Allotment progress

In the last week we have made much progress on the allotment. During the week we dug over the new raised bed and added 10 bags of soil improver from the council recycling centre which conveniently is only just along the road from the allotments.

This year we are going to grow brassicas in the new raised bed.  Yesterday we planted cabbages. Back at home in my growhouse I have brussels sprouts, red cabbage, cauliflower, kale and purple sprouting broccoli just waiting to grow a bit more and be hardened off and then planted out.

In our peas and beans bed we were pleased to see that the peas we had sown only a couple of weeks ago have now started to come through. I put some twiggy sticks around them for support. The broad beans are also doing well.  Soon we will sow more peas and dwarf french beans. The carrots and beetroot sown the other week are now showing through the soil. We also sowed leek and spring onion seeds.

Down at the bottom of the plot, my husband has put 3 old tyres lined with membrane, filled with soil and compost and put up a tripod of canes. Yesterday my daughter and I planted sweet peas in them which had been started off at home. 

There is still a lot of weeding to be done around the raised beds and surrounding areas, my husband made a start on that yesterday, but it's a long hard job. But we had a good day and feel we've made lots of progress.

During the afternoon there were visits to this communal plot by 3 other plot holders. We loaned our hosepipe to 2 of them and had a good chat with them all. It made me think about how when we first started with our raised beds that I was a bit concerned over the fact that it was so communal.  I had really wanted a plot which was fenced off and more private. Just over 18 months on I feel differently.  Although there are some disadvantages it's good to chat with people, share tools, ideas, give support.

Aquilegias

  

Its that time of year in the garden which I love, because it's when the Aquilegias start to come into flower. I first discovered Aquilegias about 15 years ago when one decided to make its home in my garden. It appeared as some interesting leaves in the fruit garden. Probably having been deposited as a seed by a passing bird or blown in by the wind from a neighbouring garden.

I didn't know what it was, but I decided it wasn't a weed because the leaves were really quite lovely. So I lifted it and placed it in a better place to grow and where I could keep my eyes on it.

It rewarded me some time later with a pretty blue flower. Then I was able to identify it as an Aquilegia, a cottage garden plant also known a Columbine or Granny's Bonnet.

For the next few years it grew happily and each spring I looked forward to seeing these lovely blue flowers, which by now had formed a little clump under the oak tree. It spread around the garden popping up in places where I would not have planted it but where it looked quite at home.

I then discovered that there were other varieties and colours and I wanted more.  Whenever I visited a garden centre and saw a different one, I couldn't resist buying it.

So now I have Aquilegias all over my garden, in different colours,  blue, dark pink, pale creamy yellow, and pale pink and my latest purchase, white. I just love them. I love the delicate ferny foliage and the dainty nodding flower heads on their slender stems. They have a tendency to seed themselves all over the place, sometimes coming up as completely different colours from the original plant, but they are never in the way, never invasive.  They just look so natural and grow well in my part shady garden.  They look especially  good in a woodland setting.

They are a lovely old fashioned cottage garden plant, which is probably why I like them so much as it's my style of planting. I keep saying I won't buy any more, but I still do.

Allotment news

If you've read my blog about my allotment you will know about our raised beds on the communal allotment site.  Well we've had some good news this week, I phoned the council and asked if I could have another raised bed. Although I could not because I already have 2 beds and that is the limit, my daughter was able to take on another. That means we now have 4 raised beds between us. The great thing about it is that they are all together in the bottom corner of the plot and it's just like having our own little allotment.  With the bottom bed being used for growing fruit we can now use the other beds for a 3 crop rotation.

Today my husband and I started weeding the new bed. Its in quite a bad state, there are nettles, docks, thistles, dandelions, bindweed, hares tail.

Once we've cleared the weeds it will need some soil improver adding. Today was hot and we worked hard  but did not finish. More work for tomorrow.

The rest of the plot is looking good. Last weekend we sowed peas, carrots, beetroot, and broad beans. We have a problem with weeds growing through the fence at the bottom of the plot, mainly Himalayan Balsam.  My husband fixed membrane to the fence in an attempt to suppress them. We also planted some 1st and 2nd early potatoes (Foremost & Maris Peer) in old compost bags along the bottom of the fence.

We're really excited now about the developments on our plot and we're really looking forward to growing more.

Good Friday

How deep the Father's love for us,
how vast beyond all measure,
that he should give his only Son
to make a wretch his treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss:
the Father turns his face away
as wounds which mar the Chosen One
bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross,
my sin upon his shoulders:
ashamed I hear my mocking voice
call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held him there
until it was accomplished;
his dying breath has brought me life-
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything,
no gifts, no power, no wisdom,
but I will boast in Jesus Christ,
his death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from his reward?
I cannot give an answer,
but this I know with all my heart:
his wounds have paid my ransom.

Whether you have a faith or none at all I wish you all a happy, blessed and peaceful Easter.

Getting creative in the garden

One of the jobs I love doing in the garden is making new borders or redesigning existing ones. That's what I've been doing recently. Last autumn we decided to reshape the lawn by curving it out a bit, which meant extending 1 or 2 of the borders. So I now have some extra planting space which is great. I love to be able to create a new look to a border, especially if it wasn't working well before. Sometimes colours don't work well together or plants get overcrowded.

I  wanted to try to use ideas I've picked up from reading garden magazines or seen on  TV garden programmes about planting in groups and thinking about colour, structure etc.  I also didn't want to have to spend money on lots of new plants (even though I love doing that!), so I mainly used ones I already had that I could lift and divide.  I did weaken though and buy a couple of new plants!

I do have a thing about not liking to see bare soil in a border, and I have to stop myself from trying to plant in every available space. I know that the new plants will grow and fill the spaces up soon.

Well that's one of the borders done now and I'm quite pleased with the result.  I'm looking forward to seeing the new planting scheme develop as the year goes on and hope it all works well. But if it doesn't, I can always move the plants around next year.
Can't wait to start on the next one now.

Gardening with the grandchildren

This week, the first week of the school Easter holidays, I have been looking after 2 of my grandchildren (aged 4 & 7).  We've had a busy week doing all the usual things they like to do, and surprisingly, some of the things I like to do. I hadn't expected to do any gardening this week, so I was quite pleased to have managed 2 short afternoon sessions.

Gardening with children can be a bit hit and miss, as I remember all too well from when my  daughters were young, but it can be very rewarding.   I believe in encouraging them to learn about gardening in whatever way interests them.  I know it pays off because my own daughters now have gardens of their own and are probably as enthusiastic about gardening as I am.

I have a few children's garden tools in my shed so that when the children are here they can help if they want to. I just need to point them in the right direction of the areas they are allowed to dig or rake, although they like to help me with what I am doing rather than being left to amuse themselves.

This week they wanted to do some weeding. Needless to say I was delighted and showed them an area of a border which needed doing. The 7 year old got stuck in and started weeding all the dandelions giving me a running commentary on how you should pull up weeds.

" Make sure you've got all the root out otherwise it will carry on growing, and you must shake all the soil off the roots, Nana."

"Her Mum has taught her well," I thought.

I did manage to do a few jobs myself even though I was constantly interrupted with calls of
" Nana, look how many dandelions I've pulled up." or having to sort out the other one who got fed up and just wanted to play.

They can get fed up doing the same thing for too long, so yesterday I suggested they might like to sow some seeds in pots. They both loved doing that. The 4 year old wanted to sow sunflowers seeds and the 7 year old chose nasturtiums. They are both easy seeds for little fingers to handle and also easy to grow.

They've taken them home to look after.  I might get them growing some veg next time.

Not giving up

Last autumn I planted up some tubs with evergreen plants--ferns, grasses, ivy and also winter flowering pansies, to give me some colour throughout the winter. The effect was good, but I always find with winter flowering pansies that they slow down as the winter progresses.  Then come spring they  tend to look a bit straggly and dead looking, so usually get thrown out in favour of the next season's pansies. I'm so glad, I didn't get rid of these because over the last couple of weeks they have perked up and are now happily flowering away. They are a joy to see and are often admired by anyone coming to the front door.

                                                                                              

That got me thinking about how easily I give up on plants especially at this time of year. Some plants take a long time to emerge from their winter rest and I suppose I can be a bit impatient.  There must be quite a few plants  which over the years I have dug up and thrown on the compost heap.  Their lifeless looking twiggy stalks deceiving me into thinking they had died over the winter. Then there are the ones which just disappear, leaving me thinking, 'I'm sure I planted something there last year'.

Fortunately for me, some plants are hard to get rid of and will keep coming back. I planted a couple of Hostas last year in the shady border and I thought I'd move them this year as I'm dong a bit of rearranging in that border. When I went to look there was no sign of them. I kept searching the border for signs of life and finally  decided they must have died, when the other day I spotted the new growth poking its way up through the soil. Then there was the Achillea which disappeared for a couple of years. I'd given it up for dead but it reappeared last year. Its now growing fast and furiously. And recently I spotted a tiny purple leaved Euphorbia growing where there used to be a big clump of them. I thought I'd lost that too, its been missing for a few years.  I'm going to nurture it with care.

At the moment I'm carefully watching some of my grasses which I cut back several weeks ago and are still not showing any new growth. I think I'd better wait and give them a chance, just as I did with the pansies.

                                             

 

Looking after the grandchildren

When my children were young I used to love the school holidays. I loved doing fun activities, visiting interesting places, going for walks etc.with them.  Now I have grandchildren and I still enjoy doing those things, but it is much harder years later when your body doesn't work quite as well.

At the end of this week the schools in our area break up for the Easter holidays,and I will be looking after my grandchildren ( aged 4 & 7) for the first week.  During term time I have them before and after school 3 days a week, so I am used to looking after them.  But full days can be tiring and difficult. Last year and the year before when I was working I  used to have them for 1 week of the summer hols and always enlisted the help of my husband who would also take a week off work. Then we all did exciting things which always involved going out for the day, like going to the seaside, a farm, a ride on a steam railway, a canal boat ride. Well this time my husband isn't able to take the time off work, so it's just me looking after them and  I don't feel physically able to do those exciting things without anybody else to help.

So I've been thinking about what we can all do together that they will enjoy and that I can cope with.  I need to be organised by having lots of ideas up my sleeve for when they get bored.  I thought about the things I would like to do with them and I discussed it with the children to get their ideas. We came up with a long list of things to do and places to go. Surprisingly none of their ideas involved going to the seaside etc. they were quite happy to stay at home or just go out on short journeys.

Indoor activities:

• messy play, pictures, glue, glitter  
• mask making (they love doing this)
• make some sea creatures( fish, crabs etc) out of card and decorate them. I got this idea from a library book.
• make some felt flower brooches. I got this idea from the local craft shop and I really want to try them out. My granddaughter would enjoy this, but not sure about my grandson!
• do some science experiments.  This is not as complicated or adventurous as it sounds! My granddaughter has a super book  from the library  ' Usborne 100 Science Experiments'.  There are some great things to make, some of them quite simple.
• make some buns and decorate them
• sow sunflower seeds in pots
• make an Easter garden
• reading/stories
• watch TV (This was 4year old grandson's suggestion!)

Outdoor activities:

• go to the library
• take a picnic to Spring Woods . This is a local place which is good for a walk (in wellies) and a look around. It's also known as Bluebell Woods for obvious reasons.
• go to the local playground
• play in the garden
• go for a drive to see some lambs
• go on a Spring nature walk
• shopping
• go to the garden centre. There's one or two not far from us which they always like going to. They both have play areas and cafes. 
• go to the allotment.  Now this did surprise me, it was my granddaughter's suggestion and she normally dislikes going there.

These are all just guidelines for us and I know there will be times when they are quite happy just to play on their own. But it's good to have some ideas ready for when boredom sets in.

Well that's going to keep me busy next week and I shall only have them for 4 days!  I feel quite tired just reading the list!

Has anyone else any good ideas for things to do in the school holidays?

Sowing seeds

When we first moved into our house 26 years ago there was a greenhouse in the garden. It was quite big and old, but  over the next few years was well used.  We couldn't afford to heat it or buy any staging, but we managed. My husband built me some makeshift staging out of old doors and wood he had lying around. I grew tomatoes, tried out cucumbers and peppers and grew perennial and annual flowers from seed.

Gradually over the next few years work and other things took over my life and I found I had less time for the greenhouse. It was getting into a bad state, it looked very unsightly. There were broken glass panes and the door was broken. We decided to get rid of it as it was not being used. It went to a good home (we gave it to someone who had an allotment) and we put a new shed on the site of the old greenhouse.

A few years later I now have an allotment and a small raised bed area for vegetables in our garden, so  I'm now back to growing veg from seeds and without a greenhouse I have to make do with other ways.

I start seeds off indoors.

 I have seeds growing on the kitchen windowsill
 

in the dining room

in one of the spare bedrooms

in the back porch which has now become my new greenhouse

I also have a couple of growhouses outside. 

At this time of year I have so many pots of seeds germinating in different places that I have to be careful I don't forget where they all are!

I start seeds off indoors and once they have been transplanted into larger trays, I  move them to the back porch  or to the growhouse outside. At the moment I have brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, basil, parsley, cucumbers, celeriac, squash. Also flower seeds of sweet peas, dianthus, lupin, penstemon, cerinthe. Every week I am sowing more seeds. They are all over the house. My husband is not a gardener, so he has a lot to put up with, but he seems quite fascinated by these seeds which are sprouting daily.


I do miss my old greenhouse, but even if we could afford to buy one now, because of changes we have made to the garden, we don't have a good place to put one. I suppose the most thing I miss about the greenhouse is the tomatoes. I now grow them outside and haven't had much luck really because they always get blight. I might try growing them in the porch this year.

But it just goes to show that you don't need to have a greenhouse to grow veg and flowers. And it's much cheaper than buying the plants from the garden centre.