Meanwhile back at the old plot

Running two allotments as we are doing at the moment may seem like hard work, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Whilst the new allotment demands tons of attention, the other one is pretty much well organised and ticking over quite nicely.  Perhaps that's because we've had it now for nearly three years and by now we've got it sorted and easy to manage, after all it is only a small plot of four big raised beds.

When we started the new growing season we didn't know that we were soon going to be offered a 'proper' allotment.  We sowed peas, broad beans, french beans, cabbage, squash, beetroot, radish and carrot and  we planted onions, garlic and potatoes. So every now and then my daughter and I walk down from our new allotment to the old one to check up on things. It's not a problem as it's only a couple minutes walk along the lane.  We're glad we've got stuff growing there as the new allotment was not in a fit state to start growing things immediately. 

I walked down to the old plot the other day and was pleased to see how well most things are doing. The only bad bit was that the potatoes we've been growing in bags were affected by blight as were others on the whole of the raised bed plots.

The cabbages are coming along well and I evicted a few caterpillars. I picked the first lot of broad beans and noticed that the first crop of peas are almost ready.  I also picked radish and baby beetroot.

The broad beans were lovely we had them in a risotto later that day.

Summer salad growing

I don't think I've had so much salad growing in my garden as I have this summer. I think that's partly due to the  52 Week Salad Challenge which has given me some interest and motivation. I've also had more space to grow salad crops this year because now the allotment is more established I've gradually stopped growing veg in the raised beds at the top of the garden.  I like to grow salad at home rather than the allotment, it's so easy to just pop outside to pick a few leaves or herbs for our meals.

At the moment I have red mizuna, red salad bowl leaves, little gem lettuce and watercress which I am picking regularly. There are seedlings of mustard, rocket and lollo rosso just getting going. So far there is no slug damage, I keep a close eye on them, they can disappear overnight when the slugs are about.
 

In the cold frame I planted out some cucumber (marketmore) .  Last year's attempt at growing these at the allotment produced two tiny cucumbers. I don't like to be defeated so I'm having another go. My attempts at growing tomatoes are also a bit hit and miss as they usually get affected by blight. But I keep on trying so I've planted three tumbler tomato plants in tubs.

Around the garden the herbs are growing in pots. There are several types of mint, sage, sorrel, thymes, marjoram, oregano and parsley. I've also sown borage seeds. I've been  surprised at how quickly they have grown into big plants and the flowers are so lovely.

Down at the allotment there is radish, spring onion (red and white varieties) and beetroot.  I've also sown fennel seeds at home which will be planted out at the allotment when they are ready.

I was pleased to receive two packets of Sarah Raven salad mixes from the Veg Plotting giveaway. There's a summer mix and a winter mix, I'll be sowing these soon.

Well there's plenty to keep us going for the summer, but my next challenge will be to continue to sow and grow for autumn and winter.

Garden v Allotment

I have a bit of a clash of priorities at the moment. That is between the garden and the allotment.

The allotment is new and needs a huge amount of work doing to it and we're desperate to get some areas ready for growing by the autumn. We also really love going there, it's something new, a challenge and it's great to see progress.

But every time we leave home to go off to the allotment I feel the garden pulling me back. I can almost hear it saying, "Don't forget me, I need attention too!"

 I haven't forgotten the garden. I walk around each day  looking at all the jobs which need doing and seeing what flowers are currently in bloom. I really miss it. There are so many flowers out now that I feel I'm not enjoying them as I should. I want to say,  " Hang on in there, I'll be back with you soon!"   because before long they will be gone for another year. When we return home from the allotment I greet the garden like an old friend. I feel happy to see it again and realise how much I've missed it.

I know I'm lucky to have both a garden an an allotment, so I'm not complaining. I just wish I had  more time for both.

Summer berries

 

There are lots of berries in the garden at the moment, that's if they've not been eaten by slugs in the very wet weather we've been having. Strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, they're all delicious. My favourites are strawberries and raspberries. You can just eat them as they are, with cream or ice cream, or make them up into flans, sorbets, mousse, cheesecake, the list is endless. I found this recipe for a berry compote whilst I was going through my recipe file the other day.  It's really easy to make and will keep in the fridge for several days.

Berry Compote
serves 6
8oz (225g) strawberries
8oz (225g) raspberries
4oz (100g) redcurrants
4oz (100g) blackcurrants
6oz (150g) sugar
3/4 pint (375ml) red wine
1 cinnamon stick
pinch grated nutmeg

1. Pick over the soft fruits, discarding hulls, stems and leaves. Quarter strawberries
2. Put the sugar in a large pan with the wine. Stir over a low heat until dissolved
3. Add prepared fruits, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer for 5 mins or until fruits are softened but still hold their shape.
4. Leave until cold. Spoon into dish, cover and chill for 1 hour.
5. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

 Nutrients per serving
calories 180 protein 0g total fat 0g (saturated fat 0g) carbohydrate 35g fibre 6g


I didn't have any redcurrants, so I used extra of the other fruit. I used last year's raspberries and blackcurrants  from the freezer it was a good way of using them up to make room for the this year's harvest. I didn't have any red wine so used up some port we had in the drinks cabinet. More expensive and probably a sweeter taste, but was  delicious and very boozy! Probably too boozy, I'll try with wine next time!

Family weekend at the allotment

As we come to the end of another week's work at our new allotment, I'm happy that it's beginning to look something like an allotment.  My husband has finished building the drains, we've had a lot of rain to test them out and they seem to be working. We now have four raised beds. They have been dug over several times, and  as many stones as possible removed ( there were lots of them). We have been  incorporating some good soil from another area of the plot and some well rotted manure into these beds. We plan to use three of the them  for fruit growing as we will need to transplant the fruit bushes from our old plot in the autumn when the tenancy comes to an end.  We have been working on this section of the allotment for four weeks now and in that time it has gone from looking like this:

to this:

and this:

to this:

 

We have planted up some purple sprouting broccoli, red cabbage and brussels sprouts in one of the beds.

At the other end of the L-shaped plot, weeding is in progress, but it's a long job.

All the family got involved this weekend. We had to make it fun for the grandchildren, so I made some obstacle courses over the muddy areas.

And we tried to make a way through the jungle of weeds. We still haven't managed to get up to the top of the plot, there are so many weeds and brambles. My grandson said he thought there was a bear living in one of the bushes. Hmm I wonder!

The plot is still full of surprises, my husband found two scythes in the shed. My daughter used one of them to cut down some of these weeds. I am used to finding many stones, boulders and bricks as I dig but today I had real trouble digging, my husband helped me and we unearthed this huge piece of metal. I'm sure we'll find a use for it somewhere around the plot!

There's a tremendous amount of work to do, I know it will take a long time to get the plot looking good but after this weekend I am feeling much more hopeful. 

A hidden gem

Readers of my blog will know how much I love visiting other peoples' gardens, whether they are big 'famous' gardens or the lesser known gardens of NGS members or even the local 'open gardens' weekends. It's a delight to see how other people do their gardens. Or maybe I'm just very nosey.

I can be emotionally moved by people's gardens, it may be a planting scheme in a larger garden or just the whole ambiance of a smaller garden. There's just something about a garden which gets to me. And every once in a while we visit a garden which just bowls us over.

This was especially so with a garden we visited whilst on holiday recently in North Devon.  We were staying in Appledore and towards the end of the week there was an Arts Festival in the town. Appledore is quite an arty place with  little galleries and craft shops tucked away in the quaint narrow streets. During the festival there were exhibitions and workshops going on around the town.

On our last day there we noticed that one of the houses was opening its garden in aid of a local charity during the festival. The house was a little terraced cottage on one of the narrow streets and the cost of visiting the garden was a mere 50p. We thought for that price it would just be a little courtyard garden.  We decided to take a look, it would only take a few minutes to look around we thought.

The entrance was a little strange as we had to walk through the owner's house to get into the garden. Having got  into the garden we were quite taken aback to find it was a 'proper' garden and not just a backyard as we had imagined.

 There was a neatly mown lawn area with clipped box hedging around it, and lovely herbaceous borders.

 In the far corner was a raised decked seating area, I climbed the steps to the top and was greeted by a wonderful view of the town and the estuary with all the boats, as well as a brilliant view of the neighbours' gardens. There I am being nosey again!  Underneath the raised decking was a very shady corner which the owner had cleverly made into a fernery. Pots of ferns were clustered together to create a lush, shady spot.

At the end of the garden was an archway, which led us into more garden. This garden was bigger than we thought!  I realised at this point that we were going to be longer than a few minutes looking around.

The garden was long, narrow and divided into smaller gardens. It was very well planned making good use of space.

There were little secluded seating areas.

And  'quirky' areas

Some interesting features

Surprises round every corner

There was everything here in such a long, narrow space, a formal area, gravel garden, several seating areas, water features and a vegetable garden.

The overall impression was that it was a very 'arty' garden with quirky features without being contrived. It made us smile, gasp in amazement and gave us ideas for our own garden. I wanted it to be my garden, it was lovely. So lovely that for the rest of the day we kept talking about it and when we returned from holiday I think we may have bored our family by talking about it.

The owner opens the garden every year for a local charity. I don't know her name, I don't remember the number of her house, but if you're ever in Appledore during the Arts Festival Week, have a walk along Bude Street and you might just see this garden open. It's well worth the 50p entrance fee.

Slow progress at the new allotment

We are making progress at our new allotment although it feels very slow. I think that is because we are just impatient to get some growing space. We do realise that it is going to take a long time to get it all sorted. And it's only 3 weeks since we started. So bearing that in mind we are actually doing quite well.

My husband, who is the engineer of the team, has built the compost bins using wood which has been left on the allotment car park for everyone to use.

My daughter, son-in-law and I have cleared weeds from several beds  as well as around the outside of the plot, as we were told by the allotments officer they were our responsibility too. We have also cleared out and cleaned two of the sheds which we are going to keep, the other two sheds will eventually be demolished.

One of the difficulties we have encountered as well as the weeds is the heavy wet sticky soil, the stones, and the drainage problem which became apparent last week after the torrential rains.  My husband is now building two raised beds at the front of the plot and putting in drains using many of the stones we have found.

 There is also an awful lot of rubbish lying around the plot, wood, paving slabs, bricks etc. Some of it is useful stuff which we will  keep and can use in many ways around the plot. My husband found scaffolding boards in the big cabin, he is using them to make the raised beds and the stones are being used to make the drains. We have found tools--a big lump hammer and two huge scythes ( useful for chopping all those weeds down with). I'm trying to make a storage area next to one of the sheds for all this reusable stuff. It's quite a treasure trove of recyclable materials.

Despite all these problems we love going to work on the allotment and every time we go we make a little bit more progress. Our main priorities for growing at the moment are to create a permanent growing space for the fruit which we will bring from our old allotment in the autumn and another space for the winter veg--purple sprouting broccoli, kale, swede, spring cabbage and leeks etc.

These are the next areas to be cleared. It's a bit daunting.