How are you, friend?

I don't usually let a year go by without mentioning and championing the annual mental health awareness week. However, this year I have been suffering myself ironically and haven't been able to write about the allotment or even the allotment patio. My depression has been heavy, anxiety unbearable at many points and I just don't feel engaged.

Even though it's getting like a lush jungle out there, I haven't even taken a photograph or a good look at things until 5 mins ago.

I must say though that many things are going great with our plants. Everything especially in the patio where most predators ( bar the snails) are yet to know about the tasty foodstuffs. OK our turnips and spinach seem to be bolting and the wild winds on Friday/Saturday hurt the leek seedlings but there's little to complain about. Also, I'm not sure why but all the spring onions are growing droopy - I don't mind it and they look yummy but it's odd....

leeks which bounced back, the many broad bean flowers, bolting spinach, droopy scallions

*******

I've been hiking around where we live with Andrew and Toby. Yes, there are very few footpaths but we are loving the exercise that we would usually have to wait for the weekend to do. Boy we have found some beautiful places... How glorious it is to see wild strawberries, gorse, bluebells, ferns, violets, sheep and even horses and donkeys.


I hope you know that wherever you are, whatever you're feeling these days, it is valid. If your thoughts are negative please talk to someone you trust. If it comes to it talk to me, my lovely.

Hugs
Carrie
xx

It's all going swimmingly

There have been some truly beautiful days this week again and Andrew and I have had a few late lunches out on the patio. On one of those days Andrew planted up some of our mixed lettuce and a few wee baby chard 'bright lights' into the last patio pot; we still have so much other delicious food stuffs to pot up but where? how? we can't get more pots! I guess everything else such as the sweetcorn, leeks, squash were always going to have to go to the allotment proper.

We do have lots of lovely little flower pots for my flower seedlings and more radishes (we've been eating them like they're going out of fashion!). Oh I look forward to planting them up and seeing colour abound, big thanks to Flighty again for sending me the seeds. There will soon be marigolds, nasturtiums and some sunflowers alongside my happy little geum 'Queen of Orange'; I'll also have some for the allotment plot :)

So everything is going swimmingly here and we are going to the plot tomorrow to get on top of the explosion of weeds that has happened thereI shall take my camera and share the news from that side of the allotment story too.

Beautiful broad beans flowers abound

coriander and spring onions getting on great 

radishes, turnips, potatoes, spring onions and spinach!

Just noticed that some of the spinach 'amazon f1' has started to bolt as it is wont to do, never mind though, we have been eating it with nearly every meal, it's been so tasty. We have perpetual spinach now as well so all will be fine in the end.

spinach and beetroot with baby round carrots just starting their journey

Toby say's Hello ("bork") and wags his tail at you,
Hugs and love
Carrie

More Allotment Patio

You join me outside with Andrew who is planting up another vegetable crate to add to the lovely jumble of allotment pots we have on the patio. Everything is going terribly well and there aren't even any pests on the plants (bar one slug), unlike at the main allotment plot where everything is being tackled by everything! It can't just be me - there are a lot more insects (hover flies in particular) and sweetly singing birds around this year - no??

So we are making an allotment box out of an orange plastic crate; we got this one discarded outside a farmers' market. Andrew carefully opened up a grow bag with scissors running along one end and poured all the contains out into a trug. Then he trimmed the other end and cut up the seam along the back length of the plastic. Laying this rectangle out, he lined the crate before emptying all the compost back in, spreading it evenly. This one is being planted up with coriander plugs, spring onion plugs (multi sown) and carrot seeds (rotundo - little round ones), see above.

Toby is over by the tulips and the water feature (which he frequently drinks from) laying in the sun and every now and then stretching and getting more comfortable; he's being a good boy.

Elsewhere in the patio allotment the mangetout peas are starting to romp away up the trellis support, the turnips have gone a bit bonkers with a growth spurt and the radishes are so juicy and plump we are eating them everyday with baby perpetual spinach too.

The potatoes are just starting to show their tips which I find very exciting and the broad beans are slowly (strongly) climbing up by their bamboo sticks and the flowers teasingly get bigger every day.

In the greenhouse my flower seeds are looking lovely but still a little too wee to plant up yet in the empty pots I have beside me. We also have baby celery, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale and lettuce seedlings in there, all looking well.

In the cold frame here, we have leeks (multi sown) and a wide variety of chard and beetroot varieties.

I hope you are having a good weekend my lovelies. Stay well and happy growing!
Hugs
Carrie xx 

The allotment patio

Hello, gorgeous people! *waves* and welcome to this special outdoors blog post live from my patio :) I sit here with a coffee in the sunshine with Toby and Andrew (who is working from home).

I hope you are well and keeping safe and sane in this weird quarantine period. It's actually not that bad really, is it? We have to stay at home with our TVs and books and blankets to do battle with this horrid virus. It could be a lot worse I guess. (OK I know it's Hell for some and I'm sorry xx)

So the mini allotment here is growing really well and I so happy to see the seedlings everyday slowly getting bigger and stronger in the mini greenhouse. The ones that are planted out are looking great and personally I would like to have these vegetable pots and flower pots every year - it looks so lush and green out here!

Beside me we have growing cabbages, coriander, radishes, turnips, spinach, beetroots, potatoes, leeks, spring onions, carrots, broad beans and peas! We came up with a fab idea for the potatoes in fact (I'm sure others have thought of this before but it excites us) - putting them in pots as usual and growing multi plugs of spring onions on top = a champ pot ;)

The first crop of radishes will be ready in a about a week - they are so rewarding to grow, I'd forgotten all about them over the past years but you get a crop in no time at all and they are so pretty. We have a heck of a lot so it's just as well we like their feisty peppery taste.

I have also just noticed that the broad beans have tiny flowers appearing and the mangetout peas are starting to cling unto the trellis behind them - you notice every little detail everyday instead of every week and it's utterly charming. I recommend this to everyone if you have even the smallest outdoor space - pots, grow your veg in pots and you can even add colour with marigolds!

I'm also noticing more of the joyous springtime changes that happen in the garden too. Since the start of the week the beech hedge has become greener every day, dropping its brown leaves and letting the new green leaves unfurl - its beautiful. The acers and the maple leaves are opening like paper fans and god grief there are so many hover flies and bees - I never noticed before - oh and the bird song!

Tulip pots -

 We've already had a beautiful flush of daffodils and after these blooms there are alliums to come.

Things continue at the allotment plot too but I'll save that for another post.

What's happening with you these days?

Virtual hugs 

Carrie

Spring 2020

It's not like any normal spring is it? We all know what's going on out there beyond the window panes and to be honest I think there are far too many sources of news about it - the information would choke a donkey! Let's just put a stubbornly optimistic spring slant on it all and say  - whoopie we have 2 veg plots now; one at the allotments and one here in the back patio :)

Let's start with what we've done most recently at the plot:

• Planted out the 3 new fruit trees in the long back bed with the other fruit trees and bushes

Prunus Cerasus Schattenmorelle

 A sour tasting juicy, bright red cherry which is self fertile. Blossoms appear in April and subsequent fruit hangs on partly weeping branches.

Prunus domestica Stanley

Supposedly one of the tastiest, sweet and juicy plums out there, with a beautiful smooth deep blue/purple skin and orange-y flesh. Mostly self fertile, blooming late in spring with harvests ready at the start of autumn.

Malus Jonagold

Large, reddish, vigorously fruiting apple tree with crisp, sweet honey flavour. A cross between the crisp Golden Delicious and the blush-crimson Jonathan. Blossoms are bright pink in spring and harvests are ready in the autumn, when some trees are showing colourful leaves.

• Planted out the first of the broad beans (the Sutton) and covered them in fleece (see first photo)

• Harvested the last of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli and had our second harvest of forced rhubarb (and thus crumble - yum)

Back home on the patio we now have our potatoes (Pentland Javelin) planted in three 30 litre pots, with a few left over to take to the allotment tomorrow.  We prefer to grow them in pots (10 litre of soil per potato) as the harvest is so easy and mess free. 

Of course as you can see by the photograph we also have our cold frame in the patio at the moment with healthy seedlings almost ready to plant. Plus the lean-to greenhouse is full of more happy little seedlings doing their thing. 

Lots of work to do this weekend at the plot but we are looking forward to it (social distancing will be enforced!)

Love and hugs to you all, stay safe xx

N.B. I simply cannot get this song out my head today - She's an easy lover, hahaha

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRKT6T0QLg

Allotments are safe (for now)

We awoke to an email from our council telling us that our Allotments were closed after the news from the Prime Minister last night. SHOCK! But I had just seen that Michael Gove MP had clarified that allotments can stay open as a source of exercise. It's simple - just practise social distancing!

Andrew was on the case in a flash and tweeted our council twice about the discrepancy and within a couple of hours it was all sorted out and things are fine again. Our little haven and extra food source is safe and open - phew! - big sigh of relief = Aahhhhh-llotment. Let's just hope it stays that way!

Sunday felt like a proper summers day but sadly I felt too mentally ill to go to the allotment. Andrew ventured forth however and got the first harvest of forced rhubarb (Glaskins Perpetual). Joy! - we hopefully will eat it tonight in a crumble. He also got more purple sprouting broccoli- oh it was delicious in our tagine :)

Andrew also bought in lots of grow bags and compost to the house so we can grow extra food on the
patio this year. The idea being we can help out family and friends with fresh veggies when needed. So
far we've had 100% germination on everything so we have a lot of seedlings.

We've got Broad Beans (The Sutton), Spinach (Amazon F1), Radish (Scarlet Globe) and Turnip (Purple Topped Milan) hardening off in the wee makeshift cold frame at the minute and they look great.

 More stuff is in the greenhouse, with candles lit if its going to get near freezing:

• Beetroot (Boltardy)
• Leek (Musselburgh)
• Spring Onions (White Lisbon)
• Cabbage (Greyhound)
• Mangetout (Oregon Sugar Pod)

And lastly we have celery and celeriac in a heated propagator, they are slowly coming up.

Yesterday saw Andrew bring the big potato pots up home and one wasn't emptied! Surprise spuds and

they look and feel beautiful - we'll take any happiness we can get

In the coming days there will be lots more sowing done. Plus the newly chitted potatoes (Pentland
Javelin) need planted.
We usually do this on St Patrick's day but the weather was awful this year.

That's enough for now I think,
Be safe, be kind, look after yourselves
Hugs
Carrie

Seedling success (so far)

The world appears to be crumbling around us all with Corvid-19 and to be honest it's all a little bit scary, so let's just remind each other to be safe, to wash those hands and look out for each other albeit from a distance. No more on that topic from me - I think we are a bit saturated with information and what if scenarios...

Instead, as this is an allotment based blog, we should all focus for now on seeds and seedlings and how utterly joyful it is that things are going so very well on that front. At least they are here; I certainly hope they are with you, if indeed you have started.

Happy happy us we have the following seedlings:

• Broad Beans 'the sutton'
• Cabbage 'greyhound'
• Spinach 'amazon F1'
• Beetroot 'boltardy'
• Spring Onion 'white lisbon'
• Turnip 'purple topped milan'
• Radish 'scarlet globe'

It's such a joy to see them all and I especially like this bit of germination when they are just pushing the soil aside and making the final preparations to show themselves :) Even on my darkest mental ill health days - these babies bring a wee smile to my face.

Mangetout

But all the seedlings are at home, "what news from the plot?", I hear you ask. Oh well I am pleased to inform you that there are buds on the blueberries, purple sprouting broccoli for the harvesting and wonderful forced rhubarb, umm, forcing away!

The garlic and neighbouring tulips are looking super healthy too so we are pleased and aching to get down there and do some of the other many jobs we have in mind.

Happy weekend
Carrie

P.S. Just one thing, say you were to be self isolating for a few weeks - what are your favourite novel recommendations - for a good time? Maybe your all time favourite book? maybe one you just finished? I'm really interested to know. 

Now....

HUGS 

With thanks to the Bee Gees

I haven't been online much and only wrote 2 blog posts last month but my mental health has been seriously poor and I haven't done much of anything to be honest. However this isn't what I want to talk about - I have the Bee Gees' Greatest Hits playing and let's get groovy :)
"Night Fever - we know how to do it!"

The weather.... I don't want to talk too much about the weather as it will only get us all down, BUT lordy, it has not be favourable to the allotmenteer, has it!? Here, by the sea, we have just had pesky rain, hail and very cold winds, enough to stop us from going to the plot. Why, could someone tell me, is the weekend weather always worse than the weekday (when we can't get stuff done!)?

Seed planting at home has begun, just a few trays so far but enough to be us excited. We (rather Andrew to be honest) has been planting them in the dining room so I can take photos and be involved.

Next seeds I'll be planting as Flighty, wonderful Flighty send me some of my favourite flower seeds and I always have room for pretty, bee friendly flowers ;)

Here's the seedlings we have at the minute.... Spinach, Cabbage and Broad Beans :)

We have lots of seeds to be sowing but we aren't worried as we don't want leggy seedlings when it gets time to plant them out; it looks like it's going to continue to be poor for a wee while yet.

Oh and the potatoes are just beginning to chit and are firm and healthy.
"You should be dancing!"

This weekend has better weather in store, according to the weatherman, so fingers crossed my friends, we can but hope. Love and hugs ("love it such a beautiful thing!")
Carrie

Recently on the plot

Cars in the near distance, a great mass of geese in the sky and many sweet song birds in the hedgerows - the noises that both accompanied our visit to the plot and soothed our minds. Sometimes, even in the damp, its a truly wonderful place to be.

I got to work with the oscillating hoe, did I tell you we got one? Haha, I feel we haven't quite gotten over the shock and joy of this new find.

During the week Andrew got us more seeds in Poundstretcher (varieties we wanted and for only 79p) and 3 bare root fruit trees in Lidl for £15! Bargains. The online bare root tree order fell through as though we'd paid the £5 delivery fee, they wanted £15 more!? £20 to deliver a £15 tree, no thank you.

2 Prunus and a Malus (more in a future blog post)

Due to Storm Ciara the ground was sodden so we couldn't plant the trees but we put them together in a big pot with lovely new compost. The pot is in a sheltered corner until a better day.

Next, posts where first driven into the ground in the back of the site. Then, we had bought wind break netting on Saturday so we screwed it up with batons and cut offs we have had around the place. Little rustic looking from the back maybe but functional!

Somehow having created a little barrier off from the rest of the field, I suddenly had the feeling of belonging. Belonging to this small plot that is ours, more so than I have in years. And with that I felt more assured that I am an allotmenteer, I belong to this wider circle of people and the feeling was lovely (if fleeting).

* We've been eating the PSB and the kale tops, this week too. Don't overlook those bolted kale flower buds, they taste wonderful!

It's really time to give the shed some loving! We have so much to get rid of out of it, a corner to repair and lots of fresh paint needs applying. We had thought of getting a new one but this one is dandy - just hard done by. As we had the tools with us, I bravely decided to take down the lovingly handcrafted 24a sign I made some years ago out of odd broken up tiles; time to move on.

Love and hugs (especially as it's St Valentines' day!)
Carrie