Friday 31 August 2012

Friday Forecast...week 35...31/08/12

beautiful flowers
Beautiful flowers.
Sorry I haven't posted this week but it has been a bit up and down with emotions and things that needed to be sorted for a funeral for a very dear family friend who was more like family to us. Now the hard part is over and goodbyes have been said and although it will be a while before those memories that bring a smile to my face also don't bring a tear to my eye I know that we will all be OK and that I know someone who holds a very special place in my heart is at peace. The flowers above are one of those from the funeral which were given to me by her sister and daughter and for that I was very moved. I also thank all of you who sent warm wishes my way. xx

The weather has been unsettled this week with sunshine, showers and heavy rain often competing with each other. Also the mornings are colder and for the first time in a long time I had condensation on my windows this morning when I awoke...It really is going to be September tomorrow!!

Today dawned cold but bright and it looks like the sun is here to stay for a while and these are the days i love...I am hoping to get some work done on the allotment this afternoon and get things sorted for the show. I will take some pictures today of what I ma entering and so you can see. I don't really expect to win anything...but I am entering for the fun of it anyway. I still hope to get some baking done today too. A busy day ahead but keeping myself occupied is just what I need.

So quickie post for now...but lots to show you over the weekend to come.






Saturday 25 August 2012

Barrowby Gardeners Association Annual Vegetable and Flower Show.

Barrowby Gardeners Association Annual Vegetable and Flower Show.
The Schedule

Barrowby Gardeners Association Annual Vegetable and Flower Show.
Rules and Prizes

Barrowby Gardeners Association Annual Vegetable and Flower Show.
The Categories
Well every year for as long as I can remember this event has taken place. Over recent years interest has not been as great and I am hoping that we can get it to take off again. It isn't open to just allotment holders or villagers but anyone who wants to enter. I have to admit to never having entered before but this year I am trying to get into the community spirit a bit more and so I am entering several categories...I have circled the ones I want to enter.

If you live close enough by and want to visit we would love to see you. You can either enter something or just come for a drink and the auction in the evening.Prizes aren't huge but is more about getting involved and seeing how other people have got on rather than the prizes. Lets just hope we get a decent turn out!!
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Friday 24 August 2012

Friday Forecast...week 34...24/08/12

Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, Wikipedia
Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire

Well the weather has been sticky and humid most of the week only turning a little chillier on Thursday when at that point you really felt you needed a jacket for the morning.

Having said that the sun has been intermittent sometimes hiding behind clouds...then other times it has been shining bright in a brilliant blue sky.

We've had a few sharp bursts of rain but certainly nothing to write home about.

The evenings have stayed muggy too.

Temperatures have ranged between 30 and 17 degrees..that goes for both day and night.

The nights are quickly drawing in now and the street lamps were on by 8:30pm tonight..though the cloud cover makes it seemer darker earlier and probably triggered off the lamps.

Hope you like the photo...it is of a view not far from where I live. The series 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' was filmed there. It's a lovely place to visit, they have mane functions on, you can get married there and they have nice grounds and gardens. If you would like to read a bit about it then you can find it on Wikipedia.

Have a good weekend.

Monday 20 August 2012

Post in pictures as promised!!

Well I have spent a very brief period down the allotment to water the greenhouse ans pick some of the enormous squash and whilst I was there I took a few pictures for you to see how things got on without me.

ripe tomatoes
the tomatoes have started to 
ripen in the greenhouse.
chilli peppers
Chilli peppers forming


bell peppers
I have some good sized bell 
peppers this year.
pepino
the pepino have started to form
 fruits...looking forward to trying 
these.


pineapple lantern berry
the pineapple lantern berry has 
produced plenty of fruits...not 
sure if I like them much though.
all year round cauliflower
Third time lucky for the caulis.     



parsnips
the parsnip tops are looking healthy.
courgette, marrows, gherkins
the squash plants had a huge 
party whilst I was away and got 
extremely big...good job we like 
it a lot!


celeriac
the celeriac seems to be making 
a bit of a come-back...I wonder
 if there is any root to it though??
pansies
Pansies add a lovely bit of 
colour near the greenhouse.


cut and come again salad
This cut and come again salad 
got devastated by caterpillars
 just before I went away but it's
 making a valiant try at 
re-growing.
broad beans
I didn't get the broad beans 
picked before I went away and
 now they need to come down...
I will save seed for next year
 ..these have been great plants.


baby-corn and sweetcorn
Both the baby and sweetcorn 
are finally starting to form 
some cobs.
scarlet emperor runner beans
My runner beans are a bumper 
crop this year!


variety of squash plants
the squash plants are all 
looking healthy.

pumkin marrow pale green stripe
I sowed three pumpkin seeds out 
of the same packet...
this is one of the plants that grew.
pumpkin marrow pale green
This is another of those seeds out 
of that pumpkin packet.


pumpkin
I did manage to get one pumpkin 
plant out of the packet though!!

two varities of cabbage, purple sprouting broccolli, brussels
Despite never being netted the 
brassicas are doing well.
strawberries again
My newly planted strawberries are 
starting to fruit again. this time it's 
nice sized juicy fruits so I may get a 
picking off them this year after all.


ruby chard
the ruby chard is looking healthy.
french beans, ying yang beans, purple beans
All the beans are producing 
well though I have found the 
ying yang and purples to be 
quite stringy so I probably 
wont grow these again 
next year.


leeks
Leeks are fattening up nicely.
beetroot
The beetroot has finally started 
to look like there might there 
might be something 
beneath the ground too.
red and white onions
The onions are ready to be pulled up.
variety of lettuce
The lettuce is growing nicely 
and soon I should have some 
lovely heads to harvest.


So all in all it isn't looking too bad, it's just over two weeks now since I got any real work done but the weeds aren't too bad and I will soon get on top of them this week. Hopefully some time today I will get time to catch up with all my favourite blogs too.

Hope your gardens are growing well and you're all enjoying the summer.




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Sunday 19 August 2012

Back from holiday.

Well I didn't actually get around to letting you all know that I was going away but that has been the reason for my silence of late and why I need to do a lot of catching up with all my favourite blogs.

We had some wonderful weather and spent lots of time on the beach and even went in the sea which was pretty darn cold. We spent our holiday in the east coast in Norfolk and at times the waves were pretty immense.

breakers at the beach
The breakers hit the beach hard spraying 6' into the air!!
It was a lovely relaxing week but unfortunately I cam home to receive bad news so although I have quickly popped down the allotment I haven't managed to find the time to do much.

I do know that finally I have few red tomatoes and some of my courgettes are even too big to be classed as marrows.

Anyway I am hoping to get down and get tidied up a little this afternoon...to be honest the time out up there will be nice....and plus I will have time to remember memories and reflect on things.

I will take some pics whilst I'm their and do a generalised picture post for you.

I guess looking for hundreds of different courgette recipes will keep my mind off things for a while too so if you know any please post them in the comments for me.

Things may be a bit scatty in my posts for a while so please bear with me until nature has played it's course.

Thanks. Hope all my readers are well. x

Saturday 4 August 2012

A look around the allotment.

Well like I promised I have been and taken a few snapshots for you today. 

The morning started off fine and I got a bit of work done but as is typical it poured with rain this afternoon so the shots were taken after tea. It was quite heavy rain and I'm sure it will help the plants along a bit...no more reading just enjoy the pics!!

salad bowls, celeriac, onions, leeks, carrots, turnips, beetroot



This is a view from the greenhouse looking up over the root vegetable section. Growth isn't great this year but at least I have got the weeds under control!!
broad beans, selection of french beans, no pea and no mange-tout


The beans section including broad beans and a selection of french beans. Unfortunately no peas or mange-tout for us this year but the others are now cropping nicely.
molluscs sharing the cabbages.





Saw this cheeky critter having a feast on one of Kate's cabbage leaves. I didn't think she would be too happy so I removed it from the plant.
runner beans, squash plants, sweetcorn and babycorn

Sorry this is a little blurry...not sure what happened to the camera and then the batteries died so I couldn't re-take the shot...there are a couple more like it too. Anyway this is the squash, sweet and babycorn and also the runner beans.
pumpkins, courgettes, cucumbers, gherkins, strawberries, raspberries


Another blurry one and another squash bed...also the strawberry bed in the background and the raspberry canes to the left going wild this year.
new potatoes, old potatoes, cabbage, brussels, purple sprouting broccolli, ruby chard.




Blurry spuds and brassicas!!
sweet peas







The owners of the allotment next to me have some lovely sweet peas growing up the side of their greenhouse.
pond wildlife natural


And finally the pond/wildlife area. This has really come on and filled out well this year and I love having this little bit of nature at the top end of my allotment










So that's all I have for today....got very wet digging up my spuds and due to the heavy rain I ended up carrying most of the allotment along with me on my boots. Oh well, it's a good workout for the legs!
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Friday 3 August 2012

Friday Forecast...week 31...03/08/12

Well I haven't spent so much time on the computer this week but that isn't due to being overly busy just more for me taking  little down time for myself. This also means I still have no pictures of the allotment for you but I will rectufy that tomorrow.

But this post is to be about the weather so here goes!!

Well it's been a particularly British week for the weather which summed up in one word is 'changeable'!!

stormy skies

As you can see I took some shots of the sky. Not so much blue in it this week but it hasn't been all bad all of the time. In fact we went a whole day today WITHOUT rain!!

fluffly clouds

Most days however we have seen some rain, sometimes heavy showers and sometimes that horrible drizzly stuff that has the clouds sitting on top of the houses...didn't do much to fill up my water butts though!!

A storm might come
The temperatures have been OK, most days you have needed a light short on but a couple have been warm enough in the afternoons to strip down to just a t-shirt. The nights have been terribly muggy though and the humidity has been quite high. Also my hay-fever has bothered me quite a bit this week but that's probably due to the harvesting going on north, south, east and west of me....Why do I live in the country?!?!?!

Well I'm hoping for some nice weather tomorrow so I can get a few things done and get some nice photos too.

Have a good weekend!!
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