Before the tummy bug

For the last half of May I was super ill with a terrible doubt of gastroenteritis. Really the realities of it are too gross to talk about but needless to say I was sofa bound for just over a week and it took 3 days before I could eat more than a cracker. I'm better now, that's what matters.

Before that mess we had a lovely, sunny afternoon at both plots for the last time. We've now officially said goodbye to 14b and even got a little refund as we'd recently paid for another year, we had 2 weeks to clear out what we wanted...

Plum poppy looking great bar all the weeds and dead daffodil stems :)

But the first thing I saw on arrival at 14b were the poppies, god I love poppies and my Patty Plum had one in bloom and many to come. The oriental poppy is always a little behind but so many buds 😊. The roses never did well and looked quite dead, bar one that was struggling to produce 2 blooms.

Saved from the plot before the new owners come (wonder when that will be?):

• Posts, fencing, wooden edging boards,  
• hardcore gravel and paving slabs, 
• comfrey plant, my wee red geum (Mrs Bradshaw) and 2 huge box balls, 
• our sanity!

But we had to say goodbye to our:

• blackberries, new happy blackthorn hedge
• cherry tree, damson tree and pear tree?, 
• rhubarb (maybe we could save some?) 
• poppies and rudbeckia (Goldsturm) , two of my favourite plants ever. 

Not to mention all the other bits and pieces. We couldn't lift them or a lot of other plants as we simply had no where to put them and silly emotional me had a wee cry. Though I have been promised a wee flower area on the back patio.

Blackberries alive with bees, rhubarb past it's best and some lovely weeds

One more thing - some damned brute had broken part of our cool artisan 14b sign. Andrew had made it with glass test tubes and they were super sturdy and we liked it...and ggrrr. Well we won't be needing it now anyway, I guess but it's the principal.

grrr

It's all about 24a from now on.

My mosaic number, beautiful bought tiles and an 'A' etched by Andrew on slate

I spent my time weeding 24a whilst Andrew did all the heavy lifting and moving from 14b. The poor plot had been a little neglected in the choking weed department and it's what I'm comfortable with at the moment. For a goodly while now I simply haven't had the confidence to plant things - my anxiety disorder is winning these days - boo hiss.

Blueberries, gooseberries and apples

Weeding in and around the blueberries and gooseberries I was amazed to find so many well developed berries - we need to get them netted as the birds are pesky pilferers and can strip all the bushes in a day! The apples either side of the fruit arch are also doing really good.

I do wish we had of got rid of the gooseberries over the redcurrant bush (as I actually like redcurrants) but Andrew has plans for a raspberry bed, though maybe it ought to be a rhubarb bed... I'm just thinking out loud.

oh yes, don't mind if I do

All this work was making us hungry and Andrew went up to the community centre and got two of these, yum! Dark chocolate chip shortbread squares, oh my, they were delicious.

More next time, hugs,
Carrie

All about those Bs

In good old fashioned 'Sesame Street' style, this post is brought to you with by the letter B....

All I am about to tell you what happened on Saturday, a rare day in my life when I was able to cope and more than that, actually enjoy being at the plots!

This year, (as it is for everyone on our allotments) hasn't been going too well; we have been plagued by birds and the weather has been terrible. Thus it was that I found myself, on arrival, pulling out all our diseased and pigeon decimated broad beans. They were still in the flush of fruiting, some had flowers still to mature, but we had to say goodbye, even to the baby successional ones planted in a wee triangle further along the bed.

Beside them, the mangetout are starting to look in a bad state too, though there is plenty of flowers and pods on them. The birds have been nipping off the tops of each plant and every growing tip, they've been tugging at them hard too as quite a few plants were barely in the soil at all and had started to crisp up and crumble away from the bottom up. It really could get you down but I wasn't having any of that.

Pretty much all and I mean all (we had about 6 berries left) of our gorgeous blackcurrants were gone on Saturday. Only a day, one blasted night, after the bush had been full and gloriously bursting. Boy was I looking forward to a dark, juicy harvest only to have it snatched away from me by - you guessed it, the bloody birds. They ate every ripe one and took those on the verge of perfection and ripped them off and left them on the ground :( Such sad times.

I weeded wildly, fuelled by my annoyance for a while but soon calmed down. Andrew was off again to Gleno village for more wood - by goodness there was a netted fruit cage to be built this day! Damnation - thou shall not pilfer our blueberries! *shakes fist at sky*

the fruit cage has been working!

But, I mean look  - bird beaks have gotten to our Kale and the Pak Choi. Plus the Kohl Rabi  and PSB looks so sad. At this rate we would seriously need to consider netting our whole plot; one great big fruit cage!

So I turned my back and focused my attention on the beetroot, which amazingly Andrew had forgotten about. But then he has been doing everything else and was on Saturday building us a lovely gravelled parterre path on 14b. We really wanted a big tonne bag of the stuff but had to be happy with some smaller bags as the deliveries were over for the day at the depot. However he did a fabulous job.

Plus the Blackberries or as I like to call them Bramble berries are fruiting like crazy over there, it really does the heart good to see that one bush so big and healthy this year when so much else is a little disappointing.

Anyway, back to the beetroot, both yellow and red varieties had been sown direct and forgotten about so I thinned them all out, put the really tiny ones straight into the compost and the rest into our harvest bags. Oh did we have a feast! Now the rest will have more room to grow and become big and beautiful.

Lastly, I missed my own Blog Birthday. It was on Monday and it passed me by in a whirlwind. So happy belated 7th blogiversary to me - yay! I must remember to eat cake at some time :)

More photos to come from that day and some from Sunday too when Andrew made a quick visit :)
Love and Hugs
Carrie

An Allotment Check-up

We had an allotment 'date' last Friday, as Andrew had taken a much needed day off :) I painted inside the shed and then got very panicky, feeling cooped up alone while he was over on the other half plot working away. So after a wee trip out for a warm drink and and sit down together I felt better, much better and we went back and got to work again together.

Andrew planted 3 blackthorn trees = our very own sloe berries for the traditional lottie sloe gin :) They will also act as a much needed screen up at the top of 14b, by the compost bins. I did take a photo but it's awful and do you really want to see 3 brown twigs in a row in brown soil??

He also cut back and tied in the blackberry, which was something I started a few months back but my double vision was sort of a hazard, hahaha. It looked like I'd  had a fight with a crazy litter of cats; so many big cuts and blood on my gloves. Still, as least I tried. Here's Andrew glorious work though....

the blackberry all tied in for the season ahead

I am so looking forward to more jam but also I found this blackberry frozen yogurt recipe on Pinterest.

I continued with the incredible task of weeding the main flower bed. It is just infested with weeds, yes some would be our own but I swear most are from the 3 plots that surround us - they have been abandoned for about a year now and do nothing but grow weeds and then spread them all over the darn place - usually right slap bang into our plots! Oh if only all vegetables and fruit were so prolific.

I'm very near to being finished (though as you'll know yourself, I probably think I'm finished when I need to start all over again) and it looks good. We have a lot of tulips and daffodils coming through and the first little Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' was in flower. Look! doesn't it fill you heart with joy?

Happiness is yellow :)

I also loved this daisy, I can't help myself...

I love daisies, I can't help myself :)

Prepare for a little rant now, just my personal view point.....

****

I am annoyed today, very annoyed. A letter arrived from the Council and they have decided to up our rent by a whooping 14%! I wouldn't mind so much if the Council was actually good at helping us and providing us with the basic necessities but they don't...

* The fields have no proper drainage and many plots are flooded, even as I weeded, going half a hand fork in depth the soil, I was encountering pools of water! Our whole allotment has been double dug and has raised beds, plus we have spent so much money on grit and topsoil and getting great manure to improve everything, best we can. It really feels pointless.

*They do not look after the roads. Look at them! never mind that the paths between plots are so slippery (see above) that I am scared to walk around, now there is no way I could go to the Allotment Gardens alone if I wanted to - the roads aren't even safe for me. 

Road between field A and B.

*There is no basic security in place, not a good fence or even the improved hedges (to also act as wind breaks) that were meant to be put in. People can just walk in nilly willy if they want to and it's going to get worse if rumours are true. There is a new community building being built just above the allotment grounds and I have been told by many that access to it from the village is through the centre of the allotment gardens. I hope this isn't true.

*We do not get the Council green waste we were promised over and over; there are no skip days any more to safely dispose of our rubbish and proper management of the plots in terms of so many abandoned ones, is ridiculous whilst there is still a huge waiting list. I am sickened, utterly downhearted.

But I must end on a happy note - 

Look at the rhurbab and the honeysuckle, plus the broad bean seeds have been planted and the garlic looks amazing (but I can't find the photo!)

What are you up too?? Is it starting to feel springy where you are???

Cranachan - a gift from the Scottish gods

Hey lovelies, I'm back sort off. I haven't been to the lottie (Andrew has though) but I have been eating really well - our own carrots, kale, french dwarf beans, runner beans and loads of raspberries and blackberries - yummmmy! A pile of spuds will have to be sent off to my sister-in-law too (it's so fab when people get itchy waiting for more of your home grown goodies).

But I was in Bonny Scotland last week and was introduced to my new favourite thing ever - Cranachan, oh just say the word over and over and I purr like a kitten. Now you may look it up and see a million variations on the recipe but I am going to tell you how the chief at our pub/hotel did it and I swear you will never look at any other recipe ever! Well until you see the new and exciting Gault's low fat Blackberry Cranachan recipe ;)

Naturally we all know that the vast majority of the raspberries we grow here are Scottish, for goodness sake they all have 'Glen' at the start of their name, such as Glen Ample (which we grow) and Glen Cova, Glen Doll, Glen Fyne, etc. Well in Scotland they just grow like weeds I tells ya - take yourself for a wee dander and bam! you walk into hundreds of them, you'll never grow hungry out for a walk there.

The Hotel Allan Ramsay's Cranachan

•  a lovely little glass - presentation is very important people!
• Raspberries
• Raspberry jam
• Double cream
• Whiskey (honey toned)
• Scottish oats
• Honey

* Lightly toast your oats and let them sit in a wee dram o' whiskey :)

* Whip up that cream like there is no tomorrow (burn some calories too) and add a little honey to it if you want.

* Play with the different food stuffs, layering them all like a trifle. Oats at the bottom, then a dollop of cream (with honey mixed in - or spoon a little on top), then raspberry jam over some juicy raspberries, then repeat until your glass is full and gorgeous looking.

*End with a raspberry on top and sprinkle a few more oats.

We made a load when we got home with our Blackberry glut (which is still continuing). But you know, shame on me, I didn't take a single photo ~ when you're at home all dignity goes out the window and you just unceremoniously get stuck in, you know its true. I bet there are some of you out there that even lick the plate, hahaha

Gaults' Low Fat Blackberry Cranachan

a lovely glass - presentation is still very important!

Blackberries

Blackcurrant jam

Fromage Frais zero fat

Whiskey (honey toned)

Scottish oats

Honey



Just do the same as above in the layering idea, but in the wonderful knowledge that this is healthier and indeed could possibly count as good for you, hehehe. We didn't bother toasting the oats (we didn't have the patience) and we just spooned some lovely honey on top of the Fromage Frais. We fell down on the Whiskey though as though it was Scottish it had a peat tone - a little overpowering but we do like our whiskey in this house so it was fine :)

Why don't the plants love me back??

Sunday afternoon was fabulous, a glorious day at the lottie and hardly a soul there so I wasn't even panicky = result! BUT as I was cutting the grass and moving along between plots the grass pollen attacked and I was vanquished, left as a sniffling, dripping, itchy mess; completely bowled over :( Why?? Oh Mother Nature, why!!

I cut all that my hand and let me tell you, you cannot think when doing work like that. It is fabulous; menial work yes - but you have no room to think negatively - the mind is clear :) Plus I met a gorgeous frog in amongst it all, sadly he was very camera shy.

Anywho, I got my medication from the Dr. today and by the weekend I shall ready to once again go to my plots. But it's so cruel, my anxiety and depression hasn't been that bad the past few days, yet I still couldn't/can't go and get in an hour of Allotmentherapy - life can be so nasty sometimes. Boo and indeed Hiss

However - I shall not let this get me down :) No dear reader I have photos from the weekend and the pollen therein can not affect me through the laptop screen. So here we go, let us bathe ourselves in the beauty.....

I am loving the flowers on 14b, both my Poppies are doing really well, the red one is flowering as you can see, even though it went through a big move in the winter from one plot to the other, the purple one has loads of buds and I can barely wait :) I left the chives and the big artichokes to flower, the bees adore them and I don't eat them so its a win win situation. And ohh! look at the all the blossom on the blackberry (or as I like to call it the brambleberry - which makes life awkward for me sometimes when I call my phone my brambleberry too hahaha) Then the 3 roses, well they are now 2 :( Remember the photo I put up of the white 'Polar Star' covered in green fly and aphids, well it was worse and we just had to get rid of it, it's never been the healthiest plant...aww well I have an excuse to buy more :)

Another bed we have left for the bees is the now bolted purple sprouting broccoli - oh isn't a mecca for insects over there :)

Here is that updated photo of the garlic - so proud of it! Yet here is a photo of one of the apples that has fallen victim to the 'June Drop' and I just heard a moment ago that loads of leaves have suddenly fallen off the cherry tree.

Ahh, Nature, she teaches us so much. We can worry ourselves stupid about things but truly we are not in control, never are, never will be. Gardening is a roller coaster and such a get metaphor for life.

Leeks, Parsnips and The Corner of Shame

We tried 2 varieties of Leek this year again ~ our usual trustworthy 'Musselburgh' and the promisingly named Lyon 2 'Prizetaker'. Well 'Musselburgh' has yet again been fabulous and we have been eating away at them with joy. However, boo and hiss to the 'Prizetaker' as they are all straggly and in flower for goodness sake. Very disappointing.

Though please do note, in this photo is my beautiful Red Chard shining away happily in the background and the lavender down there is doing good too; so over all, I am content. :)

We had utterly fantabulous Parsnips on the Christmas dinner table yet again this year. Oh how I love my Hubby's cooking - his honey glazed lottie grown and just freshly dug Parsnips. Yummmmm. I don't remember such a mixture of sizes before but that doesn't put me off and I have gobbled them up like the proverbial Turkey.

This overview photo of the 24a plot is to ease you into the mess that is to come *already I blush*....We are using Mamma G's leftover cut of carpet to try and kill off the grass. Most pleasingly, it is exactly the right width and I swear that grass is going bye bye. I bloody hate it, trying to cut it all with shears is a great tricep/bicep workout but I also end up with a blasted sore back and mouth full of bad words that I am afraid oft spill over. Give it time and the grass will die and we shall cover the whole lot in bark or some such thing. Plus the beds are going to made wider, oh yes, there are changes afoot on the plot - all I hope for the better :)

* The corner of shame

Yes this was once quite pretty, honestly. It was my little area for growing girly flowers and such but now that I have a gorgeous big flower bed on 14b I have decided it is no longer viable. In fact I have decided it is a damnable waste of space. My healthy red Dogwood is, well too healthy and has been trying to take over since it was planted. My ideas for weaving baskets has laughingly been, ummm, set to one side for the good of my sanity.

We have a round a zillion of those bronze grasses and more are self seeding all the time, most likely as I write this. The only things that need saved and loved and cared for are my most gorgeous Oriental Poppy and a Red Rose that are in there. This is one of the only spots on our plots that is prone to flooding and the rose was suffering anyway so it's best all round.

Look at the way Andrew is treating the area away - he never did help me to get it sorted to I think my wonderful idea of handing it over to him as a nursery/potting up area was his evil plan all long. Light bulb moment! I shall duly punch him, hold on.....a little domestic violence is surely acceptable in this case. *Only Joking* he is a way over there at the other end of the sofa and I am too tired to start a fight, it would only end in my demise - he knows my tickily spots!

So that is you basically up to date. We have daffs coming up everywhere - YAY! and Andrew has been shifting cow muck into our purpose built manure center and doing the essential pruning of all the Gooseberries and Blackberries etc.

I'm going back tomorrow :)

A quick ode to Andy; whilst he's out

I still haven't got my 'u' back or my close bracket and zero button! It's all rather annoying to say the least but I go on trying to type quick before Andy gets back with a DVD and some wine...... I think it's time for a new laptop!

Andrew's coldframe~

Yes this is the masterpiece I have been teasing you about. It was made totally by my hubby's own fair hands [sorry, that should read, strong manly hands, hahah] in the back garden. The frame was from his old single bed which we turfted ot once we moved into this, his old bedroom. Then the rest he bought in a DIY store and the magic just happened off the top of his sweet ginger head. Genius [Phone just rang there; Andy mst know we're talking about him...]. Anywho, I think it is glorious and even more wonderful than his first cold frame which can just be seen here in the background of the photo....You're a little jealous, aren't you, just accept it.....

Andrew's favourite new toy~

This is something my science geek of a hubby has wanted for ages, a max/min outdoor thermometer. He is pointing excitely at the results of it's first afternoon hanging on the shed - hmmmm, wow! Yeah, wow. We got this on Suday at the brand new and super fab Sunnybank nursery. We had 2 trolleys when we came out of there but I'll tell you about that later on.

Andrew's plan~

Thought this was cute on the back of the shed door, his plan for the coming season, where things are to be planted and which beds have been fed. He likes plans, I think it's the archaeologist in him.

Andrew's new wall/ entrance way in 14b~

I love this, it's very cute and practial; stones we had lifted when preparing the beds are arranged about the side of the new path in a lovely curve. Also, he planted another Rhubarb plant we got on Sunday and tied in the blackberry securely. The path will eventually be bark mulched around there too but it's a big improvement already.

Lastly, Andrew's favorite thing ever~

Planting seeds and giving his plots a darn good looking at on a nice sunny day at his lotties with his girls!!!

xxxxxx

A, B and C

A

Can of course stand for Apple and indeed here it does; our James Grieve/Elstar tree has given up it's first fruit. They don't look great but if we nibble around the bad bits I have hope that they will taste nice. Elstar is definitely a favourite in our house so fingers crossed that the tree perks up and can go on growing and giving us more and better quality fruit in years to come. It seems to be suffering from a fungal disease, maybe scab but I'm not sure about survival rates. Send happy thoughts to our tree please!!

B

B is for Brambles, or Blackberries. The hedgerows around the plots are full to the brim with ripe gorgeous berries there for the taking. Plus there are many still to come and in some areas there are even flowers in bloom. I reckon we'll have brambles for some time to come. They are a little small in comparison to the blackberries you can buy as plants from the nursery. We have one, but it crops way back in the summer and the damn birds took most of them.

So Andrew and I couldn't help ourselves and we picked some, them some more....it became addictive. A lovely past time and we have done it twice now, even in the dark, way past twilight, I swear we couldn't see, that was the only reason we stopped. We even seriously thought about using the headlights to illuminate the hedges but we wised up! It sounds silly but it was very romantic, reminiscent of what I imagine a pre-war date would be and quite frankly doing that with your beau is nicer than sitting in the cinema not talking or even looking at each other.

We, sorry Andrew, made jam. It's more like tar but it was his first time and it is great in porridge. There's another big bag in the fridge for me to make jam. I took photos of Andrew's culinary adventure. Lovely! He is a fabulous cook by the way, tonight we had a chicken and lottie veg stir fry for dinner and it was delicious. At the weekend he also made a Lottie Soup too, with our borlotti beans - uuuummmmm. No pics of either - too hungry.

Plus Blooms ~ look at Mary's glorious bunch from her plot. Really beautiful and I am more encouraged to get on with my cut flower bed.


C

This is exciting! We got our membership cards!!!! Look at how jolly Andrew and Austin (the secretary)are and me, I couldn't wait to photograph mine. Now we can get discounts in various nurseries, horrah!!!!

I have loads more to tell but there is apple pie to be eating and somethings have to take priority, hahaha xx

lots to share

I have to tell you about the weekend and week past before a whole new one begins. I don't know where the time has gone but it is Friday! and I am exhausted as usual. I don't know what I have been writing about that could possibly be more important than all the hard work and artistry that we did on the plots!

This, as you will know by now, is my flower bed in 14b. I ripped out everything that was tired and looking awful and now I just have the permanent inhabitants left and a few sunflowers still struggling on. So that means there is space and I can see where things are and where things can be planted for next year. I have loads of bulbs (they'll probably get started this weekend) but I also had 2 birthday present windmills and three arty rock mounds that Andrew and made (we stole the idea from a lovely garden in Brittany).

Then joy, my 1st blog birthday present was able to be planted out too, a sunny Coreopsis. Poor thing has just been sitting there for a month in a pot, probably not feeling wanted. It may even have thought I had forgotten about it or maybe life was just all about living in pots and feeling cramped and terrible. Well, no, I now had the space cleared for this little beauty to go into her home and be free to spread those roots and settle into life on the plot. Isn't she a darling?

Whilst doing this Davy walked past with the most massive of cabbages this girl has ever laid her eyes on. Boy was that a good plant, very firm in the heart and hardly a nibble in sight. He was taking it over to a lady friend's house - better than flowers, eh?

Then during the week I attacked the sweetcorn bed. All done for this year and we only had 2 fresh off the plant. Though to be fair both Mamma G and my sister-in-law have lots in their freezers for us that they rescued from the plot in the bad weather Northern Ireland suffered when we were in glorious France. If frozen sweetcorn is the price you pay for going on holiday at the end of August/start of September. It's one I am willing to pay!

In France we bought an adaza, we'd been finding it very hard to get one here and the on-line shipping costs for something so heavy were nuts. So we gave it a try and oh!, it's great. Unfortunately we were in such a tizzy of work I didn't take a photo but I'll post one soon. We also bought a bell for the shed. It's for me to ring when Andrew wanders off around the fields and inevitably gets chatting for a long time. I can ring it and get him back again - that's the idea, I have my reservations about it actually working. Men (especially once they become husbands) seem to have very selective hearing!!!

The one and only harvest of Borlotti beans took place last night and the vines were cut back too. I had really enjoyed them growing up the gates, I think we'll do something similar next year and the climbing rose will be there too. As you can see I really did like them there as a good lot of them are way past their best. Our first squashes were lifted too - so cute looking, I hope they taste well. We did a 2 sisters approach with them and the sweetcorn, growing them in the same bed, it worked really well.

Then just as leaving last night we picked our first leek of the season - pretty good. And Andrew went mad collecting brambles, it was infectious and soon I was in the hedgerows too. We got quite a lot! Jam making tonight, us over the bubbly saucepan and a glass of wine, uummm. x