23rd July - Sweetpeas and Bark

You might remember that the last time I blogged I mentioned my sweetpeas and that on gardeners world Monty Don had suggested cutting all of the blooms off of the plant every 10 days to get more and more flowers.  I don't cut them every 10 days but I do cut them as my last job every Sunday.  Last week I gave a good sized bunch to my mum and this week there were twice as many flowers again.  I have a lovely bunch of flowers on my windowsill every week and the scent is amazing every time you walk into the room.  I have never grown sweetpeas before so I'm really pleased with them.  The whole flower bed is actually really nice; the cosmos are flowering beautifully as well and I also make a point of dead heading them every week so they'll keep flowering.  I'm not so good at remembering to deadhead the cornflowers but they're still flowering really well too; I really must try and remember to deadhead them more often!

This week we had a load of bark chippings delivered to site.  One of the other allotment holders had found a company who said they would deliver for free; they don't have somewhere to store the chippings and therefore have to pay to have it removed.  Many people at the allotments use the chippings for paths or for mulch so it's a great relationship to foster.  The delivery included some logs that will be lovely for sitting on once they've dried out.  The chippings included quite a bit of leaves and some twigs and branches but it was easy to pull out the big twigs and the leaves and the resulting chippings were really good quality.  I got 4 barrow loads and put a thick mulch in front of the shed, where there is the most traffic and where the chippings that were there had mostly disappeared from being kicked about.  I've put as much as I can up to the step with the hope that a thick enough mulch will suppress the weeds that grow up between the weed membrane and the slab.  I also didn't manage to get a good thickness of chippings down the side of the shed last year when I first spread the chippings and so I made a point of ensuring that I got a good covering this time.  We are hoping to keep getting deliveries and so hopefully I will be able to do my whole plot again this year.  

I got one of the logs, it was from the base of a tree so it flares out at the bottom but it's still got a good thickness at the top for sitting on.  I might grab another couple to make a little seating area, although I'm not sure where I'd put it in my current plot.  If I get another I will make sure I have space for them and I think it will look lovely.  I think it is important to have different places around the plot to sit so that you get a view from different perspectives.  I have really enjoyed sitting on the bench at the bottom of the plot as much as I like sitting in front of the shed.  

Also this weekend I bought a new addition for the allotment.  I do have a few gnomes around the pond, they are very twee and I wouldn't have them anywhere else but they make me laugh.  This week I was in Asda and I found a pride gnome and I just couldn't resist him!  He is one of the big gnomes that they do, I wouldn't normally spend that amount of money on something like this but I just fell in love with him.  I have put him next to the bench so he can't be seen from the gate.  I really hope that he'll be safe there.

I don't think I have anything else to share this week, I have done a video but it's a bit long so I might re-do it but otherwise I'll post it and hope you don't get bored before the end lol.

So, until next time, happy gardening :-)