Gooseberries and Goosepimples

You would not believe me if I didn't have photographic evidence, in fact I would not believe me unless I had taken my camera but today I went to the allotment on my own! I can barely explain the feeling other than terror at being out by myself, paranoia about all the people that passed me, unquenchable stubbornness and focused on the now when I was picking fruit and weeding. It's an odd mix.

Here is our beautiful plot 24a

and with a few highlights I noticed....

Over on 14b I got my hands ripped to pieces as I fought the sawfly caterpillars for my Gooseberries. It was war out there and I have wounds oh yes, I was bleeding as they pushed the thorns into my hands (they are small but a mighty force) but I got MY fruit!! Plus, although I should have, I didn't kill any of the blighters....

Arrrrghhh, tell me please, how am I meant to cope with all these abandoned plots around me!! My hay fever has reached fever pitch even with medication from the Dr. Oh Zeus Almighty, my eyes are on fire, the roof of my mouth is so itchy and down inside my ear canals! Why there, I can't get to there and have a satisfying scratch!!?? Why :'(

Home with a little posey of Sweet Peas, so many gooseberries I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with them and a happy smile  :D

Happ(bee) Weekend

Succulent Seedlings

As I mentioned in my last post we have some great looking seedlings all ready to go into the ground this weekend - finally!
Apart from the Sweet Peas which came from a lovely friend, everything shown here (or sown here, hehe) has come from vegetableseeds.net and I must say I am very  impressed with the germination rate of everything.

 * Pea 'Kelvendon Wonder'
A really popular pea variety that we have grown for the last years - oh it tastes so good and each plant gives loads of pods, each pod gives about 6 juicy peas each! It's main crop, dwarf  variety and we tend to plant some in succession through out the summer so we are never lacking :)
Maggie also likes to cheekily eat this straight off the plant - they hang at just the right height for her, gggrrrr, hahaha.

 * Broad Bean 'Aquadulce Claudia'
Okay so we really adore this bean variety and it is a must on our allotment;  haven't grown it?! you must. It is the easiest thing to grow ever, so hardy that you can sow the seeds in winter if you want (if your plot isn't swimming like ours does) so tasty you'll fall in love, so healthy and packed with goodness you will feel good just holding the packet :) You get lots of beans from these and we even get gluts so it's great that I can tell you from experience...these freeze really well :)

 * Rainbow Chard (sometimes called Swiss Chard)

Funny how colour can sometime affect how you feel about a vegetable - normal chard, blugh, it's okay. Rainbow Chard is fantabulous to look at with the sunlight streaming through it, I would have it in my garden as pretty plant :) It wilts fast but grab it take it home and cook it and all the goodness of a spinach is there on your plate but in yellows, pinks, purples - it makes me happy just thinking about it. 

 * Beetroot - 2 types 'Boltardy' and Yellow Cylindrical

Until I had real beetroot and not the vile stuff pickled and brought out at Christmas, I thought it was disgusting, evil stuff.  Now, I adore it. Roasted in the oven or on the barbecue you will find the Gault's eating beetroot all summer long. Hint - HP sauce is amazing on it!!! We always grow Boltardy and again in succession as these babies reach adulthood in 3 months so you can have loads and write Beetroot into a search engine and you will see why you want loads for yourself and your family - it's so incredibly good for you! (P.S. the clue is in the name - they don't bolt easily)

I can't remember if we grew Yellow ones last year or the year before but there isn't much difference in taste, even the striped white and purple ones taste the same; it simply makes that big plate of salad out on the patio look even better. 

 * Leek 'Musselburgh'

This had been our fail safe, go to choice for leeks since we started growing our own. They are really hardy and overwinter well even in our soil, they aren't too strong tasting and it gives you such joy to harvest something from the plot in the darkness of those winter days and they don't need lifted all at once either so not glut worries. Think soul warming soups, hearty and filling risotto - yummy. As someone intolerant to onions these have saved the day in our kitchen and we always have a load every year :)

And lastly the Sweet Pea 'Cupani'

These are my favourite sweet pea ever and I wish I could remember to plant in successions for even more throughout the summer but I never do. They are a fabulous red/pink and purple and are stunning. Butterflies like them and I generally have an arch way of them and an obelisk.

I realise that excited as I am you are probably really rather bored now; like looking at a million photos of someones new baby. Yes very cute, they look so healthy, you're happy for me, what adorable green leaves..... I shall leave it for now, but there are more seedlings and photos to be taken, so until next time....

Namasté

Bloomin' Monday

hello remember me? I took a break from the blogging whilst Andrew was off; sorry if that last post was a bit graphic but it's how I felt and I needed to express myself. I haven't been much better since then and the attacks and the depression are continuing to plague me, my every thought.

Even today (which is a beautiful summer day were I would eat a little ice cream if I liked the stuff) has been turned sour.

I went   on my 3rd solo walk, it was going quite well and Maggie was being a good girl but then this lady started shouting at me from across the road (which she and her friend's cars were blocking), I was panicky and nearly home so forgive me but I ignored her, 4 times (yes I know, I'm horrible), then she touched my shoulder and liver flew up into my mouth. She had me crushed up against a wall and complained that she had been calling me - I told her 'sorry, I'm having a panic attack- need to get home', but she started asking many a question about how to get to Mauds (my fave coffee and bun cafe - famous for ice cream). She just would not let me go, and was smiling away as if I was just startled by her loveliness. Information was gurgled out and then (heavens preserve me) I ran like a little girl the rest of the way home. It's taken an hour for me to calm down and for the low screaming sound to stop in my head.

So your wonderful post on the fab flowers at the lottie will have to reduced to this.

A bunch of Cone Flowers that Andrew picked for me about 5 days ago and a posey I picked on Saturday, with my sweet peas, a dahlia and 2 miniature ilium seed heads in my favourite jar.

I also picked a posey of my 'Cupani' sweet peas (the purple and pink ones) hand tied them all professional like and gave them to the first person I saw (that was the rule in my head), which happened to be a very hard working lady, who was a bit miffed as we don't know each other :) Spreading a little free love is my new vice baby ;) ~ but please, only when I am not having an attack.

Wishing you a happy, relaxed afternoon/evening and let us all have a better tomorrow xxxx

All just peas in a pod

We can all rely on Mother Nature. She gives us what we need whether we realise it at the time or not. I needed that rain yesterday, I needed to turn my face away from the world and into her arms. She let it rain and that was the tears I could not cry.

She is always there for me making beauty appear all around me, giving me storms to cuddle up under a blanket with and feel safe, warm, protected. Looking into her eyes I am calmed, her voice is the bird song, the waves breaking; her smile is hope.

Nothing like a biological mother, she is much more -stronger, wiser, ever knowing. She tests me in ways that help me learn, to appreciate. Never malevolent, she pushes me to the limits to experience unease and heartache but only in order to feel the extremes and enjoy the beauty of laughter and peace all the more. She takes and she provides and there is a home in her heart where I am free.

I look around today and see the same mess, the same dull grey clouds; hear the same droning noise of cars and trains, the almost unbearable sound of my own breath and my fingers taping on this keyboard, alone in this room. Yet somehow today I sense the magnificence of simply being. One of many billions who have walked this earth, I am still unique and so are you.

(The last of our sweet delicious peas, now all gone, all done for another year)

So let's get on with it - what we did last weekend.

Haha! I have copied a letter 'u' and shall now go through the whole blog pasting them in, hahahaha, can't stop me, evil keyboard!!!

So all these blasted nervous breakdowns and major panic attacks have really left me in a pickle this week. Plus, my keyboard has decided that there simply aren't enough 'u' s in the world and keep throwing them in everywhere except when I actually want one!!! Oh oh, now they have gone altogether! Eeekk.

I would like to start with the very 1st crop planted on the lotties this year, the Broad Bean. I planted them out, yes little old me. It's becoming a tradition, in that I did it last year as well and I am happy to report that I did not panic at all doing this delicate work; I am gaining confidence it would  seem. With the little sun tunnels over them I reckon they'll be fine and Andrew, when he visited after work yesterday, said they looked perky, so I'm happy. We'll do another sowing direct into the soil very soon, once the frosts die back.

Speaking of soil, I thought you may appreciate a little soil porn *blush*. This was worked very hard with a lot of manure and seaweed and homemade compost added. Andrew ridged the beds up over winter and now, with the help of our Azada they just crumbled apart. It's really lovely soil and I don't even think it will need riddled this year. Yippee! all that work work paid off.

Then another task for me - just look at how sunny it was here on saturday. I planted ot the Sweet Pea seeds into loo rolls. We do this because the cardboard bio-degrades in the soil, I mean we plant the whole seedling in it's loo roll! It works really well and as Sweet Peas love to have long root systems and are fragile with it, the roots don't get bothered at all. I must just point ot Andrew's very clever string use here to keep the rolls all tightly packed together and more strudy. Clever boy. I planted 'Cupani' and some free ones that came with a magazine, I believe it just said 'tall' on them. Fingers crossed my new home will have nice fresh flowers often.

Here is the hubby planting more Peas, but the edible type this time. I know 'Kelvedon Wonder' was one variety, as we really like them but I think he ended up sowing 2 or 3 types. See the use of a pencil to push the seeds down - I use my finger but his are too big, especially when it's 2 to a pot!!

Finally, I have a photo of our new greenhouse. We bought it in Lidls, so not dear but it is really well made and very strudy. I was inside it - it's 3ft high and 6ft long, so I found it comfty and well, warm as it should be. There are vents in the side and the front zips open in 2 layers -first the green bit can be rolled up and tied out of the way to reveal a mesh, which keeps the bugs out but which can also be zippered open and tied back. I swear one day, this plot WILL look good, hahaha.

Posted, with shame, I hope that the letter problem didn't stop everyone from reading :(

hahaha fixed it!

Little acts of kindness

At the weekend (I have a good bit to write about this week) there were a few random acts of kindness around the lotties, a lovely community spirit.

Firstly Gary's plot was all strimmed down and then mown for him by Bobby, Doug and Andrew. It was hard work and took a couple of hours for the 3 of them but they didn't complain and threw themselves into the task. The sun was blazing on them as well and it was tiring just to look at them. I didn't help because the grass was over my knee height and in flower, my hay fever was bad enough over on my own plots with all that pollen flying around! Through my hay fever meds are a godsend to be fair, sometimes they are just pushed to the limit, hahaha. Hopefully Gary won't find the sight of his plot too heart wrenching now when he gets back, his work has been sending him off to Scotland recently.

Then there was the happy news that we have more preserves being made by Ronnie and Bill's lovely wife and set aside for our stall on the fun day. Andrew and I spent hours making chutney on Friday night (I'll tell you about it tomorrow), so we know only too well how much effort goes into producing stuff and then there is the added knowledge that it isn't all for you to eat!!!

We were given lots of unwanted pavers on Sunday for free for the second plot. They're great quality and a good size but I'll leave that for another day too.

Lastly I was given the most beautiful bouquet of sweet peas, completely out of the blue by Donald. How nice was that?!!! Take note my love, another man giving me flowers! Donald's sweet peas are fabulous, so many colours and the plants are huge, tall and heavy with flowers; after I was given that delicious smelling bunch I was spurred on to gave my much smaller and less productive plants a good feed ;)

My depression was horrendous over the weekend, it helped being down at the lotties on Saturday and keeping myself very busy. I worked so hard and you probably wouldn't even notice ~ don't you just hate that! But Sunday I couldn't even go at all. I sat all dressed to go but couldn't leave the house. How can I hurt so much when there is no wound to heal?

Today is another BAD day so I'm off now to try and calm down on the sofa. Been depressed and uber panicky since I woke up and shaking even with a good dose of meds. Taken a little extra and hoping for peace soon, I find this all very distressing and frightening. I'm tired.

It's a lovely day outside and Maggie is sunning herself on the bench in the back garden; she's such a cutie.



Thank you all for the continued support and kind encouraging words x

Sun is shining, the weather is sweet...

Makes you wanna cry cause you got HAY FEVER!
(sorry Mr Marley)

Why, oh why does she do it to me, what did I do in another life to annoy Mother Nature so very much? Yesterday was foul, it rained constantly and there was a tension in the air that only thunder could of cleared but it never happened. Then today, it is glorious but I have awful Hay fever, a throat so sore I can barely talk (so frustrating!!!!) and the yucky head cold that my darling Hubby thought would be nice to share (only mine is worse). Oh, she must be a bi-polar depressive, the ups and downs are wildly far apart.

Anyway, I shall fight on through the haze of snot and blurred, watery eyes so I can tell you about our great day on Sunday at 14b ~ our newborn plot. We've done so much talking and planning about this area that now there is no stopping us (well apart from your woman in the sky who is playing havoc with our weather!) and we've cracked on a pace. It's not that we want to have it all completed and finished as soon as possible, merely, we couldn't bare to see it empty and unproductive. Actually I think we'll slow down a little now and enjoy what we have, there's plenty to get sown and loads to look after as it is.

So here is the baby a few weeks ago. Ah, remember how proud we were to have adopted her? And this is her as of the Weekend, quite impressive, no? Please say it is my back is killing me with all the work I've done and Andrew and I both are exhausted and covered in little cuts and scratches. Thank goodness for First Aid kits, haha.

So the 2 types of Spud are poking there little green heads through, I particularly like the 'Maris Peer's' tinge of purple in the leaves. We have Squashes planted under a white fleece, nothing as of yet planted in the middle bed and my glorious flower bed is now all edged and planted up with a good few favourites, though I reckon this time next year it will be full to the gills (rather like my sinuses!) with plants and bulbs.

So in there (tip to the back) I have an Elecampane at the front for the butterflies, 2 Something else (I can't remember and can't ring Andrew cause I have NO voice, arrggghh) , 3 Geum 'Cooky', an obelisk for some more Sweet Pea 'Cupani' a ribbon of Anemone corms just planted, 5 Sunflowers ' ' my favourite Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' (I want 'Bishops' Children' as well - uummmm isn't he supposed to be celibate?!) and then a hotch potch of Sunflower 'Velvet Queen' at the back. There are other things I'll cut and divide from our back garden too. I swear it will be packed! But this is almost it for now, apart from a load of Poppies that Mary gave me, nice!!!

Oh my nose is driving me mad; I'm off before I kill someone! (Which would be hard as it's only me in the house and I'm a fervent Pacifist as well - can you begin to understand my frustration??! Who has Hay fever and a bad cold at the same time??!!! I'd scream a little, if I had my voice.

Oh, and it's been very sunny, sunny, hail stoning and now good solid raining all in the period I wrote this!

Update , after 5 mins - it's hailing again, hard

Peas peas and more peas

My toes are being warmed by the sun streaming in through the window. It's a nice day for a change.

So Sunday was 'Pea Day' at the Lottie. We did other things too, but Peas seemed to dominate. Sweet Peas and Eatin' Peas. I'll start with the Sweet Peas, seeing as this is my blog and I grew them from seed and I planted them out. Yeah! I rock.

Peas; Part 1

I choose 'Cupani' because of the delicious colours they are, they remind me of my bridesmaids' dresses, they were aubergine satin with a layer of cerise chiffon on top and a layer of grape chiffon on top of that again. Lovely. In fact here is one of my lovely girls showing it off to perfection......

They germinated perfectly in their loo rolls (the sweet peas not my bridesmaids, haha) and had brilliant root systems. I planted 3 on each side of the little arch, which I am desperately hoping stays put in the wind. It is gale force down at the Lottie on a good day! I am hoping for a beautiful, colourful, fragrant arch of them, so fingers (and toes) are crossed. I've never grown flowers from seed before!


I had a few more left and Andrew erected a nice obelisk for me (very fiddly, I would have lost the plot) and pushed it into the middle of the larger bed. So, I got 4 more in there at the base of the uprights. That was them all used, up bar 2 which are out in the patio waiting to go into a pot with another obelisk in it. Until, a friendly Lottie folk lady gave me some of hers! She too had used the loo roll technique and Andrew planted a few of the strongest ones on the inside of the same obelisk - so hopefully I'll have loads and loads!!! There may well be cut flowers in my house for a change, which reminds me....I need to buy a vase.

I also planted out the 3 Lupins Bill had given me, at the back of the larger bed. I have no idea what colour they'll be but we think they grow pretty tall, so with a bit of luck they'll continue to grow strong. I love the way water sits on their leaves ~ so pretty.

Peas; part 2

As I was busy with my Sweet Peas I didn't get to document this whole process, so sorry......

Andrew took the 1st lot of Eatin' Peas 'Kelvedon Wonder' in their guttering out of the cold frame. The seedlings looked good and healthy so he wanted to get them in the ground. First he dug a trench the same length and width of the guttering and then just slowly eased them out into it. They didn't slide like I think they're meant to because the roots hadn't grown and knitted together as a cohesive unit, but they all went in with a little nudge. Next time will be better.

Here they are in the ground, we have put some pea sticks (dogwood stems) beside them now but we may resort to the netting me used last year, not sure yet.

Catch up

It's another bad day, but I have to keep myself occupied. I'm also wearing my hubby's big jumper ~ so it's like getting a big hug from him.

This is just a wee photographic update on how the seedlings are doing around the plot.

My Sweet peas have at least one seedling in each toilet roll now ~ very pleased; I want some for home too.

The Broad Beans are growing away nicely ~ last week they barely touched the string, now a good few are past it, I think they're happy enough.

Andrew fed the Spring Cabbages on Saturday and by Sunday they had already visibly perked up. Like a good caffeine injection, hehe. Actually, I don't know what he did feed them...

And although I didn't take a photo, the apple tree buds are starting to swell. Good stuff.

Saturday Morning at the Lottie

We spent the whole weekend at the Lottie. Got a good bit done, in amongst chatting to others - the weather was OK, even better on the Sunday, so there was a bit of activity around the plots.

Arriving not long before lunch time (we really did try to get up earlier but it just didn't happen) the best thing to do was to give all the seedlings a good looking at before getting the picnic out. It was a rather rewarding exercise, especially after the greeting we had by our 1st Daffodil proudly in flower. They always brighten a little corner of the soul, don't you think??

The cold frame also has little gifts for me - my Sweet Peas are germinating. I think I let out a squeal of excitement when I saw this - I was convinced they weren't going to do (always the pessimist), but there they were. Luckily my scarf was tied around my neck and mouth so I don't think anyone heard me getting so overexcited by seedlings :)

There are notes on this photo....

Also in the cold frame were the rest of the 'Cristo' Garlic I'd planted out and boy are they doing well. At the time I was looking at these ones, Andrew called over in glee that the ones he had planted out in the raised bed were also poking through the soil. He took the 'cat-guard' brambles off them so we could get a good look. I don't think we'll run out of garlic any time soon!

Then it was sandwich time and yes, it was cold - I had 3 jumpers and a fleece on! Thank goodness we had coffee with us too! Sitting down for a minute was almost unbearable.

The Duality of a very busy Allotment

Saturday was a beautiful, bright, clear day; they told us it was going to be hailing but they were wrong (again!), though it was rather cold. Look at this sky. It brought out the Allotmenteer in a lot of people and the car park was full to overflowing when we arrived in the afternoon ~ it was even busier when we were leaving. This is fantastic news, utterly brilliant.

We saw some old faces that hadn't been around in a while, especially Gary our good friend and plot neighbour. He, who was supposed to have 'The Plan' implemented by Christmas! Why didn't I put money on that?!!! He says it will be ready by February now, we'll see. The problem is, when he does get a minute to do some work down there, he inevitably gets chatting; as with Andrew on Saturday, well they can natter on better than two old women!

In the space of their conversation, I had Spring cleaned the shed and planted all my sweet pea seeds! Oh, my Sweet Peas look lovely (at least on the packet), they're 'Cupani', the original one and I think the best. I soaked them overnight and then planted them into used toilet roll middles, which I have been saving for weeks now. I'll be doing the same with the Coriander we have yet to buy ~ it's a wonderful system for seedlings that hate to be moved ~ when the time comes, you plant out the whole kit and caboodle and the cardboard rots away. Perfect.

The other side to this very populated Allotment Gardens came in the form of my state of mind. I was panicked by the amount of people when it has been so quiet the last while. I became very introverted and spoke to no-one really all day. That includes Gary, who, as I said hasn't been down in ages and who I like chatting away to. This of course made me very upset and frustrated, but after a wee trip home and warm drink I was ready to go back. I knew that being there would be a benefit and you know, it was. I got loads done and have a packed wee week of blogging ahead of me.

I don't know how many times I can say it ~ "Ecotherapy is the way to go", albeit in combination with medication etc.