Tomatoes and other goodies....

Hiya!

I've been so caught up with all the Allotment Association business that I've hardly had time to actually spend on my allotment! These are some photos I've taken over the past couple of weeks to show you how things are getting on....

Firstly, my ripening tomatoes.... :-)

They only took another couple of days to become this......

I'm hard pushed to get any more though. My greenhouse isn't very toddler-proof and my two year old, Charlie, picks and eats them before I get a chance to photograph them - never mind eat one myself! I shouldn't complain though. At least it's better than sweets!

My leeks are coming along well.... Time to go in the ground when I've done a bit of weeding!

Down at the allotment, one pumpkin in particular seems to be doing very well :-) Of course this picture doesn't allow any sense of scale... It was about the size of a lemon in this picture.....

I'm pleased with my broccoli too....

Not quite enough peas and broccoli for a dinner this time though.... Just got to pop to Asda.....

Onions are getting nice 'n' big. When can I pull them up though? Must read up some more...

And the runner beans are doing nicely! Such pretty flowers and loads of buzzy insects :-)

George loves coming along and giving me a helping hand - he especially likes digging up spuds and picking peas :-)

Have a fab day!!!

Love 'n' hugs,

Oooooh! I love fresh peas!!!

And finally I've got enough to make a meal out of! Yummy!

They were lovely with my broccoli.....

and spuds.....

and a nice piece of fish :-) I felt really proud of myself!

My beans are finally doing what they're supposed to - they don't always grow around the cane they were supposed to but at least they're growing in the right direction!

There are more yummy peas fattening up for my next dinner.....

And some salad stuff I forgot to label.... erm, a type of lettuce I think.....

and some radishes.... Maybe they should be the other way round??? Can't show you the rocket leaves though cos apparently the slugs like them the best :-( Put some slug blocker down now though to protect whatever's left.....

My pumpkin plants are doing quite nicely - not as big as the monster in my greenhouse but I'm quite pleased with their progress!

And look! Proper onion sized onions!!! I'm starting to feel like maybe I can do this allotment-y thingy afterall. Not bad for a novice!

Wishing you lots of sunny weather!

Love 'n' hugs,

I bet you're all wondering where I've been.....

Well admittedly, not all of my time has been spent on the allotment! I've spent some of it in allotment association meetings getting roped into becoming association secretary (see our new allotment blog here!), some of it visiting other peoples allotments to see how it should be done! And I also spent a little bit of it getting engaged!!!! So I've been a bit of a busy bee heading off here, there and everywhere looking at venues and stuff in preparation for the big day :-) How exciting!!!

Anyway, I'd been promising to take a friend of mine and her little girl, Lily May to the allotment to have a go at some weeding, some planting and a bit of digging up spuds! I think you can probably tell how much fun Lily May had by the state of her top :-)

We planted some more onions which are coming along nicely......

And dug up plenty more potatoes! I think I've got enough to keep us going all summer :-)  The King Edwards have got some beautiful flowers on them at the mo....

 I've got little bits of broccoli appearing! My disasterous looking cage-type-thing seems to have done the trick and kept out all those naughty butterflies :-) And then I got my first few peas too! Unforunately, they didn't make it home. We ate the lot on the car journey - yummy!

Back at home my tomatoes are doing really well! How long do I need to wait for any sign of red???? I'm so impatient!

And my pumpkin is turning into a monster!  I've ended up chopping off the tip (not sure if that's wise but I had to do something!) because it's getting huge and all the tendril type things have started strangling my leeks!  I've noticed I've got a few baby pumpkins on the way so I'm hoping now I've removed the growing tip, it'll just concentrate on making those nice 'n' big ready for halloween :-)

 Right, I'd better go. It's silly o'clock in the morning and I can hear the littl'uns starting to wake up! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Love 'n' hugs,

Plenty of potatoes.....

Hiya!

Back again :-) This time with piccies of my allotment to share.

My broccoli has really picked up since I planted it out.....

My pumpkin plants are doing well (although not quite as well as my greenhouse monster - see my last post!) but something has been nibbling at the leaves.... I've put down some "stay-away-slug" stuff to see if that will help.....

My runner beans are looking a bit healthier since the temperatures have risen a bit but they're still a good way behind all my neighbours.....

And look! My first ever peas!!!! So excited :-) My Nan would be so proud if she could see them (she lives in Wales and has no internet....) Mind you, she'd probably pinch them. My Nan loves fresh peas :-)

And then my potatoes!!!! These are Rocket potatoes. Yum, yum, yum! Beautiful with a roast Gammon joint and then there was still enough for our fish dinner the next night. Lovely :-) The kids loved digging them up!

These came from only two of about 12 potato plants I've got growing so we shouldn't need to be buying any potatoes for a while - fab!!!! I love my allotment!

Our allotment site is quite basic - running water and land but nothing else. No loos, no shop and no car park. And there's no association to get any of those things changed either, so the fella a couple of plots down from me organised a meeting to try to set up an association.... And somehow I've ended up being secretary! I've never been able to say no! So now I've got letters and minutes etc to write aswell all my usual stuff that I don't have time to do! And I kind of said I'd set up a blog or a website for us too.... If anyone has any tips for me, I'd be very happy to hear from you!

Love 'n' hugs,

The latest from Mel's Greenhouse....

Hiya!

I've had these piccies for a while now - didn't realise I hadn't put them on my blog yet!!!

These were the best of my strawberries:

Plus some bonus plants that my friend gave me - thankyou, Claire!

My leek seedlings before my two year old turned the tray upside down :-( I did manage to save most of them though. They're all sat in their own little pots now until they're big enough to go to the allotment.

My tomato plant has nearly reached the top of my greenhouse :-)

And the pumpkin plant is HUGE compared with the ones at the allotment....

Now, I'll sort out the latest piccies of the allotment for you.....

Love 'n' hugs,

Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

Hiya!

I've been promising to show these piccies of our visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens for a while so I thought it was about time I got around to it!

We had a lovely time. There are lots of pretty flowers....

And I love the secret garden style little doors you can find.....

But I was mostly interested in the edibles they are growing... Gooseberries:

HUUUUGE bean wigwams:

All sorts of cabbages, lettuces and beans:

And they've got a beautiful orchard. This is one of their pear trees:

And some more pretty flowers :-)

We had a lovely time. Well worth a visit if you can make it over :-) Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of when we saw Animals in Hands - mainly because my hands were full with frogs, cockroaches, snails and other creatures! Loved it! If you ever get a chance to see them, make sure you do!

My thanks to Yvonne and Graham for letting us know about the event and getting some tickets for us before the rush! :-)

Love 'n' hugs,