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

(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

Three day weekend - thanks St Patrick (pt1)

Saturday 15th March -

We visited Mamma G and Maggie got a cuddle and kisses. Those are her daffs too and look at that sky = gardening weather!

Then we went and got a few bits and bobs, such as these new flowers for 14b (and much more than this photo shows) and a new kettle for the shed - hurrah!! Hot drinks are back :) Now we can warm ourselves up after facing the N. Irish winds - bbbrrr.

* I strongly believe in buying flowers and even some vegetable seeds in these discount shops. Not everything has to come from a great nursery or a named supplier. We regularly get things for next to nothing and they turn out to be just as good. If you aren't looking for a certain type - I say go cheap and you may be very surprised. For example our spuds last year came from a nursery and some from a pound shop, different types but both extremely abundant when harvest time came.

Look how happy Maggie is and how shiny our new wee kettle is :) The sky was blue but there's usually a nip in the air, hence the jumper and need for tea. Earl Gray for Andrew and Three Mint tea for me...you are always welcome by the way and sometimes we even do coffee, plus you'll always find a biscuit or two :)

Okay, ready to go. These are the weekend's 'Before' photos. The 24a one will not shock anyone but I have until now, resisted showing you the unbearable shame of 14b. Maybe I should explain? Blush! Last year we decided were going to give up this plot and just sort of forgot about it, thinking we shouldn't waste anymore time there. The plots around it are so terribly neglected that the weeds from them had invaded ours and simply - we were miserable. But, during the winter we had ideas flowing and not enough room in one half plot to accommodate them, so.... It's an ugly duckling ready to bloom :)

Andrew kept going on 24a, getting rid of the last of the chard and mooli which had gone over and mulching everywhere liberally with horse manure. There were a great deal of times that I could have sworn that he was just standing there, doing nought, but I am assured in my heart that he was planning, always planning ;) Haha. 

Though it is true.... Had there been anyone else down there they may have thought he was a slave driver, but there wasn't, not a one in our field and the others looked empty too, to be frank. Kind of makes you mad...

Yes! I tackled and sort of conquered/ made a dent in 14b; got rid of the dead raspberry canes and I honestly don't know how many massive thistles and dandelion plants, not to mention the grass that had conquered the beds. Is there much better than getting the whole root of a weed out in one swift movement? :)

I did enough work to get really excited about and even lament home time; though I was exhausted and sleeping standing up. It's been a long time since I felt that strongly about the place and how we (Nature and I) were nurturing one another. I felt such love for my plots, my wee pieces (literally) of Eden.

The Allotment Gardens as a whole are a damnable shame and to my eyes, a failure. Poor infrastructure, lack of commitment, still poor access and a real need for strong leadership and rule reinforcement! I could rant for days but I shan't, instead here are the 'After' photos for Day 1 - I believe Maggie was quite happy with our progress :)

Hugs and love
LOADS more to come :)
Your

Carrie x

Utter Allotment Shame

A summery day, we had 1 ~ hoorah! The 12th of July was a stunner and Andrew, Maggie and I took ourselves off up the coastline of Co.Antrim. I may be biased but that is one of the best drives in the world and it's right here on our doorstep. It's perfect, just stopping at little beaches along the way and letting Maggie run whilst we chased her and also looked for cool beachy treasures.

The fair I was at last weekend was brilliant, there were lovely and friendly stall holders, it was really well organised and then loads of lovely people came and they had their shopping heads on :) It was a real buzz.

****

The rest of our time off was spent in the back garden or just loafing around. We did want to go to the allotment a lot but well, it's such an unholy mess that we simply couldn't face it. The Council isn't keeping the paths clear and the grass and weeds are knee height, a significant number of plot holders haven't bothered their asses over the past year and those disastrous messes are full to the brim with more flowering grass, weeds and diseases. I am furious, so angry at the lack of any care and the complete unenforcement of the rules ~ the council is failing us and ought to be kicking these people out! For goodness sake, we have a 2 year waiting list with people desperate to try growing their own.


pretty, yes, but this is suppose to be cultivated and growing lovely food!! (The plot next door)

So it's now been a whole week since I was anywhere near my plots. My hay fever has been very severe this year and with the afore mentioned mess of the plots in general I have been so bad I couldn't breathe last Friday night and ended up retching so much, gasping for air, that I threw up twice on the footpath. It was truly very frightening and reminded me of those asthma attacks when I was little; I thought I was going to die. I didn't die :)
I was put on different meds though and they nearly killed me again! I had to come off them after 3 days; 3 days which are lost to me, I either slept or was dizzy and very confused, those were my options :) But hey - I ditched them and I'm still here fighting away with a runny nose and itchy eyes. Thank goodness we live by the sea - last night's visit to the beach was a joy!

Andrew has been and collected the last of our broad beans :( It was fabulous while it lasted. We have kept some, blanched and frozen - a nice treat for those winter months. I don't know if it was just us but we had to skin our beans this year as they were quite tough otherwise. Must be something to do with the weather... He also brought home a load of spuds - boy those plants are doing us proud, it just never seems to end.

I shall be going to the plot tonight; fingers crossed I survive. We know (Andrew has seen) that the raspberries and currant bushes and gooseberries have been going mad with production so we need to fight off the birds and actually get some this year! As I write this I am just thinking I have most likely jinxed us simply by saying that out loud. Tut tut, I ought to know better.

I leave you with a photo of our raspberry+ harvest from 2 years ago - an image that sold well at the fair :) Oh I get so proud when people ohh and ahhh over photos of our produce :)

Hugs. I'll be back on form soon!

Mingling with the hoi poloi

Yesterday Andrew and I had lunch with the Mayor in the Town Hall. Sounds very fancy and really is was very nice. We weren't alone though (we aren't that important), instead we were part of a large group of winners and runners up in the Carrickfergus in Bloom competition. Oh, the photos in the papers and the acolade of winning Best Kept Alloment of the year 2009 wasn't enough, no, we also had a gorgeous lunch, a certificate, a gift bag, Lottie book and our fabulous vouchers for the local nursery. Then again, there were another few photos taken for the papers; our 15 mins of fame is over.

It had been a very long time since I had been in the main hall of the Town Hall. I used to do solo singing when I was wee there, for the Music Festival. I always came 4th every year ( 5th once) - which is great but I never once got a prize or a certificate. Wick. I remember one year I was the 149th (last) person to sing, everyone was so bored and it ended up with most of the audience singing the bloody song with me! Can't blame them, sitting listening to that may kids sing the same song that many times I would go insane now.

So, to me the Hall was tiny, not the huge venue it was when I was 6-11yrs old. There were people from all over the brough and the whole age range too. We had a lovely elderly couple at our table who came second in the' Container Gardens' section and the winner of the 'Childrens' Painting Competition', Gemma, and her parents.

We had a very tasty lunch and red wine (yummy) and a short speech by the Ulster Co-ordinator of Ulster in Bloom, Ken. He spoke about how he was visiting his doctor recently and she asked wheater he was still in the post, telling him that gardening wasn't just good for you physcially but mentally too. I nearly jumped out of my seat I was so happy. Had to go over to him and have a wee chat. I've said it before.....Ecotherapy Rocks!!

It was fun, we have to try really hard to at least be runners up next year and get to go back. Oh and Stephen if you're reading this.... I didn't get a name badge and my name isn't on the certificate!! Shame.

For all the winners, runners up and a chance to see Gemma's fab painting check here.

Freebies!!!!

Maggie and I are both sick :( We both have dickey tums and are feeling very sorry for ourselves. My head (mentally) is also playing up and I feel like running away and becoming a hermit or a 'crazy-woman-with-lots-of-cats' but I don't like cats....so I guess I'll be a hermit, possibly with Maggie, if she wants to come.

Anyway, I small glimmer of joy was wedged through my letter box by my usual grumpy Postman today. Really if he sighs anymore or indeed takes his frustrations out on my post for much longer I think I'll crack and set Maggie on to him. The Fiercest Licking of his Life!!!!!

Yeah, my head is fried, were was I? .... 'glimmer of joy'... Yes. Look! ~ a whole bunch of seeds from the council as a wee thanks for renewing our Lottie tenancy. Lovely!! Now where the heck are we going to grow these? Goodness, does every silver lining have to have a cloud?

I do have lots to tell you about the weekend but I feel too sick so it will have to wait, right now I need my blanket and a good old period of self-pitying. Then I'll feel better.

The Economy ~ another pest for the Allotmenteer

The sun is shining - well, it's really trying to. I feel like flying over to the Allotment site and erecting a magical 4-field-big greenhouse to help the whole place dry out a bit. It isn't going to happen but I can dream. That's the worst bit about the place at the moment, or make that, for the last months on end. The ground is saturated and half a spade's depth down it's like the sea is trying to escape up through the slit.

Anyway, I wanted to write a little something today because (big tease that I am) I mentioned my e-mail from the Parks & Countryside Development Officer at the Council, but failed to tell you what it said.

Well firstly, the Lotties have been talked about a good bit, I am glad to report. In December a site visit was also arranged and there, with some of our Allotment Holders Association Committee 'the Councillors who attended appreciated that work on paths needed to be done'. Hoorah! The path down to the plots is going to be replaced with a ( hopefully, excellent) pedestrian path. Unfortunately, as with all bureaucracy, we have to wait to see what happens, as the e-mail states :
'With regard to funding this and other projects I cannot give you an answer until budgets are announced in March.'



But let's be hopeful, even in the current economic crisis. Fingers crossed.

Update on path - already!

I wrote an e-mail directly to the head of the Parks & Countryside Development sector of our Local Borough Council, after uploading my latest blog-ette on the Path issue. And lo and behold I got a personal e-mail back within 20 mins of sending my own. I was/am impressed.

Power to the people! my friends - both the official Committee letter on this problem and mine (eek) are going to be presented at a council meeting on the 5th December. The budget for the Allotments has totally run out but we will have to keep our fingers crossed that there is some Christmas spirit in that meeting and we will be granted our wish of better access.

I'll keep you posted.