Garlic and Potatoes

I come before you with HAPPY news, albeit a week old ~ the garlic and potatoes are in! This is a good bit later than usual due to the crap weather we've all been having but at least it's happened now, the plants will catch up and the rain and sun has been perfectly alternating these last days so more seedlings shall be planted this weekend :)

So, I am having to slow down on my blog posts due to my poor health but as I mentioned before I will be tweeting  more gardening stuff so do think about following me. Tonight is the first time since we did this work I am about to show you that I feel able to type and hopefully also make some sense! Depression is so evil, it comes on stronger for no reason and slap bang just when the Spring I have been longing for finally arrives. What is all that about?

Never mind I struggle on and I am kind of hoping you haven't even missed me due to your own sudden spring-y induced burst of gardening energy. 

 * Got those precious seeds on the windowsill/greenhouse/cold frame? :) 

 * Is the soil getting workable? 

 * Have you bought a new pair of gardening gloves for the new year? That's pretty important to me, hehe

So photos, photos I didn't think would be taken for a while there.....

The garlic

Turning the soil over thoroughly maybe wasn't the best idea - it seems to be so clay-y. Good grief so much effort goes into the preparations and sometimes you have to wonder was it worth it :( Still we have so many and we do love it, I hope they all survive and thrive. Three or 4 years ago these were 'Solent Wight' but I like to think of them as 'Gault Wight'.

all in a neat row

The Potatoes

We chose 'Red Duke of York' this year as a just for fun crop and bought them a pound shop, they looked just as good as any from a nursery! They are in the smaller tray (left photo). Our Second batch is 'Sharp's Express' simply because they are fabulous :) This year Andrew was particualrily happy to have the larger beds (we joined the four on each side into 2 large ones each side), this time there is room for proper ridges.

Bigger beds and lots of horse manure - yay

Glorious Spuds, grow well!

The Shed

One of my projects is the painting and prettying up of the old wee shed; I simply love doing it. This year as you know I chose this gorgeous teal and I am trimming it with white. It's almost had all the 3 coats necessary, just the door to do over again :) And then I can get the flower pot shelf put up and the welcome sign and get stuck into the insides again. This is going to be a cosy hideaway alright, a place to have panic attacks in comfort, haha.

That's all for now dear readers, sorry I'm worse again but I am still taking photos and will share every progress (and failure), just maybe a week or so behind myself *blush*.

Namasté

Looking longingly at Friday

Oh this weather is a killer! We didn't manage to get to the lottie at all last weekend and this weekend looks crappy too - but we have hope for Friday :) Always with the hope, it's a gardener's mantra. Painting to be done, beds to get sorted and seeds to be sown =  happy times and spring is coming.

So, sadly I have little to show you but I shall get you up to date with the shed make over and the work Andrew has done outside in the mud.

Second coat in some places but it's really starting to take shape and I have been buying some accessories for it and making some too :) I will come together in time and it shall be glorious!

Andrew dug up our huge rhubarb and spilt it in two, planting them over at the top of 14b. We are going to make that whole area a fabulous non-fussy place with plants that don't need moving and a purposely wilder feel with our new round bed up there. We are so glad the ground up there has been covered with carpet since we got it - so easy to dig and hardly any weeds able to take hold (though now I've said that we shall return to find the place a mess of dandelions, right?? I've just jinxed myself).

He has also tidied up that mess of a flower bed and put mysterious posts into the ground just to the left, hummmm.....

Where that large rhubarb was (in the coffin bed) we now have our third Blueberry bush - hoorah!!! That 3rd bush has been sitting along there since we left Mamma G's to move into our new house and now, finally it has a permanent home. Plus we are going to cover this bed with a cage of netting to try and keep those pesky berry stealing birds out - I shall have my own Blueberries this year! Huzzah!!

I have started a Pinterest page for allotment produce and ingredients. Ohhh I have desires to go mad and make as much as humanly possible this year.

I shall take photos of my accessories when we do get back there, as I know you can't contain your excitement  - I can feel it through the net, haha. My fingers are itching to get painting again, white, bright, happy white!!!

Our Shed Makeover pt1

Oh my the weather!! If you haven't already suffocated and frozen under the snow, then I guess you are like us and are just swimming along the streets and enjoying the glorious mud :) Yay!!  Either way I am sure the vast majority of you are feeling the low of not being able to do the gardening - goodness we can't even dig the soil here; getting to the plot from the car park is scary and exhausting enough, then the spade just gets sucked down into the depths of the earth by the 'quicksoil' (like quicksand but not really) and then you just want to cry but it's too cold and the tears freeze in your eyes and now you can't see, ho hum :( You become your very own plot Scarecrow.....

So here are some catch up photos of the plot from the last time I actually did any work and from the day when Andrew took me down to see his hard work inside in the shed.

The 29th of December - Andrew decided to rip off the big collapsible bench from the front of the shed and as it turns out, he did it just in time! The wood below was beginning to rot! This led to a furious conversation where we shared loads of ideas we had been playing with in our noggins and ultimately it was decided to turn the shed into a cosy hideaway.  Just like the Pinterest board I have been creating for ages now :D

First we needed to protect what we had so it was off to get paint and filler we went.... (all this took probably as long as it has taken to write it down).

You may like to see just how happy painting a shed can make a person - oh yes, just get some music on in those headphones and groove my friend - dance like no one is watching and what not. I also think it is highly important to choose a colour that complements your nail varnish and if possible, one that is the same colour as your handbag, lol. (Seriously we only noticed that it was exactly the same as my bag when we were leaving).

Ohhhh, look a  before and after type photo - really I want to get the rest painted but painting in the rain and gale force winds is not a good idea (so I hear), especially when the paint is water based.

During this day and the following when I was extremely ill with man flu/ the end of the real flu, Andrew was down there alone cleaning out the shed and then inside our shed here at the house being very manly with wood and power tools :) He built the basis of the best cosy shed interior ever!! The first photo in the following series was mind blowing but then it got better - eeek!!

So much stuff was able to go to the dump, lots came up here to the house where it will actually be used and the rest has been (very cleverly) hidden away in some super amazing storage. Yes everything we need is still in there yet there is now room for a person to stand, to sit, to lie down, have friends with them AND a dog. Basically it's a party shed, hahaha. Before hand it was either myself or Andrew got to stand in the shed out of the rain whilst holding Maggie.

It's just too ingenious to even explain properly but basically:
1) there is a huge storage bin on wheels with most of our stuff in it (including the lawn mower),
2) it has a little shelf above it,
3) then there's a fab higher shelf which also magically slides out (what?!!) and

4) when the box is brought forward the top shelf sits on top and is exactly the same height as the lower shelf = day bed! AWESOME!

Naturally this is a project that will have a few blog post instalments but fear not I shall share the glory of it all with you!!!!

Love and hugs, oh and may your bulbs be poking through and bringing you joy and hope my friends xxxx

Andrew goes Potty

Oh oh, Andrew has gone and got himself a 'man shed' and plonked it in the drive and now he goes there for special Andrew time. It's a potting shed with 6 windows (3 each side) that was designed just for him by a talented local shed maker and delivered a couple of weeks ago - but it's his thing so I wasn't going to share it with you until he was ready. Now it's got lovely shelves inside and stuff growing in it :)

Actually when I look at these photos it looks better now than just a few days ago - there are more seedlings growing big and tall so I guess I shall ask for an invite to take more photos. I am also going to make him a sign for the door, hahaha

'NO GIRLS ALLOWED'

Hold on a wee minute until I get my facts straight.....
* it is 7x5 ft
* it is weatherboard/shiplap NOT the inferior outlapping construction
* it is slow grown Scandinavian pine
* pitched roof covered with felt
* 2 air vents have been added by Andrew himself.

Lovely........

St Patrick and Rhubarb

Did that title grab your attention? Did you think that I was going to tell you all about my new an exciting research into the link between St Paddy and rhubarb? Well, I'm not - I don't know if there's a link, I don't care - the whole St Paddy's Day thing grates on me; why does everyone think they are Irish for that one day and then use it as an excuse to get rat a*sed?

Okay, shame on me, *hangs head*,I have neglected you but I didn't mean too; I shall explain. On St Patrick's Day (last Saturday) the sun was a-shining and Andrew and I were pepped up and ready to go (after 2 coffees) and worked hard at the Lottie. Maybe a little too hard, looking back on it, especially when I had a full day at the craft Market on Sunday. So I have been in break down mode since Monday and thus my fingers and brain haven't been communicating very well - hence no blog post until now. I shall make up for it!!

So Saturday, no we did not wear green, sing Danny Boy and paint our faces (though we did have a beer whilst working but we do that sometimes anyway and I am North Irish so I am allowed - don't judge me!!!) No, we did something much more traditional - we planted our Spuds :) Now that is what you really ought to be doing on St Paddy's, now you know.

We're growing Estima and Sharpe's Express this year. Here they are before we took them to the plot - basking in the sunshine, doing their very last bit of chitting before planting time. I do have a thing for potatoes - it's that whole put 1 in the ground and wait a while and then dug out 8 that look just like the one you put in - it's the first potent encounter I ever had with magic and it reminds me of a slightly sepia coloured memory of my Papa and I in his back garden, gathering food for dinner....

Estima

Sharpe's Express

Here they go into the ground. This happened over the period of the afternoon as Andrew went away a few times to get things, such as horse poo and beer and ice lollies - all at different times ;) Here on the right you can see the beverages.

But here is the good sh*t!!! Hahaha - beautiful, non smelly horse poo from a fabulous source for free - hoorah. I love free stuff and it is full of worms, which is something our plots severely lack I am sad to say. You can see some of the poo in the spud trench too, I've just noticed that in the photo. But here's a great big boot load of the stuff to feast your eyes upon.....

I was able to buy some fence paint and new brushes (yay for my pincushions selling! - made me feel good to buy it myself) and got painting the shed. It is looking great already, though I have more to do around the back and a second coat on the door and all the trellis and 3 benches! Eeek, but I do love the finished look. I hope it's really obvious that this is the 'before' photo.








So onto the rhurbarb. I love that word, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb...I think I may have to get a pet of some sort so I can say it out loud in public with glee. Here is the 14b plant which had pushed the lid off the forcer :) We still have to make some more delicious rhubarb and ginger compote with it (2nd batch), this time Andrew says he may add some of the Raspberries from the freezer to it as well - ummmmm, tasty.

I'm going to leave you now with more photos of rhubarby goodness. I have more lovely photos to sure of around our plots, new life brusting into life all around and it's wonderful. I show you them next time, for now - it's dinner.

Where did Monday go?? - part 2

Bloomin' Monday - a fabulously pink, pink Gerbera, oh so pink..

***

Andrew built an ingenious new bench/storage system inside the shed. All from his own wonderful mind; he dreamt this up and then just went out and made it happen. I am one proud wife! It was so simple when you really took a step back, of course we could have a bench inside- eh viola! -extra room, extra cozy. Andy left it open around the bottom so we could store longer items such as bamboo canes and the azada etc. It's pretty darn nifty if you ask me and another feather to add to his already quite bird-like cap. Hoorah for 'can-do hubbys'!!

Now I just want there to be a terrible (but very quick) freak rain storm at the lottie, so we can go in and sit down comfortably, lock the door from the inside (oh, yes he has enabled us to do that too) and have a cuppa. Really must do the girly thing, the right thing and make cushions for our bums, ummm........

Stay tuned for tomorrow's results on the PSB taste session!

Nesting

This is a little embarrassing but as I have no shame I'm going to share it with you all anyway.
I am nesting. Yes the shed is being turned into a home from home. I have already laid a new floor (vinyl - easy to clean) from offcuts my niece gave me, painted the inside walls the same colour as my bedroom (cosy) and highlighted areas in white (to make it feel brighter). I'm going to make new curtains and get boxes in which to put things in (shoe boxes wrapped up in gift paper). Then I'm bringing in the outdoor storage bench, painting it and putting some old cushions and a cosy blanket on top.

Call me daft but I really need a comforting place to retreat to down there when the weather is too bad, I'm feeling panicky or I just need a wee moment to myself; politics on the plots is really getting me down these past few months - nothing but complaints, it isn't good for me to listen to such negativity all the time! Between us, Andrew and I have made a pact that we aren't going to moan anymore, it gets us nowhere but down. Plus I now excuse myself from all negative conversations down there - the lotties are meant to be my refuge and sanctuary, I have enough mental nastiness in my head already.

I am not the best at coping with winter, I'd definitely have SAD if I didn't have depression already, I need my Vitamin D!!! Though funnily Andrew and I were talking about our Autumn/ Winter veg and how we kind of prefer this time of year, more about that tomorrow maybe.

I leave you with a funny, naughty parsnip - Matron will probably like this. Every man's dream?

ooopps, the above pic is of a white carrot, silly me!

Can't believe NO ONE has commented on THAT photo of Andrew from Friday!

I haven't been sleeping the past few nights, plus I've been having to take a lot of tablets to calm down some very very severe panic attacks. So this all equals a very tired and concentration-less Carrie. I did manage to sleep for half an hour in the car at the lottie today whilst Andrew worked away; uncomfortable? - yes but it felt good too.

It was pretty stinky today down there, windy and some heavy rain and damn cold. It feels like February here a lot of the time, I truly find it difficult to believe this is JULY. Andrew is off for a few days for the 12th July national holiday and then he has taken a couple extra, so I have him all to myself for a whole week! Tomorrow we are going to try to go out for the day, away from the the Lottie, the house and Carrick altogether.

Along with the usual gardening work and planning we have had our heads turned with the organisation of the family fun day in August. I've been planting lots of seeds for the kids to pot up and have their own mini-lotties, thinking about games, begging folk to make jam/chutney/pickles and donate produce for the day and doing some photography and framing for the Allotment Association stall too. Lots to think about!

(My preserves group isn't really getting off the ground, so many people have plans to do things like that in the years to come but their plots and the plants thereon aren't mature enough yet. There just aren't enough fruits and extra veggies there to use. But it is something I'll keep working towards.)

August just isn't going down as the best time of year for this open day, most people would prefer spring and autumn events when things are a bit more exciting on the plots. However the Fun day is us taking part in National Allotment Week so it does make sense. However, who knows, maybe we could have more fun days throughout the year, I think it would be lovely to celebrate our work together and get to know eachother better. We are the largest Allotments in the island of Ireland and we have grown in such a short time!

Andrew is off to the Lottie again to continue his work in the shed ~ we have a great working bench in it now and extra storage. I still doubt that you could swing a cat but it does seem larger inside. I'm waiting for another panic to go away and am typing frantically to keep myself occupied but hopefully I'll get a nap in soon, it's terrible taking all this medication but I'd pull my hair out if I didn't (literally). Some days the Ecotherapy thing just isn't right for you, pity, it isn't a panacea.

Don't forget tomorrow (14th July) is the last day for entries into Matron's Worldwide Veggie Show 2009.

More weekend work!!

I'm seeing a new Dr today so I'll keep this short ~ I'm very anxious.

The weekend could really be summed up in 1 word for me - painting. Yes, I spent the vast majority of my Saturday and Sunday with a paint brush in my hand. The Shed and bench got a once over and the fruit arch got a good going at too (there were some places I couldn't reach, even with a ladder, so it still needs to be completed). I tell you, one does not real attractive covered in splodges of brown wood preserver - freckles, yes they are cute, but big blobs over your face and glasses, is not so high fashion.

Andrew on the over hand got to do nice stuff, like planting up our new bare root Climbing Rose 'Queen Elizabeth' (and cutting it right back too - supposedly it's the time and the right thing to do, to me it seems sad), 3 (hopefully) beautiful red 'Orientale' Poppies and 2 Echinaceas 'Magnus ' . All my favourites and all for in and around my flower beds by the shed.

I did get one Fab job though. Bill gave us 2 hilariously kitsch planters - a huge snail and a frog. I planted them up with some primroses we had left over at home and a lovely cyclamen. I think they are brilliant and anything that can make me laugh like they do is a god send.