Allotmenteering

For a weekend off I haven't stopped! Today was much more interesting but physically  more work. I spent the afternoon at the allotment, Dylan sifted compost off the heap,

I dug over part of the bed where I am planning to put the peas this year

This muddy patch was thick grass when I arrived, I have a lot more to dig out but I am happy with this start. Whilst digging the grass out I had to keep digging these out;

they had been used by the previous tenants as borders but I don't want it laid out that way. They aren't going to waste as the gentleman with the plot next to mine has asked if he can have them. I pulled somewhere between 30 and 40 out today I'm not sure how many he wants but I am pleased that at least some of them will be re-homed.

 whilst Stephanie harvested rather a lot of veg given the little we planted and the time of year.

She harvested 1540g in total broken down as;

• 290g red cabbage
• 86g bay leaves
• 380g Curly kale
• 70g Rosemary
• 714g savoy cabbage

There is slightly more curly Kale than planned as whilst there I was chatting to a couple with a neighbouring plot who told me my tall lanky kale plants will fill out if I cut the tops off. So I have done that- I hope it works as the kale has kept going all through the winter I had 5 plants that survived and they have provided for us for the past few months.

When we got back we planted seeds together using the compost we brought back with us;

• peas
• aubergine
• leek
• pepper- 2 varieties
• tomato
• parsnip
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• green beans
• sweetpea
• lobelia
• begonia

I hope some of them work. I am planning on sorting the home compost bin this week and then I can plant more seeds, successional planting is what I am aiming for this year.

our weekend

We have done quite a lot this weekend considering it is a weekend at home to relax.

I have spent several hours at the allotment sorting out the weeds. I have been lucky enough to have been helped by the gentleman who has the plot next to mine. He brought his strimmer and hedge clippers down and cut back my grassy areas and cut back the bushes. I have gathered the windfalls to stew, I love stewed apples with custard/ice cream.

Dylan made this scrummy looking cake.

Stephanie has been playing with ladybirds in the garden.

These squares form the beginning of my next quilt project.

Finally, we collected the seeds from the sunflower we had growing in the garden.

Look how many seeds we gathered, there are literally hundreds. I have the idea of little packets of these forming the basis for some children's  Christmas presents this year, I would love to gather some more seeds from our plants to make a selection pack, I need to look into how to do his more for different plants.

forward planning

I realised tonight that I need to start planning my veg garden. I bought seeds in September/ October last year ready for spring planting.

So tonight I thought I had better start the planning;

I found that quite a few of the seeds should have been planted last month (aubergine, leek, tomatoes) and lots more need planting this month. Now most of them need planting on window ledges so I need to start thinking where these window ledges are going to appear from! I don't have too much empty window ledge space. So as well as thinking about how to plant the garden this year, I also need to organise the window ledges....