(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

Excellent progress on the plots

First off I want to tell you it was snowing when we went to the lottie on Saturday - we are so hardcore!! Okay so it was hardly anything but at least it shows our commitment and it could have got bad; we didn't know, we didn't care.

I managed to finish the wedding of the flower bed - hurrah. There was one utterly gross bit there in front of the very faded sign and the pointy bit... There was 5, yes count them, 5 hand trowels full of maggots. Boke! They were wiggly and fat and I couldn't find what they were eating but it was a moment of pure 'I am woman, hear me roar!' - I didn't even squeal (though I felt like it inside). Now I really need to sort out the grassy paths and make a new sign, then I'll be much happier

Raspberries moved

Andrew has wanted to do this for a while now as the summer raspberries were really awful to harvest over on 24a with the trees blocking access down one side. Plus they were throwing out new shoots into the paths over there and needed a lot more room. I am so impressed that he did all this by himself and the berries will be easier to pick and protect - I swear, netting is going up and "birds! listen up; they're mine this year!"

Strawberries Weeded

I took on the task of weeding the Strawberry bed. It doesn't look that awful but it was and the pure clay that is in there was a nightmare on the trowel; my new cotton gloves were caked in it, I really need plastic ones or something more manly, but my hands are tiny. We used to have asparagus in here, but we're thinking that we may put some new crowns into the vacated summer raspberry bed. When it was an asparagus bed loads of compost, sand and grit was worked into this soil and it was delightful - the blasted rain and subsequent flooding of the field every winter seems to have removed all that goodness and the soil is simply only good for making pots or bricks - arrghh. I ended up getting very peeved and chucked loads of clumps into the far hedgerow.

We didn't (either of us) see a single worm during all this digging - isn't that just awful? Not one. But the new growth particularly in the flower bed has brought us many a smile. The narcissus tete-a-tete's continue to bloom double headed and those spots of yellow are joy itself. And the red rose has gorgeous new shoots coming and looks so healthy - beware aphids, I already have my eyes on the lookout for any signs of you - keep out!

Lastly I must share this sad sight. One of our gnomes has died in a most gruesome manner, falling off a high post (he ought not to have been there in the first place, just saying, cough, cough) and like Humpty Dumpty, he was just beyond help. As a dedication to his memory he shall be used as crocks in the bottom of the next pot we plant up. Farewell little friend......

 Hugs and love