!

When I was away in Kent over the bank holiday, I bought some plants at a great nursery called Potten Farm - last year I bought from them too. If you're in the area, I suggest you pay them a visit.

Back from a little break

Hello! Back to it now. Been away for Easter plus a bit longer 'oop narth' with my family. Hope you had a nice Easter and didn't eat too many eggs. I did. Those mini caramel ones. So tasty, damn them!

I hear that some of my seeds are starting to come through already so I'll be off up to the lottie later today with my camera.

When I was away I bought a hanging basket of tomatoes - yes, yes, I know I said 'never again' on the tomatoes, but this way I can try them on the balcony at home, so at least looking after them won't be too difficult if they're just outside the door. I also picked up 2 rhubarb plants for a bargainous price of £1.80 per plant. They will be planted out later.

Hope you've all had a good Easter and got some lottie work done. I look forward to catching up on your antics. Photos of my antics to be posted later! :)

Making new beds

Well, down the allotment I went today, with a helper - huzzah! My friend, Nick (a star of a friend, if ever there was one) volunteered digging services today. Of course, I happily accepted :) While I waited for him to arrive, I gave my shed's potting bench a dust down and found these bulb cards hiding. Now I know what should be popping up in the 2nd bed, 'shed end'. This is great as I didn't really make a proper note of what I planted. Tut tut! This is one of the great things about a blog - a searchable record of what went where, when :)

I also took some snaps of yet more shopping I did on Friday evening - more seeds for this year:

Celariac: giant prague, sugarsnap peas: sugar bon
& kohl rabi: purple vienna (which I have never eaten,
in any form, so this will be a proper first!)

Sunflowers: sunburst mixed, marrow: long green bush2 

(LOVE marrows!), leek: lyon2 prizetaker (sounds promising!), 

& some mixed annuals - planning to plant these in strips 

at each end of the veg beds.

The crocuses growing next to the shed are also further on than last week. lots more of these stunning purple ones and each one open. Sigh :) Looks like even more will come out soon too.

So, what did we do? Well, I attacked the 'dump mound', left by the last tenants, next to the globe artichoke, on the end of my herb bed. It was full of old potatoes of various varieties and jerusalem artichokes (all rotten), as well as loads of bloody sloe tree roots! Grr! Ahem. My cunning plan for this area is to build a cold frame. It should then be sheltered by the shed and close to it for moving and acclimatising my new plants. The soil, once I'd attacked it for a couple of hours, was perfect. Just right for purpose :) No raking needed - which is good as I snapped the rake before Xmas! I also dug out last year's woody spinach so there is another bit of bed ready for something new, next to my tree onions. The pic above shows how it looks now. I really want to get hold of some scrap wood to edge these beds, now I know I will be keeping them like this. I shall keep my eye on skips...

Nick, well, he's a digger. A digging machine, who will work as long as there is a supply of tea and biscuits (and cake!). I set him about digging over last Sunday's new bed which I'd de-turfed. I was going to bury the turf but he ended up shifting it onto an existing mound behind the shed. Out of sight out of mind ;) One day I will sort it out. Perhaps. This just needs attacking with a rake - which I need to buy. Nick did take one off the shed (read earlier posts if this sounds odd!), but I reckon it will snap soon enough, like the other one.

Bed dug over, time for tea. Nick brought his camping stove and some chocolate biscuits. Nick rocks! :)

His next task was to dig another new bed, a bit bigger this time, between the strawberries and the other globe artichokes/spring onions/asparagus. Safe to say he did this MUCH quicker than me last weekend. But then I am a feeble girl ;) Again, this just now needs to be raked over, once one is purchased!

The other job we did was to move 3 compost bins out from behind the shed and under the trees, into the open. I am hoping being in full sun will create some heat to break things down faster. It also means they are easier to get to. We put lots of the rotted compost onto the beds and Nick dug it in. I was on barrow duty. I also put the unrotted compost back into the bins. To be honest, a lot of what was in the bins was trash, literally! Jam jar lids, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, carrier bags. Doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly going to rot down eh. There were also lots of sticks, stones and bits of metal I also picked out. At least I know what's in the bins from now on will be useful for the allotment!

This last pic shows the 1st bin we moved - the bin far right was already out on the plot. I now have 2 more black bins between the two. I may move the black ones down to the other end of the plot, the 'road end', so there is compost on each half.

Well, might pop down the allotment tomorrow, might not. We shall see! I do need to mow though. Claire's mower wouldn't get going today so I think it needs some 'go-juice'! Hope you're making the most of the finer weather this weekend. :)

Mother's Day & a little MORE shopping!

Well, I just thought I'd get my mum an additional present for Mother's Day (I've already sorted 'something' out) and whilst I was there I spotted something I wanted to get. Seemed a good deal too - something called a 'honeyberry' (2x plants) and with that, I got a free blueberry (wanted to get a partner for my existing plant), as well as a goji berry. I look forward to it arriving and I do hope mum likes her 'extra' gift :)

Here's the blurb on the stuff I got for myself:

If you like blueberries then you will love honeyberries. They have a similar flavour but they are just a bit sweeter. And they have the same levels of vitamins and antioxidants. You'll get two Honeyberry plants in one pot - one male and one female to ensure pollination. They are just so easy to grow; just plant them in a large pot of multi-purpose compost and they will grow to form a 5ft bush which start fruiting in May. Honeyberries, although new, are extremely popular items and stocks are limited. So order now to ensure delivery. Free with your Honeyberry:• Blueberry Bluecrop - Bestseller. Superb mid-season variety, producing large tasty berries from end of July. Grows to a 4' bush. Frost tolerant.• Goji Berry - The new tasty superfood. Pretty 2cm berries with mild, sweet flavour. Incredibly high in antioxidants. Very hardy. Likes a sunny spot. Grows to 6' tall.

I look forward to getting this in April :)

A little bit of shopping

When I was in the supermarket I thought I'd have a look at the seeds they had in. I bought a few things and when I paid, got one pack free! Wasn't expecting that (there were no special offer signs) so that was nice :)

I got dark sunflower seeds: black magic f1, sweet peas: giant wave mixed (which i am going to grow over the shed to replace the defunct kiwi), peas: kelvedon wonder, broad beans: bunyard's exhibition (don't like them bit maybe home-grown might be nice? my folks love them though so i can always pass on the crop), and fennel: (florence) chiarino.

I also spotted this magazine too. It seems pretty interesting so I snapped it up for a peruse later :) Anyone else read it?

Herbal Haven online shop

Oh, before I forget, must mention this shop I just found. Herbal Haven sells all manner of amazing herbs which you can buy online. I expect I will get a few from here :)

http://www.herbalhaven.com/

Lunchtime shopping

My new goodies, still in their carrier bag!

My friends and I at work decided to pop down to a local garden centre at lunchtime. I didn't know this place existed so when my friend asked me if I wanted to go, of course I said "yes"! I was only really interested in buying one or two herbs/veg but the prices were fantastic so I got a few more things than I thought I might. However, I wasn't surprised I got more than planned! I picked up a pineapple sage, coriander, caraway, a dwarf french bean called 'the prince' and, as i think they are fantastic, a chinese lantern or physalis.

My new physalis...

'The Prince' dwarf bean flowering...

All the plants look really healthy and were a snip - 4x 9cm pot plants and 1x 12cm for about £7. The beans and physalis are covered in flowers. I'm looking forward to the pineapple sage flowering - it's the 'scarlet pineapple' variety and it looks like it has amazing bright red flowers.

Here's a photo I found on the internet...

and a photo of my plant - looks really healthy...

Heck, the coriander smells amazing! Yum :) Right, out to the allotment to get these in and to get digging. Got 2x golden courgettes and 2x butternut squash to get in too this weekend. I also bought a pretty flowering shrub just for the hell of it when I got those. It's gone in one of my old metal tubs and looks so pretty :)

Some shopping and my 1st allotment meal

Well, it blooming well rained ALL DAY here. Boo @ that! I was all psyched to dig but that didn't really happen. So, horror of horrors, I HAD to go shopping again! Terrible. I hate shopping... ;) So, I did the b&q/homebase run and checked out allsorts of things I might/might not get. They have lots of veg plants on special at the mo and as I got my lottie a bit late (and I am on hols for 3 weeks!) I may invest in some of these and save some of my seeds for later/next season. I did buy a few things - some compost for potting seeds, a plastic trug-type thing kinda like a flexible bucket. I'm sure it has a proper name! It was another bargain - about £3.50 where I have seen them elsewhere for about £6. It was reduced for some reason but looked fine to me. Lovely colour blue too. I also got sucked in by a 3 for 2 on garden refuse bin bags. There is way too much to compost once I sort out the allotment so I thought it was a wise investment. I will have to make a few trips to the tip I think! Speaking of compost, the first piccy in this post is of 'Captain Compost', my new kitchen compost caddy. Don't ask me why I have given it a name!!! I was also looking at bbqs. I think an allotment party or two is definitely in order. Pimms o'clock and all that!!

I did do practical things at the allotment once I'd dumped all... sorry, put away nicely(!) my new purchases in the shed. My new plants needed a good water. Got to keep them happy before they find new homes. Still need to plan where I want things. Must remember to measure out the plot next time I am down there on Saturday. I also bought a big pot to confine my garden mint and planted that this evening. I don't want mint going everywhere as it spreads like nobody's business!

On my way back to the car, when it was virtually dark, I decided to pull up some of my veg for tea. I grabbed some spring onions (which I had previously thought were onions) for tea and some parsnips which I will have tomorrow I think.

Don't they scrub up well?!

There's nothing quite as tasty as home-grown food.

And here is what I ate. Spring onions fried in olive oil, scrambled egg, seafood and a little soy. Yummy!

Oh, I also found some rhubarb on the plot. I think it is mine! It is on the path border but it looks like it is mostly on my plot. Wahey!

New tools

You can't work an allotment without tools. It would be pretty difficult just by hand so we all need something to help out. Well, lots of 'somethings'! Luckily I had many either attached to the shed(!) or inside. I didn't have the starters though - a digging fork and spade, nor basic hand tools, so I went shopping. :)

Here's my new digging fork and spade - not the most expensive but they appealed to me the most. I felt a bit silly trying them out in the shop but it had to be done! They have nice rubbery grip handles and I liked the extra grip near the blade end for lifting. I doubt they will stay as shiny for long! Also in this picture is my new bucket (99p!) and my gloves - 2 pairs, which I bought a while back when I was doing conservation volunteering. One pair is thick for getting thorny things and the other pair are for general purpose jobs. I bought the more expensive gloves so they'd last a while and protect my artist's hands! The other item I've just bought is the pop-up bin which I am using to collect weeds etc in until I get a wheelbarrow. It was £3 but was the only one left in the shop and had already been a bit soiled so I was offered it half price for £1.50 - yay! I swear one day I'll use it and it will pop open right in my face though - just my luck and that thing has a real quick ping!!

This photo shows my new hand tools and some old bits and bobs. Again, the hand tools have comfortable rubbery grip handles. The last thing I want to get is blisters when I work. The other items in this photo are finds in the shed: safety goggles, metal hook and old handleless blade, as well as secateurs found at the bottom of a box in the shed which seem perfectly good to me :)

Yes, the shed, I need to post about all the finds I made once I got the key. Found something today - the green sack in the first photo of this post was a new surprise - it is full of netting!