Thursday 31 December 2009

Happy New Year !!! (read on for free gifts!)

Well nothing much is happening on the gardening front so I have nothing to report there but at the same time time I wanted to wish all my readers a very Happy New Year and what better way to do this than giving you all a great gift???

Sounds great doesn't it....problem is I don't have a gift to physically give to you, however I do have the means to point you in the right direction of a fantastic freebie and in turn give you a great gift!!

I will go back to how it all started. You see when I first started writing my blog it gave me an incentive to look for other blogs similar to mine so that I could see how they were getting on with their gardening and if I could pick up any tips from these.

I found many interesting blogs which I now follow and one of these blogs was called
http://kellasvegeplotandothermusings.blogspot.com
It's a fantastic site which I encourage all my readers to go and check out. So I hear you thinking 'Is this where we get the freebie??', but no...the story doesn't stop there!

You see Kella is a very talented lady and a little while ago started up her own blog-shop called
http://kellascreativewishes.blogspot.com which is a wonderful blog selling lots of Kella's handmade jewelery and this is where the giveaway is.

Now I know that this post is promoting both of Kella's sites but I don't mind in the least as I have had much enjoyment over reading her blog posts and I would love for my readers to check out her blog too and see what she is all about and also go over and visit her blog-shop and take a look at the wonderful things she makes and maybe you will find something there that you want to purchase...maybe you will just enjoy the browse...but I hope you will enjoy it and I know you won't be disappointed that you visited.


So although you may be able to get a freebie from Kella's blog, that isn't my gift for new year...my gift to you is giving you the chance to have a look at two great blogs that you may not have come across before!!

Wishing you all a great New Years eve and I will be back with more post in 2010 (which incidentally is tomorrow...wow, how time flies!!)

Sunday 27 December 2009

Gardening work at christmas.

snow scene
Well the last thing I thought I would be doing on Christmas day was anything to do with the garden at all...but upon getting up Christmas morning I discovered that I couldn't actually see my garden for all the white stuff!!! Yup, that's right, Christmas day was a white one in my little village....boy was it white...and the first white Christmas I have EVER got up to. It was a perfect still morning with the trees and hedgerows laden with snow, not a breath of wind, and the odd twinkling star!! I live not far from a town which didn't receive as much snowfall as us so I guess we were just the lucky, (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) ones.

It was a very pretty morning that really looked like all those pictures you see on the Christmas cards in the store. Due to the snow I spent over 2 hours in the garden shoveling it off the paths so that we could get around in relative safety...it was quite nice to be out there in the piece without traffic going by, I probably should have snapped a load of pictures but only got the one...Sorry.

Woke up Boxing day morning (that's 26th in England) to a much warmer climate and the snow all but disappeared but it is nice to know that throughout my lifetime I have seen a white Christmas!!


Happy holidays to you all. xxx

Monday 21 December 2009

It's 'Snow' go on the allotment!!

Well I did manage to get to the allotment over the weekend but only stayed long enough to snap a few pics. Nothing much is happening with the freezing conditions and the snow that is falling on a daily basis...on the bright side...today was the shortest day so things can only get brighter from
here on out!!!

garlicbroad beans







broad beansfox printsrunner beans

allotments in snow
As you can see I'm a bit rubbish at arranging photos but in these pics you can see Kate's broad beans and my garlic doing very well. I also took an overall shot of the plot and one of the fox tracks and another of my poor dead runner beans which I never did manage to get down before the winter......I will get around to it as soon as the snow is gone!!

Sunday 13 December 2009

Tree Badge....Help the world stay green!!!!

Over at 'A Smallholders diary' I read a very interesting post about getting trees re-planted.

Being very into gardening and the allotment I am hugely into keeping the world green and the environment healthy and so I was delighted to read about this scheme that has started up. Now I know it is largely about promoting their blog too but I don't think this can be a bad thing when we can all work together on a large scale to get more trees planted on the earth improving it's ecosystem and restoring some of the natural beauty back to the world. We spend far too much time these days cutting back the greenery to put up new dwellings than we do working around what we already have to maintain what the earth has naturally produced!!

The sight that the badge comes from is a website called ruba.com. Here is how it works - by placing one of their badges on your blog, they will plant one tree. If someone then clicks on your badge and puts a badge on their blog they will plant another tree. Your badge automatically updates itself so you can see how many trees you are responsible for being planted. The trees will be planted on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. All you have to do is make sure that you leave your badge on your blog until April 22nd 2010.

Doesn't seem to big a price to pay to be a part of this large scheme does it??? So I am hoping that you will either decide to click on my badge or add one of your own so that we can all start planting trees together!!!

You will find my Badge on the right hand side of my blog just below my entre-card widget..Happy clicking!!

Saturday 12 December 2009

The 100th post!!

Well here it is folks....the 100th post for 'allotments4you'!!

I actually wanted to make this a really big post about 'something', and it was going to be but I kind of find myself at a loose end at the moment (and I haven't been able to say that in a few weeks) and I just felt like writing so I fear that this is going to be a load of twoffle (don't think that is even a real word) about nothing and waste my moment of glory...oh well there will always be my 200th post I suppose!

So why do I find myself at a loose end??? Well it's just past midnight on a friday evening and when all is quiet in the house and everyone is sleeping peacefully I feel I can't sleep for fear of the little boy snoring softly on the floor in the lounge by the firelight (don't worry he is on a matress) who spent the last couple of hours throwing up. It wasn't pleasant but I'm hoping that he has now emptied his system and will sleep through the night...the last time he was sick he was so tired he could barely sit up bless him and until I know he has settled for good then I will not be able to settle for a little shut eye myself on the sofa.

Outside there is a fog rolling down the street and the clock softly ticks on the mantel.....times like this I find I always end up reflecting on my life....I love the peace and tranquility of a dark winters night...living out in the country it is so quiet...sometimes you can hear the distant clacking of a train on the tracks but that is about all and I certainly don't envy anyone living in a town or a city.

I live in a humble little house on the edge of a village surrounded by fields and just a two minute walk from my allotment...it is the perfect setting...and when I visit my allotment it is in such a location that you are surounded by fields and wildlife....what could be more perfect??

Maybe now is as good a time as any to tell you a little more about me?? But then again does anyone really want to know??? After all it's an allotment blog and apart from the location I haven't mentioned my allotment at all...(course that could be partly because I have been so neglectful over the last six weeks I haven't even set foot on it...whoops!!)

So where does this post go from here??? I haven't got a clue...I can tell you that my left arm is numb and my fingers are tingling due to the 'swine flu' jab I had earlier...and that is going to remain my excuse for any bad spelling mistakes...well that and the fact that I am using my Hubby's laptop...(It's ok...he's tucked up in bed too so he'll never know!!) and I always find it more difficult to type on one of these things!! Does anyone else out there find laptops more cramped up than a P.C.?...I suppose they have to be more compact but I find myself always catching extra keys with my nails....yes guys I have nails...but only because it's winter so they don't get so worn down like in the summer when I'm in the garden or on the allotment all the time ( Oh wow...an allotment reference...I think that's two now...impressed yet??).

Well I have just read back through what I've written so far and it really is a load of old tosh with nothing of value or importance at all...I sit here wondering what you would like to know in my time of reflection...and I haven't got a clue whether any of you are interested or not......ooohh...the snoring has stopped but he still sleeps peacefully...hope it stays that way for him....

I think when I first fired up the laptop I did have something to write...but now for the life of me I can't remember what...maybe I'm going little senile?? Or maybe it was of just so little importance I can'r even get it to float back into my head...or maybe it's just because it's so late and quiet that things want to keep floating in and out of my brain...(I think I have one!!)

Do you want to know the really bad thing? I actually have posts to write up that are to do with the allotment (YAY...A third reference.....ooohhh it's fun to type the word reference...try it!!) but I just haven't got around to it lately...everything becomes so busy in december with sorting out presents and cards and getting everything posted in time so you don't forget anyone that I have barely sat down at the computer and then when I did get chance had to spend ages reading up on the blogs that I follow the other night and posting comments....if you are one of those blog owners I am sorry I was so neglectful and please know that I will keep coming by and enjoying your blogs even if I don't get chance to post a comment....erm, think I went a bit off topic there...but I won't delete, because lets face it, where would be the fun in that!!

Oh yes...posts...hang on a mo...he's stirring.....nope it was OK...no more sick....sat up, opened his eyes...then laid down and we are back to snoring softly again...why did I even write that??? It's not like you would have known I'd left the computer...doh!

The posts...yes...I have several topics to cover..all of which are allotment (that's four!) related and I am seriously going to get back into the swing of things again and get these posts up on my blogs before christmas...and before they no longer have any relevance..which I suppose is kind of stupid because they will always be relevant...at least more relevant than the garbage I am writing right now...but let's face it that wouldn't be hard would it!!

So where do I go from here?? Should I tell you about the posts that are to come?? No because that would mean I couldn't change my mind...and I like to keep my options open.....plus I have to see about geting visuals..(that only menas photo's but it sounded good!!) too.

Well I have just glanced a the clock and we are now getting close to 1am so I think I should maybe call it a night...maybe I'll put a movie on..I bought 'My Sisters Keeper' earlier in the week which I haven't watched yet so I think that is the way to go for the rest the night.

Oh...we are going to be sick again.......

Hope you all are sleeping well and I will be back in the next day or so with a post about alloments!!