Saturday, June 30, 2012

2012 Allotment Diary - Me: 56 hrs He: 47.5.hrs

I hate shopping - food shopping - clothes shopping - anything shopping.  Fortunately Mr Lottie doesn't mind it at all.  If I have to shop - I dash in, go straight to what I need, grab it, pay for it, and dash out - job done.  Whether it be food, clothes, household items - even the microwave and kettle we had to buy recently.  I think that's why I grow, cook, and freeze so much of my own veggies; have a friend who grows chickens for the freezer for me; bulk buy fish from the farm; and bulk buy meat from the village butcher.   Oh and freeze all my surplus eggs after gifting lots to family and friends.

So it'll come as no surprise then, that Mr Lottie went off to get the food shopping and dropped me off at the allotment whereupon I did two and a half hours hard labour - until he came back to fetch me - by which time I was nearly on my knees.   It's good exercise though - well OK you do ache - but it's just the muscles telling you that  you have used different ones than usual.

 So this is the bed that I have been saving for the Jack Be Little pumpkins.
I have been digging it over - several times - it's had wheelbarrow loads of very well rotted horse manure and composted plants etc - and in the few days that we did have rain, it's grown yet more weeds.
 So I dug it over again.  Each pumpkin has a heaped wheelbarrow full of well rotted manure, mounded up, into which the pumpkin is planted and well watered.   
It's got very very windy here, and even more so out in the field where the allotments are with no shelter at all where I am.  So I put these little protectors around them.  I bought them years ago from a lady on a forum that since closed down.  They are a simple design.  Thick plastic which has been 'welded' to form vertical tube like pockets. 
 When in situ over the plant - you stick in some canes to create some stability, then fill the pockets with water.  The least water you put it, makes the top close to create a mini greenhouse in colder weather to protect seedlings - but this time of year it's not cold - I just need wind protection - so I fill them to the brim which allows for watering by me or the heavens - you'll notice the difference in a week - I'll remember to show  you!
I weeded around the climbing beans which are finally taking off - but again the wind is causing havoc.  I added the matting so that I can pick and weed the beans easily.   
The pumpkins will cover the bed completely when they get going.
 I watered yesterday's plantings, and put the last of the pumpkins at the end of the bed in the corner opposite, next to the onion bed.   I also managed to squeeze in a row of parsnip seeds too.
 Back home, exhausted, there is nothing quite like the sight and aroma of lavender to rejuvenate and lift my spirits instantly.
 My poor Alstromeria plants have suffered this year.
The rain has made them twice as tall as they usually are - and the wind has flattened them more than a few times despite my staking them.   I am very tempted to cut some for a flower arrangement - then I might get a second showing later in the year.

Off to cook lunch - well not exactly cook it - I'm opting for a home grown salad, with some of our new potatoes, and some lovely thick ham slices from the butcher.

4 comments:

  1. I'm not keen on shopping either! I have a 'take no prisoners' attitude apart from when I'm craft shopping of course!

    I'm fed up of the extremes of weather and the bl**dy slugs and snails! My runner beans don't look half as good as yours and they've been in for a month! My tomatoes ...well if I get one tomato I'll be lucky. This is the year I most needed to grow my own too. perhaps they'll do something!

    Have a great week,

    Sandie xx

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  2. your plants look great, is that tomatoes beyond the fence in the last photo?
    I read your bread pudding post and thought of a story grandpa told me.
    When he was young he followed the wheat harvest , in the earlt 1900 men would join a crew with machines that trashed the wheat and moved from farm to farm. It was the custom for the men to take their meals with the farmer that they were hired out to.
    Grandpa said this one farmers fife made the best bread puddin and he ate his fill everyday at dinner.
    One day the lady said to grandpa , Melton get the stale bread out from under the sink. Grandpa said when he reached for the bag of bread the roaches went running from the bag. No more bread puddin for grandpa.

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  3. AVRIL2:58 pm

    HI, I LIVE IN THE WEST OF IRELAND AND FOUND YOUR BLOG WHEN I WAS LOOKING FOR A RECEIPE FOR JUSTABERRY JAM. WELL MY TREE HAS RETURNED TO GOOSEBERRIES I THINK, I GOT 9LBS. I MADE SOME SUMMER FRUIT JAM AND IT WAS LOVELY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP. MY MUM IS 91 AND HAS GIVEN ME A FEW MASTER CLASSES IN JAM MAKING. SHE WON PRIZES AT THE LOCAL SHOW LAST YEAR, THIS YEAR ITS UP TO ME!!I DONT HAVE A GARDEN FOR VEG BUT JUST GROW SOME BEANS, TOMATOES FOR CHUTNEY AND FRUIT.I DONT HAVE TIME AS I LOOK AFTER MY MUMS HOUSE AND MY OWN. I'L KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR BLOG AS I IND IT VERY INTERESTING, MAYBE ITS BECAUSE ITS WHAT I'V ALWAYS WANTED TO DO MYSELF, GOOD LUCK, AVRIL,

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  4. The allotment is looking lovely, are you haveing the same issues with slugs as I am, all this wet and then warm weather is making them take off this year

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