All over the place

All over the place is what my allotment flowers have been this year.  Last year I had a few beds on our two allotments especially for cutting flowers.  But this year as we are giving up one of the allotments later, we decided to concentrate on growing just on the one allotment.  We realised that we wouldn't have enough room on plot 8 to give up a bed just for flowers, so instead we have planted them in amongst the vegetables.

I got carried away with my seed sowing and did far too many. Some of them didn't grow well at all, they were very thin and straggly, some had poor germination.  I don't know if I sowed them too late or if it was the weather or the wrong growing conditions. The best ones have been Rudbekia, Calendula, Zinnia, Malope, Dahlias, Sweet peas. Cosmos has grown well with lots of foliage but is only just starting to flower. I'm hoping they will produce plenty before the frosts, I love their different shades of pink.

These Rudbekias are planted amongst the sweetcorn. They are a very reliable flower, this variety is 'Marmalade'

The sunflowers are also planted near the sweetcorn. I think this variety is 'Vanilla Ice'.it doesn't grow tall, but produces lots of smaller flowers, ideal for cutting.

This is the second year we have grown Zinnia and I really love them. Lots of pink, yellow, white, red and orange.

Calendula is an old favourite. I planted these along the edge of the long path.  They flop about a lot but keep on going despite getting knocked as we walk past.

I like growing the flowers amongst the vegetables, it certainly brightens up the plot. I shall do the same next year. And although I haven't grown as many flowers as I did last year I have still had plenty to cut for the house.

Sweet peas

The sweet peas at the allotment have been brilliant this year. It's the first time we've grown them on Plot8 and they really seem to like growing there. When I planted them I didn't have much hope for them. They looked a bit straggly and weary and for a while didn't do much  but after what seemed like weeks and weeks they really took off.  They've grown so big, climbing up the support frame that it's difficult to get past them on the path.

People have often asked me what the secret of growing sweet peas is. I really don't know. I have grown them in the garden at home successfully for a few years but then in recent years they have not done well. We grew them on Plot 10b last year and they did well, but this year's crop on Plot 8 is probably the best ever. They get plenty of sun and the soil was  manured last autumn.  They seem to be very happy with that.

We're still cutting big  bunches of them every time we go to the allotment and it's lovely to always have vases of them around the house. As the days start to get cooler I'm wondering how much longer they will keep looking so good. I will enjoy them for as long as I can.

Into September

Where did August go and July for that matter? The summer holidays have gone by so quickly. I was looking forward to leisurely days, pottering about in the garden, catching up with a few jobs and not watching the clock for school pick ups. Well I didn't have to watch the clock, and my days were probably leisurely but not in the way I'd planned. We had some lovely days out with the grandchildren. We had family to stay and more days out with more grandchildren. We've done garden visits, been to the seaside, explored historic houses and walked a lot. It seems to have been a whirl of activity but lovely too.

So here we are in September. There's a quieter feel to the days now the grandchildren are back at school. And things are different with the eldest now at high school. There are a lot of changes to our routine.

September brings changes to the garden and the countryside as everything changes colour and berries appear. I feel I need to go out and pick blackberries even though there are some in the freezer from last year. And after last year discovering a secret place where we found sloe berries I want to return to pick more, make more sloe gin.

The garden has been very good at looking after itself these last few weeks, but I know there is much to be done. The allotment  is producing plenty, but our work on the two plots we have at the moment is of sorting stuff out and making more storage space as we prepare to give up one of them at the end of the year.
It's like moving house.

We are looking forward to some time away later this month, time to slow down, to rest, to walk, to enjoy new scenery.

 

The Tolkien Trail

School holidays is always a time when we go out and about with family.  Our daughter Sarah and her family came up to Lancashire to stay with us for a few days and on one of the days out we went walking in the Ribble Valley, not far from where we live. The walk is called The Tolkien Trail and starts in the village of Hurst Green. J.R.R.Tolkien stayed at Stoneyhurst College a few times and while he was there he got inspiration for his Lord of the Rings books.

The start of the walk took us along past the college, a very impressive building. We then walked across fields with the woods alongside. Eventually the path took us through the woods and the walk became quite magical, with trees, water, bridges and steps.

There were lots of stiles and lovely rusty old kissing gates which took quite a while to get through when there were nine of us.

There were strange shaped trees. This one looked like it might start walking.

 

We walked along the banks of the River Ribble for a while

 

 

Eventually we came out onto the road. Looking over the bridge we could see another bridge called Cromwell's bridge.

Exhausted and hungry we stopped for our picnic in a field then carried on, this walk seemed to be going on and on. Finally we arrived back, having walked seven miles when the guide leaflet told us it was five and half miles. That last mile and a half was really hard work!

Weeding and harvesting

The allotment is looking very lush and green now. It's really rewarding after all the hard work earlier in the year to see everything growing well. I always have times of uncertainty when I start in the spring, wondering how many plants will survive or will they get eaten by slugs, will we have enough broad beans and peas
( because we love them).

The cabbages and Brussels sprouts are coming along fine. I planted some cauliflower seedlings last week and sowed another row of swede. I did some weeding in the brassica bed  which wasn't easy as I had to crawl on my hands and knees under the netting. I checked for caterpillars while I was under there just in case any cabbage white butterflies had found a way in through the netting. Fortunately not, and all the plants were looking quite healthy. It's surprising what you find though when you when you get down under the netting, there were some turnips ready for pulling which I hadn't seen before. Once I 'd pulled them out I could plant some purple sprouting broccoli and Cavalo Nero in their place.

We are now picking broad beans and peas and after wondering early on in the year if I had sown enough with two rows of each I know that was plenty. I have been watching the onions to see if they were ready for digging up and last week I pulled up one lot which we had planted in one of the raised beds on plot 10b.  The others which are on plot 8 are ready to dig up too and I shall be doing that this week. Most of the leeks were planted a few weeks ago but I ran out of space for the rest of them. Once I've cleared all the onions out of the bed I can plant the rest of these leeks.

The fennel has produced some good sized bulbs. The feathery foliage looks really attractive amongst the rows of vegetables. Now I'm looking out for some good recipes to use it in. We've been harvesting the potatoes now which were grown in bags.  The first ones we planted were Epicure and they have a good flavour.

Earlier in the year something ate the tops off some of the first lot of beetroot seedlings, we think it was a pigeon which we had seen hovering about in that area of the plot.  The second lot I sowed I covered with netting, but the first lot which were nibbled seem to have recovered and we have been pulling some lovely baby beetroots. We always have problems growing carrots as they get attacked by root fly, so we covered them with fleece and were really pleased to dig up some perfect carrots last week. Just hoping that the root fly didn't get the rest of the row whilst the fleece was off. We've also got some growing in deep containers just in case.

So now in August as I look around our plot I feel pleased with it all. There aren't  too many big jobs to do at the moment so we can have a little rest (not for long though!) and enjoy eating our produce.

Tackling the garden

 I've been so busy on the allotment recently that I've neglected the garden a bit.  The late spring flowers have all gone over now and it was all starting to look a bit wild and out of control, weeds were popping up all over the place.  In the last couple of weeks the work on the allotment has started to ease off a bit, so I've been able to start to give some attention to the garden.

When there's a lot to do in the garden I try not to let it overwhelm me by tackling too much all at once, so I work through the jobs at my own pace. I find it best to set myself a task of working on one small area at a time  depending on how much time there is. I try not to get distracted by the other jobs I can see need doing otherwise I end up up flitting about here and there like a butterfly.

So in the last couple of weeks I have had a few little gardening sessions, just working my way along the borders, cutting back the late spring flowers which have gone over, deadheading, weeding path edges, sweeping up, weeding borders. This is the time of year when I realise I cram too many plants into the borders, but at least they suppress a lot of the weeds.

As I've worked my way along the borders, I 've also made mental notes of bigger jobs which can be done in the Autumn. There are shrubs and trees which need a good cutting back and problem beds where I need to think about starting again and doing something different.

 A few weeks ago the predominant colour in the beds was blue. Now it's all changing and there seems to be a lot of yellow coming from alchemilla mollis, lysimachia and golden grasses. The hot colours of late summer are starting to appear. I can see red crocosmia lucifer, deep pinky red astilbe and knautia macedonica, a yellowy orange day lily and orange Kniphofia.

Although I haven't finished my clearing up of the garden it's looking much better and I'm able to spend time when we get a bit of sunshine, sitting and enjoying it, looking at all the lovely colours . That's what summer is about.

Strawberries

It's getting to that time of year when we go to the allotment to do work but half the time is spent harvesting produce. That's really good. At the moment that produce is strawberries. There are loads of them. In fact this must be the best year ever for growing strawberries--for me that is. I have never had so many strawberries.  I'm really enjoying them and I'm wondering what I'm doing right that makes this year's crop such a good one.

Well  the strawberries had plenty of manure early on in the year. Then I put straw under the plants to keep the fruit clean and netted them against the birds. Some of them are still being munched by slugs, but most of them are beautiful fruit. I don't mind sharing a few fruit with the wildlife as long as I get most of them. In previous years I never got around to putting the straw and netting down and it was always a race to get to the fruit before the birds or slugs.

Last year I potted up a lot of plants from the runners and these new plants were planted in the bath at the allotment.  The strawberries I planted in the bath  are not as good, and the ones in my garden also have not done as well. So the allotment beds seem to be providing the best conditions. But strawberries need to be replaced every three or four years.  They get better after the first year and then start to get less productive after the third year. The ones in the bath are in their first year and those in my garden beds are probably in their third or fourth year.  So that might explain why they are not as productive.

 We are really enjoying our strawberries.  The best way to eat them I think is from a bowl topped with cream or ice cream.  I have also been having them for breakfast with granola and Greek yogurt or with scotch pancakes and honey.  But this week faced with a massive box of them I decided that I would have to make jam. I've never done  much jam making before but with other types of fruit growing at the allotment I'm having to learn. And I really love the jam labels my granddaughter has made for me.