allotment blog

2007-07-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

A few piccys from last weekend.

The rain did stop for us to at least get the paths strimmed down and to sow a few more seeds , but thats about it.

Im constantly wishing i had more time to spend down there but im slowly realising that at some point we'll be spending even less time rather than more time down there so the easier i make it the better.

Some of the people on the lottie have absolutley beautifull plots but thats when they have all day to devote to them, which we havent, theres no way i could ever give it up now, its my little bit of piece and quiet, but i have realised that its never going to be one of these plots where everythings all shipsahpe and bristol fashion!!!!

the fruit Bushes seem to be growing ok, and the cage we built seems to be keeping the birds off our fruit. Theyre going slow but sure, i think next year ill onvest in some bigger plants though, we only bought some very cheap ones so see how they did but My father in laws have taken off at a fabulus rate so thats the next plan me thinks......

One piccy shows the red onions which we were supposed to storing but we got greedy, (i also gave them an accidental haircut with the strimmer whooops!!!)

Another piccy shows the cabbges (golden acre) which seem to changing thier colour, which Paul from over the road assures me its because of the dodgy weather ( he'd better be right....)

The second plot is still being very slowley dug, but ive decided to join the long, slim narrow beds together to make a much wider one. At the mo ive got lettuces, toms and pepper in there as well as some 2nd early pots.

Bloody rain!!!!

2007-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

I am so sick and tired of the rain!

im usually the first one to go out in the rain and i love going out walking in it, and its brillaint for saving all the hassle of watering the plot, but now its getting ridiculous.

Our back gardens looking more like a bog than it did in the winter, and our poor onions are sitting in an inch of water, theyre just holding thier own at the moment as its having just enough time to dry before raining again, or else they would go rotten.

weve got the week off this week, and i had planned to spend a lovley few days down there, just strimming the grass and geting a few more beds dug out, but theres no chance of that, and the grass in the gardens looking like no one owns it!!!

Ok, now breathe!.....

Well the broad beans are just holding on, and despite not looking the best beans in the world have provided us with a decent crop.

We have just lifted our first lot of spuds, (arran pilot) and theyre looking good, although not a huge amount, but thats mainly my fault, for digging the new beds far too narrow, so the poor spuds cant stretch thier legs!

The spinach, beetroot,runners,lettuce, radish are doing well too.

Ive noticed a few more things not growing so well tho this year.

Ive tried so hard with our carrots (F1 flyaway) which we had a brilliant crop of last year, and this year i made sure the soil was nice and crumbly and lovley for growing em, but all ive had is a couple show themselves.

The spring onions really dont want to grow in situ on our plot either, ive sown endless amounts and have given up now, so i grow em in the greenhouse and then carefully transplant em into thire final position.

If only the rain would stop! then the slugs wouldnt be beating me into submission GRRRRRRR!!!

After alls said and done though i will not give up, coz as soon as that sun shines, and the soil is workable again, and the grass is nice and dry for sitting on, ill love it all over again!!!!!!

All good things........

2007-04-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

The weathers started to cheer up, the birds are singing (and starting to use our nestbox) and its lovley jubly!!!!!!It's allways this time of year that I start looking around for bits and bobs that can be used for the lottie.I've allready asked the ladys at work to let me know if anyone has any old windows or doors as we're trying to build a coldframe. Im also asking them to save me all thier loo rolls so i can plant my sweet peas and more runner beans...ive never been so pleased to finish a loo roll more!!!!! (sad, me?)

I love this time of year, when you can plan what your going to sow , where youre going to put it, what you want to build, what youre going to take to eat and all the people youre going to chat to.Well the greenhouse is now chock-a-block full of veggies just waiting to get planted out and they need to go out soon so i have room for my flowers too!We have dug that much allready that my legs are aching non stop, and its took a fair few weeks to get back into the swing of things, i must have gotten sooo unfit over the winter!The broad beans have gone in and so have the first earlies (arran pilot) and now im just finding time to finish digging the beds over to sow all the rest of the stuff.

The second plot we have took on is proving to be a challenge, but we are getting there. we have dug three beds out so far, although I think we have made them too narrow so we shall have to join the two togehter when we have more time...what a joke hahahahaha!!!

Back to normal, but married!

2006-10-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long time getting this blogger updated.Me and Bri have still been managing to get down to the lottie, and for our first year we have had a fantastic year veg wise, but the last couple of months have been really busy with the wedding plans and all that. Its been so worth it as we have had the best day of our lives, and seeing all our family, friends and all my custommers there was fantastic!
But it is so nice to be able to chill out a little bit now, even though im now dying to get spending all my extra pennys on stuff for the lottie, im gonna have to be good for a wee while longer.
Im still trying to get the hang of this rotation thing and ive wrote down the main bits to be aware of, and ive sorted out all our beds for next year, the only thing thats bothering me, is if i want to grow something else, which of course im going to want to, where on earth do i put it, it will bugger up my rotation thingy !!
ahh sod it for now.
anyway, i think one of the main things we could do with investing in is a little strimmer, coz im so sick and tired of when the grass grows along the paths. Ive put some of that membrane stuff down, and it does do the trick to begin with but the bloody grass still grows!
the second plot we have taken on is comming along slow but sure, now we have a bit more time we shall be able to start getting more beds dug out.
There has also been a big surge of people taking plots on by us too, which is great.It was very quiet at first but now theres allways someone there to chat to.
There has been a poor woman who has had her shed burnt down twice though since we have been there and shes such a lovley lady i feel so sorry for her. She would give you anything, and is allways sharing her seeds out and dividing her plants out, so heres hoping she stays bless her.x
well i had better go and take some more piccys now that we have dug up most of our produce, and the poor beds look more like empty graves again heheh!!!

mutant tomatoes!!!!!

2006-08-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Went down to the lottie today to give everything a bit of a water and to do kens plot too as he,s away a week and we noticed our beefsteak toms have mutated i think!!!!!
Its the best thing in the world to just pop down and pick some spinach, or beetroot for your tea....or a mutant tomato or two!....the red bits still tasted good though hehehh.xxx

2006-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

hiya all! we finally have a new computer which is taking me ages to get to grips with so if my spelling pants just ignore it!!!
the lottie is comming along briilliant, but due to the mega hot weather its taking a real load of effort to get it watered as much as possible.
theres so much comming up, and so much that has gone allready, the peas were lovley while they lasted, but unfortunatly never even made it home! now the sugar snaps are making an entrance, the beetroot ,perpetual spinach,and swede are regular favorites too.
the second plot we took is comming along too, slowley but surely, as its been so hot, i can only manage to dig a bit then my red wine calls me and i have to sit and chill out with a fag!
we have planted a large bed on the second plot with tons of strawberrys, and have put some corgettes and butternut squash in some grow bags too.
our onions allthough small are a real hit too, we use so many of them in our cooking i will definatley be taking two beds up with those nextyear and with the garlic too, our washing line looks hilarious though as im hanging them out on the line to dry out before storing them, bugger the washing!!!!!!!!
our spud experiment seems to be going well too. we just put some cardboard down, covered with with muck and compost, and black plastic and dropped some spuds in and theyre comming up a treat!

computers down....arggggggggggggggggggg!!!!

2006-06-24T01:58:00.001-07:00

god im goin insane! our computer has finally bit the dust and im sat twidlling me fingers without one!
ahh well theres loads of work to do down at the lottie, but we have took so many piccys, im dying to upload em onto here, never mind ill get round to it.
everything comming up brilliant, weve got cabbage, peas, sugar snaps,brussels...and more and more, its fantastic, our runner beans have been stunted a bit as i think we put them out a bit too early , but they are comming along slowley.
the second plot we have took on is comming along slowely too, but were doing it a biot at a time, rather than knackering ourselves out and then not bothering, id like to leave a bit empty so i can sow some wild flower seeds.
we dug up our first batch of spuds last week and they were delicious, and along with that some spinach, rocket and peas!
so with all of that and prepariong for the iminent wedding in september, im a busy bee hehehe!!!!!. xxxxxxxxxx

computers down....arggggggggggggggggggg!!!!

2006-06-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

2006-05-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

well things are beginning to start showing now, thank god it doesnt look like just bare earth or graves as my dad has kindly put it!!!
the second plot has got a major clean up operation to be done, but were working our way through it slowly,
Brian put a couple of bits of cardboard down and some compo0st , covered with some plastic and has planted some potatoes in them, and theyre allready starting to poke thier way through!!!
the peas are comming up trumps, so,s the swede,beetroot,runners,garlic, onion,spinach and all sorts!!!
everytime i do something i realise i could do it a bit diffenrent next year, for example, i have sowed lots of seeds quite close together which makes it a pain in the arse to hoe round stuff, so another little lesson learnt!
theres an awfull ots of stuff that i do with buying to go on our plot at the mo, but with the impending wedding in a few months time, weve really got to tighten the purse strings, so itll just have to wait till after september!

2006-04-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

weve been trying get down the lottie as much in the week as possible just to ge some bits and pieces done, and the extra digging is helping me shift the pre wedding butt too!,
we popped down tuesday afternoon, and an old lady was strolling around chatting to people, we had a natter and she turned out to be the wife of an old chap a few plots down with a gorgeous plot, this chap was one of the ones who eyed us suspicously when we first arrived.
anyhow she said that her husband had said he was really impressed with the two of us and we allways seem to be working hard and our plot is comming along 'just lovley'!!!! wohhhoooo !!!!
ive just started digging another bed out with has got to top the list of 'worse couch grass ever' so thats gonna take some getting out, but its all good anyway.
we have just taken on the plot next door which is chock a block full of branbles, so im gonna do it bit by bit, and try the cardboard, manure, then black plastic and plant my left over spuds in just to see what happens.! im so full of inspiration after watching my 'allotment' dvd that arrived last week, theres so many good ideas on there specially when youre just starting up like us!
im a bit unsure whether one or two of the fruit bushes have died on us or not.. ill give em another couple of weeks to prove emself then theyre out!
im still unsure about the rotation thing, it seems to me the way i have planted things out, im going to be swapping plants all over the place, and im sure ive not done it right, mind you, the girls on me allotment forum have told me to chill and not woryy, so i guess theyre right!

Saturday April 15th,16th and 17th!!!

2006-04-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

have spent the most fantastic few days on the lottie. Brians pretty much finishing off the shed now by paining it a lovley browny colourand hes put together a pub style bench that we bought a few years ago and had nowhere to put.he gotta put up the guttering and connect it to the water butt so we can get a serious stash of rain water going.
my bro-inlaw and my niece have been helping too which has been lovley, kevin has been getting stuck in by helping me to dig out some more beds, which always kills my back, so ive been sat on me bum pulling mountains of couch grass out!.
ive planted some more seeds,Beans,spring onions,and swede,
and some baby beetroot.
when we first started digging the beds out i had began to pile the earth up[ at one end of the plot with the idea to cover it in black plastic and let it rot down a bit... its in the piccy on the left hand side bit. ive now changed my mind and weve spent a few hours digging it all back up again and piling it all in nice clods at the back of the lottie, it looks like dry stone walling! i reckon with some nice wildflwer seeds over top it will look lovley!, which means now ive got some more space to sow my sweetpeas to make a lovley wall which will smell gorgeous when the wind blows through it.
i had a few hours all to myself today when everyone had buggered off for a while which was real nice, the sun was belting down, i had my tea and a fag (NFG bog off!) and my sarnie and i was total heaven, ohh for more days like this.

my gorgeous neice, chloe morris

2006-04-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just had to post a piccy of my beautifull neice chloe after her winning the under 10 champ of champ southcoast masters slow dance finale....how proud am I!!!!!! (allways feel better when shes washed that cack off her face though!!!)

Saturday April 15th

2006-04-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

above: is that shit on my shoe????
above left: our chloe working hard, bless
left: our multicoloued thing of beauty!!!

seeing as the weathers been dryer we decided to pop down the lottie today as well as sunday, im glad we did really coz weve managed to get quite a bit done. Kevin and my neice chloe came down today to help too, so kevin dug us another bed out while me and chloe started weeding all the couch grass out of the new beds, bloody stuff its everywhere!
ive noticed the onion sets are starting to show through and the garlic too yipee!!
ive planted out some spring onions and some perpetual spinage today too, im quite interested to see how the spinach grows as we love eating this anyway!
brian has put the roofing felt on the shed and the door too, and just needs to make it all the same colour...at the moment its all multicoloured!
my sister has given me a load of her shrubs out of her garden as they have moved to a place thats only got flagstones everywhere (horrible!) so ive took some down the lottie and put em in pots to brighten it up a little.
i was most impressed with our chloe earlier, she was planting a pieris in a pot for me and filled the pot half full, then made a little hole to put it in etc... when kevin asked her how she knew what to do she said. 'Auntie Sarah showed me last year when we were planting her petunia's !!!' i
was sooooo proud!

me and donna haloween 04

2006-04-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

me (centre) and girls bridley moor shite school, (lunch break @ plugs house)

2006-04-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

hmm yes....

2006-04-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

our Lilly on the bloody greenhouse!

2006-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

2006-04-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

our mad moggy Gordon....

sunday April 9th

2006-04-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

Spent this morning down at the lottie, and met a few more people down there too. Everyone seems so friendly, if we couold get some more people down there now taking on plots it would be exellent!
My sisters partner kevin said he would pop down too, so after we had been there for a fabulous sunny half hour he rang to say he was at the gates waiting to be let in.
As i started to walk down to the gates all of a sudden the heavens opened and it belted it down with rain and hail!!!!!! i couldnt belive it! poor Kev, so we had to stand in the shed untill it had passed over then we returned to work in ernest.
We have managed to get another couple of beds dug out, and not much else unfortunatley coz of the bloody rain!!!
im now thinking of taking another plot on next door to us, as i can see that im soon gonna run out of space and i want some where to make a nice seating area with a few shrubs and stuff, so thats another thing to think about!!!

me,donna and jen Newquay 05

2006-04-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

me and donna

2006-04-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

2006-04-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

me and my nephew and niece...ahhhhh

2006-04-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

daft post, just trying to get a piccy on my lottie forum!!!! its no good, im far too pants with computers!!!!!!!

Sunday April 2nd

2006-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

down to the lottie today, determined to get thru some more weeds and couch grass, so i have gone through the beds that i have already dug with a fine tooth comb, and really had a good old go, the soil looks so good, me and bri have really belted the pants out of it, to break down all the clods of earth!
after close inspection today i noticed that some of my onion sets have started to sprout, its either that, or the garlic that ive planted alongside them!
I really need to work on building the soil up on the raised beds, as all the stuff thats been taken out of it has meant that im going to be bending right down to sow and weed, rather than just crouching down, so ive worked in some more manure, and a load of compost too.
its done nowt else but rain and be windy today, so im glad that brians nearly finished the shed so we can shelter in there!
we have noticed that a few more people are taking the empty plots on now too, so hopefull we,ll see some new faces when the better weather arrives.
As i was about to throw away an old carpet that someone had left behind i noticed two frogs getting very 'friendly' underneath!!! bless em! so ive covered em up and left em to it!!!!!

Thursday 23rd March

2006-03-23T14:46:00.001-08:00

Managed to finish work early today to pop up town to but some more fruit bushes. We have got some more raspberrys, and another goose-gog bush , but this time weve bought a red variety.
And as usual we cant come out the shop without buying something extra, so ive got a packet of runner beans, and some perpetual spinach, which ive still to find out about how to grow!!!
The shed is almost finished, and brian is just making the door to go on it now!
The only nagging worry that i keep on having is that when we were at the lottie the other day, we met with the chap who has the plot behind us, dave,s his name. Anyhow he was saying to us to be carefull with what we leave on our plot because of vandals, he said he doesnt even put a lock on his shed anymore, to stop them from ruining his shed, he just doent leave anything valuable there in the first place.Im just worrying that as Brian has made our shed from scratch, albeit mainly to save some pennies and for fun, if the shitholes decided to vandalise it, id be devastated for him because of the time and effort he put in to make it in the first place!!"
Ahh well we shall have to see, and start dreaming up ways of disguising things around the plot, and hiding things!!!
thought id post a couple of piccys of my Father in law too bless him, hes got the plot next door to us, so were never short of tea and chat!

Thursday 23rd March

2006-03-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

Monday 20th March

2006-03-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

Grrrrrrrrrrrr! just when I manage to wrangle some time off work and rely on the weather to be at least dry why does it have to be so horrible?!!!
We woke up to see the darkest sky imaginable this morning, So, not to be put off, I started sewing some more seeds in the greenhouse, Tomatoes ,'marmande' ,asters, and sweet peas, a bit of a mix but I love my shrubs and flowers too, checked the brussel sprouts are doing ok, they have just started to sprout, and begged the sweetcorn and peas to make an entrance...im the same every year, i cant wait for the first seedling to emerge!
I have also planted some lilly bulbs in some pairs of boots, daft i know but ive a perfectly good reason why!
For Christmas just gone, when me and Brian had just got our allotment i was dead keen to have a funky pair of wellies, so imagine how exited i was when i opened one of my prezzies on Christmad day to find a bright pink pair of boots with white hearts all over em!!! imagine then, my disapointment when on the second trip up to our lottie, when the metal rod slid out of my boot and make a massive hole in em!!..so hense the reson for the lillys in them , not to mention ive also planted some in my old pair of doc martens boots too, as I wouldnt dare to part with my old babies!!!
Just for the record, ive now got a very sober 'practical' pair of wellies.....

Sunday, March 19th

2006-03-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

every weekend we wake up hoping the weather is going to be at least dry, and this sunday it was lovley!
It took us all our time to get to the lottie today as we were both suffering with mild hangovers so, we really needed the fresh air to get us moving!!!!
Brian is really getting on well with building the shed, and i have managed to dig a few more beds out.
A friend of ours has promised us lots of horse muck, although we are going to have to pile it all into a big bin to let it rot down a bit first as its very fresh.
I have planted out some onion sets today, and also some garlic along with them too, I read up and what to put in the bed and ive been informed that onions like ash,manure(rotted) and compost , so ive put all three in, but not in huge quantities, as the soil looked in pretrty resonable nick anyhow.

Sunday, January 8th 2006

2006-03-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

We are getting there slowley but surely, ive managed to dig a couple of beds now, but the soil is that thick with couch grass that ive gived up all hope of pulling it out, i am now digging down a spades depth down till im well past the roots, and just piling it up at the back of our plot, thankfully its pretty apparent that someone once loved this plot as the soil is really good for quite a way down so at least im not digging down into any subsoil.
Brians Dad is having a good old go too, and hes planning what to put and where, hes even got his shed up allready so we can store some of our stuff there for the time being.
ive dug a long narrow bed across the side of our plot to put some runner beans in, although i thinks its far too narrow now ive done it, so ill just have to see what happens!
its so peacefull and quiet down on the lottie, its so nice to escape the mad pace of work and just come down here and chill out, our friends cant seem to understand what we mean when we say we are chilling out when we getting covered with horse muck, mud, straw, and wood ash, but its out in the open air, complete with half rotten deckchair, a flask of tea and a fag and we,re in bliss!!!!

december 2005

2006-03-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

Me and brian went to have look at brian,s dads allotment today, i didnt realise just how many plots have been left unused....hmmmm im having a little think.....'wotchya think bri?' 'sounds good to me sair, and lets face it, you,re taking more and more of the lawn up every year....'
So here we are, greenland allotments Redditch near birmingham, me and Brian my hubby to be on Sept 30th 2006 , youd think we had more to be worryting about with wedding plans than what to plant and where aye?...oh no, .... plants first, and wedding stuff later, weve got work to do!!!!!

This is pretty much how we started our allotment exept that here we have managed to strim all the grass(couch) down and start burning bits and pieces.
The plan being to dig each plot over and enrich the soil as we go, Brian has decided he is going to build his own shed bless him, as he is well in to his carpentry!
ohh well wish us luck aye!!!