Patience is not my stong point...

The Herb Garden

Patience is not my strong point at all and there is nothing like a pain in the back to make you sit and wait, but the frustration builds up.

I have a bad back, which  has probably come at the right time for the plot as I want to plant things out and there is still a good chance of frost (we had one last night), Rhys will weed for me but  in terms of doing what I want to do I can't and I just have to wait.

Mid April (notice the bean canes are up)

I have runner bean plants at home that are ready to run up the frame we have built for them but I believe it is just too soon. The sweetcorn I started wayyyyyy too early so I will have to resow that but for now I am laid up dreaming about my plot and looking at pictures.

Potatoes!

One bit of good news though, the potatoes are poking through - thank goodness! You put them in the ground and you just have to have faith they will come and like magic they have! I will have to cover them over with more soil and compost soon to ensure the tubers aren't exposed to the sunlight (that makes them go green and inedible) and to ensure they keep producing. Poor Rhys will no doubt get roped in if my pain is no better, right now I can't even put my shoes on without help.

Wallace

We also have an allotment gnome, yes yes I know, very cheesy! But Rhys hates gnomes and well truth be told, so do I. But when I was told I couldn't have one I felt the need to be defiant and my lovely friend Erica was the enabler (thank you Erica). Meet Wallace, he isn't so bad and scares the bugs away.

There is also the most beautiful Robin that comes to visit us, he is a little camera shy but as soon as I can convince him to stay still I will put up a picture. They really are lovely birds and I can see why they are referred to as "The Gardener's Friend".

Hope you are all well and back pain free!

Much love and happy digging
Tracey xx

Blown away...

Well today's title is quite apt as it literally is blowing a gale out there! However, I am blown away in more ways than one. When we took on this allotment just over a month ago, I reveled in the fact I saw no one up there, but as time has gone on and the weather is brightening up, I have started to enjoy meeting my fellow allotmenteers. I have not met many, but everyone so far seems very friendly and unobtrusive. I have been bracing myself with each meeting for someone to tell me I am doing things wrong or that I am failing, but it has been quite the opposite and it is nice to feel like I am part of something, a community.

Today as I was leaving (I only went to do the basics before I ended up in Oz, luckily everything was holding it's own) I met the legendary Tom, the old boy I had been told about. As I walked Tom home he told me he had an allotment for over 45 years and that he was 88 in a fortnight! When I asked him what his secret was? Home grown veg? He replied "no... whiskey!". In this day an age is it acceptable to buy an old man a bottle for his birthday when you have only met him for five minutes? He really made me chuckle.

Anyhow on the the allotment... well this week the onions have started to come up nicely, I have put some cabbages in (mainly to grow for the chickens as they love them far more than I do), the potatoes don't seem to be showing yet, but the rhubarb, strawbs, lettuce and raspberry canes seem to be holding their own.

I have also planted a little patch  of Comfrey as I believe you can make an unbelievable fertilizer tea by soaking some of it's cut leaves for a few weeks. Apparently, unless you want to be overrun with it you need to cut it's flowers before they go to seed, but it makes a wonderful organic feed for your plot!

I have pricked out my tomato seedlings and re-potted the courgette seedlings which are adorning my window ledges and the sweetcorn is in a cold frame outside, hardening off before being planted out.

I hope all your growing is going well! It is doing the world for my mental health.

Happy digging and lots of love
Tracey xx

Easter = planting

So this is Easter weekend, Spring is officially here and I can finally get the rest of my spuds in. Yesterday after chitting for a couple of weeks we buried Nicola and Desiree - I mean sowed, we sowed them (although with the raising up of the earth it really did look like we had buried them!). The other pots I put in on St Patrick's Day have not started to show yet, however I am hoping as the soil warms up they will get going soon.

Also this week I planted rhubarb crowns and strawberries - both of which are quite hardy, and some lettuce under a polytunnel to get it going. We also had our first allotment inspection on Saturday which seemed a scary prospect as we have only had the site since 5th March! However, I have been told no news is good news and we haven't heard anything as of yet so I am taking it we have passed.

The onions have started to make an appearance too :) unfortunately so have the slugs but I guess it goes with the territory!

All in all things are ticking along nicely, sweetcorn out next weekend and it might start to look like a proper plot :)

Lots of love and happy digging
Tracey xx