Moved On

My blog has now moved to:

http://www.lotionspotionsgrowingandbaking.com/

I wanted a new design and name that represented more than just my allotment. Please visit and leave a comment.

Food Glorious Food

So I finally got through the mess I made when I was unwell and now I can see all the delicious food waiting for me and I even found my tomato plants. Having the sand around most of my brassicas really helped keep the weeds down although it was a bit like doing the limbo trying to get under the bamboo canes when I decided to weed the bed and plant out some cauliflowers and kale.









I've decided what to do next year, I'm going to lay cardboard over all the paths and cover with straw , this should be the cheapest and greenest option. I am also going to use a lot more mulch on the beds to cut down on weeding...permaculture here I come.

Over the last two weeks I have managed to harvest quite a bit considering the recent neglect and I also have lots waiting to be harvested. I'm thinking rhubarb jam and blackberry wine :)

Half hour a day....

Well I feel like I'm making process, I'm over half way through yey, the cup is finally half full rather than half empty. I've been going up the lottie every day for half hour and it's amazing what you can get done. I'm going to try and keep this up even when I'm feeling really rough as I feel it could be bearable and I fancy the challenge. So here's the current before and after pictures.

Before:


After:

All my hard work ruined again

Well I haven't posted much as I've been unwell but the good news is I have finally found out what's wrong with me...I have pernicious anaemia which means I will have to have injections on a regular basis to stay normal (if that is possible). The problem is at the moment I am trying to work out a period of time in between injection that suits my body and I am still trying to find it as my body is not happy with the period the Dr is prescribing. Anyway enough of the sob story in a nutshell I've had no energy and haven't left the house much so the allotment was the least of my worries and when I went up there this week I could of cried it was so over grown.

All my hard work at the beginning of the year had gone to waste and I couldn't help but think it was because I was lazy even though I knew it was because of my illness...damn body.

Luckily my OH was kind enough to offer to come up with me today to try and get it back under control and we got about 1/3 cut back but lots of plants had to be sacrificed. It's horrible I spent so much time sorting it out at the beginning of the year and now it's all gone to waste. I really don't want to have to give up the allotment as it gives me great satisfaction and as we don't have a garden it's ideal but I need to find a way to make it easier...answers on a postcard.

Anyway here's a few pics for you to understand how I feel:

Before:


After:


And still to come:

Me vs The Grass

So I didn't go up the allotment for 2 weeks as I was away with work and it's turned into Day of the Triffids, there's grass everywhere and my comfrey is spreading wide but hey the bees love it so it's staying while in bloom :)



As I'm due for a top up injection on Monday I wasn't feeling like Mr Motivator so I done what I could and got through 1/4 of it, I felt really good until I turned around and saw what I have got to get through over the next couple of days....

Before..

After...

What did make me feel better though was the fact I had my first proper harvest, apart from the rhubarb I harvested earlier in the year to make wine. Enough potatoes and veg for tea tonight and raspberries and strawberries for after yummy!!





Right of to eat it all....

3 Legged Toad

Just had a horrible experience up the allotment!! I was cutting the grass with a shear (I think that's what they're called) and I noticed something moving so I stopped and noticed a toad. I went to pick it up to move it and realised it was missing a leg and had it's mouth open!!!! my first thought was I cut it off and it's sceaming, I felt sick, in fact I was almost sick.

I placed the toad on some rocks by the pond and went off to find his missing leg, I wasn't sure what I would do with it if I found it at this point. I couldn't find it, so I went back to the toad and it was dead still so I thought that's it I've killed it, I was devastated. Only then did I realise there was no blood and when I looked at the toad, where there should be a leg there was just a shrivelled end but at this point there was no rational thought all I could think was "TOAD MURDERER!!!" I thought I was supposed to be a vegan :( so off I went to dig a grave, I even made a gravestone from a bit of slate and put a letter T on it.

I went back to bury the toad but noticed the toad was gone!!! and when I inspected further I realised he was crawling away looking quite happy. Then a retraced the instance and started to think rational, there was no blood, there was no leg, the toad was shrivelled where there should be a leg, it would be very difficult to make a clean cut of the leg by a quick movement of a shear. So my conclusion is this I am 90% sure the toad had three legs before I came along but it did make me think that we should always consider nature and check before changing it, even cutting the grass!! If you know me you know how much this experience would of traumatised me hopefully the 3 legged toad will live a good long life and not encounter me again. You can guarantee I will have toad nightmares tonight!!

Allotment Catch Up

Ok haven't blogged for ages as I've been busy doing rather than talking about it, so here's a quick catch up and I will try and keep you all updated from now on. So what have I been doing well....

I've made a new bed for my strawberries, haven't got around to putting any squirrel proofing on it yet if there's such thing!!

I've built a border around two beds one for my beans and one for my potatoes. As you can see the new beds are made from bricks. We had a community day up the allotment as one of the walls had fallen over and I rescued the bricks :) I love the look of old bricks, so they now have a new destiny in life to protect my plants from harm.

I've planted out peas, beans, swede, turnip, parsnip, radish, carrot, onion, carrot, lettuce, potatoes..... My windowsills in the house are been abducted by lots of baby seedlings pushing their way through to this life ahhhhh!!