So mild, this Christmas is sneaking up on me

I had time to visit the plot today and take stock of how it is looking. I cleared the shed and sorted the tools, lots of mouse eaten straw in bags to deal with.

I cleared what was initially my 'wild bed' with wild flowers and brick edging. It had been overtaken with grass so I have cleared it and intend to have it as an extra veg bed, we seem to be running out of space! Need a bigger plot.........I disturbed a frog/toad whilst I was busy clearing away the undergrowth but he hopped into the hedgerow so I didn't feel too bad. My Robin came to see me too.

Amazingly some Marigolds are still going in December, it seems unusually mild and the Raspberries add a splash of colour too.

The old stems of the Bindweed will make great kindling for a fire and so will the nettles. I made a pile ready for a visit with the monkey's who love nothing more than to burn old sticks.

Happy days.

Peas and beans and smelly sludge

It has been far too long so we found time to pop up the plot as a family (this morning N and I were having a cheeky morning off at Boscombe beach with Kate and Maff - bliss!). The sun was gorgeous today and the sky pure blue, perfect for getting the boys involved.

Louis and Neil weeded a bed and planted 21 Garlic cloves together, Lou loved it and "put them to bed for the Winter" with his bare hands. Sammy and I weeded some more beds along the hedge line and we all had a go at sprinkling green manure seeds (Peas and Beans) which will hopefully suppress the weeds and when we dig it in give lots of nutrients to our veg beds. The boys very much enjoyed doing this.

Our Apple tree has been munched by the Deer so Sammy decide to give it some love and literally gave it a cuddle! He did say it might need some water though, so all the to-ing and fro-ing to the allotment is having an effect on Sammy's gardening, well done Sammy!

We even got to eat a couple of the late Raspberries and my Winter Onions are standing up tall now, with a couple missing from those cheeky pigeons.

Our trip was eventful enough, a toilet break for Sammy, not a good one either and a broken bucket of sludgy weeds ending up all over Neil when we tried to take it to the dump. Happy campers they were not and had to be thanked with an ice cream on the way home! Hey ho, job done before the inevitable rain comes.......

Deer!

Popped up the plot to see what's going down and saw a Deer so that explains how the wee apple tree has been stripped bare. It was just sitting at another plot looking very happy (and full!). I don't know how it got in and had a chat with a neighbour who said he had called the council.

I picked some Raspberries and Blackberries for a lucky Sammy to have as an after school snack and did some hoeing. All is well and looking distinctly like the plot is ready for bed over winter.

Tidy up!

Another gorgeous Autumnal day and I had time to go up the plot alone and tidy up. The beds are all weedy and old stuff is still hanging around. The Raspberries are delicious but the canes need tying in and looking after. Our solitary Butternut Squash needed harvesting and the Apple tree has been stripped of it's leaves (I guess by birds?).

I used my new Hoe and got a bed ready for some winter Onion sets. 100 planted so lets hope some get past the stage of being picked over by birds. I made a rudimentary bird scarer (!) with things I had hanging around and crossed my fingers upon leaving.

As I was wandering around I noticed a beautiful butterfly on our sign and thought Australian Sis would enjoy that, seeing as she made the sign!

I am nearly ready to start planning the growing year again but may try and get some Kale/Winter Veg going first. I think it is a shame we don't continue to produce much over the winter, it seems such a waste, so that's the task for the next visit. Winter greens.

Pumpkins galore!

Sammy had been ill last week in hospital and work has been busy so we haven't been to the plot much but squeezed in a family whizz up to see what is going on this morning!

Lots of small Pumpkins to harvest and Lou enjoyed collecting Raspberrries. Sammy took to being the photographer and even got a good self portrait. He is still not quite 100% so he had a lie down for a while. I cut the grass, and cleared the Pumpkin plants. Neil dug over the potato beds again and found more to eat. Yum!

We plan to green manure some of the plot but saw a notice to say the allotment shop has winter onion sets to buy and so we think we'll put a lot of those in too. The onions we grew this summer are hanging in our lean to in a pair of tights. Every time we want one we snip one off and they are nearly all gone already!

Sunshine September and boys

Blue sky today and all boys together so we popped up under the suggestion of Blackberry picking (they don't know I have lots of jobs to do as well!). The boys immediately pulled up two huge
f-artichoke stems and started using them as weapons. Later on Sammy rode his like a broomstick with roots for the broom which we much preferred -ah how wholesome, that's better!

!

We harvested lots of Pots, Onions, Garlic, Raspberries and are happily leaving the Pumpkins and Squashes to do their thing in the sun.

The boys pottered off to Blackberry pick and came back for chocolate cake when they were done in. I managed to dig a bit and tidy and then a small boy toilet requirement (and a man walking past saying "oh dear" in a disgusted manner) and time was up! Fast paced action packed allotment time.

Phew!

What a week can do

Back form a week in Wales and Neil and Sammy had time to go up to the plot after Neil finished work (and needed to get out!, we fight over who gets to go these days).

A friend had kindly kept an eye out for us and watered and I had fed things before I left. As a result we had lots of Courgette/Marrow, a pot full of Raspberries, some more Beets (YUM) and the Pumpkins are a gorgeous orange. A friend up the hill gave Sammy some Sunflowers to take home which are huge and stunning to have around.

I am looking forward to getting up there again when school goes back and life settles down a bit back into 3 and half days work. Holidays are always hectic and the allot

ment can get neglected slightly.

Everything is just soaking up the sun and it is glowing. Lovely.

Better late than never

My trusty small helper Sammy came up with me early this morning to plant some distressed looking Tomato plants that have been in our tiny greenhouse for far too long. Better late than never. We thought if we freed them from their pots they will either thrive or do what they were going to do at home anyway!

Sammy enjoyed scraping the soil back around each plant and hoeing with our mini hoe. We picked some veg for lunch tomorrow as we have friends coming, a veggie couscous is on the menu with Beets and Courgettes and chicken with our roasties.

I used a feed in the water today to give the courgettes a pick-me-up, hoping they can give us some more stuff before they are done. Summer is flying by, it always seems so slow to start and then whoosh of we go.........