Are you a GOOF?

Are you are a GOOF? By that I mean are you a Grow Our Own Follower?!!

I have been very ill with the flu and migraines etc (doesn't help the depression) and it's great to be back. I've noticed a little hardcore group who have been looking at the site whilst I was away and to be honest, it makes me feel good that someone is interested and there isn't much that has that effect on me. So thank you GOOFs!

Big hugs

Soylent Green?!!!

I'm feeling a bit better today and to celebrate the sun has come out (with the hailstones).

This morning we also had a delivery, the 1st thing we have ever ordered for the Plot off the Internet! Our Garlic bulbs arrived, exciting and the contents look good, they're 'Solent Wight' (not 'Soylent Green' - don't worry, it just reminds of that, the name, not that it looks like it! Getting myself in a pickle here). Again, never grown it before so a new wee adventure begins. They are going in the permanent bed I think and will no doubt be planted as soon as Andrew can get there. Which means today I should think.

I forgot to mention that we were at the lottie last night, at about 6. I suppose I was too sick to care, it was very cold and very windy but Andrew thought it might clear my head. It only succeeded in making my nose run a lot and made me feel very hungry - I had Apple Pie in a local restaurant forthwith, for dinner!

Anyway, the other reason we went down was to do a little composting. Andrew picked up this bag of paper shreddings from work and wanted to get it down there, more to get the big hulk of a thing out of the house than anything. He was swamped by it and carrying that much shredded paper from the car park to the shed was hard work. He looks like a very wick Santa Claus. "Shredded paper or grass clipping children, have you been good this year?"

Even in the wind tunnel that is our field, he was determined and the venture went ahead as planned; some did manage to get into the bin - honest!

Life imitates nature

Today was a BAD day, if I wasn't asleep with meds, I literally had the blanket over my head - I could not cope. I had thoughts I hadn't experienced in quite a while.

When I had to take care of Maggie's needs (ie. let her out for the toilet) I watched our young silver birch tree really straining against the wind, it was getting to gale-like proportions. I thought of how similar we were, I know it sounds weird being like a tree, but hear me out. This tree has had a hard life, it didn't have a good start in life, though we did our best, it just wasn't in the right conditions. Then it was moved, fed better and got more light and room to move about (de-staked; it didn't grow legs!)

Although happy now and growing away, it looked so vulnerable today. It was bending so much in the wind, completely battered and I thought it was going to break. At the same time, I just had a feeling it would be okay, I knew it had good strong, deep roots and people who cared and would take care of it.

Do I need to more explict or is the metaphor also clear to you?

Hopefully tomorrow will be better, tonight it is already.

Mamma G

Dinner last night was lovely. Mamma G was over as I said and we had champ and sausages - comfort food. I was so sleepy the rest of the evening.

Mamma told me that that radish, the purple one, was gorgeous, sweet rather than peppery. A new breed of radish?! Could that have made me my fortune? Darn it. Lost forever.....

We also discussed the idea of her own little 'allotment' out the back were the patio is. A pottage/kitchen garden of 4 small raised squares. We all think it's a great idea; she has done all this allotment-y stuff before and has green fingers, so why not? Keep you posted on that, Andrew and I will be organising it for her - more lovely digging!!! In return I'm hoping we get a ready supply of apple tarts from her own apple trees, okay Mamma? Oh and I changed my profile pic for you, hope you think this one is nicer.

Well, the sky is bright blue at the moment and I am determined wee Maggie should get a quick walk, if it kills me. So better go quick, Mother Nature really has had it in for me recently, there's probably a large grey cloud waiting for me over the house.

31st September (I make the rules here)

I was very brave and a little while ago, I gave in and relented to the fact that it is... October. I turned the page on the calendar before my nerves give way and just felt thankful that it wasn't November, not yet. This year seems to be going in way too fast and soon it will be winter and generally that does not cheer me in any way.

Thanks go out to Paul and Caro for arranging to have their wedding this month and thus a trip to Belgium is on the cards in less than a fortnight.

Even so, while I can, I would like to talk about September for a little longer.

We visited the lottie last night, for food for dinner, last nights dinner and tonight. I forgot to even look at the caterpillar chrysalis, so 'Chrysalis Watch' has gotten off to a terrible start, sorry.

We had a good harvest look. Yes, spinach, carrots, potatoes and 2 new additions to the repertoire - Scallions and Chillies (Hungarian Hot Wax). I had the spinach for my lunch there and it tasted great, with the usual addition of prunes, yummy. The Chillies were used last night in a Veggie Curry (made by Andrew), they weren't hot but they are only just turning yellow/orange but they did taste nice. The plant looks very healthy and there are, goodness, around 20+ on it growing away merrily under their own little greenhouse. The Jalapeno also has lots of flowers and a couple of baby chillies.

The Scallions are for this evening, Champ with Pork and Apple Sausages. Mamma G is coming over for dinner, and that reminds me - must tidy up a bit!! I think this is the 1st time we've had anyone over to share in a Lottie meal with us. We generally just give produce away, like these Radishes last night, which went to the afore mentioned Mamma; a good home for a radish to go and fulfil it's destiny. A couple were split a little and one of them was purple, it always was since it was a baby - odd, maybe just a different variety in the packet of seeds, even it's foliage was richer in colour.

Now I have a lesson to share with you, about Runner Beans and what not to do with them. Take note, if you ever grow these fine and tasty beans, never ever put them in the freezer without blanching them first. They will turn to floppy, squishy messes that even their own Mother would despair over. Blanching is the key, I hope anyway cos that's what we have done with the rest. Hopefully they will be better and can be cooked just from frozen.

Here are the floppy beans (sad) and here are the last batch of lottie runner beans, blanched and ready to go into the freezer.

Well, the sun is out, though it is very cold. I really ought to take Maggie for a quick walk before all the noisy kids get released from their schools and explode onto the streets. Haha, it's just started to absoultely pour down, no going out for us - Maggie HATES rain. It's so changable.

The Duality of Rain

I'm sitting in my dining room which over looks the back garden (laptops are great). I have to confess I never use the room, though it is one of the nicest in the house - shame. Looking out I see a large bank of bright yellow Rubeckia's, Grasses swaying and I can hear the Bamboos, of which we have many. But it has been raining on and off all day, very dull to eye-piercingly bright sky in moments.

The rain has made the beautiful, top heavy Dahlia break, I had to go out and cut a large stem off and try to tie in the rest. I hope it will be okay; though I got a nice little bunch of flowers out the accident I prefer to see them all outside. This rain, it infuriates at times, yet at the same moment I am thinking "well at least the lottie will be well watered". The Duality of Rain. The wind on the other hand, that just makes me mad - whether I look out my window now or think of the lottie, with it's open site and little/no shelter.

One thing that is good, is that I was able to appreciate the little beauties out there, when the sun shone for a while. I love photography but only recently have I let it become my constant companion. Here are a couple of lovelies I noticed today. The one on the right is a seed head from a Celmatis and the other is the top right corner of the garden. The weather looks great, but I assure you a BIG grey cloud is coming...

Well I should go, I just saw that the Gurkhas have won their right to live in Britain. I am so glad, I signed that petition ages ago, must read all about it.

In Memory....

Yesterday was the anniversary of my Grandmother's death from Cancer. It's been 12 years, and her husband (my Papa) died 6 months before her in March 1996. Both of them would have been very interested in the Allotment had they been with us now, in health. My Grandparents' home was one of constant baking and cooking and their back garden was bascially an allotment itself. A hang back from the war years. My Papa grew all sorts, I remember the gooseberries by the kitchen window, seeing potatoes lifted for the 1st time, big cucumbers, rhubrarb (do I remember correctly - did he make rhurbarb wine?) even a Grapevine in the greenhouse. I was too young to remember everything he grew.

Unfortunately, I was never to know them as an Adult woman, only a teenager and via a stroke, my Papa was 'gone' when I was really just about a teenager.

They were good people. They were and are still loved. x

September's nearly over!

I had Andrew all to myself on Sunday, which was lovely. We took a picnic to the Lottie but the weather was so nice we decided to go for a drive up the Antrim Coast, find a beach and run about on it with Maggie - it could be the last time we get a day like that this year. Don't worry, the allotment was still on our minds and we listened to Gardeners' Question Time on the way up (how embarrassing), there was a special on about contaminated manure. Funny thing is, as soon as we arrived at Waterfoot beach it began to pour! We ran up and down the beach in the rain, laughing and got back to the car soaked. Then, in the car again, the rain stopped, couldn't believe it.

Anyway, we had to go back to the Allotment before dinner time - the Runner Beans had to go, it had been bothering me. Over the past week or so they haven't been producing good quality beans at all, they've been distorted and twisted etc, the plants had obviously come to the end of their wee lives.

I got the honours and took to them with the scissors.

So all we have left in there are the roots of the bean plants (nitrogen fixers) and our very healthy but as yet barren, strawberry plants. I think, but to be honest I'm not sure, that next time it will be brassicas in this bed, again I'll be corrected if wrong. In the other bed you can see in these photos is one of the old potato beds, we have green manure growing in there, doing very well, if only all crops would grow as readily.

Sad thing about working on the lottie yesterday was I got no pleasure from it at all. Even though I had been looking forward to getting down there, especially with a job to do. After cutting down the beans and bagging up the stems etc, we just went home - I was too sick. Very weepy and when one of our lesser known neighbours came over to chat, I felt nervous and sick too. A good sleep helped though, curled up on the sofa with my blanket and then an Andrew-made dinner.

It's funny (not in a haha way of course) when that happens - when I feel worse for being out, even somewhere I love. It was quite dull then, I suppose and the week had been weighing on me so that didn't help, but I usually get a boost there. Odd.

I'm changing my profile picture to a portrait of me on the shed step, when I was feeling a bit better (Sunday Lunchtime). Here's a self portrait of me and Maggie taken on the lottie shed step too. Doesn't she look fine?! She knows how to work the camera.

OMG - SO GOOD!

Home Alone

It's the weekend, the time I usually look forward to - I get to spend loads of time with my hubby. But as I mentioned, today he is on Best Man mode and off shooting paintballs at people.

So, I did some gardening. The gardens at our house are a little more neglected now that we spend so much free time at the lottie. I have no excuse though, I'm here all day, every day and should really get out there. However my anxiety usually forbids that - I get very paranoid that people are looking and laughing at me. But I did it today again (after yesterday's 1st good result), cut the grass with the push mower. It wasn't fun though and although my arms are pleasantly achey, it was a chore - the grass was just too long for the wee machine to handle.

It's a damn shame but we don't grow any veg at all at home and we only have one blueberry plant in the way of any food. Andrew cut it back last year and we didn't really get anything off it this summer - I was not happy with him. We have been thinking about growing our lettuce at home, cut and come again stuff but at the same time, the house is up for sale and goodness knows what will happen there.

Forgive me the indulgence of putting up some pics of my favourite parts of the garden. It isn't at it's best now but there's always stuff to look at. I love bamboos (especially after our holiday to Japan) and bright flowers growing through darker shrubs, I'll grow some more Bishop of Llandaff Dahlias at the lottie next year. I never buy flowers so it will be nice to have some of my own to cut and bring home - I don't touch the ones in the garden - they're too pretty where they are.

Today I met Andrew's Robin friend, I have christened him Franklin. But put a pic of him up and wee Maggie has to have her's up too.

Well we have a compost bin in the garden at least - oh, no, we aren't adding to it anymore. The stuff in it is pretty good and will be used soon in the back garden, then the bin itself will be taken to the lottie, then we'll have 3 there. We are already taking everything to our plot anyway so it won't be any different. Thank goodness the council sells them cheap (£5 each). So I'll have all yesterday's cuttings and the grass from today to take round, plus all the usual kitchen waste and loo rolls etc.

**My Hubby is home! (4.30pm) covered in big bruises and lumps, but happy and exhausted - now he has the drinking aspect of the day to follow; oh cripes! **

Nature's candy!

We haven't been to the lottie since Tuesday night, ridiculous. Andrew has been so busy with work; it's all his fault!

We were able to go down tonight for 20 mins before he was off on Best Man duties. Dressing your male friend up like a girl and getting him drunk is hard work, I'm sure and this is the 1st night! Tomorrow is the main event.

Anyway, it was very worth while. Our 1st Autumn Raspberry was ripe, one day later, it wouldn't have been the same. So pretty and soooo tasty - of course we shared it. There are others coming too.

We'll be back on Sunday, stuff to do and growing plants to look at. I'll write all about it next week.

I did some gardening today, just tidying up the raised bed and the patio area out the back. Tomorrow I'll do the lawns and the rest of the weeding etc. I never did gardening on my own before, but the lottie has given me more confidence - it's great. I'm going to use the push mower from the allotment instead of the electric one; work out those muscles. Also there is a lot of stuff from today to be shredded. I LOVE COMPOST, and I don't care who knows it.

Well, just me and the dog tonight. I'm not going to watch GW! Last week put me off, there's bound to be something on all those tv channels for me, surely.

A few photos

I haven't been feeling too good, not good at all. To cheer myself up I was just looking at photos of the Allotment. There are a couple from the weekend that I forgot to share...

Here is a new caterpillar chrysalis on the lintel of our shed door. Looking at this I realised that this process has always fascinated me; the complete reinvention of oneself. Also it reminds me that 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle was my favourite book as a child and hence, is probably where my difficulties come from, when it comes to disposing of the blighters when they are eating my plants. (I still have a copy of that book upstairs!..).

Then there was this one. I call it 'Diamonds'. It is of course water droplets on our baby cabbages, if they were diamonds I wouldn't be sitting here right now, I'd be rich, rich beyond my wildest dreams, with a cabbage/diamond plant income to fund my extravagant lifestyle!!!! Well that's a lie; I love to blog, so I'd be sitting on my yacht writing away about the photos Jeeves had been sending about the Lottie.

I'm talking nonsense! Just a bad day and trying my hardest to cheer the heck up.

We were there last night for literally a couple of minutes. Nothing to do, but we needed to clear our heads. It was only 6:30pm when I took this photo of the sun setting from our lottie bench. Beautiful, yes, but the fact that it is getting darker so much earlier now is really quite depressing don't you think. Soon we'll only be able to go to the Allotments at the weekend.

A beautiful autumn weekend

This morning I had a panic attack and during it I pulled something in my neck/shoulder, I heard it - yuck! So it's uber sore and I'm not sure about this typing lark, anywho...

We had the most beautiful weekend, especially Saturday. The sky was so gorgeous I took a photo, goodness how much better does this view make a day seem?

I got my hair cut in the morning, so was able to talk on and on about the allotment as I sat there; I get panicky (hate feeling trapped) and turn into the waffle Queen. Unfortunately it seems the whole place may have heard me, Andrew said I was talking rather loud, but I had a hairdryer at my head most of the time. Sorry! Anyway after that we went to the lottie and were met by this gorgeous day. I even got a little tanned on my arms.

I spent the whole time cutting the grass, going round the beds with the shears takes a lifetime, but it's worth it. Ladies - use a push mower when cutting grass, it works those arms good and proper - no bingo wings! Never let a man take this job from you, honestly; the lawnmower is MINE on our plot. I was lucky, inspired to push to the max in the heat of the day by a friendly young man with his own magic mower. This was so fun, it blew bubbles as he went along, he was aiming to 'cut the grass' on the whole allotment field, he said there were enough bubbles to do it. Having kids at the lottie is so much fun.

Andrew turned the compost in No. 2 Bin and the stuff looks good, there was a lot of steam coming off it. I tried to capture it in a photo but it didn't work. We also used some of our own compost from NO. 1 Bin in the permanent bed, gorgeous stuff, very pleased with it indeed. 'Black Gold' I call it, hopefully the raspberries will love it and give me lots of berries, yum. After all that, we needed a wee treat - lollies! I'm a Polly Pineapple girl, Andrew is a Joker guy, excuse the pun.

On Sunday the weather was still warm, though cloudy. We were greeted with this amazing sight as we arrived in the car park. This is Buzz a young trainee Harris Hawk. He had just been put through his paces on the playing fields. I'd never been fortunate to be so close to one of these birds before and questions just spilled out of my mouth about the whole Falconry thing. Fascinating. I just place that sort of past time in the medieval period, as Andrew said, it is the sport of Kings. Wonderful, I hope it isn't the last time we bump into them.

When we got to our shed, there was another surprise. Wonderful, laminated RHS Yearly Veg Planners. They tell you when and what you can sow indoors/outdoors, plant out tubers/seedlings and when the harvest period is - Bloomin' Brilliant. We're putting one up in the shed and I have one home to put up in the kitchen. We have no idea where they came from but Thank You to whoever put them there for us, we love them.

This neck/shoulder pain really is too much. Not much housework for me today, how sad :)

GW and Joe's Allotment.

I don't like Joe's Allotment. I don't think he would care, so it's okay that I write that.

This is just a short blogette, as I was just so despaired by his carrots (?!!!) they were tiny, tiny, little, ity-bity marbles of orange. His pumpkin on the other hand made me wince with rage (never mind the even bigger ones his friends had on their plots), as I tried to grow them and FAILED, failed I tell you! - he just plants them and danders off on holiday, I stared at my pumkpins plants and talked to them (very quietly); nothing, zip, nada.

Lets not even talk about him burning tomatoes, blighted tomato plants, yes but the toms themselves?... By the way I still can't bear the awful GW theme music or the terrible camera work. Though I do like Toby and Carol.

Today (Saturday) thinking back I also remember him saying he doesn't have time to be doing this allotment, and he certainly doesn't come across as someone who knows anything about it - what are we supposed to be learning here from 'the expert' gardeners' world team? I'll still end up watching it though, despite myself....

Family Focus

Hello! I'm in a good mood at the moment - eating a Cabury's Fudge bar and drinking coffee at the same time, ummm, melt in the mouth.....

So last night during the regional news on BBC 1 NI (Newsline) there was a regular segment called Family Focus. I don't know if it's a weekly thing or not but I am aware of it's long running existence. Anyway, last night they were talking about Allotments and their affect on family relationships. Now that got my attention, and today I tried to look up the piece on line and watch it again. I only found this, which is admittedly the first interview with the family back in October 2007, a guess they still have to put up the updated video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsline/content/articles/2008/09/18/fanily_focus221007_feature.shtml
I am aware that it says 'fanily focus' up there but I copy and pasted the address!?

The jist of last night's update was that after a year of owning and working on an allotment, the family (the Williamson's) are feeling closer, spending more time together and the children are eating better, particularly one of the boys who had a dislike for vegetables. I'll have to keep looking at their website and see if it gets updated soon, then I can share the second half of the story with you properly. (By the way, they had a qualified gardener from a local nursery on hand to help them out - cheaters!)

It seems that Allotments are just plain great for everyone, news worthy, research worthy and dare I say it - fashionable!! Yes, I dare, we are on the wave of a revolution, the Allotment is King and Long Live the Allotment!!! I pledge allegiance to growing my own.

Our AGM, in the paper.

Andrew bought the other newspaper for the Carrickfergus area last night. It cost a mighty 10p more than the one I spoke of at the very start of my Blog; the one that I deemed uninterested in the Allotments and therefore just plain wick. The extra 10p seems to have paid off, as our little AGM was given a write up and 2 photos. Unfortunately the photo of Gary, Andrew and me was not included but I have a feeling I was caught with my tongue out at the time, so maybe there's a reason!

It seems that we have a waiting list of 65 people looking to join the club and grow their own. It seems to have really been a major shock to the council - they only started with 36 plots in April (when we were lucky enough to get ours) and then it quickly jumped up to 98, were it stands at the moment. Now that there's 65 more in the works, it makes the single 36 plot field sound rather ridiculous.

Andrew and I were down at our plot last night for some produce and a wee look. We brought the rain with us, honestly, it started the minute we arrived and stopped when we left (are we cursed?!). We did have a nosey round though at everyone else's bit of Eden and some were very impressive but a lot more were very disappointing. I would say that approximately a half of them were in a sorry state. A lot of this could be put down to the terrible weather and the fact that there is a flooding problem (God love those in Field B - I had no idea), but equally where is the determination, the drive to make the best of this brilliant opportunity. Now is the time for digging digging and more digging in preparation for the spring!

Again I get all pent up and will just have to stop talking about this issue. As you know I am passionate and thankful for the Allotments as it seems to have really contributed to a bit of a turn around in my depression and anxiety; my patch of mud means so much.

So bored!

I didn't sleep last night, well, I had 2 hours sleep so technically I did, but I don't think that counts. I am exhausted and finding it hard to concentrate. Been looking a seed catalogues and on-line seed websites, for something to do. It really ought to come under the heading of 'research' but I already can't remember anything and I'm too tired to care.

I'm meant to be looking into Asparagus and stuff for the permanent bed. Andrew has already ordered our bare rooted Autumn Raspberries ('Joan J') and some Garlic ('Solent Wight'). Never ordered plants off the Internet before so interested to see how they look after travelling. I know I certainly look bedraggled after a long journey, and grumpy too!

Hope to get to the Allotment tonight, after Andrew gets his hair cut. I was reading that you can compost human hair, for the briefest of moments I thought 'Oh, bring yours home' and 'I'm getting mine cut on Saturday, brill', then I wised up - it's just gross!!!! Do all allotment holders go through this? I'm constantly looking at skips and wondering about whether there's anything useful in there AND I've become scatological - I see farms and think, 'well rotted manure - wonderful, should we go in and ask?'. There has to be a limit to this madness! I'm obsessed, well usually, when I'm not knackered!

New Harvests

Here's a wee run down of what is growing away at the plot for the future (don't forget we are still eating potatoes, carrots, beetroot, lettuce, runner beans, spinach and sweetcorn at the moment).
In this bed alone we have Pak Choi, more carrots, more mixed lettuce, scallions and more turnips (they were a surprise for me, I'd been complaining that we'd finished them all). I thinned them out on Sunday and everything is very healthy. I have high hopes for the Pak Choi, fingers crossed.


Elsewhere we have leeks fattening up nicely, parsnips, beetroots and spring cabbages. Oh and a great turn out for the books - our own chillies, loads of them. We have 2 different types (under a mini greenhouse we bought in Woolworths for next to nothing) both flowering and producing fruit, one is a Jalapeno, but this one is miles ahead and it's the one with no label! Andrew ate a big bit out of one of these, but it wasn't hot - not ripe yet. I thought he was mad when I saw him crunching away.

We also have radishes but we're not interested in them - they're for Mamma G and Anne to eat. But look how cute they are; I managed to get this photo just mins before Mamma G ate it up straight from the bed; the beautiful redness shining at her was too tempting.

There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't think we'll bother again. They are a little fiery, peppery but mainly (and I mean this for all radishes I 've had) watery. It's not exactly wasabai is it!

Credit Crunch

It seems everywhere you look these days people are talking about the credit crunch, and food shortages, the world is not in a good place right now. On the BBC News website I read today that most people can't afford a balanced, healthy diet. Research by PruHealth has discovered that 1 in 5 people can't afford to eat healthily. Of course we infer that this means the elderly, students, single parents and therefore children - in other words those most in need of good nutrition are being denied it. What is they are saying about this winter?, for many it will a toss up between heating and eating. This can't go on.

I've just had my lunch, stir fried spinach (from the lottie) and prunes. Gorgeous and I would believe, rather healthy. This cost me next to nothing and living in a one income household, that's pretty darn brilliant. What I'm getting at here is that we need to start, collectively, using our gardens or getting allotments and growing what food we can for ourselves and our families. How does it feel to give some produce to Mamma G when she comes down to the lottie?, to regularly bypass the veg aisle in Tesco because we have what we need at home? - bloody brilliant!

Mamma G is even thinking of expanding her own harvest potential by growing more stuff in the back garden. She is great at getting lots out of pots everywhere but things may soon move up a gear, and here, here to her!

The Permanent Bed and Adaza Hoe

Can you tell I'm enjoying myself, writing about the allotment? I wasn't feeling good over the weekend and indeed today I'm not that much improved but looking at my photos I feel better and I love to waffle on and on.


So to the last entry of the day (I shall leave the new harvest stuff for another day), and this one is about the permanent bed. It's pretty much ready to go!


Very 1st thing we did on Saturday was go to Sunnybank, our very local nursery and get horticultural grit to dug into the new raised bed. I really like Sunnybank but I think I've told you that before. Andrew dumped it onto the bed and later in the afternoon I worked it in. I was using the large fork and was wrecked a minute after starting, when James walked by. He opened up a whole new world for me by lending me his Adaza Hoe. It makes the work so much easier, and doesn't pull on the back. I'd never heard of one but now I have kindly been sent 2 websites on them and I'm hooked, only I'll have to wait for a birthday or something before I could get one. Look them up, they go by Adaza (get-digging.co.uk) and Adze (on Wikipedia), used by everyone all over the world for all different purposes including woodwork.



We've just got to order our plants now for the bed. Asparagus, rhubarb and autumn raspberries are the things we're going for. I can't wait, though the asparagus will be few years before it can be harvested, we're hopefully getting 6 raspberry canes (jam and cakes galore!!!) and I've been eating rhubarb and ginger scones lots to get into the flavour. Research, you know. I'm going to have to get back baking in the kitchen, only how to stop myself eating everything?....