Keeping them out of trouble....

Hello!

It's the Easter hols so all my little darlings are at home and in need of entertainment. When we've not been at the park, I've been trying to keep them out of trouble down at the allotment.....

This is my OH, Paul - otherwise known as "the digger". I finally managed to persuade him to stand still for a photo so that he could take the credit for all his handy work :-) Thankyou, Paul!

And this is my eldest son, Marc, and my middle son, George. Both helping out with watering and taking worms for a ride in George's dumper truck - not quite sure how happy they were about that :-) My youngest son, Charlie, did his bit by staying asleep in the car so we could all get on with it!

And the results so far.....

Plenty of potatoes planted and lots of weeding done! Going to start on the right hand side next time I go and see what seeds can be planted directly into the ground. I promised George he could have a little patch of his own so I need to sort that out too!

Some of my seedlings are starting to poke through in the greenhouse now. Sorry, haven't got any pics yet.... Soon though!

Better be off if I'm going to get everything done today - busy, busy girl!

Love 'n' hugs,

I planted something!!!!

Look! Little watered patches of bare earth which will (hopefully!) become potato plants.....

And a smaller patch of bare earth which might one day become rhubarb....

Now I'm not a fan of having my photo taken.....

And I DON'T like to put them somewhere where everybody can see them.....

Especially when they're this bad....

But I really felt the need to show everybody how hard I worked to produce these little patches of bare earth....

A very hot (no, not like that! I mean really warm!), sweaty, dragged-through-the-hedge-backwards me:

But still happy..... I guess if I can still smile after that lot, then there's hope I might get somewhere with this plot!

I'll post more piccies (not of me though!) when (or rather if!) anything grows :-)

Have a lovely day!

Love 'n' hugs,

Making SLOOOOOW progress - please tell me it looks better!

So this is how I left my plot on Tuesday....

A bit more digging done and a few more slabs for my path but it doesn't seem to look much better....

I blame the weather.

We had loads of rain and then loads of sun and I spent the first hour of my time there just clearing re-grown weeds in the bit I thought I'd already cleared! I tell you I ached afterwards! I love my kneeling pad - thanks Mom! I couldn't have managed without it! And this fab little weeding tool I bought with vouchers from my Dad - thanks Dad! :-)

So I've decided, the digging will take as long as it takes but I need to start planting otherwise I'm not going to get any reward for all my hard work. Next time I go I'm taking some of my nicely sprouted seed potatoes with me to plant and I think that'll make me feel much better! I spent yesterday afternoon in the garden/greenhouse sowing some seeds so that I'll have some nice little seedlings ready for when I've got a bit more of the plot dug. I'll take some photos and post them as soon as there's anything green to show you :-)

So just for now, please leave me a few words of encouragement in case I start wilting :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Making some progress - part 3!

We're getting there!!!

It was my birthday yesterday and I got loads of fab gardening goodies :-) I also got full access to Paul's AMAZING digging skills.... Firstly he helped me spread out what I thought was a HUGE sheet of black plastic - although it only ended up covering a small portion of the plot!  Then we started laying a path up the middle with some leftover slabs from the back garden. We've still go a few left but I don't think they'll make it to the top of the plot!

 Paul carried on doing some digging for me while I was removed some nasty weeds and roots - I'm absolutely gobsmacked at how deep dandelion roots go! They're HUUUUGE!

Anyway, that was the last of the decent weather for a while. The rain came today and I'm sure everything I've strimmed so far, along with the weeds I may have missed will be springing up again for me to tackle in a few days (hopefully!) when the nicer weather returns.

I've started trying to plan where I'm going to start growing things. I must read up in my new books about crop rotation and which veggies should have manure or compost or fertiliser or whatever. I'm going to have to get growing soon :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Making some progress - part 2!

Thanks to the beautiful sunshine we've had in Brum over the past few days, we've managed to get a bit further on the allotment! Generally it went like this: I used the strimmer until the battery died while Paul did some more digging for me. Then we trawled through all the dug stuff to remove the masses and masses of couch grass roots that I'm now veeeerrrrry familiar with! I opted to fill a bucket rather than the bag I'd been using before and it was so much easier.

The weather's a little cooler today but I'm still hoping to persuade some family members to come along and help me again :-)

I've ordered my black plastic sheeting on the internet now after struggling to find exactly what I was looking for anywhere local. Once it arrives I can put the next stage of my plan into action. Meanwhile I'm saving lots of 4l milk bottles to fill with water to weigh it down :-) I can see this is another hobby that's going to start overtaking the house! Sorry, Paul :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

Making some progress - part 1!

So here's an update on the state of my allotment....

Paul managed to help me for a couple of hours, doing a bit of strimming and a bit of digging while I cleared some of the bigger weeds. Then I went back the next day and strimmed some more and dug some more while Charlie took his afternoon nap in the car! And this is the result:



Before:                                                                          After:

Okay so it's not making much difference yet, but you've got to do a bit at a time, right? I've recharged the battery for the strimmer and hope to pop back out there this afternoon (the weatherman has said nice things). George is fab at sorting through what I've dug and fishing out naughty weeds and roots - I think I may have to start paying him :-)

Next on my to do list is sourcing some black plastic to cover the top half - suggestions anyone??? I don't think bin bags will cut it.......

Ok, gotta go now. Taking Charlie swimming :-) The plan is that he'll fall asleep as usual on the way home, except I won't go home, I'll go straight to the allotment and get stuck in while he's still asleep!

Hopefully more piccies later!

Love 'n' hugs,

Plot 44 - here we go!

So this is it - my little space! Ok, not-so-little space :-) Everything you see pretty much up to the fence at the top is mine! All mine! All the weeds, the rubbish, the grass, everything :-) (I know you can't see any rubbish but it is there, lurking in the undergrowth!)

So I guess I'm going to have to start with the strimmer.... I think I'll probably put a path up the middle and each side so that my beds are easier to get at. I'm going to mark out some areas to start digging and just do a bit as I'm going along and see how far I get :-) I think I'm going to have to cover the top half with some black plastic to try and kill off all the weeds so I don't know if I'll be able to use the whole plot this year.

All I need now is some sunny weather and a lovely helpful man with big muscles to help me dig..... PAUL!!!! PAUL, DARLING...... :-)

I'd better get going if I'm going to get all my housework done so I can get back out there! See you soon.

Love 'n' hugs,