Our little seedlings

I just don't know when to stop. Even after I wrote and hit 'publish' on my last blog post; I felt compelled to go outside and take photographs, put a load of washing on and make compote. Then in the afternoon I wrote rough drafts for the next 6 posts, and got some photos edited for them..... then 'had to read' yet ready for yoga and so......collapsed.

To be honest the rest of the day was a mystery, though I did love Forrest Gump being on. Today I have barely moved from the sofa - yay I got up out of bed though!! - and have 'just read' all day. Though my mind has been muddled and confused and I seriously look like a mad lady!

Why do I strive so vehemently when I'm obviously so ill?

Sorry. I needed to get that out, say it openly and publicly. Listen to your precious bodies and minds my friends.

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** The Gault nursery as it stood yesterday..

 Andrew's homemade cold frame - housing geraniums and broad beans at the moment

 Roses - Reine de Violettes and  Silver Jubilee
 Two Beetroot types (Chiogga) and  (Golden) Celeriac, Purple Sprouting Broccoli

 On the window sill - Sunflowers (this is 2 weeks after planting!), Zinna (Jazz)
 Tiny Rudbecki (dwarf mix), our clever light reflector ;)

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** The back garden in happy vignettes....

So much green and happy growth!

Hugs and love
Your Carrie

P.S. Almost all my Dahlias are sprouting now :) 'Golden Wonder', 'Bora Bora' and 'Pom Pom'

Dandelions and Daffodils

Hello my pretties, long time no talk to!
We have much to catch up on and the sun has just come out, Maggie has just gotten settled on her sofa and I have my cosy blankie....

I think owning an Allotment at this time of year can feel a little like a punishment, there I said it. I fear too many people are on the band waggon of 'grow your own and isn't everything wonderful', well no, let's be frank (whoever he is) and just look at the reality of the whole thing...it's mucky, it's brown everywhere, your hands are cold and cracked, your back aches, Andrew's head is spinning with crop rotations, all the celeriac had to come out because it was awful, there are weeds growing gloriously and vigorously and everything is quite literally poo (I hate how obsessed I become about good manure at the time of year, it is quite unladylike!). Plus even coming into our 5th growing season Andrew and I still haven't got on top of those blasted paths and I have seen 1, count that my friends, 1 adult worm in the whole 2 plots!!!!

There rant over, but I really do hope you see what I mean. How can one seriously get excited about the Lottie when you turn up to see this and you could ideally be in a cafe somewhere with a great book instead....

these are not the worst photos I could have shown you...

Though to be fair these beds are now all weed free (I take a bow) and some have lime on them (think brassicas), others have lovely poo on them. How can I really get annoyed when I think about how you are all in the same boat! At least we aren't like a lot of other people on the plots who haven't done a single thing since summer last! The vast majority of the plots are a disgrace, but I pat myself, well make that, I pat Andrew on the back for making us go and get stuck in over these past months.

Action shot of Andrew adding some lime :)

Can you believe it - March already! Yay, the Spring has conquered yet another Winter :) It's time to get those last minute prunings done - blackberries, raspberries etc and prepare to sow seeds like there is no tomorrow. I often wonder why we bother planting some outside under cover - 1st pic is Broad Beans planted in situ where Mice got to them, grrr, 2nd picture is Broad Beans planted and put in the cold frame - I love the cold frame ones and actually spent about 3 mins staring at them in their green glory last Saturday. It makes the heart sing to see such a vibrant healthy colour (especially when it isn't a blasted dandelion!).

Next is the flower bed with it's little tete-a-tetes and then the last of the leeks harvested. There is still rainbow chard and the rhubarb is going bonkers, I think we'll be eating it for weeks :) Our garlic is coming up well and the trees all look healthy, there is an artichoke flower already (yuck!!) and the Jerusalem Artichokes are heaving at the soil (yum).

..and this is only the small plant :)

But really overall, I am tired the moment I look at the place and I am not joking. Everything good is really good, I can't deny it but it does only amount to a tiny percentage of the productivity of the 2 half plots and really, grass and weeds are winning at present. Even when we do start seed planting, they'll be underground for goodness sake and I won't see the rewards for ages - I know, I sound like a very grumpy, hormonal teenager. My depression  has been horrendous lately and my mood is jumping about all over today (sorry).

May this make you giggle as it did for me - one of our failed parsnips in the weeding trug

But then there's the shed, oh. dear. god. help. us. all! We can barely get in or get what we want, out. It is a disaster of epic proportions. I didn't even take a photo for fear of causing heart attacks amongst you all and the shame for me really would be unbearable.

Let's end on a happy photo of my window sill - little daffs everywhere - yellow joy right in my eye line, swaying gently in the breeze. Happy St David's Day to all those Welsh lovelies out there - I must say you have a glorious flower and a fabulous vegetable representing you (whereas we have a weed - the clover and the potato, hahaha).

showing off here with my amazing 3 headed daff!

Love to you all, and wishing you strength to get out there in the cold and grey, damp days and try to see to beauty in brown soil, mucky boots and poo xxxx

De-Shaming complete :)

Hello dear lovely reader :) Hope you are feeling fabulous and starting to notice the nights getting shorter - oh SPRING is on her way!!!

So this weekend I was at the lottie both Saturday and Sunday - I know - shock! I shouldn't have been there on the Sunday as I wasn't well enough but I pushed as I usually do and it present yours truly is just emerging from yet another quite bad nervous meltdown. I couldn't even talk these past days never mind type. Silly girl. I really can't seem to see the signs until it's too late.

Anyhow - Let me show off what we did on Saturday - I was feeling pretty good for a change :)

Andrew worked so hard on gossipping with a new member of the lottie, hahaha. But he did get a lot of work done too *blush* I'll have to get him to tell me again a little about his new friend, he sounded very nice but my brain is a mess and I can't remember much other than he cheerfully joined the search for my misplaced camera at the end of afternoon....I'll tell you that story in a while.

So here is the 'Corner of Shame' now - looking better I think you will agree. We now have the 2 cold frames over from 14b and have the area blocked off. We are going to use this area as a nursery and as the potting up area is just round the corner it all makes better sense of the space. I doubt it will stay carpeted, hahaha and no we aren't getting a couple of chairs and a coffee table! Once the grass underneath is dead we'll probably put down bark mulch or some such thing :)

I concentrated on de-weeding (yes it's a word!) the rest of the asparagus/strawberry bed and uncovered our path under the fruit arch. It's growing really well - I'll have to get Andrew to tie those branches in.

Then I tackled the 'coffin', haha, I still call it that, it looks like a coffin - sorry Andrew. Look Rhubarb :) I forgot to put that forcer on top after weeding the area but I'll do it next week. This whole area hadn't being looked at for a while - eek!

And so I took some before photos and went to take some after photos an hour later and NO camera!!! I searched on my own for half an hour, getting more and more frustrated and upset, then Andrew and his new friend helped for another half hour, no sign of it :( We were everywhere and looking through rubbish and on our hands and knees going through the long grass (the blasted camera was in a GREEN case *rolls eyes*). I was starting to get rather dark and Andrew's friend had to leave and I just felt so sad I started to cry (just a wee bit), Andrew gave me a big hug and said nice things. Thing is he was really hurting my boob hugging me......the camera was in my gillet, way up on top of my boob!!!! The pocket stretches all over inside, you could fit Maggie in there!

So I had been walking around with a rectangular right boob for an hour - it was really noticeable! What sweet gents they were - never once did they look at that area at me say 'is that not it in your top?' Unless Andrew's new friend thinks I have very odd boobs - hahahahaha.

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

I had a GOOD day.

Yep, me!! For the first time in ages I actually had a good day, isn't that fab?? The morning started off a bit crap but then, as Andrew was working near by (at Carrickfergus Castle) he came to Mamma G's and took me out to have lunch with him. We went to a lovely little place, a deli/coffee shop and chatted and looked at all the jams and chutneys for sale - inspiring! Outside it was a little cold but the sky was blue and the sea was lovely to look at (I could'nt live away from the sea, it's always been there right at the doorstep my whole life).

Andrew went back to work and I worked on a couple of guest bloggettes  for Mind and a new bag I am going to sew. But lo and behold, the phone rang and Andrew was coming home again!! He had been given the rest of the day off. So.......to the Lottie with us!!!!!

Finally, a day were the sun was shining and the ground was reasonably dry. I planted out the first crops - Broad beans ('Aquadulce Claudia') that had been in the cold frame. I have little cloches over them but they look happy, fingers crossed. The weather is supposed to be okay for a while, oh touch wood!! Then we made up our new, super duper tent coldframe/greenhouse where we hope to do great things with tomatoes and chillies. That's the idea anyway. It's so big I was inside it whilst we worked on getting it put together. Unfortunatley I didn't have a camera with me but I'll take pictures at the weekend.

The atmosphere was lovely and the birds were tweeting away merrily. We had a nice chat with some follow lottie folk and enjoyed the sunshine on our faces. The leeks Andrew sowed at the start of the week went into the new tent structure (no signs of green yet - I looked). And we looked in awe at how good the garlic is coming along and the fat buds on the spring bulbs we planted - daffodils and tulips ahoy.

Anyway, as I said I forgot my camera so here are a few from the weekend past. Hope you are having some workable weather! xxx

Anenomes still flowering!   We finally remembered to bring the garlic string home

My motto on the shed door

Cosy chat in with Bill

Doug and Jasmine have a hug on their plot

Quite scary though lying down on the job.

New Growth

To begin the story of the weekend, I first must explain that I did not want to be there, at the Allotments. You may remember that the weeks prior to this I hadn't been down and last week I only got as far as the car park. It wasn't the poor weather, it was my depression and anxiety.

I suppose that if this is therapy we're talking about - I have tough obstacles to overcome, it can and is rewarding but ultimately I am there to grow as a person - that, my friends ain't easy. You'll see though, as the week goes on - Ecotherapy was in action and by the Sunday afternoon it was doing good.

My recent absence was good in another way - I saw the emergence of Spring clearer and my Daffodils were looking big and strong; nearly ready to open their beautiful faces to the world and cheer the place up. The wide pot of primroses was also bursting with juicy buds and the Hellebores are blossoming; my wee plants seem to have settled in to their new homes just fine.

I took to work on this little flower bed area. I dumped that hideous excuse for a conifer (which I am allergic to anyway) first off and it felt great! I've kept the wicker pot though....I have plans for that, but I'm not telling ;) And then I planted out the little 50p bronze grass I got in B&Q, replacing the green stripy one. So now, with my gorgeous Dogwood (it is heavenly, no?) and 3 grasses the same I am happier and the ground is full of worms, hoorah. I'll be a gardener yet!

So, on top of all that, look at the 'Cristo' Garlic coming through in the cold frame (it's also peeping its head up in the raised bed but not so evidently) and my Babies -my Broad Beans. They are like little toddlers now and I have taken the cover off them so they can face the big world and all it has to throw at them. I'm optimistic, they'll be fine, won't they? Yes, they will. Won't they?

My head is about to explode but....

I feel terrible today and these blasted headaches are not helping - argh! the weather is driving me bonkers. How are these cold, grey, windy and intermittently wet days supposed to make the Depressed person feel? It's not fair.

Anywho, thought I'd quickly write about Sunday as, at the time, it made me feel a bit happier. (Ecotherapy in action). That feeling has disappeared now, believe me ~ but let's try to recapture some of the joy of.....planting out our first new crop!

Yes, it happened. I planted out 8 beautiful Broad Bean plants ('Aquadulce Claudia') in A1. I admit they aren't planted in the most perfect lines, but I blame my Double Vision for that. The wee plants had the best root systems and were sturdy little things. I hope they survive; they're my wee babies. I have a cover ('sun tunnel' sounds so silly) over them, stuck firmly into the ground to give them the best chance in this awful weather. We'll be sowing more soon, a different variety 'The Sutton' I think, so we do have back up, but fingers crossed everyone for my babies.


I also planted my Hellebores into a long trough, but again the weather was so bad I just put them back in the cold frame for now. If I hadn't they'd probably be miles away up the Beltoy Road come the weekend! Hahahaha (maniacal laugh or cry moment). This weekend will be better!

I'm a messy planter, I know.

Socks of Good Fortune

I had a feeling on Saturday that it may be a good visit - I thought this because I realised, while putting on my wellies, that I was wearing my favourite socks. I was to be proven right.....

To begin with the brand new beds in Field C have been marked out - lots of squares and posts with numbers on them - oh, I am looking forward to more sheds, more crops, maybe more cute n' crazy kids! This is brilliant, I just hope they know what they're getting themselves in to - hard work, that's what, hehehe.


And in our Field, A1 has now got 3 very sturdy looking raised beds made and set in one corner. Glad to see that, always thought A1 ought to be a good example to us all - maybe it will flourish from now on. Fingers crossed.

Then, on our own dear lottie, my Broad Beans had germinated. Hoorah - I love those little green shoots like they were my children. (Though I also can't wait for them to grow up so I can eat them - and that isn't my philosophy on 'real' children - just to clear that up!) Look at them, aren't they glorious, I put it down to Andrew's lovely safe environment of a Cold Frame. Then on leaving I also spotted my crazy primroses STILL flowering away; they haven't stopped since they were put in at the end of Spring, surely that just isn't normal!

Tomorrow I shall talk (and show) the bountiful harvest we collected - maybe this was also down to the socks - we shall never fully understand their power.......

Broad Beans and a Cold Frame Lid

Come with me as I travel back to the 1st of November. Things were going well - I had already got new shoes in Belfast, had the best lunch in Avoca and now I was at the lottie with my hubby.

Andrew had made the cold frame lid at home days before but of course we couldn't get to our beloved plot until the weekend to fit it. He used some wooden batons and screwed car port, corrugated plastic on top to create a secure and effective top (glass would have been easier and cheaper but it's not allowed on our site for insurance reasons). So while he fiddled about with henges and screws, to great effect it must be said, I sowed some broad beans.

I get rather excited when I get to watch a (successful) plant grow right from my sowing to picking the produce. Then of course there's the joy of ripping it out of the ground, chopping it up and composting it - ah, the circle of life! Anyway, I got myself all set up in the shed and did my thing with the 'Aquadulce Claudia' seeds, which are very pretty and feel lovely. Just multi-purpose compost in seed trays, I planted 24, some for us, some for Mamma G and some insurance policy ones (just in case). It felt great and after a nice watering they went into the newly improved cold frame - perfection.

So as Andrew perfected the positioning of his work of art and safely placed some tender plants (and my seeds inside) I took a dander. And low and behold, my daffodils are starting to poke their little heads up from the flower bed. Ah the sweet victory of spring over the harshness of winter!!!