Hope, Love and Computer gardening

Hello sweet reader; how are you? I fear don't ask enough or maybe ever and that has got to change. My wish is that you are all hopped up warm, maybe with a hot beverage and a loved one near by.

I am sitting here in my living room with my little dog and a decaff coffee (just in case you were wondering) and soaking wet hair - I just did the hardest thing - I just had a shower. When you have depression etc doing anything can literally be a battle and my mental health today is bad. And I mean BAD.

HOPE

Look! - Daffodils are starting to emerge, to poke their brave little shoots up into the world and face the harsh realities of the cold and rain and snow. I think the snowdrops are doing the same but the deck of the tea house was slippy so I didn't risk it. ANYWAY - signs of hope are appearing, birds are singing ever so loudly and thoughts are turning away from the darkness and into the joys of planning, planting and pottering. Even with a blackness eating me up inside, I feel hope.

LOVE

Last week Andrew and I celebrated 20 years of togetherness - something I never dared to hope for. He isn't fed up with little old me, he still loves me as I love him and both of us are looking forward to the next 20 years of adventures! (Light and dark by turn but always love.)

He made a book of photos from those last 20 years and it's adorable, I love it so much I can't describe it. We were meant to be Berlin but had to cancel as he was so ill with the cold but instead we had time in our pjs watching movies and napping; yes napping is one of our favourite things! And we stayed in Bullitt Belfast (a lovely hotel) and drank cocktails and had the best dinner ever and it was fab.

Shout out to Mamma G for looking after Toby!

COMPUTER GARDENING
It's still so very chilly and the weather is dreich and not looking up for the days ahead. So instead of being at the allotment (I wonder if I'll be able to find it - it's been so long, too long) we are looking at past photos, getting inspiration on Pinterest, thinking of what needs done, and even (I am embarrassed to say) playing Gardenscapes, hahaha. Gardenscapes is a silly game on Facebook where I am winning daft challenges to earn stars and then swap them for trades done to my huge garden - I'm on level 114 and it's looking fabulous, though no veg patch yet hahahaha.

Soon though we shall venture there to good old 24a with our garlic and our 'can do attitudes'. This my friend, is our 10th year as allotment holders and we plan to make it a good one :)

Love and Hugs
Carrie

Homecoming and hope

Welcome friends, to the last day of February. Already there are glorious signs that the world is waking up, that colour shall abound once again and we shall be in the arms of nature and her bounteous wisdom. The television is bombarding me with images of pain and anger, real suffering and worry and I am not blinding myself to it, however, for my own well being I need to focus on this beauty, this newness that is all around. I need HOPE.

~ Snowdrops and Crocuses ~

~ Tulips peeping through ~

~ Tiny Celeriac seedlings ~

When I think of planting a bulb or seed I think of the many times in my life where I feel as if I were at the bottom of a deep well. Misery is heaped down upon me as shovel loads of soil backfill the hole; I am scared and alone. It takes an unbearable length of time but slowly I overcome yet a new pile of dirt and eventually things work so I am always standing on top of the new soil. Tamping it down under my feet....I raise higher and one day there is my face above the ground level.

This magical world of bulbs and seeds coming to life gives me some hope for happier days ahead, and more importantly, a jolt of joy and hope just for a moment - enough to keep me fighting :)

I have much to tell you but for now I shall leave you with your new month's poster :) And a sincere wish that you too are taking the time to notice the changes, the new life that is coming into the world. Stop a moment and realise that this is important for our souls, so dark from wintertime.

Hugs

An Allotment Check-up

We had an allotment 'date' last Friday, as Andrew had taken a much needed day off :) I painted inside the shed and then got very panicky, feeling cooped up alone while he was over on the other half plot working away. So after a wee trip out for a warm drink and and sit down together I felt better, much better and we went back and got to work again together.

Andrew planted 3 blackthorn trees = our very own sloe berries for the traditional lottie sloe gin :) They will also act as a much needed screen up at the top of 14b, by the compost bins. I did take a photo but it's awful and do you really want to see 3 brown twigs in a row in brown soil??

He also cut back and tied in the blackberry, which was something I started a few months back but my double vision was sort of a hazard, hahaha. It looked like I'd  had a fight with a crazy litter of cats; so many big cuts and blood on my gloves. Still, as least I tried. Here's Andrew glorious work though....

the blackberry all tied in for the season ahead

I am so looking forward to more jam but also I found this blackberry frozen yogurt recipe on Pinterest.

I continued with the incredible task of weeding the main flower bed. It is just infested with weeds, yes some would be our own but I swear most are from the 3 plots that surround us - they have been abandoned for about a year now and do nothing but grow weeds and then spread them all over the darn place - usually right slap bang into our plots! Oh if only all vegetables and fruit were so prolific.

I'm very near to being finished (though as you'll know yourself, I probably think I'm finished when I need to start all over again) and it looks good. We have a lot of tulips and daffodils coming through and the first little Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' was in flower. Look! doesn't it fill you heart with joy?

Happiness is yellow :)

I also loved this daisy, I can't help myself...

I love daisies, I can't help myself :)

Prepare for a little rant now, just my personal view point.....

****

I am annoyed today, very annoyed. A letter arrived from the Council and they have decided to up our rent by a whooping 14%! I wouldn't mind so much if the Council was actually good at helping us and providing us with the basic necessities but they don't...

* The fields have no proper drainage and many plots are flooded, even as I weeded, going half a hand fork in depth the soil, I was encountering pools of water! Our whole allotment has been double dug and has raised beds, plus we have spent so much money on grit and topsoil and getting great manure to improve everything, best we can. It really feels pointless.

*They do not look after the roads. Look at them! never mind that the paths between plots are so slippery (see above) that I am scared to walk around, now there is no way I could go to the Allotment Gardens alone if I wanted to - the roads aren't even safe for me. 

Road between field A and B.

*There is no basic security in place, not a good fence or even the improved hedges (to also act as wind breaks) that were meant to be put in. People can just walk in nilly willy if they want to and it's going to get worse if rumours are true. There is a new community building being built just above the allotment grounds and I have been told by many that access to it from the village is through the centre of the allotment gardens. I hope this isn't true.

*We do not get the Council green waste we were promised over and over; there are no skip days any more to safely dispose of our rubbish and proper management of the plots in terms of so many abandoned ones, is ridiculous whilst there is still a huge waiting list. I am sickened, utterly downhearted.

But I must end on a happy note - 

Look at the rhurbab and the honeysuckle, plus the broad bean seeds have been planted and the garlic looks amazing (but I can't find the photo!)

What are you up too?? Is it starting to feel springy where you are???

Getting stuck in :)

Is there a better way to work off those extra Christmas calories than getting stuck into the Lottie? Well, considering the fact that the weather was fine, dry but cool though not cold and there was a complete and utter lack of any other people around the plots my personal answer would be ~ no, no there isn't.

We (and that includes Maggie for about 30mins before she started shaking - not working makes you feel cold!) had a fab time yesterday and even though the plot was water logged. We managed to feel the joy and just get excited with ideas and plans for the future; plus the bulbs are coming up :) Spring is on her way people; let's dance!

Here are a few wee photos I just feel like sharing. Okay, it is weed infested all over again, the water has made the place a swamp and I couldn't even face going over to 14b BUT it was also great conditions for getting some weeds up roots and all and gave us an excuse to try out our new coffee mugs and visit the Gleno shop for hard landscaping supplies......

  .....Andrew also dug up, split and replanted the 24a rhubarb over onto 14b. The roots and crown on that beast = wow!!! Again, seeing the new growth was so fabulous, a real kick in the butt to my mood which always gets worse in the depths of Winter. Haha - I laugh in the face of you Depression.

Love and kisses - we're going back tomorrow and have great plans to work extra hard. Could someone remind me to get my new music uploaded onto my MP3 player for the event? Thanks xx In return I have photos of Christmas dinner I have to share, Andrew did us so proud and there was homegrown and homemade food and drink ;)

I have a secret :D

from the allotments

Happy times in the back garden are to be seen everywhere, apart from the horrendous wind (and the blasted builders and all their noisy activities and beeping machinery) I would have been out there today soaking it in. My little hideout is coming together I can see it and after so many months of plans and redrawn plans on graph paper it finally starting to come to life - eeekkkk!

Yesterday saw one of the most fun bits (for me) in the garden ~ planting bulbs. I LOVE bulbs. They hide under the soil waiting, just patiently waiting for the time when you feel you can't take this desolate winter, barren and sad, any longer and then they slowly emerge. They are organic, living anti-depressants. I defy anyone not to be cheered my the 'host of golden daffodils', the sweet and terribly shy Snowdrop, the bright and cheery Crocus and these....the Tulips.

I LOVE TULIPS. I lust after them and can not wait for the Glenarm Tulip Festival to open again (must check website!!) I am a silly flustered girl around them, all sorts, it matters not. For some reason the tulip gives me goosebumps - there I have said it, the cat is out of the bag - I Carrie am a secret Tulip - aholic.

These are Queen of the Night - ummmmmm. Dark, rich sumptuous purple. There leaves are even heavenly with tinges of red, oh I love them and look - lots of them in  my garden in little clumps of 3. *big happy sigh* And planted with them in the cherry tree bed (oh look at the beautiful greenery opening up on this darling of a tree!!! again my knees go weak) are Alliums 'Purple Sensation'.

Hope is a splendid thing

Okay I hated being there at my lotties last weekend, I've already admitted it. But now that I am safe and warm on my sofa with Maggie snoring aaway dreaming of biscuits and what not, I can see that there were signs of beauty and hope all around me. God, you see, this is why photography is so important to me! I am usually just in a panick or numb and it takes a while for me to really appreciate what I doing or where I am.

So I just wanted to share a few of the photos of HOPE I took. Hope lifts us up, keeps us going, it is the creator of love and joy. Embrace each little sign of it everyday if you can ~ the world isn't so scary with it by your side and in your heart.

Remember these bulbs being planted up in layers why back in November??

A forest of garlic (slight exaggeration?)

Tete a tete peeping up

Wallflowers doing well - but look at those tulips, so fat! :)

And nice big buds forming on my blueberry plants. Oh I want blueberry muffins, scones, cake with cream and strawberries, face mask?, alcohol? Everything blueberry this year - yumm.

lots to share

I have to tell you about the weekend and week past before a whole new one begins. I don't know where the time has gone but it is Friday! and I am exhausted as usual. I don't know what I have been writing about that could possibly be more important than all the hard work and artistry that we did on the plots!

This, as you will know by now, is my flower bed in 14b. I ripped out everything that was tired and looking awful and now I just have the permanent inhabitants left and a few sunflowers still struggling on. So that means there is space and I can see where things are and where things can be planted for next year. I have loads of bulbs (they'll probably get started this weekend) but I also had 2 birthday present windmills and three arty rock mounds that Andrew and made (we stole the idea from a lovely garden in Brittany).

Then joy, my 1st blog birthday present was able to be planted out too, a sunny Coreopsis. Poor thing has just been sitting there for a month in a pot, probably not feeling wanted. It may even have thought I had forgotten about it or maybe life was just all about living in pots and feeling cramped and terrible. Well, no, I now had the space cleared for this little beauty to go into her home and be free to spread those roots and settle into life on the plot. Isn't she a darling?

Whilst doing this Davy walked past with the most massive of cabbages this girl has ever laid her eyes on. Boy was that a good plant, very firm in the heart and hardly a nibble in sight. He was taking it over to a lady friend's house - better than flowers, eh?

Then during the week I attacked the sweetcorn bed. All done for this year and we only had 2 fresh off the plant. Though to be fair both Mamma G and my sister-in-law have lots in their freezers for us that they rescued from the plot in the bad weather Northern Ireland suffered when we were in glorious France. If frozen sweetcorn is the price you pay for going on holiday at the end of August/start of September. It's one I am willing to pay!

In France we bought an adaza, we'd been finding it very hard to get one here and the on-line shipping costs for something so heavy were nuts. So we gave it a try and oh!, it's great. Unfortunately we were in such a tizzy of work I didn't take a photo but I'll post one soon. We also bought a bell for the shed. It's for me to ring when Andrew wanders off around the fields and inevitably gets chatting for a long time. I can ring it and get him back again - that's the idea, I have my reservations about it actually working. Men (especially once they become husbands) seem to have very selective hearing!!!

The one and only harvest of Borlotti beans took place last night and the vines were cut back too. I had really enjoyed them growing up the gates, I think we'll do something similar next year and the climbing rose will be there too. As you can see I really did like them there as a good lot of them are way past their best. Our first squashes were lifted too - so cute looking, I hope they taste well. We did a 2 sisters approach with them and the sweetcorn, growing them in the same bed, it worked really well.

Then just as leaving last night we picked our first leek of the season - pretty good. And Andrew went mad collecting brambles, it was infectious and soon I was in the hedgerows too. We got quite a lot! Jam making tonight, us over the bubbly saucepan and a glass of wine, uummm. x