(pt2) Three day weekend - Thanks St. Patrick

Sunday 16th March ~

We've never done any of the twee and commercialised stuff to do with the St. Patrick's holiday and with an allotment now, we always have our own plans. Belfast has a crazy big St. Patrick's Day parade on today but, no thanks, it isn't even the big day. It amazes me how everyone else around the globe seems to make such a big deal of it, green everywhere (St. Patrick's colour is blue), four leaf clovers (lucky in Irish but he is identified by the three leafed, normal clover) etc. Plus where did this need, this urgent need to get drunk come from? Is it a diss on what it means to be Irish??

Ahh, sure.

We had FIRE! There was a lot of deeply rotten, moldy and diseased wood around our two plots, coming on 6 years that is bound to be the case. We really didn't want it near to the precious soil and new life we were cultivating. (Fear not, there are still piles of wood and slates etc for bugs, but this stuff was bad.) It needed to be eradicated and though it lots like a huge angry fire, that's just due to close ups and there wasn't any wind and Andrew was by it at all times and what I am trying to say is - this was needed and we were safe about it. It was also beautiful :) The middle picture shows all the dead stalks from the Jerusalem Artichokes too, so great too tidy that area up and it really bolstered the fire. (I contributed them)

Along with this going on, I was on 14b and having a very emotional reaction to the cherry tree bed. That's not a sentence I ever thought I would write, haha. Maybe it was due to the horrendous low I went into late on Saturday night, maybe it was because the cherry blossom is my moniker, but this bed needed my full attention and love.

Written in shed, in notebook ~ 'I can't quite explain it, it was therapy, there were too many emotions. But I suppose, chiefly amongst them was the need to get rid of that crap; clearing out, destroying it - it did something similar for my soul. I didn't want to give up'.

I have a sense that turning this mess around and making something productive and beautiful with it will do me no end of good. It's going to be an 'easy maintence' half plot with fruit trees, bushes, rhubarb and asparagus in it - things that like to be left alone. Plus it is where my cut flower border is going to be and I am serious about this time, really good dahlias, roses, echinacea, sunflowers, poppies etc, flowers that make my heart sing and will brighten the home too.

Just a little example of what I was talking about in the last post - getting those blasted weeds out by the root and all :) Squeeee - it makes me happy.

This is more the thing that gets Andrew to squeeee inside. A man's well rotten horse manure and compost bins are his Kingdom! Haha - Though, honestly this stuff has been fantastic and not a single whiff of anything nasty :) Is it wrong to love horse poo and kitchen scraps so much??

So this was the state of things at the end of day 2 around our plots

Maggie in a 'I've got a bit of biscuit suck in my cheek' pose ~ 14b coming on nicely, check out the path :) ~ dead gnomes

Plus we decided to take a dander before leaving - there wasn't anyone else there, we had the place to ourselves again! The council has put in a bridge and path to connect the local community to it's community centre, just above our plots. The path isn't great but the bridge is fab - cool idea!

The Conservation Volunteers know how to lay a hedge ~ catkins ~ hubby xxx ~ pretty flowers on a bush planted in the hedgerow ~ daffs in the hedgerow ~ me ~ the new bridge

And so endth the second day of the long weekend's gossip
love and hugs

Taming nature and pilfering on the plots!

Okay so I waxed lyrical about the joys of wild flowers in my last post and how beautiful and useful they are. Yes at the sides of the road a thistle, dandelion and long grasses make me happy but in my lottie, well they are nought but weeds.  Mr Titchmarsh sort of agrees with me, he once said that 'a weed is a plant in the wrong place' and boy did we have a lot of weeds to contend with on our return from France. I swear we could have lost Maggie in there!

There aren't any before and after photos but this one below. It's only a tiny part of 24a but it's all you are getting. Yes, shame was all encompassing when we saw our dear lottie plots for the 1st time, I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo, no, it was just too terrible. So think of this, but EVERYWHERE and you will get an idea of the horror, the horror.....

 

Only 'after' photos will be shared here and let's us forget about the 'before' ~ we are past winners of the 'Best Kept Allotment Award' for goodness sake!

We were methodical in our attack, almost military, a 2 pronged attack, a pincher movement.... Andrew took on the right hand side, I the left, grass was cut and beds weeded like there was no tomorrow. We started on Thursday night and on Friday night we did the next 2 beds and here is the joyous aftermath - some path and 4 beds, one with very healthy celeriac, one with very healthy leeks and 2 clear ones. Thank you very much; *I hear applause in the distance as the plots themselves weep with joy*

However on our return to the Allotments on Saturday we discovered that our shears had been pilfered - shame on you, whoever you are!!! By mistake we had forgotten to put them in the shed overnight and someone took advantage yet again. I say again, as we also noted that very first night that one of our biggest and best Squashes had been taken whilst we were on holiday. Argh, the duality of allotmenteering ~ the community aspect of many people and conversely, the people, all sorts of people.

Saturday saw all the sweetcorn harvested (a mixed bag in the end) and the squash plants below them lifted; sadly no edible fruits there. Then onto the cut and come again beds where all those bolted herbs and lettuces were turfed on the compost heap. Plus Andrew bought these, my new favourite things in the world - new shears!! They are so sharp and have a cushion-y  bit and make a quick whooshing sound when they cut through the grass = happy Carrie.

 

All we have now up that end in the long beds is Scallions, some Rainbow Chard, Sorrel and these beauties (Pak Choi). I am hoping to get the rest of the plot finished today! Andrew has already moved over to 14b and worked hard but I haven't seen it, I've been focusing on 24a.

New plans for the space are afoot and I shall post those (with one of my fabulous drawings) and the finished plot taming story/photos next time, probably tomorrow night. x

*****

Thank you for all the comments on Wild Flowers; so happy that many people have wild flower borders in their area and like the idea (and practice) of seed bombing :)

A few visual nibbles of Field B and 'the Trinty' moves plots

As I've been saying, I haven't really been focused much recently and unfortunately my roar has not returned though it is slightly louder than the feeble meow of Wednesday. I've been sick, very sick and therefore not down at the Lotties with Andrew as I should and really, I should, they need watered and it takes my poor hubby ages on his own, I need to pull my weight. Though in saying that there is heavy rain forecast for this weekend...

Anywho, last week I took a dander into Field B and here are a few photos of some lovely plots over there. I am particularly jealous of the irises and rocking bench in B8 and quite intrigued by the green roof idea that B24a is obviously planning. Plus, thank goodness one of 'the plots of shame' has been tackled with weedkiller and a spade and another is just waiting to get started with all those pallets (that's a lot of raised bed material right there!). Please look and enjoy your quick tour around our neighbours' field......

I can't remember what number this plot is but it is one of my favourites, these photos are too close up to do it justice as a whole lottie though.....

Plus, of course whilst I was doing that Andrew was actually working and he moved the Trinity of compost bins and took the opportunity to give the contents a good turning and adding shredded paper etc were needed. All 3 are now in the new half plot 14b right at the far end and the space where they had been is going to be a lovely new bed to grow things in. Andrew has made a stone wall around it (looks a little unnervingly like a fresh grave) and wants to have blueberry bushes and our rhubarb in there.

I'm desperately hoping this weekend is better and I'll lots to tell you. x

Deep Breath/Compost

It's time I crawled out from under my blanket and faced the world again. I feel like Sisyphus from the Ancient Greek Myths ~ faced everyday by a punishment so demoralising, painful and unrewarding; bound to go on for eternity. Only thing is I didn't do anything wrong, so why am I, too, cursed? This Depression is a cancer of the soul and feels terminal.

Oh, deep breath....

*********

A welcome gift awaited us on Saturday, by our Plot ~ Old pallets! Oh what joy some old bits of wood can bring! Andrew was so excited at the prospect of making his much talked about compost heap that he started right away - Bill had to wait a little for his thank you; he had promised us some pallets and as always, he didn't let us down.



I decided to get on with something else while Andrew built this...


...a man's compost heap is his castle, or some such thing. Look at the pride, he (quite understandably) couldn't take his eyes of it and once it was full of the stinkiest and therefore most wonderful cow manure I too couldn't help but be very proud too. It has it's little blue blanket over the poo and another pallet on top and that structure and it's contents are going nowhere fast. We kept the little sign Andrew had made too - hands off everyone, this sh*t is ours!!!!

So we now have a manure heap and the trinity of compost bins - all is well at the Lottie. In a few months time we will have soil conditioner to die for (though it's pretty darn good this season, but things can only get better).

Bargains and Bins

We were in evil Tesco* last night for a few essentials (ha!, how I smirked at their sorry excuses for Parsnips) and Andrew spotted a bargain, he just could not pass up. Hellebores for 20p! There were 4 of them and we took the lot, even the tray they were sitting in. They're great wee plants, nothing wrong with them at all, just dying of thirst. I think that just because they say 'Christmas Rose' on them, they're being reduced along with all the other Christmas-y stuff. Well, Hoorah and Merry Chrimbo!

I think I've managed to secure at least a couple for my flower bed at the Lottie, fingers crossed.

Anyway, back to Saturday and the hard labour we put in. The turf stack - it's gone! It took a couple of hours to get it all dug up and riddled but the sore legs and back were definitely worth it. We seem to have so much more room now and plenty of beautiful free top soil on our beds.

The holy trinity of compost bins has been moved over and now the boundary between us and our neighbours (remember we only have a half plot) is very clearly defined the whole length of the Lottie. Hey, good fences make good neighbours and all that.

There are loads of lovely worms from under that stack so the compost will be a joy to their little hearts. Andrew lifted the bins over and took the opportunity to turn the contents over. Now we're going to have another little thin bed down there, I think we've decided to put summer fruiting raspberries in it - we'll make the best of it, for sure.

Apart from that we cleared the 1st bed on the left of its lettuces, baby carrots (which weren't coping with this weather at all and were extremely tiny) and scallions. Then filled it with lovely top soil. But I'll talk about harvest baskets tomorrow...

(*TBC)

Wonderful Lottie

Well, when we got back to our lovely Lottie I was so pleasantly surprised. The only thing that appeared to look neglected were the Parsnips, but their leaves were due to die back and had been for a while, so that was no shock. Hoorah, for A24a!

So there was bad weather when we were off enjoying ourselves in Poland. But I was proud to see it hadn't put people off too much. The Plots were looking pretty much improved! More on that tomorrow. Ours just needed a general tidy up and weeding. The Marigolds also had to go - a sad day actually as there isn't a lot of colour on our plot now and they were my wee babies. But Good News is that in their place I have my bulbs coming up - ah, the circle of life!

Another happy surprise was the amount of rotting the new compost bin had gone through in only a matter of weeks. It was absolutely full to the brim, now you can see how much it was shrunk compared to the other bin behind it. Hoorah! Although I was a little annoyed to see this wee blighter poking through one of the other bins, ah nature, it will always win.

Composting - we LOVE it

Sunday saw the completion of the trinity of compost bins on our plot! We brought round the 3rd one from the back garden, which hadn't been used since we got the lottie anyway.

We visited Mamma G before we started to fill up this one. There is a very large, huge tree in her back garden which drops a tonne of leaves every autumn. This is the last year of its life - it's really not well at all any more and the wall beside it is falling down too. I got to gather up the fallen leaves and was enjoying doing it, but the excitement went up a major notch when i was presented with the leaf sucker-upper/shredder machine! I love boys toys so much. I gathered up 2 big black bags of shredded leaves for the plot.

Back at the lottie, Andrew got straight to work - he was rather excited, how cute. He had lots of leaves, garden/kitchen waste, cow poo and that bag of shredded paper. Remember the last time I spoke about 'Grow Our Own' compost? - well it was the same idea. Layers of each material were put on top of one another in a vast sponge cake type fashion. Leaves - g/k waste -paper -cow-poo, and repeat until bin is full. Eh Viola! another bin of (soon-to-be) Black Gold.

While Andrew finished that up I took more pictures - this is my favourite one and one of the main reasons why I'd like lots of sunflowers next year. The birds obviously love this!

By the way - you know this - now's a great time to look after our little bug and birdie friends. Nuts and seeds for the birds (just think of poor, starving Robin Red Breasts) and hidey-holes for ladybirds etc - piles of bamboo canes and old logs etc are the way to go.

Composting and Pumpkins

Looking back at the weekend's photos, I was reminded that Andrew turned the compost. It looks great - seems the mix is prefect and is rotting down extremely well. We'll have to get more seaweed soon, I think. Andrew is giving it a good sniff here and a rub through his fingers - he loves his compost. There were loads of worms in it too; remember always put the bins right onto the grass/soil so our wormy friends get good access! The other bin was also emptied (completely now) into the beds before the Spring Cabbages were planted and into the area where the Asparagus will - eventually - go, when we get some. As much as I love Sunnybank, our local nursery, it feels so good to not have to buy soil conditioner of this quality.

Unfortunately the same can not be said about our recent pumpkin dinner. We had to buy that beauty (from bloomin' Tesco, argh!) since all our pumpkins and squashes failed this year. There is still half of it left in the fridge to be used tonight; it hurts me to say, it is gorgeous. On Monday night we had it simply roasted with a little seasoning and some chicken - divine. Tonight there is a lovely pumpkin risotto coming my way and I can't wait. So comforting. There isn't any label on this one so I have no idea where it's from or of course which variety it is....

Sunday was a bloody horrible day, in my head. Andrew made me go out though and fair play to him, it was better than sitting in the house all mopey. We visited B&Q and finally got a long (raised bed length) plastic cloche. It was £8.99 but there was 25% off on Sunday - yippee! Then we got caught in the evil seeds section, it just gets us all confused, we want to grow everything and they have a lot to offer us, never mind all the catalogues here at home. We left with only our cloche and took it straight to the lottie. Andrew took it down, I only got as far as the car park - panic attack hit me over the head like a mallet.

Look at our lovely, picturesque power station in the background.

Soylent Green?!!!

I'm feeling a bit better today and to celebrate the sun has come out (with the hailstones).

This morning we also had a delivery, the 1st thing we have ever ordered for the Plot off the Internet! Our Garlic bulbs arrived, exciting and the contents look good, they're 'Solent Wight' (not 'Soylent Green' - don't worry, it just reminds of that, the name, not that it looks like it! Getting myself in a pickle here). Again, never grown it before so a new wee adventure begins. They are going in the permanent bed I think and will no doubt be planted as soon as Andrew can get there. Which means today I should think.

I forgot to mention that we were at the lottie last night, at about 6. I suppose I was too sick to care, it was very cold and very windy but Andrew thought it might clear my head. It only succeeded in making my nose run a lot and made me feel very hungry - I had Apple Pie in a local restaurant forthwith, for dinner!

Anyway, the other reason we went down was to do a little composting. Andrew picked up this bag of paper shreddings from work and wanted to get it down there, more to get the big hulk of a thing out of the house than anything. He was swamped by it and carrying that much shredded paper from the car park to the shed was hard work. He looks like a very wick Santa Claus. "Shredded paper or grass clipping children, have you been good this year?"

Even in the wind tunnel that is our field, he was determined and the venture went ahead as planned; some did manage to get into the bin - honest!

Nature's candy!

We haven't been to the lottie since Tuesday night, ridiculous. Andrew has been so busy with work; it's all his fault!

We were able to go down tonight for 20 mins before he was off on Best Man duties. Dressing your male friend up like a girl and getting him drunk is hard work, I'm sure and this is the 1st night! Tomorrow is the main event.

Anyway, it was very worth while. Our 1st Autumn Raspberry was ripe, one day later, it wouldn't have been the same. So pretty and soooo tasty - of course we shared it. There are others coming too.

We'll be back on Sunday, stuff to do and growing plants to look at. I'll write all about it next week.

I did some gardening today, just tidying up the raised bed and the patio area out the back. Tomorrow I'll do the lawns and the rest of the weeding etc. I never did gardening on my own before, but the lottie has given me more confidence - it's great. I'm going to use the push mower from the allotment instead of the electric one; work out those muscles. Also there is a lot of stuff from today to be shredded. I LOVE COMPOST, and I don't care who knows it.

Well, just me and the dog tonight. I'm not going to watch GW! Last week put me off, there's bound to be something on all those tv channels for me, surely.