Missing in Action

Well the title is a little bit of a lie to start with, sorry. I've been Missing in Inaction. I haven't been doing too well at all and that even includes having a lovely birthday and a lovely garden party and getting some commission photography work. I go for life like a sprint when I feel ok, everything done at once and then, because it is meant to be a marathon or lets be more realistic, a nice enjoyable walk, I end up exhausted and out of the journey for days.

Here are some super lovely photos of my Birthday and the birthday party/welcome to our (very nearly) finished garden party.

At the pond with Eimear for a lovely Birthday walk - look enough wishes for everyone and the swans have recovered after the male was killed a couple of years ago :)

 

 I put the candle in myself, no one else was here!



out for dinner at Wagamamma :)



 



the party -

 Courgette and lemon cake and balloons with bunting - hurrah :)

 Hanging lanterns and a fire pit to keep us warm - plus some of my favourite people *blush*

But things at the allotment have been ignored, apart from Andrew going up and collecting dinner. I have only seen it once since I last wrote and the experience was a little upsetting as there are weeds everywhere and plants that have gone over and some lovely berries have been eaten by insects and birds. I got a little upset and then angry with myself and we had to leave.

I do have this - my 1st apple from the James Grieve tree... I shall consume it later :)

For most of this week I was going through a nervous breakdown and on Tuesday I felt suicidal. I'm only telling you this because I want to share the fact that a Suicide Prevention website (I don't know which one, I was in a pretty bad state) recommended (amongst other things) getting out into Nature. Ecotherapy saves the day yet again. I pulled some clothes on, grabbed Maggie and went out, luckily I had already spoken to Andrew on the phone and thus remembered to take my keys and take a Valium.

I don't remember much about it apart from the route I took and the panic I felt, the bag I flung over my shoulder had a camera in it (as always) and I managed to take this walking back home -
It made me smile and I think I'll make it my flavicon.

Okay, so the walk didn't exactly make the world seem like a better place and suddenly I wasn't depressed but I did feel a little stronger and a lot more tired = I fought the voice in my head, snuggled up on the sofa  in fresh cosy clothes (not soaking with panic sweat) and give myself the grace I needed. I slept until Andrew came home. It was not the finest day of my life but I made it through.

This Saturday (and if the bloody rain would stop for 5mins, tonight as well) we shall go to the lottie for a while and really try to get it into some shape. The bag of berries Andrew bought home for me at the start of the week give me a wake up call - a spider in a raspberry I was just about to eat, a caterpillar on another and a maggot, oh dear god, a maggot in a blackberry!!!!! = my lottie needs me and I shall answer her call.

***Today I shall hopefully finish the Turkish Delight company's promo photos and then once the owner sees the files I can share with you a little of what I was up to these past days when I was well enough. I swear this stuff looks and smells gorgeous but I do not like it. It's that jelly texture, so at least I haven't been found in a corner rocking and in sweats with a massive sugar overdose and a lifetimes worth of shame. I have eaten a quarter of one piece out of hundreds. Now if a chocolate shop was to ask me to do promo pics, well, I may really have to go AWOL, hahaha.***

Love and hugs to you all, don't listen to those people who say the summer is over - they lie! ;)
And a hearty THANK YOU for all the comments on the previous post, they really helped me feel connected to the world through this latest bad spell xxx

Hey there, just needed a chat...

It's a bad day, a pretty darn awful one actually. I never really understood Churchill's description of depression being the 'black dog', mine is a black fog (maybe he had terrible handwriting and his f looked like a d ?) I am surrounded by this fog today; too dense to see any future, to dense to really see the present or the past and damn it, it's heavy, oppressive. I'm being mentally buffeted about ~ a little fishing boat being rolled from side to side, up and down, I literally feel seasick and my double vision isn't helping one bit. My fog horn goes unheard, the winds are howling and it's dark, so very dark and cold.

So this ought to be post about the back garden and work we both did over the weekend to try and get it ready for this weekend - my birthday party is planned to be in the garden, but we'll have to see what the weatherman says I guess. It was all pretty boring stuff, I don't think either of us touched a single plant! It was all gravel and wood, and paint but it's really coming to a climax now. Of course it will look much better with balloons and bunting and a glass of wine in hand ;)

The wood here was reclaimed out of a skip, with permission. It fits perfectly and Andrew didn't even cut it :) We're leaving it unstained and letting it weather.

Super clever as he is, this was all in the plans from the start; a wee hidden area where all the bins go and the storage for the patio furniture etc. It will look tidier than this at some point, forgive us, but we are creative types and therefore messy.

 

Of course Maggie wanted in on the action..

I'm hoping to get to my poor neglected lottie tonight but I have a very lovely man coming over after dinner to drop off loads of Turkish Delight. Odd I know, but I said I would try to do promo photos for him - keep your fingers crossed for me (and David's business). Lucky I don't enjoy Turkish Delight, could you imagine! ha, I'd be taking photos of sticky icing sugar covered fingers and a hamster face of shame.

I must finish this now, the weight on my head and shoulders is too much to bare, I just need sleep but of course I have the builders outside. Do you think I could just tell them all to take a half day and leave me alone? No, I didn't think so...

Thank you to everyone who wrote comments on the last blog and 'Welcome' to some new faces. Flighty and Mo - you are both too kind with your praises xxx

Grow Our Own's 3rd Birthday Party

On the 10th of August 2008 I started a little online journal about our relatively, gloriously new Eden Allotment Gardens. We had just had an Allotment Open Day to celebrate and share our joyful first harvest and I wanted to have somewhere to put the photos and my ramblings. I did have a paper scrapbook in which I had tried to write and put newspaper clippings but it was too fiddly. So then I thought (*bing*) I'll try a blog.

Entering into the blog world was hard and lonely, (I didn't know a single person who had a blog) but I was planning to do this only for me, to chronicle the development of our 'little piece of Eden'. When it came to the privacy settings I thought it wouldn't matter if I made it public - who would look at it anyway?

3 years on and much has happened, the allotments are 4 times the size they were for a start! I am still enjoying myself every day that I am well enough to write about my now 2 half plots and my garden. The journey is really on it's way now but I have no wish to arrive at any destination, I am truly enjoying the ride.

So today to celebrate all things Ecotherapy (or as I like to call it Allotmentherapy), to revel in the wonder that is the Blog and the catharsis of writing, to rejoice in the beauty of Nature and her gift of life and to thank my friends and followers, I am having a little party, with gifts xxx

The Inaugural Inspirational Blog Awards

by Carrie

Many people have helped, encouraged and enthused about our journey and I thank them all, you know who you are dear friends of the non-blogging world, of the non-gardening world! xxx

But here are some of the blogs I turn to for inspiration and fun - I hope this little button award will be accepted and placed with pride on their blog pages (it took me bloody forever to make it!) In no particular order......

Carrots and Kids
Canadian Garden Joy (or GardenJoy4Me as I know it)
A Small Holding
Down on the Allotment
Elephant's Eye
Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments
Two Chances Veg Plot
Flighty's Plot
Allot Of Veg

Here is your award....... tell me it's lovely ;)

{Please copy and paste the html I'll send to you if you want to accept it, put into your sidebar html place - hahaha, so technical aren't I.}

Ah, now the music is starting up and the show is almost over. I love you all!  It's MY party and I'll cry if I want too. Cheers and here's to more seed planting and good eating and most of all sharing the ups and downs x

P.S. I just ate the best Runner Beans with dinner ;)

Almost there :)

The back garden is almost coming to its climax; it is very exciting indeed. Unfortunately the rain has called off play today and I can't get out there with paint brushes in hand to get that wood stained and those walls all whitened, ggrrr. I am all ready to go (in my mind) and wish I had more arms. We are got a delivery of gravel today and that will really make it look special.

These photos are from Saturday - the weed suppressing membrane going down and look, that bad weather was already coming in. A little to the left it was dark ominous grey, a little more to the right of the photo was totally blue!

 

I have literally been asleep since Monday, I mean 24 hrs a day Monday and Tuesday, being woken up only to eat and go to the toilet. I took up the offer of a permanent stall at St George's Market Belfast on Sundays to sell my photography. So the good weather that was supposedly delightful yesterday passed me by....

But this is today and I am so excited to share these photos with you -

A little nook for the bins and the storage unit which has the patio furniture and hammock and lawn mower in it.

Andrew getting that gravel down - he was so excited :)

 

The inside of the cube is stained but I need, need to do the outside so badly I am almost in pain, haha. It's rather stupid though to paint in the rain. So instead here is a close up of some stunning purple Valentia slate and an old quern stone which we have as our stepping stones, marking the transition from the outer garden to the inner garden in the traditional Japanese tea garden style :)

Another catch up, this time, it's 14b

I have tried to write this post a few times now and the words just haven't been flowing. I know I'm not well yet again today but there is also a funny block when it comes to writing about this plot and I have only just realised that. It's so stupid, but then again so much about having mental health problems can feel stupid, so it's also very real. Plot 14b is still new to me (though we acquired it in May 2009), it's more open and I feel exposed, naked and a bit uncomfortable over there even though it's where my beautiful flower bed is. There isn't a proper wind break border between us and our neighbours or anywhere to hide, like under the pergola, in the shed or under the fruit arch as there is on 24a.

14b is right by good old 24a at a diagonal - here is a fabulous drawing by me to help you visualise. I drew this with my tongue sticking out so you know it's good, lol. Oh look, a ruler, now why didn't I use that and do it all to scale? Answer: I'm a free form artist, Andrew is the scientific one in this house.

Click to enlarge. I feel it is  now wonderfully clear, hahahaha

Anyway here's a little update as to what is going on. I didn't spend much time there for reasons I have explained but boy, it is productive and quite beautiful, if I may say so myself :)

These are our Purple Podded Peas send so kindly by Celia of..Purple Podded Peas :)

We haven't really got stuck in to them yet as the other peas are finishing up now and we don't want to waste anything but I reckon this weekend will be a PPP festival in the mouth :) Aren't the flowers that they have utterly gorgeous?? They remind me of the Sweet pea, 'Cupanii' that's my favourite but we forgot to plant this year.

 

 This is my flower bed - I am rather proud of this and it has supplied me with beautiful fragrant flowers in the house AND the bees and butterflies love them especially these -yellow Elecampane. This plant came up from Co. Kerry from my best friend Rosie - look at it now Rosie! (indulge me these photos Matron)

 

 Of course along with the flowers there are many other edible food stuffs. But ah haa - this allows me to throw in another flowery photo; the runner beans and climbing beans are there in the background scrambling up the home made wig-wams. The Runner Beans are lovely, not too long but oh so sweet and tender at the moment, the climbing beans are a little lackadaisical.  PLEASE ignore the weeds in this other bed, oh lord, the weeds are taking over in that plot . Here are our gorgeous Beetroot and Sorrel, we've been enjoying these so much, plus the Carrots and Parsnips which won't be ready for a while yet. This last photo is the Jerusalem Artichokes at the back of the plot - these make me happy as I love them and they are growing like crazy  beside 'The Trinty' of compost bins :)

 

Catching up with 24a :)

Okay, okay, so it's been a while since I did a full post on one of our half plots. I guess to be honest, it's been a while since we spent the day at the allotments as the back garden is just too exciting and all we need do at the allotments is keep on top of the grass and millions, zillions of weeds everywhere (a very thankless task, eh?)

So here we go, you ready?..... First off look at our garlic drying! Oh my lordy lord above, is that not a glorious sight to behold? They are firm and I know they're really tasty because we have been eating some 'in the green' until now. They were 'Solent Wight' but I guess by now with 3 years of careful selection of the best ones each season to replant, they are Gaults :) 'Gaults' Wight', hahaha. I remember hearing somewhere that after a while the garlic in your plot will adapt to the conditions of your soil and the climate etc and through natural selection (well gardener selection) the best ones go on to reproduce and effectively they are your own strain. Is that fabulous, or is that fabulous?! I love learning things like that. So 'Gaults' Wight' are now available for say... £1thousand per bulb ;p

Then beside the bench is the 'area of shame' which I am not showing you. It shall be dealt with in the Autumn but suffice to say it is embarrassing as the day is long. Let us move on.

Ah, the celeriac and the leeks - looking good if I may say so myself. Andrew was watering them with what I like to term 'stinky juice', which is our own organic fertiliser. Yep, this stuff totally burns the nostril hairs and makes one want to vomit but hey, the plants love it. All it is is nettles and man pee left in a big container to ferment and mature. If you try this at home comfry is also excellent, as is seaweed but be warned - it isn't called 'stinky juice' for nothing, get it on your clothes or skin and you will smell BAD for days.

This is one of my favourite things to do - hunt for treasure. I was accepted at University to do Archaeology but unlike Andrew I just haven't the patience. This is as close as I am allowed to get to the noble work of digging stuff up. It is just like finding treasure though, isn't it? And of course, as with every year, it reminds me of that really joyous memory I have of my Papa and I doing this in his back garden - I was so young and mystified by the whole thing.

I won't show you are 'family' apple tree as pride comes before a fall and I am so proud of the tree this year! The blackcurrant plant on 24a finally gave up her goodies but we have seen so many blackcurrants that to force another bumper crop photo on you would be tantamount to torture. So on to the fruit arch; oh how it has grown, all those tiny saplings are now up to the very top of the arch and even crossing over. I could not be happier. Only a few fruit on each of the trees (2 pears, 2 plums and 2 apples) but the plants are doing good and that is great :)

Lastly, 2 more Autumn Raspberries - I hope I get them before Andrew again, hahaha. Or those pesky birds!

Writing this has cheered me up - I have had the worst couple of days, barely able to talk or think straight, so thanks for being there to talk to xxx

Disbelief with generous helping of hayfever

Yesterday, through a haze of disbelief, it seems as though I secured a solo exhibition for my photography AND was featured on the Channel 4/4Homes top Garden blogs list! How did this all happen? Best not to ask really, maybe the bubble will burst :)

Up until Wednesday morning when I saw Eimear (and even Wednesday afternoon and evening) this week I have been living in a kind of dream state; my depression has been so bad, I guess I was opting out. I can't actually remember much but thankfully I took photographs and things that happened do come back to me from seeing them. Sunday was a beach day - that I do remember but after that it's a blur. That's why I haven't written since last Friday.

But yesterday was genuinely great and so today I am more than a little buoyed up and ready to write. But how can one write about the garden or indeed my beloved lotties when I ran out of hayfever medicine and can't get my prescription until later today?! I'll tell you how.....

Just for you, I broke the hermetic seal of my house to take photos of the neighbours garden across the street and the further work on our own, by hanging out the windows holding my breath. (And taking the opportunity to shake my fist at the pollen out there too; why Nature, why?!!)

The lovely C and B across the street have really started into their front garden whilst the back is full of the chaos that comes along with conservatory building, patio laying, greenhouse erecting and planting a hedge. Their style isn't our style but hey that's okay. I do have to point out that I love the choice of tree - an ornamental cherry and the cute, quirky, ironic choice of an old chimney pot as a plant container in a new development devoid of fireplaces :)

Oh yes! (grining with pride at my hubby's work) The back garden here is coming on a pace and the secret area is looking fab; to lie in there on the hammock and look up at the sky is dreamy. This weekend is going to be mental out there with Andrew finishing the rendering and me starting in to the wood staining (there has also been talk of posh gravel and bark chips being bought - eek!) And no, I am not showing you our front garden is it too embarrassing, stop asking!

Also here is a random picture of a gorgeous Cantaloupe melon which I have been thoroughly enjoying. (No, I didn't grow it are you bonkers?) Ummmm, time for some more me thinks.

back garden/ bamboo ninja

Oh dear sweet wonderful readers, you thought I had abandoned you didn't you? No I have been thinking of you often, just haven't gotten around to actually telling you. I know, so selfish *shakes head in shame*.

We have been working on the back garden some more (and of course when I say 'we', I really mean Andrew, I am merely a helper in times of need) and it's looking pretty darned cool.

 

Though this time last weekend Andrew was attacked, viciously and without due cause by one of our Bamboo plants. Yes!! Who knew gardening could be such a dangerous hobby, sometimes ending in a trip to A&E! Whilst re-potting one of of our oldest and most loved bamboos (re-potting with tender loving care of course) Andrew was jabbed in the eye by a bamboo stem - oh the travesty - like a ninja it damaged his cornea and he had to go to the hospital. Luckily he is now okay and the good nurses at A&E gave him some good medicine and inflated his head by telling him that he had the best eyesight they had seen in a long time even; with his affliction he's 20:20. 

<  Which can be clearly seen by this photo, lol

Apart from that little bit of drama, all has been rather mundane at the lottie. Weeding until the sun sets her weary head, only to be back hard at it again the next visit! Where the blasted heck do they all come from? I'll tell you........ the unoccupied plots all round the place - ggrrrrr!

Back to the garden and a nice deep breath. We have a mini version of Harland and Wolff's cranes out there now, look - I only realised just how alike they were today when I took the photo. We ought to paint them yellow, hahha. But no, this is the basis for our pergola and look at that hammock :) There shall be rafters on it in no time and a beautiful climber and a little decking underneath for yoga-ing on :) Eeek! It shall be divine.

Shame

Okay, let's get one thing out of the way. I hereby apologise firstly for the stupidity of my fellow countrymen and women with all these pointless and pathetic riots over 'The Twelth'. I trust you believe me when I say I have nothing to do with any of it. In fact I was nowhere near any of the 12th madness at all.....I was at my lottie, bathed in serenity and  dappled sunshine :) [I find serenity is helped by lying on the ground beside the lavender bushes, lol]

But again here I must apologise as my Lottie was a place of shame also; overgrown with weeds, lettuces bolting, berries gone forever to the beaks of opportunistic birds (gggrrr) and grass - goodness so much grass! In fact this shame was so great that I have barely a photo for you, the camera revolted and couldn't bring itself to let the scene before me be seen by you. Though here I was allowed by my camera to take a shameful photo of waste but only if the bag full of good Strawberries was in it too, hahaha.

at the Patio - the honeysuckle has reached the top of the gates = happy plant :)

The Patio area alone triumphantly half filled a wheelbarrow by itself - oh Lordy, you can sense the scene. Andrew got to play with a petrol strimmer - which was loud and a little scary but boy, what a great job it did. Some day soon we will get rid of all the grass on 24a, you mark my words! (14b is already bark mulched).

Oh but I can't help myself - here are some photos (close ups you will notice, haha) of some loveliness on site.

Okay it's mainly flowers so I have put it into a collage for the sake of the beautiful but flower-on-the-lottie-hating Matron ;) xx

Lastly; the June drop, in July - so sad...

Oh I have so much more to share but really, it has to wait for another day as Andrew is still off work and we have relaxing and gardening and coffee drinking and Maggie walking to do in the sunshine ;) Talk soon xxx

P.S. The first Autumn, yes AUTUMN raspberries are out - this one was gorgeous ;)