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!!

Going up in the world

Went to the allotment meeting this week and I got voted in Vice Chair of the allotments!!! Also been up the allotments today to see what damage the Wintersmith has done and it's not too bad, so the plan is as follows:

• Tidy up all beds and prep for new season.
• Build another raised bed
• Build a cadged strawberry bed, to keep out those damn squirrels.
• Put a border around this years potato and bean bed.
• Build an asparagus bed.

Not sure how much we will get done in time for this years growing season but hey we have a plan, lets just hope my health and strength keeps growing!!!

1st Anniversary

Well can you believe it through all the ups and downs it is one year since I took over the small plot of land up the allotments. When I look back I can't believe what I have done and what I have learnt. And now it's potato and seed ordering time again...

I have spent the long winter nights making a plan for new beds and making sure I can fit more in this year. I have used growveg , it's an amazing planning tool that allows you to find out about what you want to grow, how much room it will take and when to plant it. It's free to use for 30 days but the subscription is worth it as you can still play with your allotment when it's too dark, windy, cold and wet to risk the outdoors.

Wintersmith

Well Christmas has been and gone and I've been waiting for the ground to thaw out so I can dig and make my new beds. Everything looks very cold at the moment and the lands survival looks likes its struggling through the harsh Winter and taking everything that the Wintersmith throws at her in her stride.

The Turn Towards Autumn

I'm starting to notice the plants changing with the seasons, although the plot still seems productive so hopefully the frost will hold off and the fresh vegetables will keep coming. I'm very excited as my chillies are starting to redden up and I have my first flower on my aubergine plant. It probably won't get time to fruit so I will try it earlier next year but still it's very pretty to look at.

Allotment Sunday Dinner

Well the allotment is busy producing at the moment and as I planted most of my seeds late because we were building the raised beds my produce is about a month behind, so hopefully the frost will hold off and the slugs will get full and not eat any more....



The most exciting part about our Sunday visit was when we came home. We had enough produce for a Sunday dinner with all the vegetables grown by us at the allotment, how exciting is that!!! It tasted delicious.

Welcome home harvest

I went to Cornwall for a couple of days and when I came home and went up the allotments I had lots to pick for tea that evening. I had a chilli, variety of beans, potatoes, swede and courgette.








I also noticed that my tomatoes and pepper plants have finally started to fruit. I doubt the tomatoes will turn red now as we seem to of entered Winter already but I can make some green tomato chutney.

Finally a Sunny Day

Yes we have sun :) I've spent most of the day up the allotment today. I managed to sort out 3 of the beds and weed the surrounding areas so if we have sunshine again tomorrow I will be back on top of things before I have to leave it again for another week!!

I planted out what was left of my seedlings after the slug damage. I have broccoli, spinach, pak choi, chard, winter lettuces and cabbages. now in the old potato bed and I also planted some onions, spring onions and turnips in the root bed so I am all prepared for Autumn.




















I managed to come home with more food again today. I dug up my garlic and now have it drying out on the window sill in my kitchen and pulled some of my rhubarb, just enough for a few mini tarts. The rhubarb was new this year so I shouldn't really cut it but it was so big it was blocking the light and the amount that's there it's not going to miss a few sticks.

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??

Catch up on the lottie

I haven't blogged for a while so here's a quick catch up of what's been going on...

I moved all my strawberries to a new area as next season my OH is going to build a cage for them to stop the damn squirrels!! He has had an idea of adapting a second hand fire guard, just have to find one now.

I decided although I loved my shopper bike it just wasn't practical living in North Wales so I asked the chairman of the allotments to look out for a new bike for me and he had two bikes given to him and I got one of them and guess what it's purple!! My shopper had a happy ending it went to a local 60 year old who was interested in getting back into cycling.


I went away for a week the beginning of August and obviously came back to a jungle but we had a community day up the allotment yesterday so it's now all prim and proper and the whole allotments are looking great. We have the judges from Wales in Bloom coming around today which is very exciting.

Before I went away for the week OH and I discovered the smell of rotting perennials in our new compost system. We had to empty two bins full of perennial weeds covered in water that had been sitting in the sun for over two weeks it was not a pleasant experience and I have now adapted the new compost system to no water on the perennial weed bins!!!

Anyway here's what my plot is looking like at the moment....

Compost Day

We had a great day today as we had a communal compost day to sort out the compost bins. We emptied all of the bins and made different piles of compost, perennials, nettles, left overs and rubbish. It was amazing what we found in some of them, polystyrene, plastic cassette tape, shrew and toads the mind boggles. We had lots of compost at the end and I have enough to finish my plot which is great as that means I haven't had to pay for any compost to get the plot finished. We are going to now have 8 compost bins along with a perennial bin and nettle bin to make nettle feed. It was a fab day, I got to meet everyone and it was great to be up there with lots of people and pass information and stories. Here's some pictures from the day...