Muck all the way

This week we took delivery of a steaming pile of manure at the allotment. Our plot is away from the main drive and tucked behind another plot so our load had to be dumped over the way on a disused plot. Sooooooo, many many barrow loads later, two or more sore backs and the job was done. We put it everywhere! and the soil looks great. Hoping a cold Winter will do it's job and break it down for luscious soil next Spring. When we get a mo we will buy some material to cover it all up away from the light.

The boys helped (well Sammy mainly sat eating biscuits talking to a Ladybird) and Louis really got into it with his little wheelbarrow - thank you boys!

Not much else going on up there right now. An eaten Apple tree sits sadly - a result of the Deer I spotted probably - and the Raspberries and Rhubarb stay in but all else has gone over and been removed.

Looking forward to the cycle continuing again and the planning has already started. Lou wants his own plot on which to grow Sweetcorn and Sammy wants a go at Broccoli. I warned it was up to them to keep their crops going - "but Mummy what about when we are at school, we will need help to water them?" oh alright then I'll give you a hand.............

Ay caramba!

Wow, 3 hours peace at my allotment, it must have been a while because I managed to achieve so much. What a state it had become.

Nothing a mow and clearing couldn't fix.

Raspberries are continuing to come and they are gorgeous to pick at (leaving some for our friends the birds of course). Still had some Courgettes to pick and we have 3 little Pumpkin 'Baby Bear' ripening away. I think my Sweetcorn 'Mini pop' has been left too long so it is neither mini or magnificent! Still, I always start with good intentions and this year it got away with me.

Rooster Potatoes have been good to me this year and Neil popped up to help harvest those (quiet Monday morning for him and he really hasn't been digging for soooooooo long, he loved it!).

What with my new career progressing and two growing boys who wear me out I haven't been to the plot quite as much as I would have liked but thinking about the possibility of packing it in, I just can't. I even asked Neil if I was mad spending my spare time weeding like I do all week anyway!

It is my little space to do with what I wish, no client to worry about, no lines to follow, I love it's higgledy ways and the surprises that pop up. I shall be continuing with whatever comes my way and if it gets neglected from time to time,  it just makes time there up there more special.

A real treat.

Bug day

Louis here again, newly recruited blogger.

Mummy was here this time. First, I started picking Blackberries whilst Mummy went to the plot. After that I picked some Raspberries. The bush was full of them and I teased Mummy and said I had cut my finger but it was juice!

Then we dug up the potatoes, we picked around 42. They were red and we didn't pick two rows because we are saving those. We cut the stalks and then dug them up.

On the mint we saw something that looks like a Hornet, it was massive and different to a Wasp or Bee.

I took some photos and moved the camera to see what happened.

Blackberry picking

Louis here, Mummy was working. First Daddy gave us two tubs and he set us a challenge to fill our tubs with 25 Blackberries. Sammy (my brother) wanted to eat the blackberries but then I said "I thought Daddy set us a challenge?, so we started picking the blackberries!

I picked 25 in about 3 minutes and then went back to Daddy and said "I've picked 25" so he set me another challenge to pick another 25. I did that in about 4 minutes.

My little brother was still picking 25. Eventually he gave up and left it all to me. He went off to eat sweets.

Then we started watering our plants and then picked 2 courgettes and there were loads of plums on the floor so we started picking them up. Daddy stood on the seat and started picking them from the tree. Soon we noticed that there were loads of raspberries on our raspberry bush. We picked around 10 or 15 and then my little brother ate 2 and put the rest in the bag.

I found a shield bug on my blackberry tub and he was green and he eventually flew off because I blew him.

Sammy and I wanted to make a plum ruffian from Mr Gum's story, a great children's story book. Then Sammy was trying to squash the plums and get a stone out of it.

Family visit and homemade see saw

Today we visited the plot as a family. It is lovely when we all go up there, great when Neil can help. He does love it and gets a break from the old screen. Neil pulled up old Broad Bean plants and replaced them with Pumpkins and Courgettes. I weeded around most things, including the Cosmos which is flowering beautifully - purity which is as it suggests, pure white - and Neil sowed Beetroots around them, hey why not, the weeds will only come otherwise.

The boys were generally very patient with our pootling around, they made a see saw from a plank on uneven ground and enjoyed pinging each other off. They played 'It' and ran around various plots. They chased each other with sticks (is that allowed? Health and Safety?! Ho ho ho) and sleeping lions on the grass. I mowed around them and tidied and trimmed.

I have managed to regenerate the Kale which had been severely attacked by birds, I water it really well and hide it under a mini polytunnel when I leave. I risk it drying but there is plenty of stuff around it to retain moisture, Raspberry foliage, Sweetcorn and so on. I do love a Kale pasta dish now and then.

We came home with Garlic, Onions, Broad Beans, Courgettes, Raspberries and Rhubarb. Delicious! We sure are ready for more land and I shall be gently enquiring again about the untended 5 rod in front of ours. Let me extend and grow Asparagus and flowers and more fruit, Please?!

Summer boys

I have been solo parenting without a car this weekend - I don't know myself, how spoilt I am! The boys have been whinging and whining their way hither and thither but I managed to get them to the plot today despite them being quite pooped.

I think they actually enjoyed it, especially the bit when we visited the plot (I want to say Ranger but think he isn't quite that) Manager (?) Rob. He keeps chickens and one with an afro really tickled the boys, she is called Lola. His plot is super, he has crammed in all sorts into 5 rods and I felt quite jealous of what he has achieved! He was merrily digging his first earlies when we popped by.

Even more than the plot itself, I love the people there, Rob says we can go in to see his chickens anytime we like and we use another plot holders swing whenever we like too. They have a pond, which we don't, and the boys get so much from it. It is a fab place to be even if I cannot quite persuade the boys of that, at their tender ages of 8 and 5.

We watered at break neck speed today and I mowed a quick trim.

All is well and veg is ticking over. Another week will have to pass before I get a chance for a proper visit. The boys asked me today "Do you actually like Gardening Mummy?" The poor Dears just want to do anything but. They will get it one day......

Pit stop

Quick trip up today as it has been so dry and all is well. I cut the grass with the good old turkey gobbler of a mower and saw the carnage carried out by a Deer I am imagining - Kale ripped to pieces and Onions with no tops. Otherwise the Potatoes are charging on and the Courgettes and Pumpkins are through the worst early stage when they are so vulnerable to Slugs, I wonder whether I should bother! They are happily growing. We have Broad beans and our Garlic is big big big.

The Raspberry support has finally collapsed and so needs sorting soon because the canes have doubled in quantity and are taking over.

I think we may have some Heale Rhubarb to eat shortly and some of the flowers I planted - Cosmos, Cornflowers and Nasturtium - are trying hard to give it a go.

Watering and more watering was done, as much as I could squeeze in until 3.15pm when schools out.

Happy with that.

Encroachment

There has been an awful lot of sun and rain at the allotment since my last visit, and it's really showing. The potatoes are up to say hello and needed covering up rather urgently with what little soil was available from in between the rows. Must remember to leave more of a gap next year... Sammy's little apple tree is sending us a nice message that it is happy and still alive with some lovely blossom, which is a relief. Since we popped it in the ground in Autumn last year I have been slightly concerned that it might not be that happy, but I'm glad to see some signs of life. The garlic and the onions are competing for who looks the strongest and at this rate the garlic is a clear favourite for the title. Luckily the onions will be nice enough even if they remain a little on the small side, in salads and things. The broad beans look very happy and Jo swears it's down to the relatively recent addition of load of alpaca poo that we had flown in from the Isle of Wight. It came billed as 'rocket fuel for your veg' so let's hope it works. Love a broad bean.

On the down side all this allotment-friendly weather has led to some serious encroachment. The weeds are attacking in waves - it's like their armies who had been previously happy to line the edges of the beds have taken a giant step forward. So we deployed some of our own troops to set them back a bit today, but it'll be a tough war to win. Also encroaching fairly aggressively are our raspberry canes. I swear five more canes popped up when I turned my back to take on the weeds. The have gone from being 5 meek canes in a line to 25 random canes who are considering moving into the onion bed. Don't get me wrong, I love a raspberry, but steady on chaps. Wait to be invited please.

Throw in an energetic session with the-push mower, a sausage sizzle and some abstract photography and it all made for a pleasing mornings work.

Springing into life

I have been to the plot a couple of times recently, mainly to try out my new push Mower which the boys gave to me. It is just the job for a little strip of grass and now I have made the first cut into deep wet grass, it will be much easier as we go into Summer. It actually makes a 'Gobble" sound as it turns the blades, it makes me laugh! Who knows what the other plot holders think of this mad lady laughing as she mows!

The main problem, as usual at this time of year, are the Slugs. We are having fantastic April showers right now and I love it; everything grows. However, I do not love the Slugs, poor creatures, so the Slug pellets have gone out in force today. I think any new Sweetcorn shoots may have been eaten before they reached 5 inches. Likewise Beets.

I was pleased to see the Potatoes are popping up already, so they have been earthed up. Sammy's Apple Tree from Lackham has blossom on it, very happy to see that.

My Climbing Nasturtium is trying in its teeny weeny way to get to the arch I have put up for it and the Alpaca poo brought over from The Isle of Wight is making the Broad Beans look super happy.

It looks lovely up there and I even took time to sit and check it out next to the Wild Garlic that visits us year on year.

Time with Louis

Today I worked in a garden in the morning and as I am going away tomorrow, I felt the urge to get to the plot and water it and release those newly planted seeds from their dry rubble soil.

Louis cycled up as I walked with him and it makes such a difference having time to relax with him rather than rushing here there and everywhere in term time. We chatted about all sorts and Lou was a great help. We weeded and discussed the roots and we watered fine seeds with our sprinkler rose and bigger plants with a lot of water. We sowed Sweetcorn Mini Pop together, something Louis likes so he chose how much to grow. We planted two Rhubarb crowns (my birthday present from Heale!) and watered and watered. Sammy's little apple tree is coming along, into leaf now only in it's first Spring with us.

We ate shortbread and took photos and Papa and Sammy popped by for ten minutes in between.

We chatted to other plot holders and talked Dahlia's and Rhubarb and even Nigel Farage (one for HappyG) as one plot holder was going for him as a scarecrow, definately scary if you ask me.

A great way to spend a couple of hours and time alone with Lou is precious and all too rare. Walking home with him cycling, the sun warm, knowing the plot is underway again for another year, I couldn't be happier.

Seed and little helper soldier

A couple of visits to the allotment have happened lately, Granddad came to visit from Folkestone, so he and Neil planted out Potatoes and shared some quality time together the other day. Good to get those going now, always signals the start of the growing year for me, easy as pie and off we go.

Yesterday Sammy and I had some time together and sowed some seed directly, Beets (Golden) and some Carrot, Autumn King. Sammy used a small hand hoe (passed down from Granddad) to make little channels in the soil and very carefully thought about where each seed should fall. We put them to bed and covered them lightly with soil and Sammy used his elephant can to give them a drink.

We planted some nasturtiums near the newly placed archway and hope they go mad.

We cut back some gorgeous yellow Forsythia to let in some more light over the Potatoes and Sammy used one of the branches as a weapon which he carried around following me saying he was "protecting me" and marched like a soldier. That kid has imagination by the bucket load. He used to go "Craning" with a bamboo cane, standing on top of a pallet as his raft and trying to catch fish in the beds!

It is coming along now, sunshine helps of course but once we have a few veg in, I always calm down a bit and take it easy and enjoy it. Prior to that I feel like I will never achieve all I would like! But we're on our way now.