Amy's area..

What a strange day we have had today weather wise. I was up at the allotment at 09.30 this morning and there was a light drizzle, but nowhere near enough to put me off a bit of a digging. Then within half an hour I suppose the inevitable happened and there was a terrible downpour which lasted about 15 minutes, I will be eternally greatful to our shed for providing shelter. The showers were on and off every 15 minutes which is really annoying since it was my day off and my main day this week I  had allocated to spend sorting out the allotment.

Dinner time came and I picked Amy up for lunch at my grandparent's house before returning to the allotment where there was CLEAR BLUE SKIES and SUNSHINE but a horrendous WIND blowing. The weather really was throwing everything at us today. But we did manage to get things done.

I finished off digging the 2 beds on the right hand side and I also spread some homemade compost from home over the bean patch. Amy pottered around in the shed sowing seeds for Kale, Kohl Rabi, Lollo Rosso and a a couple of courgette seeds in the hope of an early crop like last year. Amy also planted some raddish seeds in one of our salad raised beds that I filled with a bag of compost this afternoon.

Anyway, it's time to show you Amy's little area that she wanted..

It's not completly finished but the foundations are there. On Friday evening my Dad came down to the plot and helped me move the slabs in to place. We actually had the chairs out on it earlier but we put them away before I took the pictures. The 2 salad raised beds make the border for the slabs and I think this area will look great in the summer. We are going to get a table and put some pot plants in and around the area to make it a perfect hangout for those sunny summer days. Amy is pleased anyway so that is good!

It's nice to be able to show you another perspective of the allotment from the slabbed area...





You can see the beds on the right hand side which I finished today. One of the beds on the left is covered with cardboard to surpress weeds until we need to plant our potatoes out and the uncovered bed is the bean bed where I spread the compost today. The runner bean trench is also there and is now full of rotted manure, grass clippings, banana skins, apple cores, tea bags, shredded paper etc. A perfect mix for the beans to thrive. Again you can see at the back the tarpaulin covered area for the pumpkins and root beds. The soft fruit bed is being tackled tomorrow if I remember to take my gloves up with me.

It was definately nice to sit back today and reflect on how much we have done already. We can't wait for the seeds to start germinating now...

Thanks for reading,

Martin

Progress

I have spent every spare minute of every day at the allotment since last Tuesday when we took over our new allotment, Plot 114.

I have been going to university in the mornings and then getting home for a few hours of digging and on my days off on Wednesday and Friday I was there from the moment I woke up til it was time to go to bed.

We want everything ship shape and ready to start growing in the next couple of weeks.

The next picture shows you what we have done so far. We have dug out the first three beds on the left hand side which will be home this year to our courgettes, potatoes and beans. The courgette and potato beds have been covered with some old carpet and cardboard to surpress weed growth until we are ready to grow. We've also dug a trench in the bean bed for the runners and have put in a load of grass clippings and horse manure in the hope of getting a fantastic harvest.

We've also started the right hand side and cleared the area where the onion bed will be and the area we have designated for a table and charis for Amy to relax on. The seating area will also be great for my grandparents who love visiting the allotment my Grandad was up on the first day we got plot 114. He used to be the chairman of the allotment society in Derby and had 4 plots of his own and managed over 300 for the society. He is a true fountain of knowledge when it comes to allotment gardening.

In the foreground bed you can see the established rosemary bush which I have cleared of weeds and planted two rhubarb crowns on the other side too. Our allotment neighbour, John, gave us a Rhubarb crown as a moving in present which was very kind of him. John has been on the site for a very impressive 31 years and he is full of great advice. My Grandad and John got on very well comparing tips, advice and stories.

Another picture from the other end..



We have started clearing the soft fruit beds. Amongst Raspberries there are Blackberry and Gooseberry bushes and we also discovered a grape vine which is rather exciting. We need to get a frame ready to help support it's growth for the summer. John gave the vine to the last plot holder as their welcome present and it still remains. He says that almost everybody on the site has a grape vine from him and they produce the best British grapes he has ever come across, so fingers crossed.

If you are observant you might also notice that we have brought the mini greenhouse up to the plot from the house. In here we have some brussel sprouts, cauliflower, brocolli and cabbage in seed trays. We also have some lettuce underway ready for our salad raised beds.

Amy has suprisingly been pulling her weight too. She helped to dig one of the beds and she was also excited to sow the seeds. Amy was definately looking forward to sorting out the shed, and hey presto..

We managed to get the table from my grandparents as they conveniently bought a new one a few weeks ago. The table is covered in our potting essentials as well as our seed potatoes, garlic and onions which we will be planting in the next couple of weeks.

We've also been greeted by our little friends every time we have visited. I thought there was two of them but there definately seems to be three. Here is one of them watching over me as  I clear some weeds from the soft fruit beds..

We have done even more than I have outlined in today's post over the last two days, but I've only just got around to uploading this installment, so you'll have to wait to see the rest.

Thanks for reading. I'm just catching up on my blog list, so if I haven't commented on or visited your blog recently then I will be in the coming days.

Have a good day!

Martin

Christmas - Where did that one go?

There's nothing better in my opinion than taking a day off in January and spending it digging in the garden in a polo shirt and pair of old jeans. So that is exactly what I have been doing today. I've been digging our little plot in our garden and adding 1 and a half years of rotted compost in the process. The area looks lovely now, it's just awaiting this years crops. I've covered the area with planks of wood that have come from an old broken bed frame so that weeds can't grow in this lovely moist area of land. Taking a look back, it looks like a mess with all that wood over it, but I know that come July this area of my garden is going to look a lot better than last year, well I certainly hope so!

The last post I made was just before Christmas when I was showcasing our homemade cross stitch cards. I said I was going to make a post with all of our other christmas activities in, but whilst digging I just remembered that I hadn't actually done that.

I posted about making our Christmas cakes in October, and I am pleased to say that they were very well received by the lucky people who found them under there tree last month. We had a fantastic day in mid-december icing the cakes and decorating them, we also had mincepies on the go so the whole house smelt superb.

Here's a small selection of the festive eatings we had this year...

Everything tasted great, which was a surprise on Christmas day when we tucked in to the cakes! It's hard to make something in advance and not know if it tastes ok until people have tried it on the day. It could have tasted awful, and we would still have handed them out unknowingly.

We also visited some nice places over Christmas including London, where the coach crashed into a lamp post on the way, and to Birmingham for the German Christmas market.

It's always nice walking down to uni when the market is on. It's full of nice smells and sounds all day long..

It was nice to see that the Bullring Bull was keeping warm on those cold nights...

Onwards to London, despite the crash, we had great fun doing a bit of Christmas shopping and visiting the zoo. We loved the Disney Store on Oxford Street and its festive theming...

Anyway, Christmas soon flew over and now it is 2012. A very happy new year to you all too, before I forget! It's going to be an exciting year this year, we are both hoping to go in to full time employment and we are going to have lots of fun outside of work along the way. I just can't wait to get back to the veg patch in the next couple of months and start doing the best bit about gardening, planting out the seedlings,plant and flowers ready for this years harvest.

This year we are going to be growing things that we enjoy eating to make sure we are making the most of our small plot. Last year we grew leeks, beetroot and turnips. Things I don't normally eat frequently enough, and in the case of Amy, things she doesn't like eating. We are going to grow those vegetables and fruits which make nice meals in themselves. Courgettes (and lots and lots of them), tomatoes, potatoes, runner beans and peppers. We'll be growing more than just that of course, but those are the things we really enjoy growing and eating, which funnily enough were the things which grew best las year.

What will you grow this year?

Martin