Potting. Planting, Sorting...and RAIN!!!!

So it's been a very busy week for me trying to play catch up after getting behind with the clean up and putting up the new shed. Didn't get any digging done on the new plot but I will start that tomorrow hopefully and then get some potatoes in.

I did get my runner beans, beetroot, kohl rabi, white sprouting broccoli brussels all hardened off and in the ground though and a few other bits done....thought it would be much better to show you in pictures than waffle on for hours about how proud I am of myself though!!

These are my other seedlings hardening off in a sheltered place I mad today...nothing like recycling the old shower screen...lol

The raised bed I have installed near the greenhouse is going to become the Asparagus bed.

Remember my grape vines from last year?? Well I seriously thought they were dead but after just four days of being planted in the greenhouse and we have life :-)

Kate was down today...she borrowed my tiller and looks a little pained in this photo...she didn't realise after watching me use it how much hard work it was.....God I'm good..hehe

My Runner Beans looking very proud planted near their new fence!

And finally the plot...all the above stuff is plated out and it rained some whilst I was down there and has come down quite steadily for a couple of hours since...just what I like to see...rain to help them get established!!

Also spent quite a bit of money yesterday but now I have to wait for delivery so you are just going to have to wait to find out what I bought!!

Weather watch Wednesday....week 17 2010.

Well the weather has been very kind this week. Warm, sunny and very little wind which was a blessing with getting the mess cleaned up and the new shed erected. Sunday morning brought a little rain but not even enough to wet the bottom of my new water butt!!!

We haven't seen any decent rain in two weeks now and I am getting quite a tan from being outside so much.

I am currently hardening off some of my seedling to be planted at the weekend but this weekend is a bank holiday so if course heavy rain is predicted...good for the garden and my water butt but not so good for my planting plans......can't decide whtehter i want the rain or not...HHMMM?!?!?!

Got some planting done!!!

Well I went down the plot this afternoon for a couple of hours and got some planting done...all the while I had to consciously NOT look at the rubbish I haven't had time to move at the top end so as not to distract myself from the task at hand.

Finally got some seeds in courtesy of Dave and Sylvia who gave me some yesterday so thank you both for that. I also planted out my Broad Beans and put my parsnips in...now I just have to see if they will grow...I went with the, 'dig a deep trench and fill it with compost' method so fingers crossed.

All the seedlings in the greenhouse have shot up this last week and so I am going to harden some off this week ready for planting next week.

Would also like to thank Pete who is going to provide me with new water butts!!

This is just a short one but I will write more in the week and maybe put up some pics too!!

Progress in pictures.

Well after two days hard slog I am knackered but progress has been made...Picture gallery and few words...sorry but don't have the energy to type much.

The new shed ...up and new roof made after a lot of hassle...just need to finish fixing the felt tomorrow.

The raspberry cane fence I erected last weekend.

In light of what happened not much digging done on the new plot and no potatoes planted...maybe next weekend.

The crap from the fire...but the skip comes on Monday.

Well my parsnips sprouted...what do I do now??

I would like to Thank.....

My Mum for letting me swear and rant unconditionally for a couple of hours...buying me more king Edward seed potatoes...and all the other little things she bought me to get me back up and running.

My Dad for all the help he has given me the last two days, the new tool box and the broad bean plants.

My Hubby for not moaning that I have barely laid eyes on him the last two days and the lift with the wheelbarrow.

My Son...just because he is.. :-)

Barbara for taking me to the store to get bit's I needed straight away and the hoe and hand trowel and fork.

The Lady in the florists who gave me a free pair of gardening gloves and knocked a few pounds off my bill.

My Brother for picking me up some extra bits in town...and carrying the steel rods home for me.

My sister for caring and listening to me rant.

Jan for the water butt.

David for the raised bed, seeds and wood.

Dave for the rake...and fetching me the wood up for the roof.

Janice for the hoops.

Richard, Andy and Pete for the lift with the shed.

Ian for the offer of helping me get rid of the crap.

The Allotment Committee who are paying for a skip to remove the rubbish.

And last but not least...all my kind readers who showed there condolences and shared my heartache.

Life can give us shit at times but all the thanks above lets me know that the world is a good place to be living in and I am thankful for that. :-)

So FREAKING mad!!!!!!

This isn't the sort of post or title I particularly want to write (and believe me the title could have been a LOT more colourful!) but I have to share my frustration with those who understand and care...and I know you lot will!!!

I will tell it like a little story....I woke early (5am) to the birds singing and beautiful skies and I thought...'wow, what a lovely day, I'm going to get up now ,get sorted and then sit with my knitting for a while.' Well I got up and got sorted...Hubby came home from work and we had a drink and chat and then off to the shower he went when the doorbell rang....bearing in mind this was only 6:30am....I answered the door to one of the neighbours who said...'Tan I'm really sorry but I think your shed is on fire!'

This was of course my allotment shed...i think I have mentioned before how close I live to the plot so off we went. On arrival I was met by the fire brigade who was already on scene with hoses out and another neighbour who saw the flames and rang them.

There is nothing left of the shed...and nothing salvageable.....nothing in the shed could have started that and considering we had a frost last night and the ground was very damp there was no way it could be anything but arson!!!

Had to leave then but after town up the plot I went with my Dad and we set to work cleaning the mess up as best we could....I just can't believe some people and it really makes me want to scream and swear at what they have done but I know this won't get me anywhere.......On the bright side the fire crew were excellent and didn't trample on any of my crops...they totally stuck to the paths...also the allotment got a nice watering so thanks for that guys and also trying in vain to go through what was left and worked out what happened.

I now have no gardening tools....or compost...or seeds....or anything really....even my wellies and my rain coat are gone...as are the 4 water butts I had!!! Luckily though my Tiller was safe at home so although the attachments aren't much good the tiller itself is fine so I guess that is a blessing. What I don't get is why set fore to it?? What did they gain?? If they wanted to break in and steal stuff then fine but this was just so uncalled for and it really hurts after all the hard work I put in getting the top end of the plot looking nice.

Ok I have managed to keep this very light and not swear at all....you should have heard me this morning though...ggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrr.

My poor broad bean plants and what was left of my steel shelving.

What was left after the fire was put out........not much shed or coldframe!!

Weather watch Wednesday....week 16 2010...and asparagus help...PLEASE!!!

Well it hasn't been a totally bad week..the sun has shone nicely but the temperatures haven't been very warm with the winds that we have had. No rain again and soon if we don't get some they will be putting hose pipe bans in place before we even get them out. Although we've had no rain the soil is still moist underneath so I'm not worrying yet!!

Blue Skies

Temps have been between 9-13 degrees by day. Last couple of evenings have given us a ground frost but nothing to upset what has already been planted!!

The sun has finally brought the blossoms out.

Now I would like a little advice. I have bought some Asparagus to plant ...it looks like a dead stick at the minute but apparently if I soak and then plant it then in a couple of years I will have some Asparagus to enjoy. I have already planted some on the plot but I was wondering if anyone knew whether it would do well placed in the greenhouse?? How much does it spread??? I know nothing about Asparagus apart from I love to eat it so I am really hoping you can help. Thanks!!

Problems and poo!!!

Okay...thought that title might get you to read a little further but believe me it isn't going to be an overly exciting post.

For one I forgot to take my camera down the plot so I have no exciting photos to share and to be honest I haven't got that much done over the weekend.

It was a nice weekend but I did spend a large portion of Saturday sewing up the new jumper I have been knitting and I am now nearly finished...it has took several months but it was my first go and so I am quite pleased with the outcome so far.

I did go to the allotment for a little while and managed to get the rods in the ground and the wire strung for a permanent raspberry fence...Also dig the raspberries and split them replanting them to span the whole allotment. They look quite happy with their new arrangement and I am very impressed as I only had 6 canes two years ago.

Got my next delivery of manure today...it's good potent stuff and has joined the other on the allotment in a nice bug heap. I know a lot of people put manure in as they plant but I am going to wait until the end of the year and then dig it in when I do my winter dig so it can sit there and ferment nicely into the soil over the winter months.

As for the problems...well it's my Manits Tiller...it seems to not want to work very well...I have had the engine cover off today and cleaned all the filters but it's still being ornery. My Dad thinks I may have loved it a little too much and flooded the engine with oil so now I am leaving it for a while to drain and then giving it another go tomorrow...Luckily it is still in warranty so if that doesn't work I will have to give the company a ring.

Well that's all for now. Hope to get some pic.s of my raspberries soon.

Permanent Bean Structure.

Ever since I got me allotment I have wanted to put in place a permanent bean structure but never got around to it. Well this year with being given more land I decided it was definitely time as I was wasting money on canes which weren't exactly stable if we got high winds so I had them in at tent feature which then meant I often missed beans in the middle as the greenery was so dense.

So off I went to Homebase and purchased some quite pricey but good quality posts and pegs which will last for a good few years and because there is more stability to them I have erected one line straight across the plot...this also adds the advantage of a permanent 'fence' between mine and my neighbours plot!!

The bean fence!!

Whilst at the plot today I also put some wooden edging up where the gravel is which meant I could get rid of the bricks...it's not all finished yet but looks so much nicer and neater.

The edged path..much more pleasing to the eye!

An award received!!

Today I received an award...it is always fun to receive awards as it means you know someone is enjoying reading your blog as much as you enjoy writing it.

The awards I received are;

This lovely nomination came from,
Realising the dream
and I very gratefully accept!!

The only condition on accepting the awards is to list seven random things about yourself...so here goes;

1) I have not been partying in Nottingham city since I became legal.
2) Before I started this blog I didn't even really know what a blog was!
3) I love to be around a living flame.
4) I am content in my own company.
5) My thumb knuckles bend both ways.
6) My favourite food is probably weetabix!
7) I can bend at the waist and get my hands flat on the floor!!

Ok...was that Random enough??? Well I am now to pass the awards on to my favourite blogs which is what I always find the hard part because I love all the blogs that I follow and want to pass it on to everyone but I know it would take me a long time to write a little description of them all so I am going to just put a list and hope that you come and realise you have an award!!

So I pass the award onto;

Our plot at Green Lane Allotments.
Nature Center Magazine
The Everyday Adventurer
Vanilla Seven
Ann's snap edit
Soilman
Allotment Blog
The Good Life
Tpals Place
A smallholders diary
Kellas Musings
Allot of veg
Reads Allotment Retreat
Mal's Allotment
Norfolk Kitchen

I hope you all enjoy your awards but don't worry if you don't want to post it on your blog...just leave a comment if you've been by and seen yourself on the list...oh and if your not on the list I am really sorry it doesn't mean I don't love your blog too...I just took the newest 15 posts of my blogs list. If there are any blogs you don't recognize then why not check them out??

Happy blogging people!!

The Seedlings go for a walk!!

Well I now have this wonderfully large greenhouse on my plot and I got my melons planted at the weekend so i was very chuffed with myself. Then my Dad said,'Have you put your seedlings in your greenhouse yet??' Of course I replied with a 'No.'...Which was the absolute truth so then my Dad rambled about what was the point of having a greenhouse and all the staging...blah,blah,blah!!

Can you guess what I'm growing???

Well I did totally get his point but truth was laziness had stopped me taking them to the greenhouse as at home in the garden watering was no effort...anyway I kicked my own but and took the seedlings up...the greenhouse now looks useful and I have a lot more space in my garden as i no longer have two mini greenhouses taking up space...Oh but don't worry they didn't go to waste, My Mum has had them for putting her flower trays in!!

Weather watch Wednesday....week 15 2010

IT IS COLD!!!!!!!!!

Not much more to say really, after a beautiful weekend of sun, no wind and t-shirt temperatures the weather has took a turn for the worse again and we are back to jumpers, scarves and gloves and it doesn't look much better for the next few days.

Temps. averaging 10-13 degrees but with winds gusting up to 35mph feels much colder...BBBRRRRR

No rain in over a week...not so sure this is a good thing when I am planting on the plot :-(

The garden is spectacular!!

Well I was back at work today after a fortnight off from gardening.

Hyacinth.

Not much rain has prevented many weeds from coming through so I had chance to give the greenhouse a good tidy up.

Array of Tulips.

The warmth from last week has set all the bulbs I planted last autumn blooming too and there are some lovely displays to share...

I have no idea what this one is...do any of you??

Enjoy!!

A giant Cowslip...I think?!?!?!

Smell that lovely country air!!

Well today I had my first installment of manure delivered. I don't have to worry about contamination as it is being provided to me by my cousin who has pigs and has now become my supplier in exchange for some veg...plus he has way too much for his garden...can't you just smell that lovely country air as I shovel it onto a manure pile...breath deep all!

Don't you just love it!!!!!

( I decided not to photo the pig shit but if you insist I can oblige!)

Sun, seeds and planting!!!

Well I know it's not over yet but what a wonderful time we have been having down the allotment. I have been fortunate enough not to have to work the past few days and so i have been able to spend plenty of time on the plot and boy have I been busy!

The greenhouse is complete and I have decided to go with the 'No wash' solution. I am growing Melons in the greenhouse and Grapevines...a few people mentioned grape-vines on my previous post in the comments section but I had already decided to do this anyway but thanks for all your thought.

Doesn't it look smart...and you can see the trellis ready for the grape-vines.

Everything is tidy and now I just have to wait a week before I can dig over the new land. I have put the rhubarb in place and I hope this takes well so we can have rhubarb crumble very soon. Over on the other side I have manged to get in my second early potatoes, onions, spring onions, radishes and carrots...oh and I planted some fennel too. I think that's it and when you write it down I realise how little it sounds but I know you all appreciate how long this takes.

Maybe I should hide the camera from the kids..lol

I have new structure going up this year for my raspberry canes and runner beans which will be permanent fixtures and all my seedling appear to be doing well.

Potato growing and planting lesson for the kids.

Just have to get the sweetcorn in tomorrow and hopefully the peas and I am exactly where I want to be. Kate was down the allotment today too...sorting out her strawberry patch.

Kate weeding her strawberry bed...Hi Kate.. :-)

Progress is a mighty fine thing...and I'm very happily knackered...and a little pink...must remember next time to put cream on my hand and wrists.

Having an apple break!

Have to give credit to the kids and parents for all their hard work this week..So thank you my beloved family. :-)

What a GLORIOUS day!!!

Well it has just been the best day ever this year. I got up and in no time at all the sun was rising and the sky was clear....I still had shopping and laundry and the usual Mum stuff to do but I was determined to find time to get to the allotment...and so I did.

The weather stayed glorious all day and the sun had some real heat to it so although jackets were on, jumpers were off.

My Dad and I made a real difference today with getting the greenhouse squared up and staked down...getting the weedkiller oin the plot and even getting some of the glass in. Things are starting to take shape and my minds view is beginning to show. No pics. yet ...not until it's finished. We stayed up the allotment until the sun started to set around 8:00 pm and as we were leaving spotted some glass which I was told I could help myself too if any would fit so it looks like I won't have to buy as much glass as first though either...could today get any better???? I think not!!

Now all we have to decide is whether to clean the greenhouse glass...My Dad says yes as it will look all nice, I say no as it will let to much sun in and may burn the plants....what do you think we should do???

How many men does it take to move a greenhouse????

Well today was the day. As usual we had wind and rain but then at tea-time the rain stopped and the wind dropped and although it wasn't exactly warm it was perfect moving conditions so after an unexpected call from my Nephew wanting to visit we decided that tonight was the night the greenhouse got moved!!

Having a breather after we got it into the street.

I couldn't get too many photos as a lot of the time I was helping out. The greenhouse was situated in a garden at the end of my parents road which is only a 10 minute brisk walk from the allotment. The difficulty was that the garden is down some steps and a 6 foot wall was one of the obstacles which we had to lift it over. Then the gap between the flats and the fence was too narrow so we had to maneuver it over a 4 foot fence which was quite a feat as we were all swapping and changing ends and jumping fences and railings. Once u we cleared the side of the flats there was just one more fence to lift over...and a few trees to duck under and then it was quite an easy walk down to the allotment.

Stop the traffic....We're coming!!

Of course once we get to the allotment the gate had to be locked and as I'm not a key-holder that was the final hurdle before placing on the allotment. The kids were a great help as was my Dad and Brother and I am now a proud owner of a greenhouse. Tomorrow we will get down there to start leveling, anchoring and putting the glass back. Oh I have plans and they are all coming into place!!

It wasn't easy but we got it there in the end!

Another very kind allotment holder rotavated (maybe this is spelt wrong but never mind!) the land over for me and I have been quite naughty by buying some weedkiller to sort out the land. I know it's cheating but there is soooooooo much work to do besides the land preparation that I thought for once it won't hurt...and I know that it will never look like this again so I very gratefully accepted his offer of help and it really feels like I am getting somewhere now. The weekend is going to be busy, busy, busy....so watch this space!!!

Very nice allotment holder rotavating my new land!!

Weather watch Wednesday....week 14 2010

More of the same this week. Winds up to gale force at times, plenty of rain and temperatures between 5-10 degrees during the day. Luckily we have avoided those frosts that were predicted so I haven't had to cover my seeds and they are all germinating nicely!!

Skies spend most of their time with racing grey clouds

Making a start on the new plot!!!!

Ok...so this is the new plot...not much to look at I know...and I definitely have my work cut out for me...but hey I like a challenge and I am just happy to have the extra land so I won't complain...(even if my back does!)

This is the bargain greenhouse...all cleared and ready to be moved. We have removed the glass from the sides and are hoping that we can now move it as a whole. Yesterday was the supposed moving day but the weather has other ideas so now we just have to wait for a decent day.

As you can see I have moved the Daleks, cold-frame and water butt down to the allotment already...and believe me it wasn't the easiest of tasks. I don't really seem to be getting anywhere but I have plans for what to do and it will probably involve a bit of begging to some allotment holders with a rotavator....just to start the year off as the land is packed solid in places. The clear bit of mud you can see at the side is the spot for the greenhouse so we are raring to go...Now weather please be kind!!! Hopefully before the weekend is out I can show you the greenhouse in its new site!!