An Allotment Reunion

What the bloomin' heck happened to February!?
I think someone stole mine; I remember so very little, I've lost time (anyone believe in UFOs?) There are some photos of me out hiking, hiking with Andrew and Toby and again with Andrew in the rain and such but apart from that, I think I slept. Seriously, I think I slept February away though I can see I read some good books - The Handmaid's Tail for instance. Anyway, it wasn't a good month and I can tell you, I'm glad March is here. The back garden has shown me some much needed hope in it's little blooms, that is something I remember smiling over, in the darkness.

But let us not dwell and instead talk of good stuff! We visited the allotment last Saturday what? - YES! We saw our land again after a very long absence and it didn't look too bad. I'm so glad we did all that work in the depths of winter, so cold and warming ourselves up with many a cup of tea. Apart from the field being a quagmire and the 'devastation' of Storm Doris (a little bit of our netting came down, it's nothing) it looks great, how surprising.

It's not that we fell out with the place but that the weather has been crappy and of course the field was never prepared properly and there is no drainage in place. This year, as last, we're absolute champions of the no dig system and we are going to sow direct as much as possible; in our 9 years at lottie owners we can't see that home sowing and planting out seedlings makes that much difference.

However, one thing we do plant out early is our garlic. We love our garlic and it loves us - 100% germination this year again. Aren't they just a happy sight standing like little soldiers all their rows.

Even had we wanted to do any work or even fork some wheelbarrows of newly delivered manure to the plot, we couldn't. The paths were sodden and these two very inadequate photos try to show. Look, even the slugs were being flooded out!

But TRUE JOY was to be found on 14b with our rhubarb patches. These young forced stalks had been so happy to get to the sun that they had pushed off the forcer lid :) We naturally took all these beauties home and I was supposed to make some of my compote and even some compote with ginger - but I've been a crappity mess so far this week. Poop.

There were also some purple sprouting broccoli plants that I reckon deserve a mention and these glorious little daffodils - what a happy sight.

Love and hugs
Carrie

So this weekend we are trying to go for a good hike and I'm not sure if we'll be at the lottie. This hiking lark has really given us a great joint hobby that's healthy and fun. It's just as, if not more, important than the lottie these days! x

April, tea breaks and garlic planting

April was crept up on me from no where! I'm in shock. It's probably not helpful that I forgot to get us a nice new house calendar at the start of the year - I'm constantly lost. Okay, I do know April comes after March but woah, hold on a minute, I was only getting used to it being March; it just doesn't feel April-y to me, not so much the 'drip, drip, drop, little April showers' and more buckets of rain and hail!

Except for these utterly glorious moments of blue sky, chill air and uplifting sights of yellow daffodils :)

As a born overachiever I worked my self into the ground on Tuesday and Wednesday at the allotment. I only stop when I get really dizzy or simply can't breathe any more. It's not right and its not clever and so Andrew bought a new stove and kettle and we now can have tea/coffee breaks. I love my hubby *blush*

Also, I am trying a new additional medication and it seems to be slowly killing me, so I do have very legitimate reasons for truly not knowing my limits at the moment. Funny, I despise being ill, I am so very frustrated by the illness itself and the bloody medications and their side effects. For all my bluster and positive messages about Ecotherapy and such, I just want to sleep, I'm tired fighting.

so shiny :)

Tuesday saw the planting of our garlic! What joy is beheld in such, the beginning of a new season, hands in the soil with a nurturing intent rather than a ripping out. Andrew had to plant out the garlic into modules this year as the ground was so terribly wet, but that was back in January and now it is a good bit better. So it was wonderful to see these healthy babies being placed in their new places of growth.

Here they are approx 6 inches apart in rows a foot apart - good luck little guys!

Planting out the garlic seedlings

Over on 14b I am still, yes still, trying to tidy up; my goodness every weed on earth seems to be deeply embedded in the ground over there! Plus I finally got rid of the torn and tattered tarpaulins and lots of empty gravel bags - goodbye blue blight! But I tell you the forest area is killing me! Though I am happy to say that I have done a lot more than the following 'after' photo shows. We shall have finished paths someday!

before and after pics of the slow but steady work on 14b

After this it rained, it poured, it was almost biblical and we could have been washed away in our shed - though we would have had tea and coffee....

And that, my darlings is you all caught up :)

We haven't been able to go over since Wednesday as Andrew has been diy-ing here at home, laying a new and beautiful wooden floor. I have been reading a lot, yoga-ing and fiendishly hoarding any and all toilet rolls for some of my fussier seeds.  Maggie has been sleeping :)

I'll have a look at the seedlings etc for next time and record how everything is going.
Hope you are all seeing the changes of the season and gaining happiness from the lighter evenings.

Hugs and love
Carrie x

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

Rhubarb harvest / snippets of Spring

It has begun my friends - harvesting from the allotment has taken off already. The rhubarb wasn't forced this year or we would have been enjoying it earlier but the time has arrived and it was worth the wait. I have a couple of recipes I would like to try, fingers crossed this time I actually get further than getting the ingredients out and then having to dump them!

At the two half plots there are many signs of new life and tasty produce to come, it gives one the tingles :)

Left : Autumn Raspberries coming through and the Blackthorn hedge taking root and sprouting leaves

Middle : Just one of those amazing little 6 headed Daffodils I have been mentioning

Right : Beautiful fat buds on the Cherry tree, it's covered in them and the Garlic growing strong

******

Naturally we also have opened up the Gault seedling nursery and even after the incident with the mini greenhouse, our spirits are up and pretty much everything is doing well. They're all exciting to me so even if you log off now in boredom of my giddiness, I am going to show you  more seedling photos now.....well, loads of soil and maybe a few specks of green, hehe.

Top

 Left : One of 3 (so far!) Mangetout 'Oregon Sugarpod'

Right : The Dahlia 'Bora Bora' tubers are all doing good, this is just one

Bottom 

Left : 2 Kohl Rabi hiding in a corner of a big seed tray full of more waiting to burst through

 Right : One of many many Zinnia 'Jazz' babies (boy these grow fast!)

Love and Hugs
Your Carrie x

St Patrick's Day

Oh what a let down, it was all going so well until yesterday when it rained, then there was sleet then snow and rain all day, all night :( St Patrick's Day is our traditional day for planting the spuds but no, when we arrived at the allotment (bright and early - go us!) the paths were enough of a giveaway - the ground was sodden. If you are into rotten potatoes, fine go ahead but I kind of like them to be edible.

 *****

So I would like to share with you our back garden instead :)  There have been some improvements and the swelling of buds and bulbs has been bring joy and loads of birds. Oh yes! we are officially on the map as the place to get your seeds and fat balls.

The hard landscaping

I am so lucky in my 'catch'; my hubby can lift his hand to anything and does each and every thing he puts his mind to with perfection. It's actually a little bit annoying at times that he can be so awesome, ggrrrr BUT he does remind me of my Big Papa in this way and that causes me to love him even more!  Our main trees and bamboos are finally settled and starting to grow; I feel this summer will be luscious.

He made this >

A super fab screen to stop over-looking

And we have further plans to make this area fabulous. Number one is getting rid of that umbrella.

Plus look at how happy our Christmas boxes and beech hedge is looking; happy and healthy and if I could use my nostrils....supposedly the Christmas box smelt wondrous.

The Acer buds, beech hedge bud profusion and cherry blossoms

The pretties that bring joy

Look at the joy, the yellow shiny bright joy that is the glorious tete-a-tete, on mass it is a happy pill that works through you merely seeing them. Of course the tulips are coming too and I am really looking forward to that. In the photo below the black pot has some long forgotten tete-a-tetes that had sprouted in the shed :) And those terracotta pots are going to be full of tulips.

Then over in the tea garden haven the snow drops are slowly giving way to the colourful crocuses. 

Garden accessories (very necessary for maximum enjoyment!)

We finally bought ourselves a little bistro set for the tea garden, it's only taken what feels like forever! We got this little marvel for a steal in a huge Scandinavian shop whose colours are blue and yellow and they love their meatballs....I hope you get my drift.

I was also very fortunate to be sent these little beauties from the lovely people at Jo Alexander. And yes, they were a gift in turn for a wee name drop but oh I do so love them. This is my style - simple, elegant and timeless. I look forward to long lazy nights outside, with wine at our bistro set with candle light; I already have quite a number that hang down from the pergola but I am a fan of lights dotted in the foliage.

Hugs, more soon,

It's not January anymore

Yes!! Today saw the start of the year (January is a bad word in my mind - I try to ignore it with all my might) February is here my friends and I can barely stand the joy. It's only a wee month and then bam! it's March etc...

For this auspicious occasion I went out into the garden, simply desperate to find springy-ness and hope for the year to perk me up. Here is what I saw....

So happy the Beech hedge is filling out and the box hedge is smelling fabulous and looking so healthy :)

 Yes! Big, fat, juicy tulip bulbs are popping through all over the place :)

 AIliums and lots of tete-a-tete bulbs have poked through and are looking super :)

 See? more!!! ;) Plus the Jasmine is happy and grew so much last year - I have happy tingly feelings :)

 Still the snowdrops keep coming; so delicate and so very white they glow :)

And the winter flowering cherry has been in bud for ever, I love it but never more so with the blue sky behind it -  blue sky is the bestest thing ever :)

I am smiling a lot today as you may have noticed and the weather looks okay for tomorrow too = Allotment Time!! Happy Days :)

Love and hugs and Happy February to you :)

Some pretty photos, just because it's lovely today

These have been taken over the weekend and I think one of two were supposed to be blogged last week after the St Paddy's post but I forgot - oops. Please do enjoy......

one of the outbuildings up at Gleno (farmers shop/hardware shop/ grocery shop)

Purple Sprouting Broccoli - yay (this was gobbled up)

 Sunday and Sunday

happiness!

Plum Blossom (fingers crossed for a  harvest this year)

happy two tone daff

rhubarb forcing it's way out of the forcer (so to speak)

more happiness, in purple :)

I'm in love with this guy

My bouquet of double daffs and purple tulips - patio doors open, chairs out = bliss

 Today

part of our back garden in the sunshine :)

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

Celebrating Spring whilst eating Summer

I wish I could weave you a fabulous tale about how all Irish people buy their spuds and eat homemade Blackcurrant jam on St Bridget's day. It's certainly something that I did and I wish it would catch on...maybe after this post it slowly will... Also it would be lovely if we all sent each other gorgeous bunches of Tulips as I received from my bestest pal Rose - thank you again!!

Ahh, the joy of thinking Spring-y. The flower boxes on the window sill in front of me have little daffodils not only emerging but getting ready to burst open and send their beautiful sunshine yellow glow into the street. It's a waiting game and one I am enjoying. In the back garden we have had sweet little Snowdrops for weeks; I think there is a grand total of 5 single blooms but they are only baby plants and in time I am sure there will be years when it's just a jungle out there :)

Well anyway, back to the wondrous tradition *cough cough* of potato buying and jam eating on St Brigdets' Day.... So as I am sure you are all aware, the 1st Feb is St Bridget's day here in Ireland and thus the 1st day of SPRING. Sing it with me people - Spring!!!!
Side Note -
I'm not religious at all but...St. Brigid represents the Irish aspect of divine femininity in her role as patron of babies; cattle farmers; dairymaids; dairy workers; midwives; milk maids; poultry farmers; poultry raisers and all sorts of people involved in fishing, scholars and poets and the printing press. So she's pretty powerful in the farming community of which us Allotmenteers are pretenders to the throne ;)

So you got your Spuds? We got ours last weekend and they were duly put on the window sill upstairs to start chitting on the 1st :) This year we have remained faithful to Sharpes' Express and are trying a new one to us 'Estima' . We prefer to pick ours by hand; love a good looking at and a squeeze, we do ;) I am absolutely sure that there is nothing wrong with buying them in bags or through the mail but if I can, I love to choose personally.

I LOVED the brown paper bags..

And this is the money shot - the jam. Nothing quite like growing your own blackcurrants, picking them (arrgh the eternal battle with the birds!), washing and freezing them until the horrid winter. Then making jam - so sweet and summery on one's toast; there ain't anything like it. We have lots of Raspberries and more Blackcurrants, so more jam to come :) Yummy.......

Hope to chat again soon, just need the weather to co-operate and then I can get out there and plant seeds and what not :)