2024 and 2 major new additions
It’s been a few years since my last post (if I had ever posted it).
A little update on additions in order of arrival (not importance):
-my little allotment
-a greenhouse
-2 cats
-8 joyful month old baby 😊
-a new half plot allotment ( adding to my half plot)
I have a lot less time to write now. But the ideas and ambition is still going strong.
So this years plan.
Big Lottie.
Clear the brambles, roots and dig over this unused plot. See the before pics below.
Prep my potatoes.
- Desiree (Maincrop) – The world’s most popular red skinned potato.
- King Edward (Maincrop) – An absolute classic, perfect for fluffy mash and crispy roasts.
- Charlotte– A latish first early, producing good crops of medium sized oval tubers that are waxy when young and perfect hot or cold.
- Maris Peer (Second Early) – Superb flavour and won’t disintegrate on cooking.
- Pentland Javelin (First Early) – Lovely soft waxy-textured new potato with white skins and flesh.
Some:
Asparagus Gijnlim 10 Crowns. Due to arrive later this year,
I have also ordered seeds and need to get these going!!
But first digging!
The before pictures….
Back to being ‘lost’ on the plot! Drafted June 2021.
I think we can say this is literal. As my husband would probably agree he has temporarily lost me to my love of allotments again.
I have taken on a very small and very sensible little plot near to our new house. And I can’t explain the happiness it brings me!
The plan
My next step with the garden is to plan. And I have a few… I have to admit I was dreaming up ideas for our garden long before we moved in.
So here is a list of what I would like to achieve:
-Making the garden safe for our toddler is my top priority.
-We need to do some fence maintenance.
-Pruning and working out what we actually have in the garden. I think I am going to have to start a log book so I can remember. It’s a bit of a mystery until spring and then probably a until a full year has passed, but I’m trying to work it out. It’s a fairly established garden, which is nice as we can enjoy it already, but it does also mean it’s not a blank canvas and we need to work around some established plants or be brutal.
-Sorting and reorganising my allotment gear. Which has been put into our shed… in a bit of a crazy pile. (Moving an allotment is not an easy job!!) But the shed smells very authentic; just like my grandpas did.
-Working out a general plan for the space. Involving a greenhouse (this is realistically something for next year) and creating growing space for veg and flowers….
-Sorting out the soil. Whilst the garden has been cared for, it lacks the beautiful soil I achieved at the allotment. You don’t have to dig far to hit clay and rocks. Raised beds and lots of digging are on the agenda.
-A diy ‘mud kitchen’ for our toddler.
-Location for my hammock!! Although I have no idea where the bolts or actual hammock are since we moved!!
-A small child friendly wildlife pond. Bug hotel, nesting boxes and feeders.
-Pots and pots and pots for my dream container patio situation.
-I need to remove some brambles although I think they will be my new garden foe. I like the fruit, but the spikes less!
I’m also expanding my seed sourcing. Discovering chiltern seeds via an insta explore. Which has made me realise that we need proper garden plan as my ideas are running a bit wild. So I need to focus and I need to get going.
I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with the ‘garden’, but I think it’s a ‘jump in a crack on’ situation. Need to remind myself nothing is permanent and the learning has to start somewhere. I’m looking forward to the clocks changing as some evening gardening can start!
Bloom or bust is back!
Hello, it’s been a while!
It’s been a busy few years; but having finally achieved the ultimate dream. Having our very own garden! If you follow my Instagram you will know that we said goodbye to my lovely allotment (as we moved areas). We also sold our flat and bought a house… funny how I focus on the allotment and garden. We are now ready to start the next part of our journey!
So the real task begins to ‘get to know’ the garden and to make it ours. I loved using this blog for every stage of my garden adventure from balcony-to my allotment -and now ‘grown up’ garden! Marking my ideas, thoughts, trials and tribulations!
My focus has shifted from my allotment for the past few years when our son arrived. And he became the ‘project’ and will obviously always be the ongoing master project! So the gardening and growing obsession has taken a bit of a back seat, but…. it has never stopped. Having started him at the allotment from a young age he is a good trainee in the making and is not afraid to get his little hands dirty! If only they made gardening gloves for 2 year olds!!
I love being outside and working hard to achieve a goal, it’s probably the challenge I enjoy the most. ‘Cheesy’ I know but I’m excited to see what we can achieve in our new garden.
The new, not new garden:
We looked and looked ….and looked for houses, and it was not easy to get our flat sold in the first place. But I think we got lucky and found a gem of a house with a good sized garden!
We have only been ‘in’ a few months, moving at the end of last year. Although we saw the garden in the middle of summer it had been hot and the garden was understandably a little neglected. But you can see it’s been loved and nurtured by the previous owners.
One of my favourite plants is a mature wisteria. Which has been trained over an arch. I have tried to give it an ‘over winter’ prune, without being to brutal. It would be great to get some advise please.
Now it is getting warmer we are starting to see the signs of spring. Lots of bulbs and shoots are popping up all over the garden. But at this stage my knowledge is seriously lacking on ‘garden’ plans. So I am trying a soft approach in some areas ; whilst I learn….combined with heavy handed approach in more forgiving areas of the garden. It’s not an easy balance. Also finding the time to really give the garden attention is really a challenge. I’m looking forward to lighter evenings and lots of bbqs!
Garden treasures:
We had a few in the garden!!! A rusty lawn roller, wheel barrow and various paving slabs, bricks and sand… not to mentions large pots were also left as garden treasure. Being an allotment scavenger at heart… this made me pretty happy! I now have 3 compost bins!!! Not to mention a gnome, mermaid and a duck garden ornament!! And a garden bench which has already been well used.
July-August- September post!
I stated writing this post a few months ago!…. Better late than never!
I have been off WordPress a bit of late. But the plot is still growing away, as is my own little (or rather big) side project. The baby bump!!
This post is a big overview of the year.
– Potatoes in the big bed grew well. We harvested these around the end of September. And this year we got them before the slugs! They turned out much better than expected considering I hadn’t given them much love. The potatoes in the waterlogged bed did grow, just not as much or as big. Next year I will need to find another way to drain my willow soaking pool, rather than just letting the water run into the beds.
-Tomatoes greenhouse and outdoor… Did well. But again a little tlc and they would have cropped longer and better. As always my greenhouse plants did the best.
-I also grew cucumbers and peppers in my greenhouse. Which did well.
-I grew some sunflowers to cut this year. They turned out great as just kept on flowering away all summer. And made lovely gifts to a lucky few! I also grew some big sunflowers…. Can’t have a plot without a few monsters!
-My tradition sweetpeas grew away nicely. But I’m determined to make them last longer. Lots of water?
– I also grew borage, wildflowers and some other companion flowers this year.
-My mini squash looked great, but gave up in the hot weather. I got two fruits… So it’s a start! They looked very pretty when growing away so I will try again next year.
– My beetroots did well. But got nibbled before I could get to them.
– Courgettes were a disaster this year. Just didn’t and didn’t want to know. They usually grow like weeds!
– Strawberry plants had there first year in a new bed. Hopefully next year they will show off!
-Raspberry plants were a bit sad this year. I didn’t cut back hard enough and I noticed a big improvement when I did! Next yearbook will be harsh on my lovely plants!
We cleared the plot and greenhouse down for autumn a little early this year. Next stop is manure spreading :).
Then we can start fresh in New year… With a brand new extra set of hands! I suspect he won’t come out with gardening gloves in hand…. But given a few years!
First day of Summer
I have not written on here for a while. But today it’s the first day of summer!… And it’s raining (are we surprised?…..at least the plot will be happy).
Here is a run down on the plot.
Courgette x3 + 1 still in greenhouse
Squash x2. + 1 still in greenhouse
Sweet peas and other flowers 🙂
Sunflowers
Leeks
Beetroot
Beans
Potatoes x 6 types.
Strawberries
Raspberries
And in the greenhouse:
Tomatoes
Melon
Peppers
It’s all growing along with very little help from me. Just weeding and watering.
Last night we had our first big pot of raspberries. 🙂 The strawberries are being eaten by other beasties.
The to do list is:
-pot up the rest of my greenhouse
– Set my squash around frames, so it can grow upwards
-do battle with strawberry eating beasts
-pull up first flowered potatoes (set flower about a month ago :))
And I’m sure I will find other jobs!
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Un-posted! But not forgotten a
This is a VERY delayed forgotten post from a few weeks ago…
I got a good few hours in at the plot last weekend. I did a bit of everything!
I got my back bed cleared, organised and dug. That’s all beds set for growing. Yipeee! Getting closer to growing season…. Fast forward one week….. and I have sown spinach, sweed and beetroot in this bed.
I have seen a bit of talk about sowing in sand to help seeds seperate, avoid rotting and to spot seedling vs weed? Curious to know peoples thoughts and advice on this.
My potatoes are finally coming up, I am dutifully keeping on top of covering with soil. Even the flodded bed (lesson learnt, do not drain willow soak into allotment)
My leeks are starting to grow along, but my spring onions (tape) seems to have failed. I love my spring onions so its back to the drawing board on this.
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Mid April plan
I’m at the stage that I need a plan again.
Things I need to do on the plot this weekend:
– Check sweet peas and sweetcorn are alive and possibly plant in the ground.
– Get my structures in place. Bamboo poles please!
– Clear ‘back area’ on my plot ready for the hammock stand in may.
– Sow beetroot, chard seeds direct in soild.
– Find my paper plans! Probably do this first… as I may have illegally sown extra crops. And it could go horribly wrong!
– Get some wood chipping for my strawberry bed.
– Get a proper frame made for my raspberry canes, and string them up! And remove any cheeky unwanted suckers that have popped up.
-Tidy greenhouse! A good rainy day job!
– Investigate compost bin 1… And dig into back bed… I need to put a little path back in here as it proved to be impossible last year.
– Do a bit of general maintenance… Weeding, fixing, levelling…
And I think that lot will keep me busy!
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Slug and snail time!
Link Posted on
I have seen a few leaves going missing. But today my lovely newly re potted Courgette was gone 😭
So no more ‘miss nice lady gardener’ slugs and snails. Your days are numbered!
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Windy weekends and to-do lists
On Tuesday I walked home in the setting sun. Ok it wasn’t sunny at all, it was rainy and horrid. But it was light….which makes me very happy as I can see my plot after work. 🙂 When I have the time!
Although reading peoples blogs made me realise that I have not checked on my plot since storm Katie. And now the fear has set in!
So last night (a few nights ago now) I legged it to the plot. Was greeted by 2 cats shouting at each other, and another sheepishly watching them. But the plot was ok. A few broken panes of glass and blown over bits, but we made it!
Time to fix up my door again.
And straighten those poles!
But spring has sprung and my raspberry canes seem to be getting going for year 2 on the plot. The wood chips are making it all look much more organised….at least in my eyes.
I have to say it was hard to leave. But at the weekend I’ll get my dig on 🙂/ nothing done. And instead DIY our socks off. Ahhh well we now have a beautiful bedroom to relax in after all the future allotmenting. 😝
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Bloom or Bust: Alota Allotment! 