Made some real progress...

Only got down to the allotment on Sunday as it was quite wet on Saturday (spent the day sowing seeds in my mini "propagators"! Forgot how exciting all this seed sowing is, I'm impatient for them to germinate already!). Got a real load of digging done and I felt a big sense of acheivement when I looked at what I'd done...



Also spent hours on Saturday with my new pasta machine and I made spaghetti, farfalle, and these beasties...



Homemade ravioli! Well impressed!

My plot plan

Okay, so I've been doing a bit of forward planning and I have created a plan. It is work in progress so no doubt it will change a bit! And then of course, there's the question of whether or not it will ever be put into practise...!

Click on the pic below for a larger version...

Now with pictures...!

Now with pictures! I have also planted my redcurrant and whitecurrants into pots, waiting for the warmer weather and also for me to decide where they are going to live! My mum and dad came down at the weekend and had a look at my plot - Dad said he'll build me a shed (so remember that Dad, if you're reading this!). Also planted a tiny lavender by my "front gate" (!) and tidied up a bit more around that area so it looks as though somebody cares now! I managed a bit more digging too, and have started to pull back the sheeting so I felt a real sense of achievement today as I see more soil appearing from under the weeds!

I got my allotment!

1st February 2007

I’ve got an allotment! Had a phone call on Monday from an Irish chappie saying a plot had become available and I could go take a look at it to decide if I wanted to take it. He told me it was a bit “dirty” and would probably take a lot of work to get it into a decent state, so I was expecting the worst. When I went down and had a look I was quite surprised – firstly at how big the plot was (my mind started running wild about all the extra vegetables I’d have space to grow! And then about how good it looked – I was expecting loads of rubbish and masses of brambles and nettles and stuff. Okay, so it was covered in grass and a couple of patches of brambles, but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. So I said I’d take it, and the nice Irish chappie looked at me and asked me if I was sure (which made me reconsider for a second!) but I said yes and so the plot is mine! Saturday was my first day down there and I did a bit of clearing – got rid of the brambles and a load a dry grass and weeds, and covered over an area with a tarpaulin I had found in the compost bins. Hopefully that will give me a helping hand with the weeds. Think I’ll have a bonfire with all the dead stuff if the site allows it. I also met a couple of nice people, my two neighbours. Both were very welcoming and said I have a lot of hard work ahead of me but wished me luck with it. One even gave me a barrow-load of strawberry runners to plant! I spent about 4 hours down there and was quite pleased with the start I had made. I went down again on Sunday and met another man who had owned the plot a few years ago. He lent me two more large sheets of plastic and helped me to cover another big patch. He was really nice and came back over with a bag of potatoes for me to take home! My next-plot-but-one neighbour cam along and introduced himself and gave me a load of advice about the best times to plant things and was keen to promote planting potatoes! Hadn’t planned to grow potatoes but I suppose if they can be planted quite early then at least they can be getting on with growing in the first bit of ground I prepare whilst I get on with preparing more space for when the other things can be planted. As most of the ground was now covered with the plastic, I didn’t have much left to do other than start to dig, so that’s what I did! I had started off by raking up more dead grass and came across some green tops sticking out of the ground and thought they looked like parsnips as there was a cream top sticking out too. I dug around them and pulled up a root about 4 inches long, but when I sniffed it I was disappointed because it didn’t smell like parsnip at all. It did however smell really familiar and then I realised it smelled like horseradish! I dug loads up and piled it up, all pleased with my first harvest! Later on though, one of my neighbours didn’t seem convinced that it was horseradish, so I will have to check before I eat it! Anyway, that had started me off with digging the ground and I was really pleased to find that it was quite easy to turn over and was nice and crumbly but held its shape when squished into a ball, just how the books describe good soil – yey! So by the end of the day I had managed to fork over a 3’ by 15’ patch, ready for either my strawberry runners or a set of spuds!

First load of pics...

The first day of work, clearing up...

Found a toad...












Then I dig some digging...









Gorgeous skies too...



Monday 5th February 2007

Just been down to the plot again – was all ready and prepared to go to work and remembered that I had booked the day off! Another day for digging – woohoo! It was so quiet and peaceful, I think I could spend every day down there. I got stuck in and finished off the strip and also dug out a bramble stump. Well, as much of it as I could get at, those roots don’t half get about! I’d made some pea and ham soup this morning so I had some of that in my flask, just what I needed at lunchtime. I dug a small patch at the front of the plot and sowed some sweet peas then covered them over with s sheet of pvc. Not sure if they will be okay with all the frost we’ve been getting, but hopefully the plastic will protect them and they will get a nice early start! I got a fab surprise too. As it was my birthday on Friday, my friends at work got me a pressie - £30 of garden centre vouchers! Bonus! Just have to decide what to buy with them now…

Allotment may be closer...?

Okay, so still not much gardening news to report back - although I did ring the allotment man yesterday and he said that he will ring me at the weekend when he has had chance to look at the list so he can tell me whereabouts I am on it. Hopefully I am near the top!

I have mostly cleared all the pots in my garden now, just a few peppers and chillis remain, and my one and only aubergine which I will be eating soon. Still got some bulbs left to plant - I put some tulips in at the end of October and I have some more to go in and also some snowdrops, which I am thinking I might put some on the edge of my "wild" area of the grass. ALso will put some in pots to have around the front of the house. We have some bulbs on the windowsill at work - dwarf daffs and tulips and large flowering crocus. They came from Morissons in super-cute little wooden pots that just look lovely on the sill. I'll try to remember to bring my camera in to work to take a pic of them. Although they've not sprouted yet so maybe I'll wait til then to make the pic more interesting!

Some other news - went to see The Feeling last Friday in Liverpool and they were FAB, and I'm going to see the Zutons tonight in Manchester. Can't wait, except I'm totally knackered cos I stayed up late last night making seed packets to do swaps with the nice people from A4A. Oh well, I'm sure I will overcome my tiredness when I get there!

That's all for now, will try to post some pics from the gigs, if any of them are good enough.

OH YEAH! Me and my mum have entered the Moonlight Walk, a ladies only half marathon that sets off at midnight! It's not tilnext June, but I've set up a sponsorship website if anyone fancies donating a few quid? Very worthy cause, check out my "Moonlight Walk" link to the left over there...