Cuttings

There have been a lack of postings recently...everything is in hibernation - awaiting spring. I have managed to put a few raised beds in to the allotment and am hoping to make another one this weekend; we shall see how cold it remains as to whether or not I manage it.

I have been studying for my RHS qualification and reading a lot too.

The rather lovely Cuttings I found in a charity shop and contains the writings of Christopher Lloyd at his lovely home of Great Dixter. It is a month by month blow of the ups and downs of gardening and so I am reading along month by month. About to start February...lovely...

Summer in September

Well it has been glorious this past week; temperatures hitting 28 degress celsius - which is very uncommon for September here in the UK.

I took this opportunity to have a day off from work and head out to my allotment (with having a cold and it being a bit damp weather-wise of late I hadn't been there for a couple of weeks) and it was a super day.

First thing though I grabbed some topsoil from a guy I met on Freecycle and filled up various tubs to take around to load up the raised beds already in situ.

It was lovely and warm on the plot, the light was beautiful and leaves fluttered down off the trees. I had the chance to finish removing grass and weeds from the right hand side - ready for the 2nd raised bed to go in, and to weed around my leeks and fuschias (pics below). I also made a start on setting my stone path in place.

A break at lunch resulted in having a pastie and a small cake from the local bakers and I then took a stroll around Harpers Lane perimeter and took some pictures with my husband Sal's fabulous Canon digital SLR. Loving this camera! Some allotment holders are getting ready for Halloween by all accounts too...

Here are some pics of the day...back soon!

Bev
x

Isle of Wight

Back in July we had a lovely week's holiday on the Isle of Wight.

There were lots of lovely gardens to visit, most notably the stunning walled garden at Osborne House.

It was so inspiring. I couldn't wait to get back to get some serious allotment time in. More of which will follow soon as I plan on going tomorrow to do some more work on it...

Summer

Well, haven't we have had a mixed bag of weather so far...blisteringly hot, chucking it down. But I have been tending to the allotment and planting things out in the back garden when I can.

I got a call from Margaret at the allotments asking how I was doing as she hadn't seen me for a few weeks. The weather had been bad and I had pulled a muscle so had missed some allotmenting action. So we decided that having half the plot would be more of a manageable size for me.

The potatoes are doing well; flowering and getting nice and tall. Can't wait to reveal their bounty soon.

My garden is also looking neat and tidy and the lawn is looking good. More seed will go down in September I think...

Also had a lovely ride out to the South Lakes last weekend and Sal drove me to Halecat , which is a lovely husband-and-wife-ran nursery. Check out the pictures.

See you all soon
B x

Allotment Alert

Lordy! Less than a year on the waiting list and I get the call, 'we got a plot for you'. Woo hoo. So work has begun on turning over all the soil, removing the odd brick and carpet(!) and lots of roots, weeds etc. Oh it so exciting.

Also Josie and I are busy sowing seedlings for our gardens (I am managing to sauna most of mine - fool), so some pics here of sweet pea and various veg in J's greenhouse. Also a pic of Erin's Fairy Garden...(J's daughter) Enjoy...

B
x

Spring on its Way

Oh joy, spring is in the air - I can smell it.

The front garden is looking good after I tidied up a few weeds and I have scattered around the bulbs and plants some rockery style flower seeds I got from the local supermarket. Hopefully things will start to blossom very soon...

Come Back Peter, Come Back Paul

Ok, so the bird table wasn't a huge success - not a single bird landed on it, that I was aware of anyway. So my dad said I needed to hang feeders from it...as it wasn't that secure in the ground I thought it best that I invest in feeder station.

This one was £10 bargain from Aldi the other week and I finally got around to putting it up today.

Bring on the birds!