Babies Everywhere

Just went up the allotment after being away so it was very exciting after not seeing the place for over a week. The good news is the weeds haven't gone too crazy and I still have vegetables left so the slug damage isn't too bad. I also got to harvest lots of nice vegetables for my tea including courgettes, peas, runner beans, bay leaves and radishes.It's a very exciting time up there at the moment as I planted a lot of stuff late so there's lots of baby vegetables around the place and its so exciting watching them grow, I get very maternal.


See if you can guess what the following babies will turn into??

Bean a good day..

Went up the allotment yesterday and got 80% of the bean bed dug over. The squirrels are still attacking my strawberries so I am thinking of putting a caged strawberry bed down the middle of the first half of the plot.







I have recently tried out an oyster mushroom straw kit at home. I didn't get that much of a harvest from it, I think this was because I left the spores for too long in the fridge and they were a solid mass before I used them. Anyway after I finished with the kit some of the straw still had spores on it so I decided to lay the straw on a shaded bit of the patch up the lottie and just see what happens. Worse case scenario it will just mulch the soil.

Me vs My Body

I went up the allotment yesterday and after putting all my plants in the wheel barrow and getting them up the allotment I felt like I was going to pass out and had a very bad hot flush! The doctors are still trying to find out the cause!!

Anyway I went home after not feeling to good and tried again today.....

Take 2

I managed to get up the allotment today, still feeling rough but I was determined to do something. When I got up there I almost had that oh no so much to do feeling but I had a good word with myself and realised I can do it and most of all I will enjoy doing it.


When I took over the second half of the plot I inherited two boxes so I decided to use the deepest one to protect my beans and tomatoes until I have more time and energy to sort them out. I also noticed that I have inherited a number of potato plants. It's really strange seeing things appearing when you didn't plant them.






I got given a number of kohl rabi seedlings this week. They have managed to survive in my house all week so I had to get them out today. I found an area in the new half of the patch that had some strawberries already growing in it so I decided that looks like the least amount of work, so they went in there. I had some mulch mats for the first couple and I then used some slate for the rest, hopefully this will stop the slugs!

Me vs Nettles

The lady that I was supposed to be sharing my plot with decided to give it up as she didn't have time to do anything with it so I have now taken on that half so my plot has now doubled in size!!

The downside is it is waist heigh in stingy nettles, so today I went out there armed meaning business!! I had a pair of garden hand shearers (I think that's the technical term). I got through half the plot and my arms are now offcially hating me.



I did still have enough steam left in me to do a bit of weeding on my the better half and I planted sowed some carrots and leeks. Here's a few pics of the plot so far...

What I've Been Up To

Well haven't been able to get on here for a while, been to busy digging and planting. Here's a run down of what's been happening.


My seedlings grew really quickly buy come became to leggy as I made the mistake of feeding them. I afraid I was being a typical first time mum and wrapping them in too much cotton wool. Some made it but others were placed in the compost heap to be born again next year!!


The first bed was completed so I warmed up the soil and got my broad beans in but then the damn wind and hail stones decided to behead the one poor baby. But to my amazment within a couple of weeks a new shoot appeared and it has now caught up with its brother and sisters!


My landlord managed to get me 6 bags of compost from where he works. It was a real struggle to get it up to allotments, luckily he was with me as I got half way up the hill and my legs were going like mad but the wheel barrow wasn't moving an inch!! Note to self: Get Fit!

The compost came in handy when my partner finished the second raised bed and I planted my potatoes. The compost is lovely and black and mixes well with the clay soil.

The third bed is now also completed although it was a real challenge as my partner discovered that I could not dig and flatten the earth. Anyway it got made and as it was a bit deeper than the other beds it will be christened with my root vegetables. One more bed to go, although this might take some time as my partner has an exam coming up.





The chairman has made a huge pond right next to my plot, frogs gallore! Although the downside was during the build my a couple of my raspberry canes and asparagus plants got trampled on, fingers crossed they will recover.