My timing isn't so great

The stars aligned today, the medication kicked in, that fabled golden orb shone in the blue sky and I felt good.

I saw the bench, my cosy hideaway and couldn't help but giggle, it's perfect. Rustic, handmade by the man I love, with a gravelled area and with two healthy climbers to help shelter me. Maggie of course had to nosey but funnily wasn't so interested in it than the exceptionally tiny dog that just wandered on to the plot :)

I got to work and suddenly (because today I care about such things) I noticed half finished jobs and the real state of my flower beds, which I have simply been ignoring bar some weeding. Oh they were meant to be my project this year but so far I haven't had the best 2015 and boy does it show here. Half the lovely seeds I ordered haven't been planted and I never did get round to buying another permanent flowering bushy plant.

I start with the roses. Dead heading is pleasant and fragrant but then the black-spot is more noticeable and I realise why Andrew bought me a pair of secateurs a few months ago and encouraged me to garden.....most of both rose bushes need cut away, including lots of sweet buds too. The plants look great, well, healthy at least once I'm done; I'm scratched and bleeding (which is only fair after their neglect) and set an intention to look after them better.

Then on Monty's advice I cut back the two oriental poppies that I missed in their fabulous moment of flowering and cross my fingers that they may come back for a little flush again. It's so weird to think about it, I didn't really do anything this year, I simply couldn't care less and not one seed or bulb has been planted by my own fair hand. It has been all about the therapy of simply being outside in the air and getting my hands dirty weeding and creating pathways. I really miss the sunflowers this year :(

I finished the evil weeding between the two flower beds and we plan to get a ton more gravel delivered soon so we can have proper paths for once on 14b. It looks ok and though I'm tired (Andrew so lovingly telling me I look like I am about to collapse - thanks) I want to do more,  put my mark on the place but it's time to go. It's bloody rotten timing as I actually want to be here and get suck in, not something I can admit to that often. Plus the very first cosmos and dahlia are blooming, both are white and I think of new hope, new beginnings.

A quick harvest of some broccoli, great broad beans and 4 mangetout, a sit down on the new bench and then off we go. I realise *blush* this post is completely about me but I shall chronicle as much of Andrew's day as I can in the next post.

*******

And then when I came home I had a panic attack thinking of how utterly crap I have been and am. I was a mess whilst Andrew calmly cooked some dinner (with our wee harvest). But later, once I'd settled a bit I read my own 'Allotmentherapy' essay and rediscovered the reason I go there at all, seems I do talk sense sometimes :)

Love and hugs
Carrie

P.S. Our Instagram accounts are great for on the spot photos which are sometimes better than these I put up!

Shrub rose pruning / All or nothing

So as it is with the world, after Saturday came Sunday and we returned to the plots. See once I get started on a topic I get rather excited and there is so much to be done on 14b; work were I can feel useful and productive, even it is mainly clearing away at the moment.

But to start the afternoon off I did some proper gardening, I learnt how to prune a shrub rose bush. Oh boy you can't possibly understand how great it felt to learn and then be left to do the pruning and mulching. Generally I'm too nervous to do things like that, terrified I'll mess it up, but I didn't and the bush looks happy and healthy again!! Eek!

Main points I remember:

* Make sure secateurs are sharp and cut at a slight diagonal
* Get rid of dead branches and tips
* Prune away all blackspot infected branches
* Prune to an outwards facing bud keeping the centre open (so air can circulate through bush)
* Remove branches that are crossing, as rubbing will lead to infections
* Cut back long spindly growth to encourage new growth from base.
* Lift up all dead leaves (they may harbour disease)

rose pruning

I don't believe I have ever deceived anyone into thinking I'm a 'real gardener', Andrew is the head gardener, I'm the helper\ photographer\ the one who is there for therapy. Dare I say it though...I felt so proud of myself; I'm growing.

***************

We worked for 3 hrs straight and left exhausted! Andrew planted lots of blackthorn and whitethorn hedging plants and prepared for edible forest area. More about that later... Plus he lifted all the dahlia tubers and put them trays to dry out in the shed.

half of the dahlia tubers lifted

I wrestled with the clearing of the long raspberry bed (which shall become one of my flower beds. Aarggh the roots of those blasted devils are a nightmare to get out, if I hadn't been for the laboured panting I would have been cursing them so loudly!!

clearing the raspberry bed

However, I received a reprieve as the sun went down and the temperature dramatically dropped; we packed up, lifted a sleepy Maggie and left for home.

fave sights - especially Maggie eating a biscuit

 ***************

Sadly it has turned out I pushed myself too hard. I didn't know how bad until Monday when I couldn't think straight,walk or talk. I slept most of the day and yesterday was better but still poor. Today I think frustration is pushing me on but I certainly have limits. Luckily it's dark, snowing and cold and we got our new sofa delivered yesterday...it's embracing me...so comfy...it ought to be easy to drift off and sleep\ heal.

Hugs and love to you all
Carrie x

My bank holiday work (part 3 of 3)

I worked on 14b over this lovely elongated time off with my Hubby. We have been thinking again about keeping it *sigh, everyone rolls their eyes*. We've realised that without it we wouldn't have our pumpkin bed, or the rhubarb, blackberries, all the cut flowers we've invested in or room for that potager garden Andrew really wants now that the back garden here is finished etc.

So...
Tuesday 15th July
We still only really touch the lower half of the plot as the top half has the pumpkin patch and not much else to worry about. There had of course been some work done already but as I said yesterday, I didn't have my camera with me only my phone and the battery was hanging on for dear life. Hence, there are no photos of my work until Tuesday, which is fine by me as when you see the before and afters I do have here you may need a cup of tea to calm down :)

* My first task on Tuesday was to clear the poor roses and dahlias; I hadn't been over there in weeks and WOW! it was a disaster. All that lush green wasn't new happy growth on the plants as I thought, admittedly from a far, it was a weed infestation!

There is still more work to do along the left hand side but Andrew weedkiller-ed the rest of the back patch - I mean look what is right on the other side of the divide! It's simply a wild meadow over there and I just can't keep on top of all those seeds and weeds coming through! Arrgh. I hope this half plot gets a new owner soon.

* The next job was to tackle the very much failed summer raspberry bed. What a disaster - the newest canes didn't take and whatever disease they had attacked the other older summer raspberries and now we have just one plant and a few offshoots :(

then 

Utterly back breaking work but so worth it I hope, if nothing else it looks better than it did :) Those paths have weedkiller on them too, the grass and dandelions and thistles are so deeply rooted under the black membrane it would be impossible to ever be rid of them otherwise! I'm pretty sure it's organic weed killer so don't go writing nasty comments, ;)

* I also picked more, yes more, red gooseberries and made another batch of jam/jelly/ to put away. These plants are just givers alright, though I had to frighten a bird away from this one, he was only scavenging on the ground but I had things to do :)

I have lots of pretty pictures to show you of the flowers in the plots and stuff just around the place but maybe I've said enough over the past few days ~ don't want you getting too bored with me!

Love and hugs

Your

Carrie

Saving our sanity

Arrrghhh! 14b is really messing with our heads and it's all just a bit much. We finally broke last week and had to make a decision...we are covering half of it in plastic or some such material and focusing only on the cut flowers, raspberries and gooseberries this year. So well play 14b, well played.

The darn gon' freaking weeds are just too much to handle and I swear that plot is the major breeding ground for, oh let's say, half the known slugs in the world! We are miserable every time we look at it and I just seem to waste hours every weekend in there battling with some really stubborn mutant dandelions the size of my head and grass, grass growing everywhere. It's cleared one day and they're back the next. On top of this the soil is terrible no matter how much we improve it with compost, manure, grit etc.

****** Its a freaking money pit! ******

So more love and attention is going to given to 24a and I think in the end we won't renew our ownership of the other half plot when spring comes around again in 2015. That's just how we feel right now. 14b I think we shall have to part next year, you take up too emotional and physical energy from us.

To be honest we are having differences in our lookout on the allotment means to us. This year particularly,
* Andrew is NOT enjoying the plot, he believes himself to be so far behind with everything, complains about the soil, the weather the way the seedlings aren't growing right, the fact that we have every pest there is and the pigeons, do not get him started on the pigeons! Then again he is the gardener and does the majority of the work.

* Me, I'm proud of it. I am proud that we are in this for the long game and aren't thinking along the same paths as so many young people today - we don't need to have it now, it's not like some video game, we aren't doing this to gain fame and fortune. I have wanted to be there more often this year than the last 3 years put together, I've even been by myself! I can work for an hour or so alone as Andrew drives off to collect supplies and guess what - I haven't completely freaked out. It's pretty much been the only consistent thing that gets me out of the house.

Yes I see all the problems and I do lament the loss of seedlings and 10, 10! marigold plants over night. I don't like slugs, aphids or cheeky birds eating my food. It's hard work for me to get myself there, I often don't enjoy it and feel often like giving up bar the fact we have spent so much money on it and of, lordy,..so much time.

But it feels meaningful to be growing our food. I don't know that I would have anything to do with my life if I didn't have those days of taking photos and working the day away, putting what energy I have into this blog... It helps save my sanity.

It's Friday, we ought to be happy, sorry..

I did this last Saturday on 14b all  by hand as we don't have any petrol strimmers or lawnmowers....

saved the blackberry and rhubarb from so much grass

Beautiful produce - chives, gooseberries, blackcurrants plus new dahlias and roses in place

Much love and best wishes to your plots and gardens friends!
Carrie xx

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

(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

Something inside so strong...

...(or maybe in my case, just stubborn and foolhardy)

I was out again, yesterday, with Maggie at a much later and busy time (2pm), with workmen all about and many cars on the road. Oh and there appeared to be a startling amount of people in the car park at the allotments too. We walked up to 'that sign' and then in a haze of terror, we walked on a few 100s of metres to the community centre. My goodness I was sweating profusely and in a not ladylike manner at all! I was so terrified I barely remember coming home. I think having a good smartphone with a camera and music saved me - it distracted me.

With me it's all push, push, push! And now I am exhausted, scared and slightly scarred. I think it shall be a while before I attempt it again.

BUT ~

What a glorious day it was! Sunshine and blue skies and washing hanging outdoors. I went out into the garden (after a shower and smelling pretty again) to take these photographs of our newest purchases, seedlings doing really well and potatoes chitting like there shall be no tomorrow :)

Broad Beans (Aquadulce Claudia), there are 5 beautiful shoots so far. Two new Dahlias - 'Bishop of Llandaff' and 'Mary Evelyn'

And lastly those spuds (we added a new one too)

(Left to right) Kestrel,  Saxon, Pentland Javelin 

Well my lovelies, that's all for now. I must go now and cut Maggie's hair - she will probably hate me for the rest of the day, or until she gets a few biscuits :)

Hugs