Recharging my batteries

Spent five days with my family at my in-laws. Very relaxing no cooking, cleaning just relaxing. Have been back home for a few days and have managed not to run around like a headless chicken. Son seems to have warmed greatly to the allotment and is happy to spend hours digging one great big hole. Though he wasn't quite so happy today when his sister started trying to fill it. I'm glad I understand now that the role of the little sister is to irritate. Harvested loads of french beans today. I will blanche them for two minutes,drain, put cold water on them,drain again and spread them on baking trays to put in freezer. Once they are frozen I will bag them. I spread them on trays first as otherwise they end up all stuck together and difficult to use. We have loads of courgettes too so they are finding their way into all sorts of dishes. Neighbour at allotment let our kids harvest their blackberries. They had great fun getting their fingers all red and sticky and they got a fair amount of fruit too! I made a apple and blackberry crumble - yum. Harvested some more onions and garlic and have more potatoes to dig up. The potatoes - called Charlotte are delicious yellow waxy ones. The cucumbers have done well and the kids love them we have long ones and round yellow ones. I must take some photos. We've had a few tomatoes but most of them are still green though some are bright yellow. I didn't buy any yellow ones but it must have the wrong label as they don't look like they'll ever go red. Lettuce is good too as is my lone kale plant. It's a busy and happy time at the allotment.

sunshine and rain

It's so exciting going to the allotment this time of year as things grow so quickly. Spring you spend time waiting for seeds to germinate then protecting the seedlings- everything seems slow then bam in the summer it all takes off. The courgettes are growing on the tails of their flowers, coming quicker than you can eat them. I have lovely cucumbers -variety Passandra that my friend recommended - they never go bitter. I picked some of the beetroot as they are growing too close together. I will boil them in their skins for an hour or two till soft and then eat them. Dug up some more potatoes and garlic too. I need to sow some more carrot as half a row did not germinate. The other row of carrots looks great but not big enough to harvest yet. I started to dig up my broad beans as between the black fly and the squirrels there's nothing left. I am going to put in some more dwarf french beans instead as I love them and that means I'll be able to harvest some later. There's loads of black fly this year (dry weather) but on the plus side less slugs. The ladybird larvae are starting to eat their way through the flies. So nice to see so many ladybirds. The rain held out while I was at the allotment then drenched me completely on the way home. Me and the plants were well watered. (I like the rain)
My friend T came over on Monday and let me take some photos on her camera and emailed them to me. What a treat! After she's gone I realised I'd taken pics of the plants but none of my child but she'd taken some.

Chilean potato climber still flowering months later along with second flush of roses.

Tomatoes yipee!!!

Cosmos

Clematis has turned into wonderful fluffy seed heads

White lavender.

allotment

I've had to accept partial defeat with my tomatoes so I've been and bought some from my favourite local nursery. I've put some of my sickly ones in bigger pots and they do seem to have perked up but I can't risk a relapse so needed to get back up plants. I love eating tomatoes straight off the plant -they taste so delicious especially when the sun has warmed them so I don't want to end up with none. My courgettes and cucumbers are looking well - in fact I need to plant them out in the allotment soon as they are rampant. I keep the tomatoes at home as it's nice for the kids to be able to step outside and pick them whenever they fancy. Also blight often sweeps through the allotment destroying the tomatoes. It spreads between potatoes and tomatoes really easily. You can spray the potatoes to stop it. Alternatively you can twist the stem and leaves off the potato plant and burn them (or put it in the rubbish bin) and that stops the blight from travelling down the stem to the potaoes and turning them into mush. Blight travels by spores so is easily blown around. Tomorrow I will try and bring you photos of the currants forming at the allotment. We have black, red and white currants.

Poorly tomatoes

Tragedy -the tomatoes aren't looking too good. I don't know what's wrong with them! Husband thinks I have overwatered them - which is a first for me as I usually forget to water stuff. There is moss growing on compost which is an indicator of too much water(isn't it??). My courgettes and cucumbers seem ok as i keep forgetting to water them.

I entered a writing competition a while ago on the net and was rather disappointed to find I had not won. I got to the first round - which is better than I've ever done before but I do feel rather deflated as I was convinced this was the one. Oh well back to the blank page. Happy writing and gardening everyone!

tomato pricking out and flowers

My son chose these tulips and it's the third year they have reappeared. When it's sunny they open out into vivid yellow petals hiding their red underside but when it's overcast you get to see mainly dusky red. I love the contrasting colours/looks.





More pictures of the carmelia but this time the clematis behind is in flower. It's a Clematis alpina 'Pamela Jackman' and looks stunning in the dusk - it suddenly shines out - comes alive. After the flowers are gone, fluffy silvery seedheads take their place.


My broom is starting to bloom.








Last but not least I belive these are the fragrant daffodils my friend R gave me. Thanks again!!!









Managed to rehouse tomato seedlings in 3 inch pots though hurt my wrist snapping a chocolate bar to share between the kids (wouldn't have happened if I hadn't eaten the other bar of chocolate on the way home with it). Now have flowers to rehouse- next week will do. Sowed some courgettes as last year forgot to do it and accepted some off neighbour which turned out to be yellow - found colour much more pleasing than the taste of them. My cucumbers have germinated-hooorah!!!!

seed sowing

Yesterday I washed loads of pots and sterilised them in dishwasher ready for some serious seed sowing. Then I sowed some tumbling tomatoes in a modular tray. The try comes with a plastic roof which keeps the seeds warm and helps them germinate. I then filled some 3 inch pots with multipurpose compost and sowed one cucumber seed in each pot. They say to do two seeds in each and after they grow into seedlings pull out the weedier looking one but I find it really hard to do that. So I am just gonna try one in each. I did two types of cucumber - the first one is called Crystal Apple and they are lovely - my friend introduced me to them years ago and I keep growing them. They are weird looking as they are yellow and round. You have to harvest them when they are the size of duck eggs(yeah I didn't know how big that was but evidently they are a bit bigger than hen eggs) and before they turn orange coz they taste horrid then. The Crystal Apple cucumber is so nice that my friend who hates cucumbers loved it - almost like melon it tastes. I also sowed cucumber Pasandra (more like your regular cucumber)as they are never bitter my friend said. Last year I grew Cucumber masterpiece and was not impressed with the taste as bitter - someone said it's coz of the sex of the flowers but unfortunately I can't remember what they said to do to avoid them being bitter so i have just avoided that particular cucumber instead. I labelled the pots - unusual for me to be that organised but i did get a load of labels and pen for my birthday so decided to be good. Parsley seedlings still alive!!!! Hoorah - am managing to keep them moist not drowned. Through the post I got a five pound thompson and morgan seeds voucher - very pleased with that so I ordered some mixed lettuces and green dwarf beans as only seem to have purple ones and some chocolate coloured cornflowers. I seem to have a slight obsession with chocolate flowers. It started with some chocolate cosmos flowers i bought a few years back. They smell like chocolate and are a gorgeous dark dark crimson in sunlight and chocolate colour when it's cloudy. They are so beautiful but are not hardy. I never have the heart to dig them up while they are still flowering so the frost ends up killing them, so I end up buying new ones each year. I should put them in a pot really so that I can easily move them out of the cold.

seeds

Very excited have got my seed order from Plants of Distinction. My friend introduced me to them as they do lots of different and some heirloom varieties. Got some brilliant broccoli from them last year - it's a variety called Parthenon F1 and the heads on them were a really decent size and very tasty. I love broccoli and this was almost perfumed it was so gorgeous. My friend grew Cucumber Passandra F1 last year and said it cropped really well and the fruits eren't ever bitter so that another one I'm doing this year. I will grow these as well as Cucumber crystal apples - these are round cucumbers and are delicious as long as you pick them when they are no bigger than duck eggs and while they are still yellow and not turned orange. They taste almost like melon - the kids love them and one friend who hates cucumbers loved them. Also got some purple dwarf french beans - first year doing these so will let you know how I get on.

The other seeds I've ordered are from Thompson and Morgan - get a discount if order via allotment. So I await more goodies. Can't wait to start sowing but bit early yet. Cast due to come off 4th March - can't wait for that as well.

It's great the days getting longer can't wait for evenings pottering, sowing and planting.