sunshine and the new landlady (winner)

We have had the most glorious sun filled days lately which has meant many hours planting seeds and new fruit bushes at the allotment and pottering around the garden hoping to get a few more flowers growing and plenty of tidying.

The only trouble with this allotment business is that it is so addictive. I could spend all day weeding and planting and pottering around in the soil. It's so peaceful there and what we're doing will give us plenty of delicious meals over the coming months - it's so consuming. 

Nobody tells you this when you sign up, you will want to grow everything and abandon the supermarkets completely. These days I'm critical of all the fresh foods I buy now - it's all so tasteless in comparison. 

And it's contagious too, we got the bug from friends and we've passed it on, two families we know have patiently added their names to waiting lists.

All this sunshine is wonderful, but I'm seeing plenty of plants flowering far earlier that usual - the strawberries are flowering already - too soon surely? 

The plum tree that had nine flowers last year and gave us six delicious fruits is clearly happy in it's new home - it's bursting with blossom, I'm tingling with excitement at the thought of how many juicy fruits we'll get this year.


Now onto the winner of the giveaway, a day early I know, but it's the school holidays (hooray) and something has come up, thank you all for entering the fun. Missy Big did the honours....

and the winner is...

H at Roses Over The Door congratulations H, Mr and Mrs will be packed in a flash and coming to move in. I hope you have their room ready.

looking

I noticed some beautiful details this weekend, wonderful to see some colour too. 

This morning we plodded off to the allotment for the first time this year. What joy - fresh air, the girls digging and helping, planning, and finding weeding is strangely satisfying. 
We have big plans for this years crops, more variety, a flower bed, new fruits. So excited.

Thankful for friends in the playground, who give thoughtful gifts to the girls, just because. This flower opened while we are at the allotment, a very cheery surprise to come back to. More colour over at silverpebble.

meet Miss Pumpkin

We are coming to the end of our first season as allotment holders. It has been a huge experiment and a massive learning curve. Most people that know me know that I can kill a plant just by buying it at a garden centre, so when we told our friends and family they looked at us aghast. But it seems I have found something I can't kill - vegetables. We have had a fairly modest range in our first year - but everything has grown and given us produce - in abundance. 

 
This beauty is something we are all very proud of, we thought we'd have a go and see if we could grow ourselves a pumpkin for Halloween. Didn't we do well??!! She weighs (yes I weighed her, I have turned into a nerd) 2 stone / 13kilos.
How do I know she's a she? Well for Halloween Missy Big tells me she has to have long eyelashes and earrings. Of course.


We took two half plots back in March - which weren't next to each other as I missed out on a whole plot by one day, imagine my fury - especially as the person who took the whole plot only came once and decided it was harder work that they anticipated. Hhhmmmmm.
So when this person gave it up a couple of weeks ago I got straight on the phone to the council and snapped up the half that is next to my veggie plot. 
I can't tell you how excited this made me. So now we have all this space....

....ready for next year. 


And I will be saying goodbye to this plot, 

 
that way mostly clay, full of mare's tail and killed most of the fruit bushes we planted. I was going to rescue the remaining fruit bushes - but I don't want to risk bringing the mare's tail, or any disease that may be in the soil that has killed everything off. So I think I will kiss it all goodbye, and start afresh next spring.


Which is a very exciting thought, I can give the girls a space each, plan a cutting garden, more variation of veg, oh la la! Oh and we are now allowed a shed! Hooray! Oh yes - and they installed a composting toilet - could life get any better?

If you are inclined to stitch, there is a stitched postcard swap going on, you have until Friday to sign up - you know you want to...

happy food

Finally we have a few ripe tomatoes - I think these were worth waiting for.....

When we picked these elderberries at the allotment I knew exactly what I was going to do with them, Elderberry Syrup Cordial - I read this post on Moment To Moment a while ago and thought this may be a perfect way keep colds and flu away this winter, a spoonful a day works wonders apparently.

I followed this recipe (but with lemon instead of cloves) as I didn't have enough honey at home to follow the original method I came across. It is delicious, I may have to take a ladder or grow wings to get to the rest of the elderberries as there are so many left and I know this syrup / cordial will soon disappear.

Aren't these sweet peas gorgeous - I finally have a few growing on each plant so they are now brightening my dining table and scenting the house beautifully. I have to say everyone told me they produced loads of flowers - not mine, I've barely had a handful - but they are very pretty.

If you haven't had a look at the Moment To Moment blog you really should, especially if you have children and like to do crafting with them - it's very inspiring.


Happy weekend x

jars of goodness

We have had good crops, so Mr has been busy making jams and chutneys, so far we've got blackberry jam, marrow marmalade, cucumber & apple chutney and cabbage & apple chutney.

He tends to adapt recipes as he goes, but here and here you will find oodles of recipes if you fancy having a go yourself. We've only just finished off last years pickles, so we'll do extras this year to see us through.

We've spent the last week at home as Little Missy is being potty trained, (with varying degrees of success) - so we are crafting ourselves silly, including a giant painting on some cardboard packaging which quickly turned into body painting and chaotic fun. Two baths later and we were normal colour again.

Hooray for lazy days at home x

yum...

At the weekend we managed to harvest a whole box full of veg from the allotment, we were very excited. An enormous courgette, potatoes, hilarious shaped carrots, some chard, a few runner beans and some lettuce from a neighbour. The carrots were the clear winners, not like any I've ever seen in the shops but boy they are tasty, and crunchy - utterly delicious.

Last year we bought 2 plum trees for the garden, this year one of them gave us 9 plums, 3 fell off and the bugs got them but we ate the others today, tasty, juicy - prefect.

Having tasted these delicious home grown foods it makes me wonder what on earth do the supermarkets do to fruit and veg to make it taste of nothing? and why are we settling for such junk? 


happy tasting x

getting there ...

I feel like we're getting somewhere on the allotment now. The last week or so has been too hot to go there most days, except for watering in the evenings, but we spent a few hours picking fruits and weeding at the weekend.

We've had blackcurrents, gooseberries, rhubarb, more peas and a couple of redcurrents that the birds had missed.

I also managed to get some chard and kale in that a friend gave me this week. It's looking good, everything seems to have had a growth spurt and I'm thrilled that it's all still alive!

The friend that gave us the plants has an allotment, though on a different site and this week we got to go and have a nose around, they've had it for a couple of years and it was very inspiring and I picked up plenty of tips. 
I love the community spirit that comes with an allotment, everyone is so generous with their plants, advise, crops and encouragement - it's great to get to know a different group of people.

I'm pleased to say that mission 'tax returns' is complete, phew. But this next week is going to be busy, Missy Big is going to be 5 very soon and I have a butterflies and pirates party to launch. She has been planning this since last August, so I mustn't disappoint.

Hello and welcome to my new followers and thank you all for the lovely comments, I do love it when you leave me a message!

Well I'm off to plan a treasure hunt, make a treasure chest, make bunting, sew a party dress, wrap the pass the parcel etc. etc. have a good week x

a pocket full of peas

Little Missy helped pick our first veg from the allotment, after we tasted a delicious few we picked the rest. Little Missy filled her pocket and skipped with excitement.

This is the dress I finally finished, I'll show you more tomorrow...


hooray for doing it ourselves x 

local talent

This weekend we've visited the open studios of local artists, we've been to the local ethical market, my Mum and step Dad have been visiting, it was Fathers Day and my wedding anniversary (7 years) I'm exhausted, inspired, glad to have spent some fun time with my family and enjoying some peace while little miss is napping.

 

the duck pond market is full of locally made arts and crafts, locally grown produce and ethical goods

I came away with some a new union jack bag (a birthday present from my Mum 3 months early) and some more fabric for clothes for the girls - these ladies are the only people who seem to sell fabric outside of the west end, they are very lovely, this is where I got the pink dotty fabric for little missy's duvet cover, I may have to stalk them. 

Mum brought some fabrics for me too - the ones on the left, there is definitely a red moment coming on.

We ate everything else we bought.

We also have some home grown yummies, (more red)fresh strawberries from the garden and radishes that a fellow allotmenter gave to us - delicious, I think it will be all worth the hard work.

 

 my little helpers heading home

I also made a lemon drizzle cake - looks good but was a bit dry - do you have a good recipe or any tips? I will save you a slice!

The open studios was very inspiring though I got no photos, it made me want to have a go at painting (not usually my thing) and to start a new sketch book, which is something I haven't done for far too long, I don't seem to just draw anymore (except for cats and pink bunnies for little missy)I think I miss it.

I'm a bit behind with reading what you've all been up to, hello to my new followers and thank you all for the lovely comments you leave I love to read them all, I'll be catching up this week with blog world.

happy local life x

signs of produce

We have been busy digging and planting on the allotment and we are starting to see some rewards for our hard work.

Some peas are starting to show themselves.

Some of the fruit bushes my father in law gave us. He gave us lots and has planted us loads of seeds too - need to dig out those beds a bit quicker....

I'm really pleased with what we have achieved so far this year - it's more than we had really planned to do. We are falling behind on the weeding though - oops. Sorry the pictures aren't great I took them on my phone as I forgot the camera again, also forgot to take pics of the veg!

I'm also very miffed with the council, they told me on the phone when we took on the plots that we could put up a shed, now I'm told we can't. I'm having to bring everything from home every time, which is time consuming and heavy. 

It also annoys little missy and causes her to throw a strop as I can't hold her hand because I'm laden down with spades, seedlings, hose, toys, snacks - you name it I'm probably carrying it. Sorry for the moan but I don't think a small shed is an unreasonable request, especially as some other people have them.

Anyhow, we are having great fun on our plots and the girls are learning so much, they are even getting brave when they see a worm so things are looking up.

Happy growing x

from small seeds

These little chaps are looking for a new home, in just a month these have grown from seed and soon enough we'll be eating home grown peas - I can hardly wait!
These will be moved to the allotment in the next day or two where they can spread themselves out. I love their spindly tendrils which just reach out and hug whatever they can.

I remember as a child we grew a few peas and my Mum sent me and my brother to pick some for our tea, we picked plenty and ate most of them straight from the pod sitting amongst the plants. We didn't get many on our plate that evening but I still remember their delicious sweet taste.
My 4 year old loves that story and although she doesn't like peas I'm hoping she'll at least try a few straight from the pod.

We've been busy digging and digging on our new allotment and I'm thrilled that we have finally done some planting. Say hello to our blackcurrents and rhubarb, who seem to be happy in their new homes, we've also got some red gooseberries in.

We need to get some netting over these before the birds start to help themselves.


Looking forward to rhubarb crumble and custard - yum.

I'm really enjoying this new project, although it's physically hard work at this stage I'm also finding it very relaxing and surprisingly creative. I love being out in the fresh air and watching something grow from a tiny seed is incredible, many of the seeds we've sown I've never actually seen as a plant so it's very exciting to see what happens.
I have been watching The Edible Garden on BBC2 and am thoroughly inspired.

What are you growing? I'd love to hear from you.
Any advice or tips are very welcome as I'm a complete novice!

happy digging x

growing or swimming?

we've been busy on the allotment, digging beds and trying to turn our clay into something resembling soil - and then it rained - when we returned we had lots of little pools... maybe we should consider growing aquatic plants instead?

I'm slightly concerned....

happy digging x

a new challenge

Just in case life isn't busy enough I've thrown us all a new challenge...
we now have a new allotment, or should I say 2 (half ones that is).

It's long been a dream of mine and now that the girls are a little bigger
I thought I'd just inquire about one, but they were going fast so the lady
at the council suggested I act quickly, I just missed out on a whole plot
so she suggested I take both of the remaining half ones, so I did - now we have
lots and lots of digging to do, seeds to plant and a whole new
subject to learn.



I did some growing of a few things last year and I'm
obviously a glutton for punishment / up for a challenge so let us see what we
can produce this year... I'll keep you up to date with
our successes and failures

happy digging x