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