Gardening in the rain

It was a glorious day yesterday but I didn't make it to the allotment. Today threatened rain any time we tried to make a move to take the kids out. In the end I shook my fist at the weather and set off to the allotment. To start with there was a whipping wind but no rain. My right arm has felt a bit weird so I decided not to do anything heavy. I've planted rows of onions and am putting rows of carrots amongst them as I believe the smell of onions confuses the carrot flies and keeps them away. Well it worked last year! (Not that I did an exhaustive trial but the carrots were unaffected until the onions were harvested.)
I made holes in the ground with a giant dipper, filled them with multipurpose compost and added a couple of carrot seeds to each filled hole. We have clay soil at the allotment and carrots love loose soil hence the multipurpose compost to give them a head start. Half way through, the rain started falling and a fellow allotmenteer stopped over on his way out and said, 'It takes a certain kind of person to have an allotment.' I am that person -come rain or sun.
Back at home- one lot of leek seeds haven't made it. I kept the plastic cover on too long after they had germinated. They ended up getting too damp and died. The other tray is doing fine thank goodness.

More harvest and autumn planting

My carrots and parsnips have done pretty well this year. My first year my carrots were tiny - once you peeled them there was nothing left to eat! Parsnips take ages to germinate and I thought I'd keep the weeds down while waiting for them. Unfortunately I weeded the only two that germinated as I didn't know what their leaves would look like. My friend had told me they look nothing like carrots but not what they look like.

Autumn is not normally thought of as a time to plant but there are some things that can go in now. I've bought Japanese onions sets, broad beans and peas from the allotment shop. I haven't tried growing onions from seed yet - I just buy the sets(tiny onions that grow into big ones) but maybe next year. The onions that you plant in autumn have to be used pretty quickly as they don't store well-unlike the ones planted in spring which store well. The broad beans can go in up till beginning of November. Last year the birds had most of mine -very upsetting as I was looking forward to the boiled beans being fried with garlic and onion. A fellow allotmenteer recommended letting the weeds grow up round them once the pods start to form as the birds don't see the beans. Peas - now I don't really know a lot about them so will let you know how I get on with them.
Today I had a whole morning at the allotment- first time in ages. It was a perfect day for it -sunny and not too hot. Lots of bonfires - I love the smell of bonfires- makes me smile. I drew a plan of my plot as I need to rotate the types of veg to stop a build up of pests and diseases. Lucky for us the allotment gets free deliveries of houshold compost recycled by the council and manure from the local stables. I did a bit of hoeing -trying to cut down the weeds before they get big and cause more of a problem. Then I dug a trench lined it with compost then filled it with soil from the ground next to it making another trench then so on till whole row had compost added to it. I do a bit each time i go so I don't wear my joints out too much. I feel so much calmer for spending time working there working.

Sunflowers and sword fighting oh and a bit of veg talk.

Left are my parsnips. Then carrots and on right lettuce.











This swiss chard sprouted itself from last year. It looks lovely but we don't like it so the next door neighbours guinea pig gets it.

This picture is from my garden. When I was growing up we had hundreds of them all down the right side of our garden. During July and August would have our own constant sunshine from the river of yellow. I think they are perennial sunflowers. They would die back in the autumn leaving loads of sticks that me, my sister and friends would use to sword fight.

Beginning to harvest

Yesterday I harvested some more lettuce- I have grown three different kinds. The red ones look gorgeous against the lime coloured ones. There was one solitary tiny cucumber so I ate it - delicious. Currants aren't very plentiful but we did treat them badly when they were given to us so are grateful that they are alive and have produced anything. Picked our first courgettes - forgot to tell hubby. The baby ones are lovely can even eat them raw. Today I found out I'd won a pair of tickets for the Latitude festival- very excited. The last thing I'd won before that was an egg rack. Have been picking and using onions from allotment and also more potatoes. Am digging up potatoes as I need them. When all their foliage dies back it will be time to dig them all out as otherwise the slugs might get them. Carrots are still tiny and will need thinning out to let the remaining ones have enough room to grow bigger. Had meeting last night to find out daughters first teacher's name. So it's real my baby's going to school.Boo hoo.

Payment

Yipee - looks like one of my poems will be on EverydayPoets http://www.everydaypoets.com/ next month. Complete strangers will get to comment on it. I'm up for it!

Saturday had a good evening at a fundraiser at my son's school. It was a karoake evening and yes I'm afraid I did sing and dance a little. Would have danced more but my son was mortified. I was far too self conscious at his age to care what my parents were doing.

Went to the allotment today and sowed my parsnips. I used a dibbler to make holes 6 inches apart and put a soil and peat mix into the hole to provide a easier medium for the parsnips to grow in - did the same for my carrots as we have clay soil which makes it hard work for root veg.

Here's my kale. In February my mother-in-law told me that if you snap off the tops then you get lots of flowering shoots. Before they open into flowers you can eat them like broccoli (delicious). Just don't let it flowere or it will stop producing new shoots.

Potatoes came up a couple of weeks ago -wasn't expecting them so fast. My father-in-law did a grand job.

Daughter's forgotten dresses

danced all day and night

quickly drying under

the bright blue sky