Well, as I'm sure you've seen I've started a YouTube channel, which was a bit scary (and I need to stop saying 'erm') but I'm hoping it's a nice addition to the blog and will bring some of the posts to life - literally! Please let me know if there is anything you would like to particularly see me do.
I can't remember if I told you that it was the allotment inspection a couple of weeks ago. We have inspections twice a year, normally one in the spring and one at the end of summer. They aren't about seeing what people are growing but more about checking that the plots are being cultivated and looked after and that tenants don't have carpets on their plots (one of the few rules we have).
Because I am the site representative I have to do the inspections with the council's allotment officer and so I was slightly mortified to have one bed that was sooooo overgrown. I therefore cheated and covered it with weed membrane so that she couldn't see how bad it was lol. I'm sure that she wouldn't have been at all bothered but it was important to me.
I do occasionally use a weed killer from QVC (part of the Richard Jackson's range) but I do find it particularly satisfying to get on my kneeler pad with a hand fork and clear the bed by hand. It took 4 buckets full of weeds to clear it but as you can see all I need now is a good covering of manure and it will be ready for my brassicas to be planted out. I will say though, that last year I used the council manure and when I cleared this bed I could see that the majority of the weeds were just in the top couple of inches, or just in the manure from last year! Lots of manure will come with weed seeds so whilst manure is great for adding organic matter to your soil but you should keep a close eye on it to keep on top of any weeds that might appear.
I have this weird love of wood and stumps, I really think an old rotting stump is amazing; the life they hold as well as how pretty they are (I know, I'm strange!) I was looking for some old bits of wood to add to my woodpile in the corner for all my little bugs and creatures to hide in next to the pond, and I came across a really lovely old stump that I have put next to the pond. I think it looks lovely and can't wait to see what happens to it over the coming years. I also helped to cut down part of a willow tree that had got really overgrown into the path and I managed to grab a nicely shaped stump that is going to go where my England Gnome currently stands. It has a nice shape in the middle that I might be able to plant something into so that could be a really pretty feature.
My polytunnel is still jam packed full of plants waiting to go out, I think I've said before that I don't plant out until after the Chelsea Flower Show because by then I know that I'm totally safe from frost and so there's still lots going on behind the scenes but at the moment the beds all still have their covers on and I've started to put the manure down ready for planting. I can't wait to get going and so some of my more hardy seedlings will probably be out in the next couple of weeks and then it will definitely look more like a worked allotment.
My final pics this week are two that I took after I left the allotment at around 8.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday. My allotment is in the valley of the town where I live and my house is at the top of the hill. As I drove up the hill I had to pull over to take pictures of the sunset which just looked amazing. I really do love it when you stand looking over the town and see the sun setting over the Yorkshire Dales in the distance, it reminds me how lucky I am to live in Yorkshire, despite how cold it still is up here when other people are frost free down south!
I hope the weather has started to turn now and we can look forward to some warmer weather. Until next time then....
Happy Gardening!
I can't believe it's been so long since I last wrote anything, where on earth do I start with what happened over the winter and since I got back to the plot?!
Well, to start with I was very excited to be able to harvest my sprouts at Christmas and we had them for our Christmas lunch. I planted some winter veg but the pigeons had all of it :-( I had managed to get all but 2 of my beds covered so I only had 2 beds (the one that I had tried to grow the winter veg and the old flower bed) that were a bit of a mess. Then over winter we had storm Doris. Thanks to the hard work of Mr L the Polytunnel and shed were fine but my fruit cage took a battering and was damaged beyond repair.
I was late getting back to the plot because I got the flu and so I've felt like I've been on the back foot from the start. The first thing we did was sort out the fruit cage. I told Mr L that I needed something more robust to avoid the same thing happening again next year so Mr L bought timber and built a fantastic structure that will definitely stand up to most winds, even on my very exposed plot. I was able to save the netting and because Mr L has put a door in for me I can fasten the netting down all around; which I'm hoping will stop any more birds getting in.
I've also managed to completely clear the old flower bed and move it next to the shed. Last year I grew some beautiful sunflowers but the rest of the bed was over crowded and didn't do as well. In addition to that it was next to my brassica bed and the netting meant I couldn't actually see the flower bed anyway. I've made a conscious effort to reduce the number of plants in the bed. I've put 1 foxglove, 1 rose, 2 peony's and 6 gypsophelia in the bed. I've put some bedding plants in for colour and I have some sunflowers to put in at the top of the bed.
I've used KGI Garden Planner again (although they've changed it's name to Seed Money) and I've got all of my plans in place for this year. I like the planner because as well as helping me plan my beds it reminds me where I've planted in the past for my crop rotations so if I try and plant in a bed that I've had something from the same family in before it flashes red.
I'm really hopeful about this season, I learnt loads last year and I plan to use all those lessons this year. I have only done one bed of potatoes this year, which means I have a bed for roots, and after the success of the sprouts but total failure of the broccoli I'm going to try cauliflowers this year. I'll also put some leeks into the allium bed because they few I grew last year were good.
I've still got loads to do before I'm fully ready for planting out. I think I said it last year but I don't plant out until after the Chelsea Flower Show when I know that all risk of frost has passed. Next week is supposed to be really cold, and perhaps even with a risk of snow, so I'm glad I don't use the rule of planting out after Easter that other people seem to use. I'm hoping to get more beds ready next weekend; until then...
Happy gardening everyone
Today started with Littlest L having her first football match with her new team. She only joined the team yesterday and they had her playing today. She scored within the 1st minute and scored a hat-trick and played her socks off! They lost 4-3 in the end but I am now officially a footie mum and so my Sunday mornings are going to be taken up taking her to games! That's not so bad when they're playing at home because the pitch is just down the road from the allotment but for away games I'll need to go to the lottie on a Saturday and perhaps have to miss Sunday depending on where they're playing!
When I did get up to the plot I had an autumnal pot I wanted to get planted. I had a witches cauldron that was supposed to be for sweets but I drilled some holes in the bottom and decided to plant it up! I think it looks fab with a heuchera cherry cola as the main plant and the trailing plants that were rescues so I don't know the names of them (if you can identify them please let me know!)
I have made some decisions about my beds. I will definitely be moving my flower bed to next to the shed. The bed that had the onions in this year will be for potatoes so I have cleared the few weeds and dug up some onions that I missed when I harvested (they were little ones that hadn't grown) and covered it with a weed membrane. The bed that is currently covered will be for onions, I've already bought my sets and some garlic so I'm debating whether to lift that membrane and plant the sets now or plant through the membrane, which will help keep the weeds down or wait until the spring to put the sets in. Once I've decided I'll let you know - probably with photos if I decide to plant through the membrane.
The other bed that had potatoes in has already been planted with some brassica's but I also popped some beetroot in there, which I might lift and put into the polytunnel. I'm also not happy with the brassica's that are in there. They're all being munched so it's very possible that they'll come out and be replaced with something else. The current brassica bed, which is looking full of sprouts at the moment although the broccoli isn't looking so great, will be for peas and beans and the current flower bed will then be for roots, which I didn't grow this year. I have previously tried to grow carrots but they were rubbish because of the carrot root fly so I need to try a few different things this time to avoid it.
I had a bit of a problem with my fruit-cage today. My neighbour has mentioned that he's had to let a bird out of it and today there were 3 dunnocks in there. I am really careful to make sure that the netting is pulled tight and that there are no gaps but today I found that the netting had been lifted slightly at the back and I have no idea how that might have happened. After picking the raspberries I therefore re-did the netting and put extra tethers to try and keep it down. Hopefully that will sort it out!
I wasn't able to measure the height of my sunflowers today, which I'd wanted to do, because I was there on my own and I didn't think it was safe for me to be climbing on my stepping stool on my own! I would guess that the tallest is at least 12' high though and they all have loads of heads. They look amazing and I'm happy to leave some for the birds but I did decide to harvest some to bring home. I'm also going to try and save some of the seeds for next year because they have been brilliant so it would be fabulous if I could grow them again next year.
The next few weeks are really going to be about planning for next year and thinking about how to get the best out of my plot. I have space in the polytunnel but I have no idea what I'm going to plant in there next year now that I've discovered peppers and chilli's are from the same family as tomatoes so they can't be grown in the same bed which is a bit frustrating! I might use that bed for the pumpkins or I might do some cabbages in there.
Hopefully this week will still be mild, I'm hoping to get up to the plot in the week because it's my birthday next week and littlest L will be playing against Bradford City Girls so I have no idea what time I'll get up there!
Happy gardening everyone :-)
I can't remember if I told you that it was the allotment inspection a couple of weeks ago. We have inspections twice a year, normally one in the spring and one at the end of summer. They aren't about seeing what people are growing but more about checking that the plots are being cultivated and looked after and that tenants don't have carpets on their plots (one of the few rules we have). 
My final pics this week are two that I took after I left the allotment at around 8.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday. My allotment is in the valley of the town where I live and my house is at the top of the hill. As I drove up the hill I had to pull over to take pictures of the sunset which just looked amazing. I really do love it when you stand looking over the town and see the sun setting over the Yorkshire Dales in the distance, it reminds me how lucky I am to live in Yorkshire, despite how cold it still is up here when other people are frost free down south! 
