Dear friends… So how are you all doing? Have you managed to get into your gardens, have you been creative with your hobbies…
I began a new knitting project, a cardigan… Though I chose to do a different stitch pattern to the one on the pattern below
We have been on our daily exercise every morning in our plot… And the weather here has been beautiful and sunny and dry…. So dry that we have already had to start watering.. Our nearest water cistern was quite close but its broken and now dry so I counted my footsteps yesterday in strides and it was 82 strides to the next nearest and 82 back.. When you are carrying 4 gallon in two gallon watering cans at a time… My arms were more than aching.. It certainly puts into perspective those who have no water in their countries who carry every drop in searing heat over long distances… My gratitude for water took on a whole new meaning this week..
So I decided to give you a little treat in my other creative skills I am still learning, and that is to share a short video I made of our allotment plot… Its far from perfect and I will add below the video new pictures taken today of our planting of cabbages and where I mulched after shredding some of our conifers and cutting back some shrubs we needed to clear for repairs to our garage roof.. You will also see how this week the Sun has brought out the blossom which I didn’t think was there on our apple trees when I made the video as we transplanted and moved both trees in the autumn to a new position in the plot as they were not thriving where they were..
Enjoy your time my friends as much as you can in your restricted zones of lockdown… Create as much as possible… as you try to detach from the daily news.. Breath in Nature as much as you are able… And create your own inner peace in all you do..
Click onto the photos to enlarge..
Happy Easter Everyone!
You are working hard with both the soil and now also the water, Sue. Your garden looks so very good.
I came to think, that maybe you have a wagon of a kind, as you could use for carrying the water? I tried to live with this here in Spain and learned by doing it more easy by time.
Enjoy your Easter and daily exercise in the gardens.
Much love to you ❤
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Bless you Irene… we do have a small hand cart that is collapsible… it would only hold one watering can though… I just read your comment out to my hubby and he said to tell you, lol you will laugh … He says the exercise is doing me the world of good… And my biceps will thank me for it later… 🙂 LOL…. He carried two cans only once, and went back to just fetching one at a time…:-)
You too take care and have a Peaceful Easter Irene… 🙂
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You seem to be more strong and fit than your husband, Sue 😀
Use what you can and a wheelbarrow and also hold a part. Your arms shouldn’t stretch too much either 😀
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Thank you for that Irene… and Yes hubby is seven yrs my senior.. I volunteered to fetch the water as I worry he may trip…. the ground very uneven.. And many thanks for caring.. ❤ Hugs you way dear Irene.. ❤
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Hugs for you too, dear Sue ❤
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That sounds wonderful Sue. My work hours have picked up a lot since the pandemic. I don’t normally worked in the wards but in the Cardiac unit but no it’s a free for all. My posts lately are from the archives and answering comments isn’t that easy but I try as that’s super important to me. Good luck with your knitting project. Please post a pic for us. Love you dear Sue. Be safe
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I will Holly and you are an Angel my friend… So appreciate ALL you do…. thank you for dropping in when your time is precious.. That Means such a lot.. ❤
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Enjoy your evening dear Sue. 🌹
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I did Holly and Easter… Bless you dear Holly and take care my friend ❤
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Thank you sue. Thane care and be safe ❤️
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💕💕💕
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❤️🌸❤️
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Thank you from Annie and Me too, be safe..
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Holly is a blessing… and so are you! Keep planting! The earth needs us to be good to her.
We have been bad!
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Thank you Resa, and I agree Holly IS a Blessing… Our Earth Mother is using this time to take her breath and breatheee…. May we also learn to pause and take a deep breath with her and re-evaluate our priorities in life…. The choice now is firmly at our own doors.. ❤
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And a Happy Easter to you also Sue, and thank you for sharing your garden. That most certainly gave it a different view and a touch more ‘real’ with finally associating your words on here to a voice 😀 ❤️ 🙏🏽 🦋
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Thank you Mark… my pleasure, happy you took a walk with me in the plot… 🙂 Hope my voice was not too accented.. I did try my best Queens LOL…. 🙂
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Lol, it was quite smooth actually, barely an accent to be heard. Even the garden was speaking beautifully, it is a pleasure to behold dear lady, you have done well 😀 ❤️ 🙏🏽 🦋
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Thank you Mark… gives me a little more confidence when I decide to do another video… 🙂
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A nice post your haver written and the video gave me how big the allotment. I won’t be visiting you anytime soon. Too much work. lol My spirit is willing my body says another thing. Perhaps one day I will be engaged in gardening again. Kudos to you and Bernard for all the work you do. It boggles my mind as you know. I do enjoy your garden post as it is dear to my heart.
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Thank you Joseph…. Yes the plot is large.. and it does take a lot of effort.. thankfully though the water supply is now back on our nearby cistern tank so we didnt have as far to walk yesterday… Many thanks Joseph for joining us… Big smiles.. and hugs my friend 🙂
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💝
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Great job, Sue! You’re always in tune with nature, creating and thank you for inspiring us to do the same. Yes, I will continue to breathe in Nature as much as possible so me and hubby won’t end up ‘killing’ each other. LOL! Blessed Easter to you and yours, my dear friend. Stay safe, well & happy! Much love and hugs, ♡♡♡♡♡(ŐωŐ人)
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Many thanks Pat… We are so thankful for our plot and feel for those relationships in close proximity that become claustrophobic at times.. I remember well when I first retired, and hubby had already retired by then… So he was used to his daily routine while I was at work still…. And sparks flew more than a few times as we clashed in our space… So goodness knows how people are coping now no freedom of movement allowed also..
Statistics said Domestic violence was being reported more and was up 120% …. I can see why…. Hope you and your Hubby survive without throwing the computers at each other LOL!…. Big smiles… Give a hug to the girls… and will write soon…. I am way behind in everything at the moment.. As I just want to keep putting off being on the computer and absorb myself in my garden and knitting… I have had to really tell myself off today to re connect here in Blog land…
We are both well, thank you and you too take care dear Pat ❤ Much love my friend ❤
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Thanks for sharing your claustrophobic experience, dear Sue. I’m sure a lot of couples are suffering in silence. But I guess they’ll be posting some pics to show how happy they are on facebook just to console themselves. LOL! Take your time to write. Do what you need to do first, my dear friend. In the meantime I’ll just breathe and try not to SCREAM! Sending you much love and hugs this beautiful Wednesday.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)
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Allotment first thing knitting after lunch. Now half hour on my phone app, before afternoon in home garden, and evening meal preparation. Lots to catch up on when I write. 🙏😁😘 Hugs your way.💕
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Enjoy every moment, dear Sue. Sending you much love and hugs, ♡♡(ŐωŐ人)♡♡
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<3<3 ❤ 🙂 Thank you dear Pat.. ❤
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I’ve got your mail, dear Sue. Love it! Thank you! Sending you much love and hugs,
(≚ᄌ≚)ℒℴѵℯ
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And much love right back dear Pat.. ❤
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♡(ŐωŐ人)
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I loved seeing your video and walking with you through your allotment. How wonderful it must be. I dearly miss all the gardens at my home I sold but I did only have flowers, shrubs and some fruit trees after all but I did working in the yard and always have loved it since I was a girl. I now can put a voice with your lovely face, my dear Sue, and the only sadness is I will never meet you in person. You are a wonderful person and I consider you a friend of a great distance although you make it seem as though there is no distance at all. I love seeing all that you do and I smiled throughout the whole video. I will endeavor to begin the weeding of the borders in my daughter’s front yard soon. I do at least that much for her and it gives me great pleasure. Have a wonderful weekend, my dear friend. xoxo
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I can imagine how you miss your garden Renee… So pleased you enjoyed the video and my voice… Though I put my best Sunday accent on… My accent can be distinctive at times. and I always dislike hearing my own voice… So your comment about it making you smile made my day.. thank you… And happy you can get to help your daughter with her garden.. Its what we need right now… to connect with Mother nature..
Sending huge hugs your way Renee.. and thank you ❤
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You have a lovely voice, my dear, and I would so enjoy it if you did something like this again. Yes, I will at least weed her borders in the front of the house. She does all the vegetable gardening out back and for that I will sit and enjoy watching. Huge hugs your way, Sue. xoxo
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Wonderful that you get out into the garden.. And yes the veggie gardening is a little harder so I am happy you will relax and watch others work.. LOL..
Take care dear Renee.. ❤ 🙂
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Happy Easter weekend – beautiful garden pics as always. And this is a great time to do some knitting, the stitch on your cardigan looks great.
My weekend is a bit hard, as I would‘ve spent it with my family in Switzerland but am stuck in lockdown instead. I‘m so grateful for the internet, at least that way we can stay in touch.
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Thank you so much Kathrin, and happy you like my knitting and garden… So sorry you couldn’t spend Easter with your family, and having just hopped over to your blog, you seem to be coping OK.. I left you a comment but it disappeared… so hope you find it… I seem to have my comments vanish again.. Which usually means they are being directed into spam folders on blogs.. it happens.. So if you do find me… Please fish me out.. Thank you.. 🙂
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Thanks, looks like your comment arrived. Maybe I just need to approve it. Hope you’re having a good week.
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Wonderful week thank you Kathrin 💚 hope all’s well with you too 🤗
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Oh gosh, Sue, I don’t envy you having to carry all that water so far. Very hard work indeed. Your allotments are a great idea that the British have and may well save your country during this difficult time of Covid-19. A bit like the Dig for Victory campaign that was a big contributor to Britain’s ability to hold out during WWII.
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Don’t worry Robbie the water was restored nearer yesterday and so thankfully no longer carrying such a long way… You wouldn’t think the British Spirit was around not according to our local council… who have threatened to close our plots too… All because a couple of people were having bonfires burning rubbish, one on our allotments and some other bonfires on other allotments in a different area.. because bin collections were missed for garden waist.. Due to the virus.. They are threatening to lock all allotments in our area to lock us out.. Now that may well cause WW3!!!!
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Hope your Easter is great. It is so nice to see your garden coming along so well. The rains and frost due this next week have stopped us from even starting our garden yet. With this virus it is hard to get the seeds we need. The mice destroyed a lot of the seeds my husband saved from last year. He did not put them in a mouse proof container. So – I am sure within a week we might buy seed and begin this huge garden. Love and hugs to you my friend. Don’t wear yourself out carrying water.
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Sorry to hear you too had problems with mice and seeds Peggy.. seems the mice both sides of the pond have been munching away lol.. Hope your weather has fined up a little for you both to get busy soon in your garden… Good luck with seeds… Here like food… it seems ALL seeds are sold out… people have been busy buying seeds like no tomorrow… We always order ours from the allotment association and they arrive in January… So we had all we wanted… Thankfully Peggy the water is restored to our nearer cistern so my arms are not so long … it got restored yesterday.. 😀 Take care of yourselves too Peggy ❤
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The place we order seeds from closed down to protect their workers from the virus. They will not be opening again until May. We have some seeds that we kept in boxes that were saved. Hoping we can find seeds in town as we venture out in our masks today. So glad your water problem is solved. Love and hugs to you and your hubby.
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Same here with our garden supplies etc Peggy. Hope you found some seeds you needed. 😁🙏 Much love back
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You are amazing, Sue! I have always believed hard work is good for the soul. Be careful though and don’t overdo it. Happy Easter! 🌷 🌹
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Thank you Eugenia… hard work it is, but worth every ache… 🙂 especially come harvest time… Many thanks my friend… Hope your Easter too was wonderful… ours very quiet … by our two selves… but peaceful and Sunny in our garden.. ❤
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Hi Sue. Cheers to your creative skills and your willingness to cultivate the soil. Happy Easter to you and yours … and stay safe during these crazy times.
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Many thanks dear Frank, good to see you in blog land my friend… and hope all is well with you and your family as well… Many thanks for those Cheers.. ❤ 🙂
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It was good to see the scale of your allotments. We are having to water, too. Happy Easter
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After all of that rain and floods we had Derrick you would think we wouldnt need to water would you.. But its now very dry… Thank you Derrick… Happy you enjoyed the video my friend… Take care of you and Jackie.. 🙂
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Thank you for the lovely video my dear friend, I SO enjoyed hearing your voice and seeing your allotment..👀 WOW its very big and you’re produce is growing wonderfully! 👌
We have had such a dry spell and after all the floods who would think we’d say we need some rain! but we do. it’s either too much rain or never enough lol
Stay safe ❤🙏🏻
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Haha.. I just said the same to Derrick about how dry after the floods we had CT.. and thank you… for your wows… Big smiles… and you too take care ❤
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Well done, you! Bev and I were working on the garden yesterday. Lovely weather finally arrived, and we made good progress. We might finish it today, good Lord willin’. Then we can plant in another week or so.
Love your garden and your dedication to carry that water.
Carry on my friend, and blessings and good health to you always!
bill
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Happy you were able to make good progress Bill… thankfully the water cistern nearby now working so yesterday a huge relief not to carry so far… I doubt I could have kept that up for long… it really was tiring… Same to you both healthwise Bill… Take care of you and Bev… 🙂
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beautiful weather here sue but just about to change, got gardening done and currently putting cream on my sunburn, you cant win em all..stay safe
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Hasn’t the weather been beautiful… But didn’t the drop in temperature yesterday come as a shock… at least ten degrees lower… Brrrrrr…. A top coat colder…. Ouch to your sunburn….. the Sun can be deceiving…. Take care too Steve.. 🙂 and thank you
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You’ve given me allotment envy (in the nicest possible way!) I’m missing ours so much but the consultant says I must stay at home. I’m trying to find ways to grow what I can in the garden, though Mr C and the children are allowed to the allotment so they are going to do some things there. Have a wonderful Easter x x
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Oh I so wish you were able to get out into your garden.. I know how healing it can be, but I understand your Dr’s advice… A gentleman across the road from us his wife has gone into isolation with him as his immune system is compromised with his treatments.. So she thought it better to be locked down than live in separate rooms… if she continued working.. Hope you are enjoying finding ways to explore growing in your garden…
I came across a great video garden blog you may be interested in Mrs C… it shows unique ways of growing our own food in simple containers and in limited spaces.. Here is the latest video… https://youtu.be/UA2tCchLooE Hope you enjoy looking at the rest of his ideas too 🙂
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Thank you for the link, it’s a tricky balance between having a productive garden that is also suitable for 2 very active children (one of whom is a footballer!) Only the toughest plants will survive I feel 😁 x
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They get bored do easily and football and plants never mix lol. As my memory recalls lol 😀💕.
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I love this, Sue!!! Thank you for sharing your garden. I long to get my toes in the soil.
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Many thanks Regina… rescued you from spam again.. Don’t know why it keeps throwing you in there… I enjoy getting my fingernails dirty LOL… 🙂
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I guess I’m just that kinda gal!!
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I am hoping to catch up with you this evening Regina along with many others…😊. The weather is too glorious to be indoors, accessing my phone app now and again has its advantages 🙂🙏
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Happy Easter Sue, to you and yours ❤
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Ina… thank YOU my friend… I hope your Easter was peaceful my friend ❤
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Hey Sue,
I hope you and hubby are both faring well and enjoying a pleasant Easter weekend in the sunshine. Weather-wise it’s been delightful, and no doubt enriched us all.
First off, I greatly enjoyed the video and thought you’d made a fine job of your first attempt. Visually, we get a real sense of the lay-out and composition of your plot and are better informed of the length, width, height and breadth of this seasons intentions. I must say you’ve done a fine job in preparing the site, it really looks superb. Well done to you and hubby for continuing the hard work, care and attention. Seasoned hands at the allotment game there is a sense of calm assurance about the site, if not also an acceptance that what will be will be. I hope your efforts will be fully rewarded with a bumper crop later in the year.
So pleased to see the apple-trees have recovered from re-planting. Looking at the severity of the lopping, I have a little more hope ours might recover, but as yet there is no indication it will.
Your efforts fetching water put me in mind of my only experience allotmenteering, and you have my sympathy undertaking that essential task: it is indeed a labor of love!
I think your hour’s exercise each day attending to the allotment is a great idea. Judging by the regularity of a small number attending an allotment site close to where I live others have also embraced it as a healthy option during lock-down. It pleases me to see it being used.
Pleased also to see the knitting hasn’t lapsed Sue: come the cooler months later this year you’ll appreciate the warmth of that garment. Given the colour, I was going to ask if you were, had, or might ever consider using home-made dyes to colour the wool you use? The garment pictured immediately brought to mind shades of beetroot.
Thoroughly enjoyed being brought up to date with progress on the plot. I’ll look forward to the next video installment as-and-when it is published. Until then, take care, stay safe, and keep smiling. Happy Easter!
Love and Peace 🙏
DN
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P.S: Also had to mention your accent, which took my mind back a number of years to pleasant days living near Maccelsfield. Wonderful.
DN
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Big smiles Dewin…. Having grown up between the destinations of Buxton and Sheffield then moving to Nottinghamshire… where Eh Up Me Duck… is prevalent… My accent is a mixture… And I did try speaking in my best Queens English… But I have a long way to go before I have heirs and graces… 🙂 😉 🙏 haha..
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‘Tis only those who seek an abstract end who wear the fabric of heirs an graces Sue 🙂
DN
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🙂 Thank you Dewin.
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Watering is indeed a labour of love Dear Dewin, and each year the watering takes its toll… So thankfully that particular cistern is now mended and so we do not have as far to walk… It was repaired yesterday… A big weight literally off my shoulders and hubbies and I left him to water today…. 🙂
The idea of dying yarn and even spinning is something I have often thought of… Ever since a child learning to card wool in a lesson in our junior school.. In the village we lived a big farming community where wool was plentiful and we had a bobbin to use to spin.. I am certain I was perhaps an old crone sat with her spinning wheel and wool… I remember also as a child being drawn to a pin broach of a Welch lady in hat sat at a spinning wheel in brass…. I lost the broach while travelling to my Grandmothers on a bus… when about 13 or so… So yes the colour of beetroot suits the colour of this yarn I am knitting with…
And thank you Dewin for your patience along with others who have been waiting pending here…. I am delighted you enjoyed the plot and video… I hope Easter was peaceful and Sunny where you are too.. 🙂 Take care also.. 🙂 🙏
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So lovely to hear your voice, Sue and thank you for taking the time to share your hard word and abundance in nature with us. I love it. Gooseberries and redcurrants too. Such a wonderful display of effort and generosity. ❤ I love the colour of your yarn and pattern for your new cardi. Much love flowing to you and hubby, always, Happy Easter. You are a special soul. ❤ ❤ ❤
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And even more wonderful Jane to have you visit the plot and thank you my friend for you compliments…. Thank you for your flowing love Jane.. its returned ten fold my friend… Big hugs your way and thank YOU…. Big Smiles… ❤ 🙏💚
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Lovely post Sue and enjoyed your video, it gives a real good perspective of your allotment and its layout, you will certainly have plenty to do during these trying times, keep the videos coming, their great, cheers.
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Thanks Ian…. One should be posted later today…
Many thanks Ian always love your visits my friend ❤ 🙂
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I so pleased to have found you again Sue. I marvel at the size of your allotment and the video is a great way to showcase all the work you do. You must be just about self sufficient in the veggie department with all the produce you grow. Hard work watering though
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Yes thank you Pauline just posted an update lol.. And the watering has eased off as we now have had some rain… But it is hard work but well worth every ache lol… Especially come harvest time.. 🙂 ❤ Many thanks Pauline for finding me again.. Sending love to you and Jack.. ❤
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I’m lucky to have a spear pump for watering and in dry times I really appreciate it. Though I only use it on mature plants as it may have some salt in it, so water seedlings and young plants from the rainwater tank using a watering can….
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We have to carry in watering cans on the plot… from water cisterns placed every hundred yards or so… We use a hose pipe at home… Your own garden was beautiful Pauline… So loved your video.. 🙂
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