Arthur's First Visit to the Allotment

Arthurs first visit to allotment

I mentioned to Arthur about all the digging we needed to do and he decided to fall asleep instead

The Warman's are back!

We are back!

The reason for the lack of process on the allotment was due to this person

This is the new member of the Warman Family - Arthur George Warman, born on 23rd Oct 2007.

Due to having a C-section I have not been able to do any gardening for a while BUT I got down to the allotment and started the task of getting the allotment ready for the growing season. As I thought loads of weeds had appear BUT we had a few leeks growing which was great. Had some of them for our Dinner when we got home, yum yum.

Update

Managed to get to the allotment on Sunday Afternoon, we spent the morning at helping out at the Hazlemere Garden center, its a place that is only open on Sunday mornings 10-11am but it sells cheap garden related materials. You pay a few quid to become a member but you must help out in the shop once a year. Steve helped with the lifting off the Compost and I ( as I am 30 weeks pregnant) collet tickets at the exit. This ensured goods had been paid for before people left the area.

We went to the allotment after our shift ( only 2 hours) and dug up a loads more spuds. We got a very good crop, some better than others but as it our first full year we are just grateful for anything.

I also took the spuds I need to plant for Christmas. I have placed a few in Potato barrells, and I will plant a few in the ground and see what happens. Also plan to plant a few at home aswell.

Need to order Garlic and Over Wintering onions very soon.

More Spuds

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originally uploaded by lozza1.

Here are a few Spuds collected from the allotmet tonight - we have loads more to dig up. We wont have to buy any spuds for a very long time. I have also just received the spuds for Christmas. I have got quite a few of them aswell so I think on Christmas day we will be given Spuds away to the family.

Weekend at the allotment

I needed to spend a bit of time at the allotment at the weekend as I knew the weeds would be back and also needed to plant a few Veg plants I still had to plant. Steve is building new decking and and a brick wall, as I am pregnant I can not really help so perfect time for a trip to the allotment. Also as the weather had been bad wanted to check the site wasn't flooded.

Sunday was the best day of the week for the allotment - don't think it rained all day. While at the allotment I planted a few more leeks and some onions I had. Not sure how the onions will do but I am a beliver in stick it in the ground and see what happens. If we works out great, if it doesn't work you know not to bother in the future. Growing your own is a learning experience.

Also decided to harvest some more potatoes as the leaves looked in a bad way - either blight or slugs, so we will be having spuds for dinner most nights as we know have 3 types to use.

Some weeding was always done - it just makes the pot a bit more respectable. I am finding working at the allotment harder now I am getting bigger so I have to have more rests than normal. Luckily we do have our bench so I can relax a few minutes. I would have a nice cup of tea BUT someone stole our camping stove and kettle a few weeks ago!!

Plan to go back during the week to do some more weeding. I find if I do it during the week a bit at a time it doesnt seem to much of a pain if I leave it till the weekend.

This week I want to plant some beetroot and carrots to fill up some space I have on one bed. I do have carrots growing at home in pots but I am sure we will eat them all or we can give them to friends and family.

Veg collected today

A few spuds and a lettuce from our neighbour.

Managed a quick visit to the allotment - actually stopped raining for a whole day - woohoo. We decided to harvest a few spuds for Dinner and plant a few flowers i had hanging around.

Our neighbour turned up for a flying visit, we have not seen her in ages. She told us she was given up her plot as due to person reasons she just doesn't have the time, which is a shame. She is a really nice neighbour, always pleasant and friendly. I just hope our new neighbour is nice. I just hope the plot doesn't go to empty and we end up with a plot with just weeds and horrible to look at. Oh well just have to wait and see.

Just had a few of the spuds for Dinner and they where lovely. Can't wait to see how the other spuds will taste.

Raining AGAIN

Will it ever stop raining.

Took this photo as I was leaving work - Sunny Slough, I was planning a quick visit to the allotment but its too wet. So instead I will be going for a quick swim. Will the rain every stop!

A theft at the allotment

Went for a quick visit to the allotment last night to plant a few veg plants I haven't got around to planting yet - Pumkin, Brocolli and a Pepper plant. Also decided to harvest all of my white overwintering onions as they have all folded over. Some and really big, a few small ones but wanted to harvested them before the slugs start to eat them. A few had already been started on!!!

Below is a picture of the onions drying in my plastic green house. I should have left them drying on the ground but its too wet for that.
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Also found out our Shed was broken into aswell - not sure when. The only things taken where the Camping stove and kettle - the fact they took the CHEAP IKEA kettle really made me laugh. Luckily we took the advice from the council and they told us NOT to lock the shed as they sometimes do more damage getting into the shed and even burning the shed down!!

Another thing I finf really strange - nothing else really moved or broken ( they moved my box of milks i have but thats it) no boxes gone through and no tools taken. If you didnt know I had a stove you wouldnt know someone had been in there. It was in the same state I left it in.

Naughty Lily

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originally uploaded by lozza1.

A picture of naughty lily. When I was trying to take the photo, she thought the phone was some food and tried to jump and eat it!!!!

Harvested Garlic

27062007.jpg,
originally uploaded by lozza1.

Here is a picture of the Harvested Garlic - Don't they look great!!

Garlic

Not looking good. But once harvested they look great.

Beautiful Onions

Look at our lovely onions - some of them are HUGE! I think we will harvest the bigger ones very soon. They look lovely.

Rasberrys

The rasberrys are doing very well. We actually both had one rasberry each after this photo - very nice

The Spuds

This is just a close up of the spuds growing - I can't wait to try these - hope they are OK!

View of the allotment

I have finally got around to taken a few photo's of the allotment. As you can see we have made some process - nearest to the camera are the Spuds. One to the right are the ones we planted first, the one in front we planted a few weeks later so we have a good suppy and they don't arrive all at the same time.

I hate weeds

The main job at the allotment is weeding. As we was off for two weeks the weeds are very big. I am always looking at other people's plot and they don't have any weeds but mine is just full of them! I spent Monday night down on the plot and weeded the broadbeans and garlic bed, the strawberry bed ( added straw to them aswell) and removing weeds from the path - these are the worst. I was getting so much done then as I mentioned before I then stepped on a nail so went home feeling very sorry for myself.

I also planted the sweetcorn and Butternut squash in the same bed. I had been told they go very well as the sweetcorn go up and the butternut grow on the ground and stop the weeds!!! thats what i like, keep the weeds away, so I am giving that a go!

Just come back from the allotment tonight, as my foot is better and I can actually walk on it now, I weeded more of the path way, the Pea bed that nothing else grows in it apart from Peas!, the Onions as they where getting strangled by the Bine weed!

Planning to go tomorrow and weed some more. I think Steve will also come and help.

Stupid Nail

While I was down on the allotment on Monday evening I stepped on a piece of wood with a NAIL in it. It went straight through my shoe into my foot. I can tell you it hurt. The next morning it really hurt and had problem walking on it. Steve decided we should get it checked out with A & E. I am also 21 weeks pregnant so we wanted to make sure no serious damage was done.

So we spent 2 hours in A & E, had a X-Ray - put on a special suit to protect baby and they said it was fine. It just really hard to walk on it.

Hopefully will get better tomorrow.

Back from Holiday

We have just spent two weeks in Italy so the allotment needs a bit of TLC.

I have pulled up the broadbeans - I did manage to get a few of them but not as many as I should have. If I plant them next year I will cover them but I don't know if I can be bothered with them.

All the garlic have gone rusty - Oh well. Just have to see what they are like when we dig them up in a few weeks.

The over wintering onions are doing very well. Some look very impressive.

I have planted some sweetcorn and Butternut squash - hopefully they should do ok. We are big Butternut fans and look forward to eating them.

The main jobs we need to do is the weeding, we seem to be the only people on the site with weeds, its not fair. Steve also needs to build a frame for the raspberries, to stop the Deer eating them. It seems the local Deer eat anything green. They had a nice feast on my cauliflower!!! I am planning to put brocolli in there place and will make sure the Deer can not get to them.

Spuds are doing very well. We planted in two stages so we don't get all the spuds at once.

Is something eating my Veg?

Had a visit to the allotment today with Steve, After all the rain we have had the last week or so the weeds have just gone mad. Also noticed the Bollitti was not doing very well. At first I thought something had been eating them but then I remembered I have had problems with this bed before, Veg does not grow in except Peas. Peas loved it in this bed. I decided to replant the bollitti beans in a different bed so I am praying very hard they will recover! I will plant some more just in case.

The Cauliflowers has also been eaten, so we have now covered it, so hopefully they should be ok.

We have started the big marthon on weeding, we have plenty of them. Also plan to plant the last of the potatoes we still chitting.

Horrible weeds

It seems all we are doing at the momment is weeding. It also feels the minute we weed the next weeds wait till we leave the plot to show and grow like crazy. Will it ever end!

Quick Update

Just come back from a trip to the allotment. Planted a few flowers, Borlotto Lingua ( Climbing) and some cauliflowers which have been growing at home in small pots in the spare room.

The potatoes we planted a few weeks ago have started to appear, the onions, strawberries, garlic, raspeberries, peas are doing well. The broadbeans are still not doing well. I was close to pulling them all up but relised I have a few growing. I think I may have enough for one meal but not holding my breath. As mentioned earlier I will not be growing winter ones again.

The asparagus is also doing very well. We have heard it really hard to grow but we thought we would give it a go. Most of the spears have started to grow and produce the flower. They will be ready next year.

I have a few things growing at home aswell. They are:-

Various types of toms
Butternut squash
Sweetcorn
Various type of onions
Green Beans (Dwarf)
Pumkins
Brocolli

We also have another set of potatoes to plant which we will plant in a few weeks.

I will wait till these are a bit bigger than I will plant in the allotment

New Extra run for the Chickens

At the weekend we had the job of building a more secure run for the chickens. We was making our way to Wickes to get the wire and bits and pieces to make the run when I mentioned to Steve I had noticed somone near our house had some old fencing in there front garden. We drove past the house and Steve said they would be perfect. The front door was open so we knocked on the door and asked if the fencing was still required. We got a weird look but she said she was taking it down the tip. Once we explained it was for chickens she said this would be perfect as the item used to be a Aviery!!! We could not believe our luck. It had a roof and a door to go with it.

Steve put it all on top of the car and took it back to the house and put it up.

Here's a quick photo

After building the run we went to the allotment in the evening to give it a good water.

Both Chickens escape!

When I returned from work yesterday I was informed by one of the children my chickens had escaped! He siad three of them, I then told him I only have 2 chickens. Found Lily in the Garden and put her back then spoke to Caroline, my neighbour and she told me both had escaped out of the front garden and she was chasing Daisy in her garden. So the chickens are now in the Eglu and will not be allowed in the extra run till we fix it which will be at the weekend. We will of course be letting them out in the garden when we are home.

Easter visit to the allotment

We have both spent most of Easter Sunday down the allotmemt. We decided it was time to plant our potatoes. We are planting them in the area we placed manure on late last year, it had been dugg over once before so the ground was not to bad, just a few weeds. In total we had seven different types of potatoes to plant - lucky we both like potatoes. After speaking to Stan from the allotment regarding when to plant he told me to think about not planting all at the same time, so if one lot dont produce well I will have a back up and also you have dont get them all at the same time in the season, you get two batches, so we have only planted halve and maybe in 4-6 weeks we will plant the others.

Picture of the potatoe Bed

Last week we also planted some asparagus - we bought from mushroom and farmhouse manure. I can tell you its stinks! when we picked it up we had to have all the windows in the car open, luckily it was a lovely day! As the Asparagus is going to be in the ground for a very long time we needed to make sure the bed was well dug over and plenty of manure. We wont get any crop this year, just have to let it grow into a fern type flower then cut it back. The plants are 1 year old all ready so they will be hopfully ready next season.

Asparagus Bed

Naughty Chicken!

Just been down the allotment to finish off the weeding - now all the beds are weed free. I had been home for a few hours when i noticed one of the chickens ( Lily) was at her favourite position, on top of the eglu, next time I look she is walking around the garden. She had managed to escape out of the run. This is worrying as I let them in the run extension while I am work, this is no longer save to leave them in there. I think Steve is going to make a part of the run longer so Lily can not jump/fly over the run!

I then put her back, about 10 mins later went back, she was again on top of the eglu, she looked at me and then escaped again. I have now locked them in the eglu as I am going running at 6.30pm and not sure when Steve is back. I cant risk being out and the chicken escaping.

The naughty chicken Lily is the Ginger chicken in the photo.

Quick visit

I am off from work for a few days so the first place to visit while I am off is the allotment. Its mainly wedding and a bit of digging at the momment. I am growing alot of veg in my greenhouse at the momment, so once they have got bigger I will then plant at the allotment.

I have just been down the allotment for a bit of weeding and thought I would take a few photo's for a quick update on the Veg growing on the plot.As mentioned before my broadbeans not doing very well, had to get rid of a few yesterday as they where just all black. Here is a picture of one of the plants

The Garlic is doing very well, I have loads growing in the allotment and a few in pots in my back garden. Here's a quick photo of the Garlic

The Brocolli and Spring Cabbage are doing really well - they have been protected by mess to stop any animals eating them. I took it off today to sort out all the weeds that have developed - I would say I got rid of 95% of them. I am really impressed on how these are growing. Don't really do much to them, just maybe water them a bit but thats it.

The Winter onions are also doing very, I need to go back and weed the area and be very careful I don't dig any of the onions up. Here's a few photo's

We are now getting eggs

We have been getting eggs from the chickens for about 2 weeks now, we think both are now laying and we get 1/2 every 2 days which is good. They are small eggs but they will get bigger as the chicken gets older.

Here's a photo of our first egg from Daisy

Quick Update

I have only managed to visit the allotment once in the last 2 weeks, not much to do. Managed to get a quick visit to the allotment in to see how what veg we have are doing. My broadbeans are not doing well, either they have blown over or they are turning black. I have cut loads of and had to get rid of a few plants as they where dead! Not sure if I will get any Broadbeans of this crop so i have bought some seeds to plant March/April. I dont think i will bother growing over wintering Broadbeans again.

Also my Spuds Seeds all got mixed up on Wednesday evening as we had a bit of wind and the plaastic green house got blown around taking the shelving unit with it. So now I have no idea which is which.

We have had the chickens for a week now, we let them out of the eglu for the first time, which went very well. Gave us time to practice picking them up, we both managed it.

Chickens have arrived

Well the chickens arrived yesterday. I am holding Daisy and Steve is holding Lily
They have setlled in well, we had great fun trying to get them into the house when it was time to go to bed.

At present the Chickens need to stay in the eglu for atleat 5 days so they learn the eglu is there home and its a safe place.

We will also be moving the eglu to the back of the garden as this area does not have much grass anyway so the chickens can trash it and make themselves confortable.

We are getting Chickens

We have been thinking about getting chickens for a while but due to moving into a new home and I think there was a bit of chicken flue around we decided to hold fire.

We order the chickens through Omlet - http://www.omlet.co.uk/homepage/homepage.php

It is a bit expensive but due to me and Steve having no knowledge on Chickens it seemed best for us!

They wont be living at the alloment but in our back garden, we are allowed them but as we only get to the allotment at the weekends at present, its unfair to leave the chickens up on the allotment on there own!

The chickens arrive 23rd Feb, not sure of time yet, they will confrm the day before.

The names we have so far are Lily and Daisy, this may change as we have already changed one chickens name.

Still snow!

Well we still have snow in High Wycombe, most of the snow if off the roads and mainly still in people's garden and pavement - which is icey so easier to walk in the roads and fight with the cars and hope you dont get knocked over.

Was planning to go to work BUT the back road I have to use to get my car out is very icey

See photo below. The gate on the left is where I need to come out. I was worried if I slid I would hit the cars at the bottom.

Its Snowing!

Well they have been talking about it for days and yes it did finally snow and not just a few snow flakes, about 6-8 inches in High Wycombe. We took a work to see how the area was coping and it wasnt pretty, cars losing control and getting stuck all over the place. We both decided to work from home, Steve takes the train and they where cancelled and I drive. It wasn't save to drive.

Here are a few pictures from our Garden

Untounched Garden
Lozza in the Garden ensuring the Bird station is well stocked. Soon after this me and Steve had a snow ball fight, we actually has 2 fights!

New member of the Warman Household - Warman Snowman. While we was making it I came to discission that I thought this was my first snowman I had made. I think because I lived in London and had no garden, I never got the chance. Also the snow is not normally that thick in London.

My Seeds

I thought I would take a photo of all the seeds I presently own. Its like an actiction - everytime I am in a shop I always look at the seeds they have - I think I have more than enough now.

Looks like the order we placed with T&M is slowing coming through. Steve just told me have some plants delivered to his office BUT he is off sick today so just have to wait till tomorrow to see what they are.

Leeks from the Allotment

When we visited the allotment yesterday we decided to pull up a few leeks - they are not the biggest as I think the hole I dug was not big enough, but they are still nice. Steve was going to make a chicken pie so he decided to add Leeks instead of Peas!

Here are the leeks

The Receipe is below - Steve changed it a little but it was lovely.
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/food.recipe/aid/573815

Warman's go for a walk

Decided to go for a short walk in the morning, went to Wendover forest. They have loads of walk, some for beginners and a few harder ones. I love just walking in the fresh air.

Here is Steve with a large stick he found on our walk

Quick Visit

Went for a quick visit to the allotment to place the cold frame, plant a few carrot seeds and generally see whats happen on the plot as it been a while since we have visited the plot. Took a few photo's on my mobile phone.

I took a quick picture of the inside of the shed, as she can see a few tools and the most important thing in the she is in place - the kettle! Having a cup of tea at the allotment is vital, keeps you going. I recommend this tool to EVERY person who owns an allotment, a camping stove is also required

The cold frame has also been put in place, planted 2 rows of carrots which is one side of the cold frame, going to plant on the other side in a few weeks so we have a long suppy of carrots and not all at the same time, thats the plan anyway. My carrots in the back graden did not do very well so I am hoping for a better result at the allotment.

Here are a few photo's of the process of the Veg growing on the allotment

This is the onions - all seem to growing well. I did have them covered with some mesh but have now taken that off. I read of another blog not to leave it onto too long as the onions sometimes get stuck in between the holes in the mesh and as you take the mesh up you bring the onions with you!

This some of the Garlic, Got a bit of this growing - even got some in pots in my back garden, I love Garlic!

The Broadbeans are still nicely covered, They are growing very well, got a few flowers appearing so thats good! Going to leave the fleece on for a while as it seems still a bit cold at night.

Few Photo's of fixed green house

I thought I would take a few photo's of the fixed green houses which got damaged in the winds a few weeks ago. They both seem happy in their new homes This is the small green house which I lost my temper trying to put it together. One of the top bars to keep the roof has come off but I left it off for a while - scared it will full apart!
This is the large one, Steve built a woodern frame and fits perfectly. He built this while I was having a hissy fit with the small green house.
This is what remains of the old frame for the large green house. We are keeping them as we might need them to make small growing frames at the allotment.

Hopefully going to the allotment today, just to see hows it going and if the Broad Beans are OK, also need to take the Cold Frame to its news home and plant the carrots

Our new Cold Frame

We failed to visit the allotment this weekend as we have some stuff to do and one of them was builing a cold frame, I was going to buy one but looking at the cost we decided to make one out of bits of wood hanging around the garden and some heavy duty plastic from B&Q.


Steve putting plastic over the sides

One of the doors

The Final product - A Cold Frame

This will be used to go over my caroots to keep the carrot fly at bay1

They where wrong!

No Snow today
Actually woke up at 3am and checked to see if we had any snow. Not sure what I would have done if we did have snow.

We have snow

Well it has finally Snowed in High Wycombe. They have been saying it would snow for a days. I am glad I protected my Broad Beans.

The roads where all clear and it all melted by about 12 noon.

I heard it might snow again tonight but I am not sure. Just have to wait and see when I get out of bed and have a look out of the window.

We are not the only mad people

We went to the allotment straight after work to cover the Broad Beans in Garden Fleece, we both had head torches and parked the car so the headlights where facing the allotment and used the lights from the car lights for extra lighten. We had only really started and another car had turned up - It was about 7pm and very dark so you can imagine the shock. Our car was parked straight over the main car path so we had to move the car - not a problem. Well I couldnt find the car keys - finally found them but it took about 5 mins.

The owner of the car was one of our neighbours, not meet him but have meet his wife Karen. He had come to fix his Green house that had broken in the wind. It was really funny has we all had head torches and was busy working away - the people who live in the house which are at the back of the allotment must have thought you was mad!

I dont care - my Broad Beans are now covered and protected.

Another night visit to the allotment

As the weather forecast perdicts a heavy frost I have just been to buy Garden fleece for the Broad Beans. Might have to go down tonight with the head torch to place the Fleece over the broad beans to protect them.

One of our neighbours Stan recommend to me if we get any more frost to protect them with some fleece as I told him some had turned Black last time.

Also emailed the council as one of other neighbours - Karen from 13a, her Green house has been damaged in the wind - Steve managed to fix it a bit but not 100% so hopefully the council will let her know and she will fix it.

A bit of Sunday gardening

This morning to drove to wickes to get some timber for the new frame for the large broken plastic green house and a cold frame. While steve built the new base I put the small plastic green house together and found it a new home. Our Garden gets really windy so it is now near the front door. Actually lost my temper several times while putting the stupid thind together as poles kept coming apart. Managed it after a while and having to come into the house twice to calm down!

Also planted a few onions in pots. Not to many, only 4 as they are suppose to exibition size but the tempt has to be hot in the green house, as I think I would not be able to get the temperture required ( 2o c) I did not want to waste too many seeds so done 4 to see how they process.

Also planted some Sweet Peas and Red Hot Poker which will mainly be planted on the allotment and a few for the gardens at home.

Did not get around to making a cold frame, maybe a job for next weekend.

We also paid a visit to the allotment - just a quick visit to see if we had any wind damage and also to put the water butt back - Steve Screw the Water Butt to the pallets - hopefully it should not move!

The only Wind damage we had was my Broad beans, only a few broke, nothing to get worried about, I have loads anyway. The ones left are doing very well.

The leeks are still growing so we are going to leave them in the ground for a while. Both the red and white onions are all growing well, red better than white. They wont be ready till about August, which we thought was a very long time, we planted them in Oct 2006. Oh well thats what the instructions say.

We have some other onions to plant aswell so I think we will be over run with Onions but Steve uses Onions loads in cooking so it wont be a problem, if we have to much, then we just give to family.

The Brocolli and Spring Cabbage seem very happy in the little tent we built for them, which is great. I dont eat any of them but maybe Steve will get me to try them!

Garlic is also growing well

My Peas are not gwoing well - a little bit of growth but maybe they might start growing soon.

Green House

We have deiced to TRY and fix the Green House. Steve thinks we should make the same size frame out of wood and then put the cover back over it. I think we will be going down to B&Q for some wood tomorrow morning. Steve's parents are coming tomorrow so they can help :-) They dont know yet ha ha ha

I have also decided to make my own cold frame. Mainly because I can they make it the size I want.

Wind Damage

Today has been very windy - I left work early as I heard loads of trees where being blown onto road and causing problems for drivers. As I drove from Slough to High Wycombe I drove past many trees which have been ripped out of the ground. One of my Colleagues who lives near me and we take the same route to and from work rang me to tell me a road was blocked and to find a new route. Luckily he rang me in enough time to change my route. I found a new route and got home safetly. When I returned home our small green house was on the floor and the other green house seemed to have travelled a long distance. No Major damage but I think the large green house is offiically broke!

I dont even want to know if I have any damage at the allotment - I have just remember my Broad Beans - they get damaged in the wind, hopefully I have tied them well enough to the poles, Just have to wait till the weekend and see.

Hose pipe Ban in No longer

Watching GMTV this morning and they reported the Hose pipe ban with Thames Water has been lifted.

How long will it be till it back!

Get those Water Butts now and stock up on the water!

spending money again!

I spend most lunch hours in Wilksons looking at gardening stuff - prices are very good. There gardening stuff is just coming back in as the Christmas stock has now gone which is great. Today a bought a 4 tier Green house staging which will go into my large plastic green house to help grow my Veg.

I also like the look of a Cold frame they have but it's presently not in stock.

Loads of Rain BUT no Water Butt

Its not fair, its raining cats and dogs in High Wycombe today but due to the Water Butt falling over due to the heavy winds, its sitting inside the shed to make sure it doesnt get blown away. Steve is planning to screw the water butt to some wood we have.

Its just not fair!

And I also heard, even though we have had loads of rain the hosepipe ban is still in force - I cant believe it!

Well hopfully at the weekend we will fix the water butt issue and then collect loads of water for the summer.

Few photo's

Me and Steve went to the allotment at the weekend to set up a few more beds and a bit of weeding, while we was there on saturday Steve noticed our Water butt had disappeared - it had been blown away in the wind and was now on out next door plot, it was halve full of water but no longer. We was not happy. Steve is going to find a way to screw the Water Butt to the bits of wood it is standing on.

We also had ind damage in our back garden, we have a plastic greenhouse that got a bit damaged but Steve managed to fix it and my small 4 tier green house got thrown around. Luckily I had taken out the Garlic I had planted to give it some water, thank god they are save! Also severals bits of wood where blown from one our sheds.




Here are my new beds - managed to dig 2, which will contain Raspberry canes, onions and maybe carrots.


Picture of one of our cabbage's, which are doing very well.
We also decided to take up a few leeks - they wasnt very big but we used them to make leek mash potato which was lovely.

Also decided to seperate some of the broad beans as I decided I had planted them to close to each other so I seperated them a bit and placed them in the beds with the peas and garlic.

My Wellington Boots

I have just realised I never posted a pictured of my funky wellington boots. I can highly recommend wearing wellington boots when gardening as you can get as muddy as you like and you dont have to worry.

Here are my wellington boots, my lovely husband bought then for my birthday - brief was I didnt want boring wellington boots and I want funky ones, I think he hit the nail on the head!

Update on Broadbeans

I checked the Broad Beans the other day and they seem fine, I think now the weather is not so cold they have recovered!

The Leeks seem to be doing very well, not sure when I can use them but I might just have to use my judgement as I think I lost the packet they come from :-(

All the other Veg seem to be doing very well which is good.

Just cant wait to get started.

Ordered loads of potatoe seeds which I cant wait to arrive. I am planning to plant them at the end of the allotment, out of the way, which should fill a empty space.

Some weeding may be needed next time I visit the allotment.

Jobs we done so far in 2007

As we both had a week off from work we was able to visit the allotment during the week.

Now we have a shed I thought we need some cheap shelving for the shed, so a trip to Ikea was in order. We bought a cheap shelving unit, cut it in half and a few rails to allow us to store our tools and anything else.

We also bought a new camping stove so we can have tea while on the allotment so while in Ikea we bought some cheap cups so if they get broke we dont really care.

We wasnt planning to do any work on the allotment, just place the stuff from Ikea in the Shed but while we was drinking some tea, one of our neighbours Stan, turned up and started digging. We felt guilty so we started to dig over a small area of the allotment to get rid of a few weeds. Hopefully ( according to Stan, well he does had 40 years experience in growing Veg so we do tend to try and get as much information of him as possible) the frost will kill the weeds and help the ground when we start to plant.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year all

Lorraine and Steve Warman