Manuring fruit beds and pulling leeks

With the cold, wet, windy weather we had in the last week, followed by snow I think most people would have been sensible to stay indoors and watch TV or read a book, but not us. We took advantage of a dry afternoon and off we went to the allotment. All we seemed to have been doing recently is manure the beds, but then that's the main job that needs doing. I decided to manure the fruit beds on plot10b, but first I had to clear up all the cat poo which Ziggy the allotment cat had kindly left for me!

We have two manure bins on each of our plots.  I used the manure from the bin on plot 10b which had been rotting down all year. In the meantime Richard went off to get more manure from the communal heap up the lane to fill up our other bin. We were rather tired after all that shovelling and barrowing, but felt pleased with all that we had achieved.

A tidy fruit bed

Ziggy  watched us constantly from her little bed of straw which I have made for her under the shed. She occasionally came out to ask for food (she's a very greedy cat). She thanked me for the food by leaving another pile of poo on my newly manured fruit bed! I think I shall have to get some cat repellent.

During the week I worked on plot 8 clearing  leeks from the big bed where we will be growing peas and beans this year. The leeks were looking messy, so I pulled them all up, cleaned and trimmed them. Some were past their best and needed throwing on the compost heap. It's a big bed and there were a good number of leeks so it took a while to do. I had intending to pull the leeks, weed and manure all in a couple of hours. That will have to wait for another day and as the weather has now turned very cold and snowy it may be sometime before we are down there again. I will be making lots of meals with leeks!

A snow covered plot 8

Snow

Yesterday we woke to see snow on the ground. Just a light covering, but enough to throw the area into chaos as any fall of snow seems to do. There were complaints of roads not being gritted and drivers who didn't know how to drive in snow. We were just glad we didn't have to drive to work any more. All we had to do was walk the grandchildren to school which took longer than usual as we had more clothes to put on.  Then there was the wellies I had to find our granddaughter as she'd grown out of her own. She clomped up the road in a pair two sizes too big for her. And of course there was all the silliness that a fall of snow seems to bring.  I don't find snow that much fun, it's cold, wet and  slippy.  I still have bad memories of falling in the snow two years ago and fracturing my wrist.

I must admit though that snow transforms the landscape in a very beautiful way. We took our usual morning walk after we'd left the children at school.  Some places were quite snowy but there was only a light covering on the fields.

Today everything was completely different, the snow had gone and we just had a cold wind. The fields still looked lovely.

A new year on the allotment

In the last week the weather has been quite mixed. We've had frost, rain and also a mild spell. As there is always much to be done on the allotment we thought we had better take advantage of any fine weather at the weekend. We managed a couple of short sessions and as it was very cold, wrapped ourselves up in several layers of clothes.

Plot 10b was in most need of attention and I cleared the old cut flower beds of dead plants and weeds. Richard then topped both beds with manure.  The two other beds next to them still have parsnips, swede and beetroot in them.  I pulled most of the parsnips and some of the swede then weeded. I intend to make some spicy parsnip soup soon. As these beds get cleared they will have the same treatment of manure.  These four beds will be used to grow peas and beans this year and maybe courgettes too.

On Sunday Helen and I went down to plot 10b for an hour or so. It was a bit frosty although the ground wasn't too frozen. But we decided to prune the autumn raspberries which had died back.  These are sprouting all over the place now in places where we don't want them, so we are trying to control them and keep them in the bed, rather than the paths and the allotment car park.

That work done we ambled over to plot 8 which was looking quite tidy.  We didn't have time to do any more work so we just filled up the bird feeders. Plot 10b looks much better now  for that little bit of clearing up.  You can see here what the beds looked like before.

We need to sit down soon and make our plans for the year, they're all in our heads at the moment and I do like to make a proper list.

December on the allotment

Plot 8

Work on our allotments  slowed down considerably during December.  Our visits there were only to feed Ziggy the allotment cat, to pick produce and to cut greenery for my Christmas wreaths and flower arrangements.  December is such a busy month at home with all the preparations for Christmas that the allotment has to take a back seat. A few days before Christmas we went down to see what vegetables we could pick. The brussels sprouts haven't done very well and a lot of them have blown. I decided they weren't good enough for the Christmas day dinner table. Maybe another day. But I pulled beetroot, parsnips, leeks, swede and collected some onions from their storage racks in the shed.

plot 10b

We've had frosts this month which have finally finished off the flowers in the cut flower beds.  The autumn raspberries have gone over and are now ready for cutting back.  There are still beds which need to be cleared and topped with manure, the rhubarb and fruit bushes need manuring too.  There's plenty to do and I can't wait to start work again as soon as the weather is a bit milder.

Thank you for reading my blog. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and lots of good gardening.

Winter colour and rustic decorations

 

Just before Christmas we visited RHS Harlow Carr.  I love the rustic decorations  in the gardens especially in the greenhouse and summer house.  They always give me ideas to use at home although some of them probably take a lot of preparation.

The table display in the summer house was quite simple but looked really good so I decided to decorate my porch in a similar way. I only managed to make one candle bowl as my porch table is much smaller than this.

Walking around the gardens we were quite taken with the winter colour from the dogwoods.

Seeing all this colour always makes me want to plant some dogwoods in my garden, but I wouldn't have enough space to get such a lovely effect.

Putting up the Christmas tree

 

The  second weekend in December we always start the process of putting up the Christmas tree. It always takes longer than intended that's why I say 'we start the process'. It can actually take several days. The tree was bought the weekend before and was left standing in a bucket of water outside until we were ready to bring it indoors.

Getting a 6ft Christmas tree into the house is not an easy job. We have the first job of moving the furniture to accommodate it. As we move the sofas around ( and they are heavy) the carpet gets a thorough vacuuming and we usually find numerous bits of Lego and small toys which the grandchildren have lost throughout the year. This time I all I found was a ball belonging to the cat and a dead spider. The cat views all this activity with wide eyed interest and as the tree is put into place she takes up residence under its lower branches. Perhaps she is remembering the fun she had last year. We are wondering if we will find her sitting on the top branch in the morning. No she will be banned from the room overnight!

When the tree is finally in place and decorated we rest our weary backs and agree it's the best tree ever (it always is). The cat meanwhile is plotting what mischief she can get up to under those branches.

Christmas shopping event

We've been really tired this week following last weekend down at our daughter's helping with her fund raising event. Packing up the car with all the stuff was quite a challenge especially as we were travelling a fair distance. Making sure nothing got squashed was important as well as finding room for everything in our little car. Our suitcase was somewhere underneath all the boxes as was the spare wheel. My husband was hoping we didn't get a puncture on the journey down!

But we had a great time and the whole event raised  a good amount for cubs funds. I enjoyed running my Christmas decorations stall and meeting so many people. It was good to chat to people even if they didn't want to buy.  We didn't sell up, I didn't expect to so we brought  some things back with us which we can either make use of ourselves or pass on to some local charity events and I managed to sell another fresh foliage door decoration once we got home. Now I need to find the time to make my own door wreaths.

Being so tired we haven't felt up to doing any allotment work, but as the work is slowing down now I'm not too worried. It's all about clearing and manuring beds at the moment and we can do that a bit at a time.

We've had frost this week so I'm glad that I remembered to close the lids on the cold frame where I have put some tender plants.

One of the wreaths I made