Delectable feasting

It can not be left quiet anymore - my hubby is a fabulous cook and I am so lucky to have him in my life! I wanted to shout it from the roof tops on Christmas Day but society does constrain one and the word 'mad' gets bandied about, hahaha.

It is a shameful thing to admit here on my allotment blog but, I did not go with Andrew to do our annual Christmas Eve harvest. It was cold and raining heavy and to be honest there were cute films on the TV and I was cuddling Toby - sorry but someone has to do it. Here are some of Andrew's pictures of that glorious moment....

Probably the most laughable harvest yet! The Kale was fabulous but the brussels had been attacked and we had about 3 tiny ones each and there were no carrots or parsnips - the shame. I think we're going to quit carrot growing, the disappointment every year is really too much and to be honest they are so cheap at all times of the year, it feels like it isn't worth it. * Now, I've just learnt (after publishing this post) that we DID have parsnips but the ground was too wet and claggy to dig them up!

* That is unless YOU can tell me of a foolproof carrot variety that NEVER fails.

Our Christmas Day was joyously quiet and uneventful; we started off eating porridge with chocolate drops on top and drinking 'jingle fizz' ~ prosecco and cranberry juice. Ah, there's nothing better than a day were it's socially acceptable to eat chocolate for breakfast and (responsibly) drink alcohol all day.

And here was the main event - check out those brussel sprouts, they were delicious and were eaten slowly and deliberately. Plus, I would love it to be known that I didn't eat all the food on that plate - Andrew was a little generous. We did eat all the left overs on Boxing Day though.

And on Boxing Day we went for a lovely walk in Carnfunnock Park, where Toby had his 1st walk ever; this time went a heck of a lot better. There's nothing finer than getting all wrapped up warm and burning off that Christmas Pudding in amongst the trees and meeting cheery fellow walkers (and their dogs). Also, Toby got to wear his festive jumper on the journey and a very sexy red coat on the walk itself. Truly a festive walk is a marvellous activity, particularly when you stop to make tea, find mushrooms, berries and enjoy another sunset.

Today we went into Belfast which was a bit of a nightmare, so many people! Tomorrow we go for another hike in the middle of nowhere.. The allotment SHALL see us soon though, fear not.

******

Oh, and watch out for a New Year's GIVEAWAY - A copy of Sarah Raven's beautiful 'Cutting garden journal'. I'll only be able to afford UK postage but I hope you'll put your name in, there's every chance this hardback loveliness could be yours 

And some changes will be happening on the blog too, I need a change xxx

Hugs

Carrie

P.S. Tell me about your Christmas harvest and walks!

First seedlings pop through

It's a dreary, dank day and I'm feeling a little depressed. Though Maggie is a healing balm and I have a great book to read and pen-pal to write to; plenty to keep me busy.

But I want to be outside, I want to be planting seeds and clearing the orchard patch at the Lottie.

So the closest I get is stepping out into the mizzily, maudlin morning and taking a peek at the seed trays. And lo, joy is to be found in those little green shoots! Life is pushing through the dirt and darkness and filling me with hope.

Let these bursts of gorgeous greenery delight your eyes too. We need to share the love, the hope and help one another see light ahead xx

Broad beans, Broccoli celebrese, Kale, Purple sprouting broccoli

And I noticed this baby too :)

a tiny kohl rabi!

Hugs

Carrie

All about those Bs

In good old fashioned 'Sesame Street' style, this post is brought to you with by the letter B....

All I am about to tell you what happened on Saturday, a rare day in my life when I was able to cope and more than that, actually enjoy being at the plots!

This year, (as it is for everyone on our allotments) hasn't been going too well; we have been plagued by birds and the weather has been terrible. Thus it was that I found myself, on arrival, pulling out all our diseased and pigeon decimated broad beans. They were still in the flush of fruiting, some had flowers still to mature, but we had to say goodbye, even to the baby successional ones planted in a wee triangle further along the bed.

Beside them, the mangetout are starting to look in a bad state too, though there is plenty of flowers and pods on them. The birds have been nipping off the tops of each plant and every growing tip, they've been tugging at them hard too as quite a few plants were barely in the soil at all and had started to crisp up and crumble away from the bottom up. It really could get you down but I wasn't having any of that.

Pretty much all and I mean all (we had about 6 berries left) of our gorgeous blackcurrants were gone on Saturday. Only a day, one blasted night, after the bush had been full and gloriously bursting. Boy was I looking forward to a dark, juicy harvest only to have it snatched away from me by - you guessed it, the bloody birds. They ate every ripe one and took those on the verge of perfection and ripped them off and left them on the ground :( Such sad times.

I weeded wildly, fuelled by my annoyance for a while but soon calmed down. Andrew was off again to Gleno village for more wood - by goodness there was a netted fruit cage to be built this day! Damnation - thou shall not pilfer our blueberries! *shakes fist at sky*

the fruit cage has been working!

But, I mean look  - bird beaks have gotten to our Kale and the Pak Choi. Plus the Kohl Rabi  and PSB looks so sad. At this rate we would seriously need to consider netting our whole plot; one great big fruit cage!

So I turned my back and focused my attention on the beetroot, which amazingly Andrew had forgotten about. But then he has been doing everything else and was on Saturday building us a lovely gravelled parterre path on 14b. We really wanted a big tonne bag of the stuff but had to be happy with some smaller bags as the deliveries were over for the day at the depot. However he did a fabulous job.

Plus the Blackberries or as I like to call them Bramble berries are fruiting like crazy over there, it really does the heart good to see that one bush so big and healthy this year when so much else is a little disappointing.

Anyway, back to the beetroot, both yellow and red varieties had been sown direct and forgotten about so I thinned them all out, put the really tiny ones straight into the compost and the rest into our harvest bags. Oh did we have a feast! Now the rest will have more room to grow and become big and beautiful.

Lastly, I missed my own Blog Birthday. It was on Monday and it passed me by in a whirlwind. So happy belated 7th blogiversary to me - yay! I must remember to eat cake at some time :)

More photos to come from that day and some from Sunday too when Andrew made a quick visit :)
Love and Hugs
Carrie

harvest time on the allotment

This is a mostly very enjoyable post with much to be pleased about and a fabulous dinner for Andrew and me at the end of it. It's all about the harvest bag he brought home from the plots on Saturday.

Let's get one point cleared up and put behind us right at the outset. The carrots had carrot fly (I didn't know about this) and when lifted they had carrot fly larvae in them. Oh gross, how disgusting to watch them try to flee their host and to think, it was happening in my kitchen, on my draining board! I have a graphic photo I am going to share in the interests of science, be warned...

Can you see that in the carrot behind there are 2 more larvae coming out, the longer we watched the more emerged from all the carrot harvest and they were very quickly dumped in the bin - by Andrew, I couldn't touch them.

* We planted a variety called 'fly away' which are meant to provide carrot fly resistance and it did work for a few weeks but then this. We will be doing everything next year, all the tips and companion planting possible - I love me a carrot and so does Maggie.

****

On with the rest of the harvest. The yellow beetroot, ugly even after a good scrub, but super tasty..

I love the beetroot 'dye' that comes out and disperses into the water after scrubbing with our Mr Carrot brush.

The kale is still going, though not for much longer, which is really sad as I love it and it seems to be one of the best foods for you too, if you believe the hype around it. Superfoods, why must there always be something in fashion - good food grown organically and picked at the right time is always going to the best there is for you!

Not a thing wrong with the beautiful newer harvests of scallions, mangetout and green garlic, long may we eat these glorious fresh veg. For a summer snack, mangetout dipped in hummus is a tasty and much healthier nibble than crisps any day! Plus the garlic is drying in the shed so we'll have it for months :)

Our pak choi is coming to an end now, only one left and yes they all had little holes caused by flea beetle but that's harmless enough.

Then is was time for a stir fry with added chicken and rice (which we can't grow on our plots). YUM.

****

Goodness I started writing this post way back on Monday but I've been going through one of my sleepy periods where I sleep nearly all day and night. Getting back to normal now though (in time for more action on the plots this weekend!) and have so much still to share and blogs to read... Plus it's going to be my blogiversary on the 10th - I can't believe it 7 years!

Hugs and love
Carrie

Sunday allotment live!

My smartphone, like most I would suppose, has a feature were you can write yourself notes, reminders or indeed long pieces of prose. For today's blog I thought I would share a couple of hours on the aplotment (wow, I haven't called our plot that in years!) as it was happening...

3.00 pm
Thank goodness we're here I really thought it wouldn't happen today with all that rain. I've just got Maggie all set up on her running lead and am now admiring the cosy hideaway corner Andrew has been building. At the moment he's putting up netting around the trellis for more of a wind break. Time I got my weeding stuff together.

3.15 pm
I'm alone on the plots for a wee while whilst Andrew runs and gets his drill, some netting and hopefully some marigolds for me. I told him I could do this on my own but I'm struggling, someone else is in the field, I can hear them but not see them. Thing is, what if they come over for a chat - I'd die, dead on the wet grass, dead, that's how strong my anxiety levels are right now.

It's rained heavy most of the day and the ground is really squelchy. I can also hear the boats on the Lough as the Tall Ships leave Belfast. Oh and I just saw that wren Andrew's been harping on about - it's nesting in our compost heap.

Big deep breaths.

I really miss my music at these times. I need to get one of those wee mp3 players and wireless headphones...

3.40 pm
Andrew's back and instantly it rains. Maggie has gone bonkers, she hates the rain yet she will not stay in the shed and goes for a run around - who is this imposter dog?! ....We three are now locked in the shed, not exactly fearing for our lives but it is a downpour of quite epic proportions.

Now we can but stare out at the plot and the things we so want to do. Andrew wasn't able to get netting for over the blueberries and gooseberries and it's just as well as there wouldn't be time to do anything with it. There are puddles forming all over and I only brought one glove in here with me, why, Carrie??

3.50 pm
Ventured out again. Oh goodness that other glove is sodden, gross.

4.00 pm
Typical, it's gotten sunny again and the fleece is off; that's Northern Ireland for you. I've just hoed around the peas - our compost had a lot of seedlings in it - oops. It goes against everything I stand for, I get very weed by the root and turf it, but boy using a hoe instead, well, it was extremely satisfying and the area looks great in no time at all.

Andrew is planting the celeriac babies, they're really healthy looking and will love all this crazy apoplectic rain.

4.20 pm
Andrew is just thinning out the kohl rabi and pak choi (which are being attacked by flea beetles). We need to move the netting from over the kale and calabrese to over them. One line of garlic must be lifted to facilitate this - eek!! our first harvest of the season :)

4.45 pm
All paths are weed free (for now, boy that was 3 trug loads! Now to more glorious weeding and removal of dead leaves in the newly released brassica area :)

5.00 pm
I run around tidying up my stuff, taking some pictures and throwing in a few yoga moves. I'm desperately trying to find any more gooseberry sawfly too, darn things, I hate them! You can really tell I am nought but the undergardener here :) But awesome work have been achieved between us.

Parsnips, carrots and beetroot doing good - turnips have bolted; pink roses and poppies; the asparagus fronds are so pretty

Proud I came, glad I got over the panic attacks but...time to go home :)

Hugs and love
Carrie

Autmn Clear Up - part 2

Oh for shame, it has taken a whole week for me to get myself in gear and show you the further fabulous adventures of the clear up, for shame indeed. Without further time wasting, here is the broccoli and kale bed makeover.

Main things - Broccoli gone, weeds gone :) Kale delicious!

This was the pea bed and some random cheeky poppies too ;) I may have had something to do with that *whistles calmly to deflect attention*. All cleared now (big good strong poles and netting saved) and looking good. Plus the mint has been planted in the huge barrel we found a few years ago washed up on the beach - grow until your heart is content Mint plant of mine :)

Really would like to point out that the mess behind the now ex-pea bed is the other part to plot 14. We have 14b, that jungle behind the wind break is 14a *rolls eyes*....

*****



Have you pruned back your Summer Raspberries??? It's time my friends.

Cut out all those canes that had the fruit on them just leaving a few inches above ground level. Then secure those new canes that have grown this year, that rubbery twisting wire would be good but honestly we have never had any problems with good old string.

We do have a sneaky way of tying it though....

twist the string a couple of time in between the wire and the cane - it acts as a cushion so the cane isn't rubbing against the wire in the blowy winds of Winter. No need to thank me - just sharing the knowledge ;p

 

**********

Finally a teaser for what is to come......

Maggie is trying to give a hint here, by placing herself exactly on this spot and letting me take her photo, she hates her photo being taken, so you know she feels strongly about this.

does that bed not look a little big to you? Seems Andrew may not know when to stop!

 Hugs, have a fab weekend xxx

 

Hey, only me :)

I feel bad, I haven't been writing much these last days, but then again I haven't had much to say, so...

Happy (belated) World Mental Health Day! (it was on Monday). I hope you are all well and are with me in fighting the stigma of having a mental health illness - there is NOTHING to be ashamed about and we ought to talk about it as openly as say a broken arm. 1 in 4 of us will experience some poor mental health in our lives, it doesn't discriminate, oh no, it cares not what age you are, your social status, your intelligence or believes. Please, if you are experiencing problems or know someone who is - talk about it!

Rant over :)

And incidentally that is why I haven't been blogging - I had a nervous breakdown last week and I still haven't recovered. I am a bloody stubborn girl though and am fighting my way back to some semblance of 'normality', but not with out a lot of support and understanding from my loved ones.

The weather here has been a reflection of my inner turmoil ~ dull, grey, heavy and raining lots. So nothing has been achieved at the plots at all and quite frankly it's all a bit miserable. But on Sunday Andrew did go over and collected all this goodness!! He made a damn fine soup out of it all and it was healing and restorative, not least because we had that wonderful glow inside us that we grew all this!! Isn't it fabulous - garlic, rainbow chard, potato, celeriac, kale of various types, leek, borlotti beans and some of an utterly delicious, sweet pumpkin (Crown Prince). I can genuinely say there was no anti-bacterial cleaner in it though!! Sometimes photos do lie, hahah.

I have heard that it is also National Egg Week and National Chocolate Week - so if ever you needed an excuse, I think we all ought to be eating lots of chocolate sponge cake - you know, to support the cause ;)

This last photo just goes to show how close I have managed to get to any gardening since my breakdown. You have to laugh! This is a pincushion for wearing around the wrist and was made by your truly, especially for one of my bestest friends. Please do contact me if you would like one, hahaha!

Hopefully I shall speak soon xxxxx

An onslaught of photos from A24a :)

 Here she is, our first born A24a, in all her current ummm, glory?What a crappy grey day, week, month it has been eh? The ground is sodden -

It's not necessarily cold but that horrible dampness is in the air that just gets into your bones and sort of makes your nose run and make you feel like you need to pee lots. Sorry to be crude but it's true :)

So everything is budding that should be, the Blueberries, Raspberries, Redcurrants, Cherries, Apples, Pears, Plums etc - but I shan't bore you with photos of endless buds, hahaha. I'm not that evil! Imagine a fruit tree budding and you get the idea. Though that doesn't mean that we are merely taking this for granted, oh no! - each bud had been oohhhh-ed and ahhhhh-ed over and genuine excitement is hard to hide.

But here is a little collage of some of the more interesting things that are going on.... forgive the lighting it was harsh and white.... 

So down the left hand side we have:

 A beautiful lettuce still hanging on, what a gorgeous colour it is!!

Bolting Kale

And Garlic - you need to click on the photo to get the full glory :)

In the middle here is:

A newly cultivated bed all ready to go - yipppee

My favourite Dogwood cut back and ready for a new year

And on the right we have:

Rhubarb being forced - it's so acidy yellow inside and then there is some poking out the side too - this plant just wants to grow and grow and that is okay with me :) I can't wait for my 1st Rhubarb and cream (I hate custard) of the year

And lastly our Purple Sprouting Broccoli is showing signs of survival after the pigeon attack - hoorah.

And this is the view from the other side and I think it looks pretty darn good! Especially when you consider the state of the plot I am standing on to take this photo - it's just all dead like this; sure I'd like to see it full to the brim with lovely budding plants and a shed and beds etc but at the moment, to be honest, I am kind of enjoying that fact that it is making our plot look so good - hahahahaha. I'm not really that evil - you would feel the same, I just tell the truth ;)

More tomorrow - the other plot :) HUGS  xxx

A seedless gripe

Boo hiss! Damn it all to heck! And other such stronger rants - you get the idea, I'm sure ;) Andy and I are STILL sitting here with this blasted flu, I was even delirious earlier singing songs - what was all that about?

Not a seed packet to be seen, the catalogues aren't even in the house, no broad beans sown as is usual, we haven't even thought about it all. Oh this isn't good. What do we want to grow this year? I don't know! What new varieties are we thinking of trying? You tell me. Is our plot a haven of freshly prepared soil, manure and the usual seaweed all ridged up and tidy? Blushing I must quietly say 'no'.

The old is still to be removed, the soil loved and fed, the gardening implements oiled, sharpened and the shed tidied. Dare I even confess....I don't know where the lottie stuff is and though Andrew DID work out the new rotation, I haven't a clue. These few photos were taken as 'before snaps' of parts of the plots a few weeks ago. I think we are both blessed that the camera battery died (of shame??) and I only got these.

A 24a

 A 14b

Blasted Pigeons have eaten our Purple Sprouting Broccoli - I'm too upset to talk about it

 We do have purple Kale

Well, it's still like that, umm, it's probably worse. *hangs head*

But Andy has started in the back garden of this, our brand new house. Lucky we have a plan - it has been there for about a year now, slowly evolving and then going back to the original :) But it has been started - hoorah! As it is a brand new house, the garden area is mainly stones, hardcore, a very light frosting of muck (I wouldn't even call it soil) and quite a lot of wood, plastic and weeds. Lovely. But as we are going for raised beds we have seen this as somewhat of a silver lining - Andrew didn't have to dig much before he was at a good solid floor for some concrete and here are the photos to prove it.

I shan't tell you too much about the plans as I really would love you to share in the journey with us but I will say this - I have a super clever hubby who is building me a retreat, a veritable extra bit of Eden to call my own.

Leaving you with love in the form of this..our freckled ally

And this....allotmenteers' porn :)

But still....not a seed in sight - oh dear!

Finally back to work

We did have that picnic yesterday at the lotties. I was lovely, not too cold and very very quiet, almost as if everyone in Carrickfergus had read the blog and decided to give me some space down there. Thanks guys, haha.

We had a giggle with Maggie and then were able to finally do some work on our plots. For the last few weeks every time we've gone down there Andrew has had to go off and have a chat with someone or a committee meeting about the Fun Day and very little has been achieved. I don't really like being out and about on my own still so when I can't see Andrew well, I'd rather hide in the shed. I am getting better though, sporadically.

So last night weeding galore was done and boy was there a lot of it, half a compost bin full! I also dead headed my flowers and got rid of some poor annuals that had flowered their socks off for me and were now knackered. Then I started what I assumed would be a nice quick job ~ harvesting all the beans. It took forever. A whole, full harvest basket of runner beans, green beans and french beans, boy are we going to have to have another massive blanching and freezing session again this weekend. It is great, don't get me wrong but why do they all have to ripen at the same time?

I also thinned out the stems and old leaves, opening up the wigwams to let in more air and light. I felt rather gardener-y.

We left as the weather started to turn a bit and were shocked to see that we'd been there over 3 hrs, it had flown in and no big panics from me ~ HOORAH! Only 1 downfall and that is the fact that the burst water pipe just above our shed STILL hasn't been fixed, the whole path is a swamp and it stinks too because the manure heap is there and manure-y juices are being washed past us - boke. No birthday party at the Lottie for me then :( It's my big 30 next week (tell anyone and I will track you down and hit you across the face with a wet lettuce leaf, I swear ~ I shall be 29 for a few more years to come thank you very much!!) and I wanted to have cake and tea at the lottie, ah well....

A24a

A14b

Here are a few overview photos, haven't taken them in a while. Everything is going really well, bar the brassicas (damn them) and we're starting to see lots more squashes coming which is such a relief, Andrew was getting pretty peeved with them.

Oh and I made my 1st ever bird box, wee little old me is getting into the wood work :) Hugs for a good weekend, may the weather be a little better x Plus I've just noticed whilst uploading photos that I have lots to talk about and loads of very pretty flower photos too, when is Garden Bloggers Bloom day again? This is my fav

a calendula growing up through the purple kale, wow! I could just go on and on writing but you'd get really bored and grow to hate me and I don't want that!