Fruity

It must be a good year for fruit. I have never seen so much fruit in my garden.  Well I only grow strawberries and raspberries, but there are loads of them.  I keep thinking this will be the last good picking I have of them.  Then a day or two later I go up to the top of the garden and there they are again, waiting to be picked. Then there's the allotment-- gooseberries, blackcurrants and rhubarb.

In the kitchen there are bowls of strawberries in the fridge waiting to be eaten, trays of raspberries and blackcurrants in the freezer, and more fruit already bagged up. I'm considering buying another freezer for allotment produce.  I think though that I really need to get into jam making, that is the answer I'm sure.

Compost bins

It's funny how sometimes things which seem terribly boring to some people can make you feel really happy. This week for me it has been compost bins. Yes really!  My husband who is incredibly good at making things has made some compost bins for our allotment on plot 8.  I'm happy because, I've now got some compost bins, which is something every plot needs and they have been made for very little cost as most of the materials were lying around on both of our allotments. I'm also pleased because it has tidied up the bottom end of our plot and it's another stage in the progress of the allotment.

We now have somewhere to throw our kitchen and garden waste, although we do have bins on plot 10b and in the garden, but it seems to me that once you get into doing compost making you need more and more space for it. So I don't just have compost bins I have manure bins too because we have a supply of manure regularly dumped nearby which we can all help ourselves to. I also now have a  leaf bin and I won't have a problem filling that either.

What simple things are making you feel happy?

Carrots

We have carrots and no root fly, that is amazing.  OK they were small carrots, but they made a good meal.  They were grown in a big tub started off in the polytunnel, then later when the weather got very warm brought outside and covered in fleece. After about three years of failures with carrots due to root fly to be able to pull up some perfect specimens was great. We have more in tubs and some in the ground so we are nurturing them all carefully. Could this be the year of the carrot?

Loving my garden

Although the allotments are  taking up a lot of  time at the moment, when I'm not there I'm enjoying the garden. Much as I love being down at the allotment, when the weather is as wonderful as it is at the moment, I much prefer to be in the garden. Sitting in the garden listening to the birds singing, watching the bees buzzing amongst the flowers, feeling the warmth of the sunshine on my face is quite relaxing.

The garden is looking good even though I haven't done much gardening for weeks.  This week I have been cutting back the early flowering plants which have now gone over.  The alchemilla mollis is still looking good and tumbling all over the place; the blues and pinks of the hardy geraniums are just starting to fade and the deep pink knautia macedonica, astrantia and the blue veronica are taking over along with the yellow lysimachia. The campanula are looking dainty and delicate, I can't decide which I like best, the blue or the white, they are both quite lovely. I am loving the giant scabious which I bought from a plant sale two years ago. This is the first year it has really flowered and grown to its full height. It is competing with a thalictrum of massive proportions.  I didn't realise how tall the scabious would grow and perhaps shouldn't have put them together, but I am quite liking them both.  The bees seem to love them too.

The scented seating area is a lovely place to sit in the evenings when it is still warm. There are quite a few fragrances which waft over from other parts of the garden as well as those placed in that area. Next to the bench is a philadelphus and behind is a row of lavender which gently brushes the back of my neck releasing its relaxing perfume as I sit there. I bought a pot of pinks the other week and planted them in a big tub next to the bench, they smell divine. Also next to the bench is a big pot with three scented geraniums which are new to the garden this year. I'm quite liking the soft trailing foliage and the pale, delicate flowers, which are so different from the big bold flowers of the normal pot geraniums.  Honeysuckle is growing  well around the garden. One is clambering up the apple tree, another over the gate and another has got slightly out of control and is growing madly through a choisya, but I can't bear to cut it back yet, I want to enjoy the flowers and the smell of it for a while.

What are you loving about your garden at the moment?

Woodland den

On the day of the teachers' strike this week we were looking after our two grandchildren.  When I suggested going to the allotment I got the usual response--"oh yes!" from our grandson who loves going and "oh nooo" from our granddaughter who doesn't.  At my next suggestion, to make a woodland den at  the top of the allotment, all eyes lit up--yes this was much more interesting.

At the top end of plot8 is a slope with a big sycamore tree and some bushes, an elder and a holly.  It's not possible to use the space for growing vegetables or fruit.  The grandchildren always enjoy playing up there, it's a good place to hide and run around, but there are lots of weeds and rubbish- nettles, brambles, glass and plastic.  It wasn't a very safe area for children.  So I've had a plan in mind to make it into a safe area where the children could play and have their own space.

Armed with strong gloves, rubbish bags and secateurs, the children and I set to work clearing the area and cutting back branches.  My 9 year old granddaughter normally has no interest in the allotment, preferring to stay at home and read a book.  So it was good to see her full of enthusiasm for the project and to have her say that it was the best day she had ever spent on the allotment.  I had to admit that I was quite enjoying myself too. 

We managed to clear the nettles, cut back the brambles, trim the holly and clear up most of the rubbish. Under my granddaughter's supervision I cut back overhanging branches to her height and made an archway of branches at the entrance to the woodland, a soft curtain of leaves in the middle to provide a hiding place and a pathway all the way through. As we worked away we thought about what we could do to make the woodland area into a good den.

We got rained off later and after adjourning to the shed for our lunch we went home to make plans.  I got them to think about what they would like to have in their woodland den.

So we now have a list of ideas:

• Make seats out of some of the bricks and planks of wood lying around on the allotment
• Bird feeders in the trees
• Make a bug house
• Make a shelf to put interesting nature finds/treasures
• Make things like mobiles or sculptures out of twigs, stones, pebbles, leaves etc
• Have a rope ladder so they can climb the big tree (Hmm, well maybe granddad can fix something up)
• Have a camouflage awning (this could cost money)
• Make a hideout from long branches like a teepee (we could collect branches from the woods across the lane)

I have to say that I'm quite excited about this project myself, but I'm wondering if adults might not be allowed in there once it's finished. I'll keep you up to date with our progress.

Coming along just fine

 

When we are down at the allotment working on plot 10b we are often asked by our allotment neighbours, "How's the other plot doing?" Well I'm happy to say that our other allotment--plot 8 is coming along really well.  After weeks of rubbish sorting and trips to the recycling centre, we can at last see the ground.  And after lots of back breaking digging, clearing of bricks and rubble the original layout of the plot is appearing.  There are flagged paths surrounding beds, and some fairly decent soil in them too.

We didn't expect to be growing much this year on the plot, but in the four small raised beds which were left by the previous tenant we have planted onions, climbing and dwarf french beans, radish, spring onion, beetroot and sweetcorn.  There are two small strawberry beds planted by the previous tenants which we decided to leave for this year to see how productive they were. We now have two new beds which Richard has weeded,dug over and filled with well rotted manure. One of these has been planted up with courgettes and pumpkins and will soon have some squash in there too.

There is an apple tree which was full of blossom a few weeks earlier and we will be hoping for plenty of fruit later this year. Helen and I dug over the area around the apple tree last week. We decided to make this a fruit growing area. I have a rhubarb and a couple of gooseberry plants to be planted in there.

Richard dug up a couple of conifers last week and that area is now being prepared to make two big beds either side of the drain. The soil there is very dry as it was full of roots, so it needs lots of compost and manure adding before we can grow anything.

The pond area is starting to look colourful now the yellow irises are in flower, but there is a lot of work to be done there yet. We discovered that the pond liner has cracks in it and the pond has become more of a bog than a pond.  There are frogs on the plot, but we are not sure if the tadpoles survived when the pond dried up. Sorting it out is a project for next year I think.

At the top end of the plot is a big tree and we think the best thing to do there  is have a woodland wildlife area.  It's also a lovely place for the grandchildren to play and have a den.

So that's where we are up to on plot 8.  We still need to build compost bins and Richard wants to make a shed out of some of the materials we have lying around on plot 8 and plot 10b.

It's all looking good and we are really pleased with how things are progressing.

Special brew

Watching Monty Don making comfrey and nettle teas on BBC Gardeners' World last Friday spurred me on to make some of my own. I've been watching our comfrey plant at the allotment grow and grow. Then as we were working on our new allotment plot 8 I found a comfrey plant there.  As well as the comfrey on our plots, there are nettles on the unweeded areas and an abundance of them growing on the lane. Best not to waste them, I thought.

So armed with strong gloves for collecting the nettles and a couple of big buckets I set to work cutting back. With one bucket full of nettle leaves and the other with comfrey I topped them both up with water.  They are now tucked away in a corner of the plot brewing nicely.  I'll leave them for about 3 or 4 weeks then use them diluted to feed the tomatoes and cucumber in the polytunnel.

 Fertiliser for free and so easy to make.