Wabi-Sabi

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Life, I just don't 'get' it, why is it so hard, so painful, so full of angst and disappointment? There's something in me that constantly wants it to change; the struggles are too great (and as my personal troubles are in my brain, no one can truly free me from that consistent fight), and the beauty, hard to find. I need a break, I think we all do.

The allotment called to me last Saturday and I answered; longing to find answers, peace, anywhere I may find it. Andrew and Maggie were happy to have me around and I took things slow, even stopping for tea and a snack along the way.

24a - left side and right :)

wild flowers from the hedgerow and time for a break

I couldn't help but tackle some of the worst areas. Yes, you know where....14b. I spent an hour clearing big weeds, some taller than me and many stronger too. It did feel good to make a difference and now the little squashes are going to get more light and room and nutrients. They best taste good!

before and after - squash patch 14b

Sad thing is I know that the next time I go back there is much more of this battle with nature to come. It just keeps coming, I just keep ultimately losing. Oh and of course there's the anxiety and depression to continue fighting whilst I'm there. It feels like I live life as though I'm walking on paper thin tissue paper; always the fear of the fall through and the fall out.

Good things did happen. Andrew pruned the gooseberry patch and the Echlinville apples were finally tided up; the espaliered nature of them is so pleasing to the eye. I know for certain that I felt good being useful for a while. And there was no one else there, just lots of birds, some sweetly singing, many squawking.

Consulting the Dr. and getting the espaliers done right!

I got to harvest the first of our blueberries, and red gooseberries, ha! - All for us and not one for those pesky pilfering, no good birds. Years, it's been years since we had any but the fruit cage has worked wonders and it's almost too much, haha.
Anxiety did take over, naturally. Strong feelings of paranoia and of just shear embarrassment at being me and outside of the house. That saw me going home but Andrew soldiered on :)

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I don't know where I am in this world, a seed poorly nurtured, grown up deficient in what it needed and now, an imperfect plant with so many problems that if you had me in your garden or plot, you'd have no hesitation in ripping me out.
Thank goodness Andrew sees through that, maybe he loves the challenge of growing and helping me, maybe he sees beauty in the ugly. I'm just so thankful for him (and the delicious harvests). xx

Yours
Carrie x

Progress is joyful

Is there a happier sound than that of a wee, elderly dog barking in her sleep? I think not. And that is the sound I awoke to on Sunday morning, which led to a dozy smile upon my face. Maggie is the best thing we ever did - it's soon to be her adoption day celebration!

But the allotment is what your here for so I shall spill all the juiciest bits.

Sunday at the plots was a mixture of more soil prep and a mystery; our wheelbarrow had been pilfered! I was fine and dandy weeding the paths and pots with my trusty trug by my side, but Andrew was suddenly heard to call out "Where's the wheelbarrow? I need it." Well, my friends, this lead to a minor panic and a walk around our field, looking in ditches and checking to see if someone else (in a fit of wheelbarrow necessity) had borrowed it. Oh how we looked and tweeted to relieve the pain a little.

The day when on without our dear friend and we were sad. But wheelbarrow-gate was still haunting us. Deflated we left for some late lunch and lo! on the drive out Andrew's 20:20 vision spied our barrow and he jumped out of the car and rescued her. She had indeed been kidnapped/wheelbarrownapped but we had her back - joy! Just look at that loving glance...

Where the wheelbarrow wasn't (left) and when we finally retrieved her (right)

So back from our lunch now and Andrew spread thick mulch all over our raised beds *with the use of the wheelbarrow. And now 24a look fabulous and tidy to rock!! I'm doing my best with 14b and later it was mulched a bit too.

glorious - no?!

Monday came quickly and seeds were been sown in the house shed when a letter from the Council - a warning letter, telling us that our plot would be taken from us if we didn't start cultivating it. What?? There were attempts at phoning the department, tweets were twitted and an email sent all asking how on earth could this be happening! Oh, a dark cloud hovered over our home that day and so soon after the stresses of wheelbarrowgate  :(

In all honesty I was devastsated after the amount of effort I had recently been putting in, just getting to the plots in the first place. Stupid, stupid people.

Well thank goodness it was Pi day in America (you know how they write the date wrong - well it was 3/14/2016, like 3.14 = Pi) and we took the opportunity to drown our sorrows in pie, apple and cinnamon pie at a local, lovely cafe. It helped. We came home and worked in the back garden.

Uuumm - pie :)

Tuesday and back on the plots, there was pruning of the blackthorns and blackberry, plus tying in branches etc. I cleared the damnable old squash bed which had yielded not one squash for us last season but had plenty of grass, nettles and dandelions in it now (thanks neighbouring unused plots!) I tell you, it took hours to do that one bed! And I was exhausted.

A cleared bed, an exhausted me

Wednesday saw the Gault's out and about at Castle Ward and Downpatrick, away from everything and just enjoying ourselves. But to top the day off, we came home to an email of apology from the Council for sending the warning letter to the wrong people. Thank goodness for 'sorry' and recognition that we do in fact have a lovely set of plots.

On Thursday I wasn't feeling good but it was St Patrick's day and that means only one thing in our house - planting the spuds! We got two new big pots and re-used an old fertiliser pot, drilled holes in the bottoms and planted our Sharp's Express in them. We'll take them down to the lottie soon.

Andrew made a quick wee video of the planting - 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDDn0gDMGIh/?taken-by=gaulta

So there you are, all caught up; a good lot of plot work, seed planting, home gardening and time away - it's been lovely having my hubby off for the week :)

Hugs and best wishes to you and your gardens
Love
Carrie

Hopping into action

I say ' hopping' so as to conjure up images of bunnies and the associated Easter/spring paraphernalia, but it's leading me astray already and now I'd like an Easter egg - concentration is lost....ummm, where's the chocolate.

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We awoke on Saturday to a nice-ish day which whispered 'allotment' on the mild air. Not wanting to be rude, we heeded it, went out for much needed coffee and then seed shopping, yippee! But oh my, we bought quite a lot for this first phrase of sowing. To be fair though, we didn't get that Japanese pine or the acer and managed to stick to the essentials, just about; nurseries look so good this time of year.

Once home we then, like amateurs, checked through our seed boxes and yes, threw a good deal of old stuff out but also came across a few 'in use' doubles to the ones we'd just purchased. Oh, well the new ones will keep until next year.

Andrew's seed box for veg (left), mine for flowers (right) and the rubbish trug

Naturally the seed planting came next and compost was sieved, the plug trays lifted down from a high shelf and brushed and...action. I am putting up a plant list in a different page to keep track of the names of varieties etc so you can see what we've planted as it happens. I didn't do any sowing myself, my confidence has nose dived and though it's so super easy and the seeds actually want to grow, I just came over all nervous and was sure I'd kill them by my mere touch.

preparation of a lovely bed for seeds (plus radio which has been outside for 2 years and still runs on the original battery)

super tiny seeds that will become tasty large beetroot
wire wool to re-use old labels - great tip from Monty!

Anyhow....radio on and Maggie standing by the gate and getting chased my me every now and then, we had a nice time and got lots done.

fish, blood and Maggie :) 

Phew! *I wiped Andrew's brow for him* he did a lot of sowing; I watched and used my lovely camera for the first time in ages. This year (we say this every year) we are concentrating only on that which we will eat; we're more serious this time. One early potato ('Sharp's express') will be grown in a pot and no garden peas - they are just so cheap to buy frozen and taste as good without the effort!

Sharp's Express are ready to go, just need the soil to dry a little more

So much more to come :)
Love and hugs
Carrie

Day 2- Ecotherapy and anxiety

Lo and behold my friend! I went back to the plots for round two on Sunday, which was another fabulously blue sky, super dry day. Two days in a row at the allotments after 6+ months of absence and boy did I put my nose to the grindstone, toil in the mud and ultimately... bedazzled!

Before and After of the two large asparagus beds - check out the wee box hedging plants; on day they will be a wee hedge

Both half plots are looking transformed and if only there had been a few more hours in the day, they would be looking perfect right now. We worked so hard I marred my back, knee, neck and hand, hahaha. But hey, we were out working with and surrounded by nature, plus Maggie was there :)

Zen Maggie at the Plots for the first time in 6 months :)

Andrew's incredible transformation of 24a has been captured in a flip book style of photos (he's very clever!) Bask in his glory by clicking the link to his Instagram :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCTDi2MsGIU/?taken-by=gaulta

*****

OK. A lot of what I say about my time at the plots is bravado. I do not find it in any way easy and take sedatives before I go and sometimes even when I am there as well. I am constantly checking my back, checking on where Andrew is and am always aware of who else my be on site and hence alert to every noise they may make. If a person walks in the direction of our plots I am the one suddenly needing to get something from the shed, whilst muttering under my breath for the ground to please swallow me up.

At home the panic sets in for a while, the exhaustion and anxiety spilling out and accordingly I end up be-swaddled in my blanket on the sofa.... It doesn't get easier the more I do it, I'm just a determined fighter and know there will be good times for the memory banks.

Really, I abhor talking about myself in so personal a manner but I want to make sure no one confuses the messages I'm sending out. Yes I am an advocate for ecotherapy BUT it is not a panacea, the illnesses don't go away.

The true joy comes when I look back on my disaster-free time there and that's why I revel in my before and after photos, those little notes I take and the hugs and kisses from my amazing hubby and my cute-as-a-button wonder-dog.

Anyway, I'm off to read a book...

Happy St. David's Day!

baby daffodils for St David's Day :)

Love
Carrie

First Contact

I feel I have been so long away from my once cherished blog. I was held back, denied the access to think straight or care about the lottie by the deepest, darkest, depths of depression and consistent anxiety; I'm still fighting it, who am I trying to kid. It will be with me all my days and learning to cope and continue to fight is my only way forward. So forward we go.....

** Yesterday The head gardener took a day off work and we had a great wee time together; I love those sort of days, they feel stolen and thus more fun. We decided that our National Trust membership, which had lapsed, need renewing and we did it so easily online and then, went off to Rowallane Gardens.

Sadly the weather turned on us and flipped into heavy rain, so no garden explorations :(  However, when you have a really talented potter on site (Mark) and a cafe, you can cope, believe us! Retail therapy...

Matt's (the resident potter) studio AND the items we have that he artfully created

*****

And now, the allotment! - my first visit since sometime last September.

So I did it, I bloomin' did it! Here, a photo to prove it to myself and the world; if you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen this posted in real time, as soon as I got there. I was so nervous/excited.

There was much to be done and still much more, haha. We are doing the Charles Dowding 'No dig' approach this year so there was very little hand forking even (it's my favourite hand tool, weep).  If you have an exceptional memory you'll remember I reviewed his book on the topic in 2014 and now we're converts.

I write this as I lay blanket swaddled on the sofa exhausted from hard work and anxiety. Andrew dropped me off and then back for a little more! and to tidy up but wow, we got a lot of clearing done in those 2+ hrs. Pictures speak louder than words as they say :)

We had the whole place to ourselves which was great for me but also criminal! It's been THE day we've all been waiting for - the perfect Lottie day with no rain or wind though it quickly got frickin' freezing once it turn 4.30!

Andrew has been working away on this plot every now and then (proud wife) and the well rotted horse manure that he is mulching with is glorious, sexy stuff :)

Two wheelbarrows and two trugs of clearing done (that's just me) and a traditional subway sandwich - it looks like we're back! Next time I'll take my 'proper camera' and not just rely on my phone *blush*

Happy plotting, love
Carrie

Shrub rose pruning / All or nothing

So as it is with the world, after Saturday came Sunday and we returned to the plots. See once I get started on a topic I get rather excited and there is so much to be done on 14b; work were I can feel useful and productive, even it is mainly clearing away at the moment.

But to start the afternoon off I did some proper gardening, I learnt how to prune a shrub rose bush. Oh boy you can't possibly understand how great it felt to learn and then be left to do the pruning and mulching. Generally I'm too nervous to do things like that, terrified I'll mess it up, but I didn't and the bush looks happy and healthy again!! Eek!

Main points I remember:

* Make sure secateurs are sharp and cut at a slight diagonal
* Get rid of dead branches and tips
* Prune away all blackspot infected branches
* Prune to an outwards facing bud keeping the centre open (so air can circulate through bush)
* Remove branches that are crossing, as rubbing will lead to infections
* Cut back long spindly growth to encourage new growth from base.
* Lift up all dead leaves (they may harbour disease)

rose pruning

I don't believe I have ever deceived anyone into thinking I'm a 'real gardener', Andrew is the head gardener, I'm the helper\ photographer\ the one who is there for therapy. Dare I say it though...I felt so proud of myself; I'm growing.

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We worked for 3 hrs straight and left exhausted! Andrew planted lots of blackthorn and whitethorn hedging plants and prepared for edible forest area. More about that later... Plus he lifted all the dahlia tubers and put them trays to dry out in the shed.

half of the dahlia tubers lifted

I wrestled with the clearing of the long raspberry bed (which shall become one of my flower beds. Aarggh the roots of those blasted devils are a nightmare to get out, if I hadn't been for the laboured panting I would have been cursing them so loudly!!

clearing the raspberry bed

However, I received a reprieve as the sun went down and the temperature dramatically dropped; we packed up, lifted a sleepy Maggie and left for home.

fave sights - especially Maggie eating a biscuit

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Sadly it has turned out I pushed myself too hard. I didn't know how bad until Monday when I couldn't think straight,walk or talk. I slept most of the day and yesterday was better but still poor. Today I think frustration is pushing me on but I certainly have limits. Luckily it's dark, snowing and cold and we got our new sofa delivered yesterday...it's embracing me...so comfy...it ought to be easy to drift off and sleep\ heal.

Hugs and love to you all
Carrie x

How to grow Miniature Roses

Cherie 28 (our winner of the serenata flower competition) was in touch this morning. She got her prize in the post, well, she's so sweet that it turns out it was her mother's prize. Yep, unlike me Cherie used the opportunity to share her gift of flowers and also added a cute teddy and her mum was thrilled.

So I was thinking that as Cherie's Mum and I both have miniature rose plants in our lives that it would be a good time to do my research and find out how best to care for these babies. Goodness, open any book on Roses and you'll be overwhelmed by the various types and their needs so we are simply focusing on miniatures....there are many great websites out there to help you.

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An introduction to Miniature Rose Growing

'Miniature roses are perfectly scaled, smaller versions of larger roses, with all the colours, forms, substance, and often, fragrance of full-sized roses' (the Dummies' Guide). Also like all other types of rose, they have flowers and leaves completely in proportion (though they may be only half an inch to 2 inches in size) and can be any of the forms we are used to hearing about; climbing, bushy, ground cover etc. 

I may be biased here but I do sometimes feel that smaller can be better, cuter and easier to manage (they only get up to approx 4 feet). I love a rose in a big pot where it can have exactly what it needs and get turned regularly for even sunshine, the thorns are easier to avoid whilst weeding and they only need minimal pruning in the winter. I'm obviously not alone in loving them as many new ones are introduced every year by the big names in cultivation.

Miniatures like mine must only be kept in their gift pot and inside for a short time - they are meant to be outside - free range if you will. Many people plant theirs at the front of their borders but for me I prefer a pot as I said. They are super hardy little things but as with any plant, if it gets ridiculously cold you ought to mulch the roots and if in a pot it is easier to fleece too.

But whilst indoors please follow these rules:

*  Water Regularly and Thoroughly -  It's wise to make sure the topsoil ( the top inch or so) has dried out between your waterings. Check every day during flowering season as the plant is using up a lot of energy (water) and will be thirsty. Plus as they are mini plants, so are their roots, delicate and not getting far down into the soil.

In the winter it's best to keep the soil barely wet and always avoid getting water on the leaves as that is a cause of blackspot. Blackspot can be treated, but avoiding damp leaves, over watering or a stuffy atmosphere will certainly be a  preferable prevention.

*  Keep in good sunlight - as much as you can give it, especially in Summer. But get planning as to where your plants are going to move to soon, outside :)

*  Deadhead - if you want those blooms to keep coming (and they will) you must cut off the dead or dying flowers. Don't rip them off or simply pull them as you will damage the stem, please use sharp scissors if not rose pruners.

*  Fertilise - for the best results, feed your plant more than just water. There are plenty of rose food supplements out there and your rose will thank you for giving it some once every few weeks.

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So that is just the basics, I hope you will feel more confident if you are lucky enough to receive some as a gift now. Remember the most important point - they are ultimately for the outdoors with sunshine and lots of lovely water.

Enjoy, and hugs to all

Carrie xx

Growing Celeriac

We love our celeriac in this house and have been growing it on the plot since the first year; always Giant Prague and always with the happiest of results. It amazes me that these vegetables aren't more popular in supermarkets and restaurants, its high in fibre and low in calories, but I guess we can change that, fellow growers!

picture taken from seed parade where we got ours

Okay, they aren't the prettiest of veggies to look at and uneducated people may see them and think it's a really ugly turnip and maybe slightly diseased. In some causes they are known as 'turnip-rooted celery', it would be an easy mistake to make. They are knobbly and swollen and smell like celery (not what you expect if you think it's a turnip!) but oh, they taste so good and are an all round unsung hero of the larder! You can eat the leafy tops and of course, the root and they keep well after harvesting and are freezable if blanched :)

* The seeds are tiny... plant 2 in each module with rich soil and pull out the weaker one when they are seedlings. It only takes 2-3 weeks before they look like proper plants and for us the germination rate is usually 100%. This should be done in early spring in the potting shed and later hardened off in a cold frame.

there they are bottom left ;)

* We are at the planting out stage which is done in May and June. This bed was marked out for them back in Autumn and thus given loads of good old horse poo and compost, they are hungry plants (hungry for nutrients, water and sunshine) and general purpose compost a week before planting out isn't a bad idea too!

Here's Andrew showing us how he likes to plant them... about 20cm apart in a line without burning the crown, you want the soil right up to base of the stems. Our second row is a good trowels length apart, so about 30cm; some people like to do them much further apart.

There that was easy enough, now to look after them....
* So whilst they grow you must keep the area weed free and mulch them if the weather gets hot (to keep the nutrients in) and as with all veggies, remove those side shoots and old leaves.
Keep an eye of those blasted slugs - grrrr.

We'll return to this later in the year when we harvest and eat ;)

Hugs and love
Carrie

Bee friendly plants

So here I am in Scotland for the week and what a week....RHS National Gardening Week - celebrate! Oh I know I shall just have to drink some fine local whisky to add my own merriment to the occasion ;) Click the link to see their gorgeous website.

Ahhh, Scotland, the land of raspberries and oats and whisky...sing along now ' these are a few of my favourite things'...

The RHS website has ideas for ways to celebrate ( if you have time!) But come on,if you read this blog I should like to think you love wildlife and such and shall be celebrating this week as with every week! Plus, crikey there is so much to do, so many seeds to sow :) It would be incredible if you could show a child the magic of planting a seed though (sunflowers are fab, they germinate in about 2 days) and watching the life cycle, but don't go pilfering kids without parents' consent ;)

I love to think of bees. I've had quite a few buzzing  around the allotment and then there was that one that knocked itself out flying into the patio doors whilst I was drinking coffee - scared me, what a boop! He was okay after a moment - fear not.

I saw this on both Pinterest and Tumblr and thought it would be perfect to share.
ALL credit to Hannah Rosengren!

Found on byhannahrosengren.tumblr.com

Much love
Carrie

Smug yet humble (pt 2) plus autumn raspberry tips

Reflecting on Friday....looking towards the future.... as the clocks spring forward this evening! (*edit - sugar that's only in America)

Wow, this is part 2 of my 'smug yet humble too' post. What a huge moment is was for me, yet as I commented in that post, it doesn't look like much to everyday people who don't have my particular problems (physical and mental). Never mind. I still feel good about it. And thank you for the encouraging comments, they make me feel like a champ. This was first of many walks to that sign and back and I can build on that - oh check me and my positivity out!!

I couldn't go today so the Hubby has gone off to cut back the Autumn Raspberries* alone whilst I rest here and try to gather myself up for a trip to Belfast and maybe a visit to a nursery. We need a little pop-up greenhouse and I need to get started on my cut flower bed - oh yes! buying tubers and bulbs :)

Later there is going to be some seeds sown and a clear out of the home shed...spring has arrived and we need to get into gear! 

* Those 10 celeriac seedlings from Friday have become...65!

* The 3 little daffs are in flower and ohhh yellow is such a happy colour!

For now let me leave me with this, one of the best poems in the world and one that sums up how I have been feeling under the reign of winter - well *blows raspberry in winter's face*...I made it and spring is here - hurrah!!

* Pruning your autumn raspberries * 
 - Be brutal, you want loads of fruit this year too so cut those old canes right down to ground level!
- You should have your canes arranged and growing with supports. We have ours in a straight line with supporting wire tied across them at regular intervals. Tie any new stems to these wires as your plants grow; do it lightly with twine so as they grow they have freedom to move a little in the wind and not snap = disaster!
- Cover the ground with fertiliser of your choice and use loads of our dear friend - well rotted manure as a mulch.
- Never let the soil dry out! Raspberries are very thirsty and need water to make them extra juicy ;) Ummm raspberries eaten from the cane in the warm Autumn sun....heavenly


Hugs

On the Plots (16th June)

Okay, okay, I get it, no more dilly dally-ing from me - I am on a new rota of blogging and you shall hear from me more often, whether you like it or not. Loads is happening at the plots and I simply haven't been bothered to take photos - shameful I know.

This post is going back in time *insert wavy lines here*...back to June 16th, the day before our Weeding  Wedding Anniversary (do you see what I did there?? oh I am funny!) So that was 2 Saturday's ago and the next post on the allotments will be from last Saturday so we can see the incredible changes one week made to our lottie.

We start with a bright a cheery picture of loading up the car with scallions, broccoli, celeriac and leeks..

 Wow, literally 3 minutes up the road and the clouds roll in!! Luckily these were just nice fluffy, friendly clouds and they didn't rain on us until we were just leaving anyway :) I like that sort of cloud, plus you know the plants are all getting a darn good soaking....

These are the first 2 beds on either side of Plot 24a looking great, if I may be so bold (all Andrew's work anyway so I'm just bigging him up!) Look at the those spuds :D on the left I'm starting to get excited about my various peas and beans - yummy.

 The 2 middle beds are full of  beans, spinach, lettuce, chard and broccoli (left bed)
and Roots galore plus Sweetcorn in the right bed (scallions, parsnips, carrots, turnips, beetroot)

Up at the back on the left of the tree arch we have 3 bushes of Blueberries coming (again with the fight with the birds will start in earnest soon - really, after 5 years we ought to get the fruit cage sorted!) Beside them are my Sweet Peas - oh for a lovely bunch....hurry up!

14b is more of a miss in terms of this post (I have tried to fix it up but it's still embarrassing) so you are only getting to see this little part because of the good job I did, hahaha.... It round by the now over Purple Sprouting Broccoli and the boundary line between us and the neighbour 14b.

The bees were loving the flowers there and the bed was humming with merriment so they were left for now..

******

Now we need your help - this is what's happening to one of our plum tree fruits. This was them on Saturday, in the past weeks they have been a lime colour with touches of this creaminess..

Can you tell us what the heck is going on??...we can't find it in any of our books.

Succulent Seedlings

As I mentioned in my last post we have some great looking seedlings all ready to go into the ground this weekend - finally!
Apart from the Sweet Peas which came from a lovely friend, everything shown here (or sown here, hehe) has come from vegetableseeds.net and I must say I am very  impressed with the germination rate of everything.

 * Pea 'Kelvendon Wonder'
A really popular pea variety that we have grown for the last years - oh it tastes so good and each plant gives loads of pods, each pod gives about 6 juicy peas each! It's main crop, dwarf  variety and we tend to plant some in succession through out the summer so we are never lacking :)
Maggie also likes to cheekily eat this straight off the plant - they hang at just the right height for her, gggrrrr, hahaha.

 * Broad Bean 'Aquadulce Claudia'
Okay so we really adore this bean variety and it is a must on our allotment;  haven't grown it?! you must. It is the easiest thing to grow ever, so hardy that you can sow the seeds in winter if you want (if your plot isn't swimming like ours does) so tasty you'll fall in love, so healthy and packed with goodness you will feel good just holding the packet :) You get lots of beans from these and we even get gluts so it's great that I can tell you from experience...these freeze really well :)

 * Rainbow Chard (sometimes called Swiss Chard)

Funny how colour can sometime affect how you feel about a vegetable - normal chard, blugh, it's okay. Rainbow Chard is fantabulous to look at with the sunlight streaming through it, I would have it in my garden as pretty plant :) It wilts fast but grab it take it home and cook it and all the goodness of a spinach is there on your plate but in yellows, pinks, purples - it makes me happy just thinking about it. 

 * Beetroot - 2 types 'Boltardy' and Yellow Cylindrical

Until I had real beetroot and not the vile stuff pickled and brought out at Christmas, I thought it was disgusting, evil stuff.  Now, I adore it. Roasted in the oven or on the barbecue you will find the Gault's eating beetroot all summer long. Hint - HP sauce is amazing on it!!! We always grow Boltardy and again in succession as these babies reach adulthood in 3 months so you can have loads and write Beetroot into a search engine and you will see why you want loads for yourself and your family - it's so incredibly good for you! (P.S. the clue is in the name - they don't bolt easily)

I can't remember if we grew Yellow ones last year or the year before but there isn't much difference in taste, even the striped white and purple ones taste the same; it simply makes that big plate of salad out on the patio look even better. 

 * Leek 'Musselburgh'

This had been our fail safe, go to choice for leeks since we started growing our own. They are really hardy and overwinter well even in our soil, they aren't too strong tasting and it gives you such joy to harvest something from the plot in the darkness of those winter days and they don't need lifted all at once either so not glut worries. Think soul warming soups, hearty and filling risotto - yummy. As someone intolerant to onions these have saved the day in our kitchen and we always have a load every year :)

And lastly the Sweet Pea 'Cupani'

These are my favourite sweet pea ever and I wish I could remember to plant in successions for even more throughout the summer but I never do. They are a fabulous red/pink and purple and are stunning. Butterflies like them and I generally have an arch way of them and an obelisk.

I realise that excited as I am you are probably really rather bored now; like looking at a million photos of someones new baby. Yes very cute, they look so healthy, you're happy for me, what adorable green leaves..... I shall leave it for now, but there are more seedlings and photos to be taken, so until next time....

Namasté