Easter Creations With A Difference..

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

As you see the stitch pattern is different, but quite easy only for rows to complete one pattern..

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..

Apple tree blossom

Mulch between the blueberries and raspberries

Cabbages these are various varieties. Grey Hound, Golden Acre and five broccoli are set here.

Brassica’s Put under cover

Happy Easter Everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Digging, Freezing, and Storage.

For many of us here in  England, we have had an exceptional Summer.  Its broke records in high temperatures and in droughts.. And I know my husbands arms have ached from watering our large plot daily during the height of the heat and drought by carrying watering cans back and forth from the water troughs for two hours solid each morning just to keep the crops from wilting away. 

( If you click the image it should enlarge a little .. You may then have to left click your window to return to this page. )

Dahlia’s that give me cut flowers and bundles of joy.

But all of that effort was worth it. Above you can see the Dahlia’s, to begin with they would soon dry up because of the lack of rain. But after several solid days of heavy downpours over the last few weeks, they have opened up and the tiny black flea beetles seem to have left them alone now. But they were covered in them in the heat. To give you an idea how large these particular plants are they come well above my waist in height.  And some of their blooms are as big as saucers. 

I searched on-line for tips about riding crops of these little pests without chemicals I found several on how to get rid of Flea Beetles safely not using any chemical sprays I found here on the  The Old Farmers Almanac Site 

From the Old Farmers Almanac Site 

• Try this homemade spray to control flea beetles: 2 cups rubbing alcohol, 5 cups water, and 1 tablespoon liquid soap. Test out the mixture on a leaf of the plant, let it sit overnight, then spray the rest of the plant if you don’t notice any adverse effects. Spray the mixture on the foliage of garden plants that are susceptible to these pests.
• Dusting your plants with plain talcum powder repels flea beetles on tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and other plants.
• Use white sticky traps to capture flea beetles as they jump.
• Insecticides may be used early in the season, but are generally unnecessary in the control of flea beetles on adult plants. Be extra diligent if your soil has history of bacterial diseases. Please contact your local nursery or cooperative extension for further advice.

A bucket full of Dahlias and some Gladioli

Taking you from the Top of the allotment plot to the bottom near the sheds you can see you how much digging has been done.. And this year, my husband has done all of this hard work himself.. A couple of hours every morning he is slowly working his way down the plot to the sheds, digging and clearing as he goes.. 

We just arrived on the plot, walking our way down to the sheds.

The space you see below is where the potatoes were planted..  And the Butternut Squash. It has been a very Poor year this year for our dear old Spuds.. The drought has  really took its toll on the yield of our crop. Last year we had four bags of potatoes, that lasted right up until May, and we threw some away which had sprouted. 

This year we have only One full bag, so a quarter of only of last years crop.. Local farmers are also saying the same.. So Potato prices I can see will rise as a result. And if our weather patterns are going to keep being so extreme, in droughts and floods, then I can only see more price rises and food shortages coming in the future.. 

So folks now is a good time to start planning to think about growing your own.. Not only it is more healthier, as it’s not dosed in chemicals, but it’s very rewarding, especially if you get young children involved.. 

On our allotments the School has a plot and this week each day a different class of young infants have been in wellies and the allotments have been buzzing with the sound of their laughter and chatter and squeals,  as they dig out worms and learn about growing food.. 

Its been really good to see and this year more parents have been roped in to lend a hand at digging. It’s a joy to see. 

 

Here at the bottom were where the potatoes were. On the left you can see the leeks. And in the foreground are two rows of Swedes. 

Here we have Beetroot and Rainbow Chard, then Cabbages and then Brussels Sprouts. What you cannot see behind there are Parsnips. 

Unfortunately the Cabbage thief stole another of our largest cabbages, Seems they enjoyed the other one that much they came back for seconds.. 🙂 Hope they really enjoyed it.. But at least they weren’t greedy, as we have had whole rows of onions taken before..  The leeks are easy targets too.. So I hope they spread out their dinners by gathering not from just one plot!.. Fingers Crossed!!…  

Sprouts and Kidney beans

Kidney Beans and under the cloche are young Spring Cabbage for next year.

Behind the red currant bush are the loganberries and raspberry canes, these have all but finished and this area is the next to be worked on and weeded and dug through. 

This is the Red Currant bush that gave us a bumper yield, and made up for the fruit that got lost when our freezer broke.

The butternut squash has done well this year, and we learnt  through our mistake last year too.. We didn’t allow enough time for the stem to dry out which resulted in some of they  perishing and rotting early, So last year we froze a lot.  This year we hope we have stored them right so they can keep as they are for longer. 

Butternut Squash, Around 42 

This area of the plot has yet to be dug and tidied up, here are lettuce and Carrots under the netting. 

The Greenhouse has given us lots of tomatoes and cucumbers this year, and the glut meant I made lots of tomato soup too.

Below you see the sweetcorn  and again this was another good year for sweetcorn, and that is now safely stored in our new economical freezer, along with raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries and loganberries and red currants. 

Sweetcorn prepared and packed for the freezer

 

I hope you have enjoyed the plot, next time will be some Autumn pictures of the home garden flowers and what my knitting needles have been creating. 

Happy  Autumn Gardening!

Until next time..

~Sue~

 

Apples to Pumpkins..

This is just a little update in picture format on how the plot is looking at the moment.. Today a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK.. and typical bank holiday weather… But we so need the rain… So I am not grumbling.. 

So we harvested our Apples, just a couple on this tree to be seen here along with my hubby and granddaughter who are just walking to see how her pumpkin is growing she planted from seed.  Click onto the images to enlarge. 

Granddad and Granddaughter investigating how the Pumpkin is growing.

Growing nicely

Back in the sheds safely stored are the picked cooking apples and eating apples.. 

 

Apples picked and stored

Tomatoes and cucumbers in the allotment greenhouse.

Tomatoes and cucumbers have been in abundance, So much so I have made several lots of tomato soup from them.. Recipe on the recipe page . And the yellow variety have also made some lovely soup. 

My husband took the nets off of the Brassica family, cabbages and sprouts. Despite the nets the cabbage white butterfly managed to get in and lay eggs so there were leaves which were being feasted upon by caterpillars  along with tons of white fly.. The dry heat and humidity under the nets I am sure added to excellent breeding conditions.. So Hubby set too to strip a lot of the infected leaves off… This is the result 

Cabbages and Brussels sprouts

The sweetcorn have about another week to go before it’s really ripe.. The juice out of the corn when pressed by your thumb needs to be milky not clear..  They haven’t done too badly filling out, but then they have had lots of tender loving care with daily watering.. 

We enjoy our stews come those colder days and parsnips are added along with shallots.. But we love roasted parsnip.. And will have plenty to keep us going. 

Parsnips

The Dahlias this year have not been as good… They have soon died in the heat and their stems have not been as long this year.. But I still managed to pick three bunches.. One for a neighbour, one I gave to another allotmenteer and one for myself..

Bunches of Dahlias picked

On the home garden the begonias have been loving the heat.. And our giant ones on the front of our home have grown massive this year.. Especially the tall one with the Yellow Sunshine head.. 

Out of this World My own little Sun Flower.. 

Well I think that is about all for this week.. 

Happy Gardening.. 

June Update on the Plot.

Have any of you noticed how fast this year is flying? Already half way through the year. 

Well our Trip to Scotland at the beginning of May was wonderful, and I hope to find time to post about that on this blog in the near future.. But we have been busy busy on the plot. and just enjoying relaxing over the holiday weekends..

We came back to a garden that had bloomed as the good weather was perfect growing weather not only for the crops but the weeds never stop growing and at twice the pace of crops 😀

So here is the plot update in picture format and some of our home garden to. ( note if you click onto the photos you will I hope get a larger view. )

While I had hoed outside of the four rows of peas, the inside weeds were taking over, When you consider those stakes are my waist height, It was back breaking work..

This is the four rows of peas which are now weeded

I carried on an weeded the Shallots 

Remember the Dahlias that we dug up last autumn to store over winter.. Well unfortunately we lost half of them due to the very cold weather despite them being wrapped up in the shed. Some of the tubers had gone rotten.. We saved these.

Hubby dug deep holes put some muck beneath and here you see them starting to sprout.. Again since taking this photo they are really growing at speed now and have much more foliage on them.

These were Lupins self sets from last year, I let them grow and they are happy  between where we put the Dahlias. You can just see a Dahlia shooting to the bottom right hand corner of the photo. 

The younger rows of peas now growing under the net, I weeded out those today,
The spring cabbage you see next to them. Some of them went to seed so that is why you see the misses..
Then you see sweet corn and dwarf beans, and the steaks with plastic cut bottles are where the butternut squash is. The bottles to help direct water to the roots. Apologies this is a little blurred 

This is an older photo giving you the length of the plot, Here you see that same Lupin before it was in flower. And this is where the potatoes were planted. 

Here you see the Potatoes rows see how they have grown from the picture above this one. You can see the Lupins now too.  What you may not see are the leeks, that were planted in the earth. They are only like tiny blades of grass at the moment so they do not show up well on the photo. 

The Kidney Beans are now in, these were started off in the Greenhouse and planted out after the threat of frost after we returned from holiday 

With all the good weather and with our constant watering, It looks like there will be plenty of Strawberries this year looking at the amount of flowers.. The bees have been busy working away.

The broad beans are in flower and have some nice young pods on them.. So looking forward to them.

Remember the square raised netted bed of carrots in an earlier post? Well hubby got in and weeded through these,, rather his back than mine. as it was worse than the peas in the top photo. 

The tomatoes are now in the allotment greenhouse we have more in our home garden greenhouse too.
We grew these from saved seeds of tomatoes last year.
If you want to save seeds to grow.. Just squeeze them out onto some kitchen paper and allow them to dry out completely then store in envelopes somewhere dry to plant next season.

Parsnips and Beetroot with peas on left, brassica’s on the right

And I will leave you with what is blooming in the home garden. Until next time..

Happy Gardening.

Clematis

Foxgloves

How the Garden Grows While you are away.

After being away for our holiday in Scotland for a week.. It was surprising just how  quickly everything had grown, including the weeds..  ( if you hover your mouse over each image it reveals what they are )  If you click it takes you to the slide where you can view larger and read full descriptions 

Before..

And After weeding by me

We had left off planting out our sweetcorn, pumpkins, and courgettes until we returned home.. 

Courgettes. ( these have this week taken a battering in high winds and not looking so good as first planted )

All Five seeds of the Pumpkin seeds I set came from the pumpkin we scooped out last Halloween. These are being grown for Halloween

The sweetcorn got planted too.. All 40 seeds came this year, a total difference of last year where we had to set twice to only get a poor crop compared with previous years. Proving again there are good and bad years in all crops..  

Below on the right photo you can see the Butternut Squash.. This is fast becoming a favourite of mine.. You can use in soups, stews, and I also like to use in making veggie curries, the milder kind and I personally do not like them too hot.  You can also see in the distance how the potatoes have grown. These were weeded through too. 

Sweetcorn

Here you see the Butternut Squash planted out next to the sweetcorn.

 

The runner beans we had shielded in case of any last minuted night frosts were uncovered from their lower shield.. You just never know until May is out.. and we planted Lettuce in the middle of them. And they had really got growing up the supports.  To the right below, is the Rainbow Chard.. This is wonderful steamed or raw in salads with younger leaves.. 

Kidney Beans with Lettuce

Rainbow Chard. Young leaves can be used in Salads too. as can the young beetroot leaves .

A surprise for me.. What I had thought of as all last years Gladioli’s corms coming through where we had a few last year and I had left all the young new shoots in the ground.. They turned out not to be Gladioli after all.. But Yellow Iris’s.. 

How come, you may ask.. Well.. It has to be at least three years ago, we had a sunken half water barrel that we used as a sort of pond for wild life.. lots of toads and frogs would use it,  all good for slugs and insects, so  we planted an out grown Yellow Iris in there from our small home garden pond as it got too big for it.. So we split it, putting part in the home garden and I didn’t want to just destroy the other half, so put it in barrel pond.  It then outgrew it the following year, and we got rid of the water barrel pond.. As a harsh winter froze the water which led to some frogs dying in the submerged water barrel.. So we got rid of it.. The area you see below is where that pond was.. The Iris’s had large seed pods on, so these must be the Iris’s from those seeds.  Isn’t Nature Grand!! 

We had lots and lots of leeks left over.. And nothing much gets wasted.. So I dug up two of the raised beds and planted some in there. They are closely packed but these I will use first. And all the family enjoy leeks so none will go to waste.

Yellow Iris Closer view

Self set from seeds -Yellow Iris

Iris’s from Seeds long forgotten.

Hubby put up one more net , Each tunnel has two rows over cabbage three sorts, Kale, Curly and Russian  Black kale,  Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflowers etc.. We also had the tunnel protectors off and I weeded inbetween, and planted marigolds in between them all.. The nets protect from both pigeons and cabbage white butterflies. 

Tunnels over Brassicas

On the Home Garden I will finish off showing you our Olive bush, which our Daughter brought us in January for an Anniversary.. It stands at the side of this beautiful Jasmine, which I showed earlier in the year protected by bubble wrap.. Its now in full bloom and the fragrance from it is just Beautiful

HAPPY GARDENING!

~Sue~

Jasmine and the Olive bush..

Easter Weekend Gardening~Marigold tips

Easter is a time many of us get out into our gardens and start to think about planting out our bedding plants.. But its also that time of year that the weather often takes an unexpected turn and plunges back into the cold..

Last year we went away the end of April beginning of May for a week and left our sweetcorn in the cold frame.  However a sharp frost and unexpected snow killed it, so we had to start again.. So do keep an eye out on the forecasts for frosts and low temps etc… And keep those tender plants protected..  The cabbages and Brassica family should be fine if you have hardened them off sufficiently though.. And next week I think we will be putting ours into the prepared limed positions..

So  what have we been doing all week? The best way I think is in picture format..

First my Hubby dug two trenches and filled them with manure. We then carried the old swing frame we use to support the canes to its new position in the garden. The beans are in in the greenhouse thriving.

This piece of land my hubby lightly sprinkled some Manure over and then forked it over.. This is where this year we will plant sweetcorn and Leeks and the Dahlias are going nearer the potatoes this year.

 I set too and started to weed this section out. The line is to help me see where the Gladioli’s are, as they are just starting to shoot through.. Last year we decided to see how they went if we left them all in the ground. But you can see how overgrown they are.. Lots of poppies, which I love, had to come up.

Now you can see the weeding almost done one side of the line. I leave in the marigolds.. You will see these flowers dotted all over the allotment, They are very good at keeping some bugs at bay..

Now you can see I also cleared the path leading up to the greenhouse

 

I also weeded out the ground between the raspberries and loganberries. All shooting nicely now.

Below you can see the view as I stand with my back to the sheds. I left in lots of marigold seedlings I will leave many of these in and also use to transplant back in my home garden and dot around the allotments as they act as  good pest control to certain bugs..

  When you are not using chemical pest controls, these tips and  more can be found on the BBC Gardening  Guide  on why marigolds and Nasturtiums are good for pest control.  Link to the below quote can be found HERE 

Plant combinations

• Grow French marigolds among tomatoes. Marigolds emit a strong odour that will repel greenfly and blackfly.
• Grow sage with carrots or plants in the cabbage family to ward off pests. Both have strong scents that drive away each other’s pests.
• Plant nasturtium with cabbages – they’re a magnet for caterpillars that will then leave the cabbages alone.
• Garlic planted among roses will ward off aphids.
• Plant carrots and leeks together on the allotment or vegetable patch to protect against a number of pests. Leeks repel carrot fly and carrots repel onion fly and leek moth.

Make sure companion plants are planted at the same time as your edible crops to prevent pests from getting a foothold.

In the foreground are the Autumn fruiting Raspberries and the tall Blueberries, .. The loganberries are on the framework and behind those are the raspberry canes that fruit early summer.

I am extremely pleased, that this year we have lots of blossom on our apple trees.. One is a cooker the other an eater ..

Two apple trees and blackberries at the end. The green shoots are gladioli from the small corms left in the ground. I have left in to see how they mature.

Click onto the images this will take you into the slide module where you can read more. 

 

This collection of bins contain rotting compost material, other bins contain left over manure. to the left you can see our giant blackberries.. These are the bought cultivated variety. If memory serves I think these were called ‘Apache’.. 🙂 These we were given by another allotment grower a a couple of years ago.. They only really got going last year .

This piece is where we had the butternut Squash last year.. The water system 🙂 , still in place.. And has still to be cleared and sorted.. And that rickety old shed is still standing despite the high winds.. but this summer it will definitely come down..

These are wild blackberries, that grow rampant behind our shed and our neighbours allotment shed on the boarder between the two allotments… We both share the pickings and we also let the nettles grow here.. Good for wild life. Some butterflies lay eggs on nettle leaves, so if you see brown/black furry little caterpillars,, These a Peacock butterflies for the following year.

So Wishing you a very Happy Easter

and Happy Gardening

~Sue~

The heaviest of the work now done

After two full mornings in the allotments, a helping hand from our Son for 3 hours on Wednesday and the Potatoes are finally all in..  All 9 rows.. Three are earlies ( Arran Pilot)  and the others six rows are main crop  (Picasso) . 

A rare visit from my Son to the allotments, saw big smiles from us, as he helped his Dad dig four trenches for the potatoes.. Our Granddaughter helped fill in.. Both worked very hard that day

Potatoes now all in.. Hubby spent most of Friday morning digging and earthing them up.. Here you see he just made a start.. 6 more rows to earth up .

Today Friday, my hubby earthed up all of the potatoes, all nine rows, Earthing up allows for the water to run down to the roots..   More information about this method and mulching can be found HERE 

Remember the image I showed in the last post?  Click onto smaller photos to reveal more about them. 

This section is to be weeded.. You can just make out the young apple tree I had 5 glorious apples first time last year..

Now you can see the difference.. 3 hours work.

The Lime is added to the dug holes for the brassicas to help prevent club-root. The lime is left in the holes for a fortnight. Watered in. And after a couple of weeks we put the young plants in.

 

You can find out more about adding  in LIME HERE. 

But do please be aware Lime burns skin so avoid eyes and skin. 

Watering in the lime. Leave for a couple of weeks before planting in your plants

Cabbage three types-Savoy-Spring and Golden Acre and Hispi Cabbag e. Curly Kale, Cauliflower-white all year round,, purple-Graffiti, and yellow_Sunset, Broccoli- Calabrese. Sprouts have been re-potted today and will come out later.

I almost forgot about the Rhubarb.. as I had a large compost bin upturned over it . As you can see it drew it up a little lanky.

But it was quickly made into a rhubarb crumble.. And more growing for more delicious deserts

Blackbird feast

As I dug out the strip of weeds by the side of the sheds, I kept having a rest, and each time I did, the black bird took the opportunity to fetch worms to feed his young.

I kept throwing the blackbird a few unearthed worms.. And he made several trips with beak full to and from his nest in the hedge to feed his young. 

The home garden too is starting to bloom and below is a slide show of some of the  new shoots and flowers in the back garden of our home.. Click on each one to see what is growing  and what varieties  we have used. 

Happy Gardening 

Tomatoes growing in the home greenhouse, these are getting strong plants now. There are a variety, we have Shirley Tomatoes and Yellow- Golden Crown. And no doubt we get more varieties as we often exchange plants with other allotmenteers

Sweetcorn and Butternut Squash are up in the spare bedroom.. Each window sill is a hive of growth 🙂

Sweet peas in our home greenhouse

Spring flowers on my rockery

New buds of the Climbing Hydrangea

Climbing Hydrangea

Preparing The Ground for Planting

At last we have now got some decent weather in which we can really both get stuck into our Allotment.. This morning my Hubby has been busy digging and planting  two  more rows of main crop potatoes. We will plant another 4 rows of our main crop.. This will give us Three rows of earlies, to harvest end of June to mid July and the main crop will be harvested in late September. 

This is looking from the top of the allotments back down to the sheds. You can also see how my husband today also mowed up the sides of the pathways,, He still has to trim the edges with  a strimmer.. 

I have been clearing the weeds on the surface, while Hubby has been digging.. Once you have got to grips with clearing the main body of twitch and grass roots out of your allotments, if you keep on top of weeding, you can soon hoe through the weeds, allow them to dry on the surface and then rake them up..  I was too busy hoeing I forgot to ask hubby to take a photo of me hoeing. But you can see  how its looking now.

This is looking up from about three-quarters of the allotment to the top.. In the foreground you can see how the Strawberry plants are doing.. And yes I left those marigolds in the centre..

To give you an example of how the weeds soon grow.. and what I have cleared in the above plot here below is a section I have yet to clear.. This was where I had the onions and the Asters for cut flowers last yer.. You can just make out the shoots of the Gladioli near the apple tree.. The tree in flower is on next doors plot that is a plumb tree.

This section is to be weeded.. You can just make out the young apple tree I had 5 glorious apples first time last year.. Next time  I hope to show this piece cleared. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Above you can see how all the Brassica family are growing… these include cauliflower cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, Also there is Rainbow Chard, and Leeks.. 

Below is a close up of how the raspberries are now starting to shoot.. Remember How I cut back all of last years growth on the stems that had fruited..  Now new growth is emerging on them all..

Raspberry~ New Growth. You can see where I cut back last years stems which had fruited in the autumn

 When there is no more threat of frosts, we will be planting out our Tubers of Dahlias.. this year we are planting them more in the middle of the allotments.. We have some huge tubers and about 30 in total.. Some which we have had for years, Each year we buy just a couple of new ones of varieties we do not have .  Also this year I intend to plant a couple around the home garden for extra colour in the garden.. and not just use for cut flowers.. .. But the more you cut the flowers of Dahlia’s the more they produce more flowers..

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I do hope you have enjoyed my morning down at the Allotments.. Hope to see you again really soon.. And I hope you get company, I had a lovely blackbird who was grateful for a few dug up worms.  

Happy Gardening

~Sue~

Keeping Weed Free

Click photo’s to enlarge them.

I love this time of year when we begin to harvest the crops. And covering our Brassica family up to stop pests from Spring with nets has certainly reduced the influx of caterpillars and white fly.

Broccoli and Cauliflowers

We are also happy with the way our Allotment Greenhouse is ripening our tomatoes and they are further forward than our greenhouse tomatoes at home.

Tomatoes in the Allotment

Green but growing nicely

We uncovered the Chard from the nets and I set too to weed between them. This veggie is so versatile. we enjoy the young leaves in Salads, but its wonderful steamed like spinach

Rainbow Chard

Peas

The Pea rows are now in flower and producing pods, But to be honest this is not our best year for peas, the small covered  cloche  to the right is another Pea row. Again these have not germinated well. It appears many of us got our peas from the allotment association and many of us have had the same problem of poor germination. I had to re-set the row you see growing as it began life as two rows of 3 a breast.. But so many didn’t grow I transferred into one long row.   I will be  uncovering weeding and seeing how these have done this week.

 

New rows of Beets and carrots, You can also see how the sweetcorn is growing and you may just make out the thin blades of Leeks . The plants in the foreground are  Celeriac . In the background are the potatoes  and manure heap under the blue tarpaulin 

Keeping the above weed free is a full-time job. no sooner have you finished one part of the allotment than another is ready for clearing.  This is what I have been up to most days of this week. And my back now knows about it.

Turnips

The blue tarpaulin you can see at the top of the large picture above on our plot is the left over manure from the trailer load we had delivered last year.  We were amazed at how much was still left over.

My Hubby decided to move it as we had several empty compost bins.. He filled seven and still there was some left over. Each Bin contains 8 barrow loads of Muck, He moved around 60 barrow loads over a two-day period.

Some of you have been asking for an idea of how large the allotments are and how big our plots are..

I hope in the next post to have taken a few pictures to give a better understanding of our Allotments Association . And how because most of us have not got fences, how difficult it is to stop those wishing to take what you have grown.

Until next Time

Happy Gardening !

~Sue~

 

 

Watch Out Thieves Are About!..

On Monday night Thieves broke into the allotments.. I say broke into, as the main gate to the allotments which hold well over 100 allotment plots was obviously breached by some one who had a key to the main gate.. as no sign of damage to the Lock on the gate was done.. 

A gang we believe with a vehicle systematically broke into many sheds, taking Rotavators, Petrol Strimmers, Mowers etc..  

Thieves- Broken Lock on our shed

Much damage was done, but thankfully someone was looking after us,  I had put a prayer and crystal protection around our plot only the week before as we had some things go missing. And even though the thieves had a good go at getting into our Shed thankfully they didn’t succeed.

You can see how they twisted the lock and the scrapes as they tried to lever the door open.. But the Shed was also locked with a Key in the handle lock which Hubby had secured the lock really well with Long screws and bolts to the 2 inch wooden frame.   So they didn’t manage to succeed with our Shed. but either side of us was broken into along with many more. 

Here you can see how they prized off the lock to our shed

 

 

We were thankful that nothing more than a new Bolt hinge was needed to be replaced . But sadly it put many a hard working allotmenteer’s out of pocket having suffered losses and damaged sheds. 

My only consolation is knowing that there are more honest folks out there than there are thieves.

However this didn’t dampen the Dreamwalker Spirit for long as I had harvesting to do.

And Here is the picture of the Purple Cauliflower

Here’s me smiling with our Purple Cauliflower and Broccoli heads.

Garlic from last years late planting we didn’t plant much this year.

   I also remembered the Garlic we had drying in the shed and made short work of cleaning the bulbs to bring home ready for using

 

Garlic all cleaned and ready to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peas are now nearly ready also 

Today the Peas are ready. but I am leaving them so my Grandaughter can pick them when she comes at the weekend

The Kidney beans are now if full flower and the bees and insects are doing their work

More Harvesting Done ~ Purple Cauliflower, Black-currents, Loganberries one courgette, Strawberries, Broccoli.

Next time as promised I will update you on the Flowers I have growing both in the Allotments and in the Garden at home. 

Enjoy your weekend

Keep Smiling

And Remember There are More Good People than Bad

we just hear all about the Bad ones.

~Sue~