A muddy path and planting snowdrops.

 

A few weeks ago when we arrived at the allotment we found that the path down the lane to our plot had been churned up by someone who had tried to drive a big wheeled truck down it. We weren't very pleased about that as it made the path very muddy and walking down to our plot was quite difficult. The path is not meant for vehicles to drive along. The ground is quite soft on this small stretch of the path and can soon become muddy. We had worked on improving the path a couple of years ago by putting wood chippings down and they worked quite well at soaking up the mud. I don't have a photo of the lane when it was all churned up, but in the photo above you can see on the right some of the tyre tracks, on the left is when I had started flattening them out.

So last week I set to work flattening the tyre tracks and lucky for me someone had dumped some shredded tree chippings further along the lane. So Richard and I spent the next few days collecting the chippings and spreading them out along this muddy stretch. Each time we went to the allotment we dedicated some of the time to barrowing chippings to the lane. It was hard work and my back was suffering each time. But I have to say it looks much better and is so easy to walk along now with no fear of slipping or falling over.

A nicer moment was that Richard found a clump of snowdrops amongst some garden rubbish which had been thrown in the woods across the lane where we are allowed to throw our compostable waste. He dug them up before they got covered in more rubbish. I planted them along the fence outside the plot where I already have some bulbs growing.

Back to work on the allotment

At last some better weather meant we were able to get back to work on the allotment. It's been a while since we last did any proper work on the plot. Back in November we had started clearing the beds, manuring and covering them with weed membrane. Most of them were done, just the ones with veg still growing are yet to be done. 

So there are some cabbages, kale and leeks still remaining in the ground. This week I dug up some of the leeks which were rotten, I'm not sure if the rest of them will be any good , but I will be digging them up over the next few weeks. 

We had a visitor on the plot waiting for us when we arrived on Saturday afternoon, a chicken. It had escaped from the plot behind us and was looking quite lost. Unfortunately its owner was not on his plot and we didn't have his phone number, but we knew someone who could get in touch with him. So all ended well, we were able to reunite them and I could get back to my jobs.

One of those jobs was cutting down the dead asparagus stalks. I cleared the bed of all the debris, hoed lightly to get rid of surface weeds and then spread manure over the bed. Next to the asparagus bed is the bed where I grow most of my annual flowers for cutting. I treated this in the same way.

The next few weeks are the time when I try to get on top of all the winter jobs and get the allotment tidy ready for when I start sowing and growing. The beds are mostly  done now, but there are plenty of other jobs like cleaning out the shed and one of the greenhouses, and some repair work. It all depends on the weather of course but we are hoping we can get lots done.

Getting back into the garden

We've had a few sunny days this week, it has been cold, but not too cold to go out in the garden to do a bit of work. There's been such awful weather the last few weeks where it hasn't been fit to go outside, so I've been keen to get out, if only for a bit of pottering round and a breath of fresh air.

There's always something to do in the garden, if it's only sweeping paths or tidying the shed. I have started clearing the leaves off the borders. They have got quite soggy and were hiding bulbs underneath. 

They were probably providing homes for slugs too. Some of the dead plant stalks which I leave standing over winter for the wildlife are ready for clearing away. I'll gradually clear those in the next few weeks. Last week's storm didn't do much damage in this area, but the grasses in the garden took quite a battering resulting in grass debris all over the place.

Looking round the garden I could see signs of new growth. The snowdrops are flowering now. I love seeing them, the first flowers of the year in the garden. 

Also flowering now are cyclamen, showing patches of pink in shady areas beneath the birch tree in the back garden and under shrubs in the front.

 Daffodils and crocuses are emerging to flower in a few weeks time. The Hamamelis (witch hazel) has copper coloured flowers which I have to walk down the garden to see. It doesn't show up well from a distance. 

January is such a long dreary month and to see signs of life in the garden gives me so much to look forward to.

Allotment--A new year, bad weather, making plans

 

It's quite some time since I blogged about the allotment, but we were kept busy last year. Now a new year lies ahead and I'm thinking of what I'll be doing in the next few months. 

At the moment the weather is too bad to be able to do any sort of work. It's been really cold and wet. We had snow a couple of weeks ago with really hard overnight frosts. It's still quite cold and there is a weather warning for high winds at the weekend. So I have been staying indoors most of the time, but I'm longing to get out and start work on the allotment. 

I am often thinking about how much longer I will be able to do the allotment. Rheumatoid and osteoarthritis  slow me down now and we both get tired more easily. But we managed well last year so another year of growing lies ahead. 

At the moment the things which get me down are not my own physical difficulties, but neighbours who don't look after their plots, fly tipping seems to be happening more too and then there's the rats. On a recent visit to check over the plot we could see evidence of rats again in the shed. No matter how hard Richard tries to seal off any access holes, they will find another way to get in. This time they have been getting in through the floor.

There are changes down at the allotments as a few plots have become vacant and we wonder who we will get as neighbours. So many people take on an allotment full of enthusiasm but don't realise how much commitment is required and how much hard work is involved. Then they give up on it.

For me it's time to start planning what I will be growing this year, sorting through my seed packets and ordering more seeds. And as soon as we get some drier, warmer weather we'll be down there, mending all the holes in the shed and preparing the beds for growing. 

Through the Garden Gate --December 2024

December is always a busy month with preparations for Christmas and doing nice Christmassy things. It's never a gardening month for me.

At the beginning of December I made wreaths for the front and side entrances to the house.

Early in December we also had a trip to the garden centre to buy the Christmas tree. Getting it home in the car is always quite an event. 

We had a Christmas tree festival at our church and my friend and I decorated one. It wasn't just the tree to decorate though, it was the table top around it. So it took quite a bit of thinking about as we planned it. They all had to represent a Christmas carol and there was a quiz for visitors to guess the carols. Ours was 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing'. I think it would be quite an easy one to guess.

We visited our daughter Sarah down in Bedfordshire for a weekend and her church also had a Christmas tree festival. They seem to be quite popular events now in churches. 

Back home, the following week, our other daughter, Helen and I went to Lytham Hall. The hall is open to visitors throughout the year, but at Christmas it is decorated up with a Christmas theme. This year it had a Charles Dickens theme with each room representing a different Dickens book. It was beautifully decorated. A lot of the decorations were hand made by some of the volunteers.

The garden is looking quite bedraggled with soggy leaves on the beds, but it's nice to see bulbs starting to emerge. The first to flower will be the snowdrops. I was quite surprised as I walked around the garden yesterday to see the Hamamelis flowering and near the kitchen door there's a lovely sweet smell of the Christmas box which is just starting to produce its little white flowers. There are also cyclamen flowering under the trees. There's plenty of interest in the garden if I spend some time walking round and searching. Sometimes it's a bit too cold to go out though!

I received two garden books for Christmas, Carol Klein 's 'Hortobiography' and 'Drawn to the Garden' by Caroline Quentin. Carol Klein grew up only a few miles from where I grew up so it's interesting to read about her early years. 

I also received a long handled patio weeder. I do love a new garden tool. It should be easier on my back if I don't have to kneel down to weed the patio now. 

The weather has been really miserable recently, with grey skies, fog and drizzle and there's a weather warning for snow in the next few days. It's definitely not gardening weather. Fortunately there's not much to be done at this time of year. 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year and happy gardening.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea ' for her monthly 

'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--November 2024

We've had some bad weather this month and the garden has taken a bit of a battering. It was still looking very autumnal early on with the grasses showing off their lovely colours. 

I even managed to cut a few flowers for the house.

But then things changed and the weather turned colder bringing frosty mornings. Then the snow arrived which kept us indoors for a few days.

So gardening work has slowed down now. I occasionally cut a few plants back if they go mushy, but most of the tidying up can be left for a while. I planted tulip bulbs in pots and smaller bulbs in small pots for the garden table. 

Now I am getting ready for Christmas. This week I cut foliage for Christmas wreath making. The allotment is a good place for foliage. Conifer and berried ivy are plentiful. My daughter has a rosemary bush in her garden and was happy for me to cut from it. I have a pot of it by the kitchen door but  I have never been able to get it to grow very big, probably because I cut it a lot for cooking with. I will be making the wreaths next week. 

Next week we will also be going to the garden centre to buy our Christmas tree. We go early in December to buy it so we get the best choice, but don't bring it in the house until later.

Today I will be at church decorating a Christmas tree for our Christmas tree display. An event we started last Christmas and are repeating this year. It's a busy time of year and starting to get very Christmassy. 

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea ' for her monthly 

'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--October 2024

Throughout October we have so much enjoyed seeing the changes in the garden. We have seen the leaves change colour on the trees, not just in our garden but in neighbouring gardens. The rowan is a particularly good tree for autumn colour. The leaves go red and the berries are yellow. The birds have had a great time eating the berries. The garden is dying down but there is still interest amongst the borders.

Walking round I can see more than I can looking out the windows. The hardy fuchsia is very colourful it seems to be a bit later flowering this year, its red and purple  flowers brightening up a dark spot in the front garden.

The Liquidamber tree is the star of the back garden,  its leaves turning a beautiful dark red and orange.

The grasses provide some bright spots and structural interest. I should have been out with my camera more as some grasses and plants took on lovely bronze tints before they turned straw coloured. I missed taking the photos, but to name a few, there was a lovely Miscanthus grass which looked amazing with the morning sun on it, Rodgersia and Hostas too. Still hanging on with a few flowers are hardy geraniums, roses, Japanese anemones,white lysimachia.

It was my birthday last weekend and my daughter and I went to RHS Harlow Carr. It's only a few weeks since I last went and how it has changed since then with the most breathtaking colours. We had a walk through the arboretum, we love a woodland walk especially in the autumn. There were interesting seed pods, plenty of fungi and of course carpets of golden leaves. We went in the bird hide and were lucky enough to see a woodpecker on one of the feeders.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea ' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.