A triumphant plot departure

OK, before I tell you a single plot thing or show you one photograph we must address a very unexpected and wonderful piece of allotment related news...

This past Saturday I walked home from an afternoon at the plots by myself! All alone, on my lonesome, unaccompanied and indeed, solo. WHAT? Yes my friends it is possible, though it has taken me a good few years now to even think of trying. I did it, I survived and I may even do it again 😌

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cheeky fern

It was a cold day and though the sky was blue there had been a lot of rain the night before = a soggy field of plots. Never mind though; we had plans to enact and dreams to conjure up about our little slice of Eden.

Toby guarding the weeds and my bag at the blueberry bed

Toby at the path between the trees

I finished off weeding the blueberries (finally) and got the areas under the apple trees and path cleared too. It doesn't sound like much but boy it was a hot mess and the weeds were wicked and had long roots.

rotten apples at all stages of decay under the trees

Andrew finished his bed too which was mainly grassed over and then he tackled the external paths (those between the different plots) and used the strimmer the hack back the knee high grass there. The whole place is a lot safer now.

Next up we thought about our hedge and tree options for the make over. Plus this coming weekend there shall be skips on site and we have a lot to get rid off so we're really looking forward to it.

See you soon,
Hugs,
Carrie

A ray of sunshine

One day in the mental health darkness of the past week stands out - Monday. Bless it. Monday was my saviour in that Andrew took the day off and we went to the allotment for some much needed ecotherapy.

looking a lot better = happy soul :)

We weren't there for that long but we did get stuck in to our respective areas and weeded our wee hearts out. I was at the blueberry bed at the back of the plot whilst Andrew finished the squash bed and started tackling what is still the kale bed. We now feel as though we are getting on top of things and the excitement is building for the new ideas that we want to implement (the trees and hedging and keyhole paths).

blueberry bed - BEFORE

 blueberry bed - AFTER

Andrew happy at work getting rid of those darn weeds

Toby was a good boy especially as he was close to both of us - what a nervous little fella he can be!

Now we find ourselves firmly in the grip of Friday and have just been to one of our favourite cafes for a coffee and a wee talk about the plans for the weekend. Boy do I look forward to my weekends 😀

Hugs to all and may you have a lovely weekend yourself.
Don't forget the clocks go back on Saturday night!
Carrie xx

Back on the plot

Two days at the plot, reclaiming it from the weeds and general neglect has given us a boost that was sorely needed - friends we are back in love with allotmenting (or as I keep calling it in my head 'aplotmenting'!?).

** The first day back was Sunday afternoon on the 6th of the month and Andrew planted the garlic! The Solent Wight is in and I have my fingers crossed it will do much better this season. We planted the last lot last April as plug plants and they simply didn't do, maybe because it's best to plant your garlic direct in the autumn and let it get a darn good freezing before it starts to put on the growth in spring.

looking good

Andrew got the two espalier apple trees pruned that day too whilst I continued my struggle with reclaiming the plot from the grasp of nature. Honestly I felt unwell and too weak to enjoy the activity and the sight of the place so overgrown and in need of tremendous renovation and filled me with dread. Usually I'm excited by tidying up and improving but that day it all felt so overwhelming.

pruning the apple trees

No photo, sadly (oh how I tried) but I saw a lovely frog on the plot and there was such bird song and more worms than usual. But my mental health was just too poor - I felt utterly ashamed to be myself even though no one could even see me. Time to go home. (I'm getting panicky even thinking about it)

** On Saturday 12th we were back and I was in fine fettle and ready to work hard! Oh we have exciting plans I so hope we can achieve :)  A new shed, lots of fruiting trees, and a curtain of wonderful native hedges to provide shelter and a sense of a secret garden for me.

exciting new plan!

The rain tried to put us off but we simply waited the worst of it out in the car and then got started. Both of us tackled the re-wilding of the plot and by the time it was getting cold and darker we had reclaimed some paths and most of the rotation beds - hoorah! We even had time for a freshly brewed tea there on the plot bench.

stopping for tea

The new wee slit paths are being put in so as to facilitate my shortness and inability to reach anywhere near the middle of our beds to harvest or tend to the plants. Incidentally, we brought home a harvest of potatoes, a last sweetcorn cob and some kale :)

harvesting potatoes

Love and hugs to you all - I hope you will tag along for our renovation journey
Carrie xx

Castle Crom and finishing the Sliabh Beagh Way

Last weekend we spent a fabulous time in a renovated pig sty under a museum at the Crom Castle estate. How's that for an opening sentence?

These old spacious rooms have been very skilfully turned into glamping pods and we had 'Wilbur' for the night (named after the famous pig in 'Charlotte's Web') complete with two beds, a table and chairs, a mini fridge and microwave and a bedside table. It was so much better than camping ever could be and we loved it.

The Crom estate is right on the water of Lough Erne and had we been a bit earlier we could have hired a boat and visited some of the many islands there. We'll do that next time. This trip was more about the glamping experience and being in County Fermanagh for a nice early hike on the Sunday morning.

There is however the old Castle to be found and enjoyed, a massive 800 year old yew tree (among six trees from across Northern Ireland shortlisted for the Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year), walks around the estate, cattle and deer and old buildings to discover. Plus the newer, private castle on the grounds to gaze at and dream of a luxurious life with a butler etc :)

Oh there were bats at night flying right above our heads; it was the best...

A good night's sleep and hearty porridge for breakfast and we were on our way to finish the last stretch of hiking in these here parts :)

We finished the last part of the Sliabh Beagh Way (part of the Ulster Way) by Sunday afternoon! 40 miles knocked off our total now and now we only have 100 miles to go to finish the whole circuit. It's so hard to believe until we break it down into all the many many long hikes we've done over the two and a half years. So many fabulous days out getting to see the real bones of our country like you just can't do from a car.

Here is a great link to the Sliabh Beagh Way for you!

This section was 12 miles and though my hip/back hurt so much I had to take double the painkillers, we did it and enjoyed ourselves at the same time (Toby too). We got a little rained on but apart from that it was perfect hiking weather - I LOVE Autumn.

It was a great trip and next on the agenda is the Sperrins - exciting! There are so many photos from this wee weekend that I'm going to put lots up on my Instagram if you want to pop over there. I'm still so behind myself it's ridiculous but I am trying hard to catch up!

Hugs galore
Carrie

Daily photo challenge update (week 5)

It's Friday already and time for another fabulous photograph roundup :) The Fat Mum Slim September prompts finished with these being the last few, below.

Currently reading... North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Almost finished in fact.

What's my name??? 😂🤣

My inspiration is...everywhere!
In capturing moments of beauty (big and small) to help me cope with mental ill health.

October is a free choice month which basically means you can take a photograph of whatever you wish but you have to do a new one every day. This means we're getting to see the things that really tickle people and most photographs are a little more personal. I prefer the challenges better when everyone has their own take on the same subject however.

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Our garlic bulbs arrived - hoorah! We got 'Solent Wight' again this time from Simply Seed and have high hopes that unlike last year's batch (supplier?) they we love our allotment and do excellently well. It's been sad not having our own supply this year - it seems the plot now has all the diseases going and the soil is poorer but we have plans to change that. It was reassuring to read the Sarah Raven called this variety 'the best of all British garlic varieties which does well in our colder, greyer climes'.

We also got lots of tulips to plant there and at home and some gorgeous tete-a-tetes.
That's part of our weekend ahead though.

I hope you are all well and happy,
Carrie

September's plot visit

I come today to my blog with a confession - I only visited the allotment plot once this past month! *you all point and say "shame" at me* But at least I went, right? And it got me feeling bad and wanting to work harder over the winter to have a better growing year this time round :)

We are going to plant more trees on the plot and more flowers in the hedgerow for the fabulous bees. It's rather exciting. First we need to clear and cover the beds and gather seaweed and other organic soil improvers and plan, plan, plan! Oh and how I would love a new shed, but alas we can't have everything.

Anyway that visit saw us clear one bed and gather a pretty surprising harvest. Please enjoy the story through the magic of my photos.....

The plot from the far end looking back at Andrew 

and Toby

A BEFORE of bed 1 😟

AN AFTER of bed 1 😀

Toby doing a stop check on the apples we harvested

Most of the harvest before the heavy rain came 

Yep, we got thoroughly poured on just as we have finished the first bed clearance and gathered up what we could as a harvest from across the plot. I have some nicer photos of our wee harvest though....

The loveliest squashes, only a few apples but they were wonderful with our bounty of damsons in a couple of crumbles :) And we ate a good lot of the potatoes and scallions with the climbing beans for dinner!

I mean I know it's not great and you aren't sitting there gobsmacked, but I should remind you that in comparison to the work put in this was a lot of good tasty food.

We were away all weekend camping and walking and I look forward to sharing that soon. I hope you are all happy and have your bulbs picked, if not planted already - our garlic arrived today, hooray!

Love and hugs from (a sleepy)

Carrie