August almost over...but still plenty going on...

I can't believe August is almost over. Despite being off over the summer I just find the time flies by and I always feel as though I haven't quite done enough. This summer has been my first with the allotment though, so it's been great seeing how it copes as the season passes.

Every time I go to the plot I automatically walk to the back to see the pond. I always hear half a dozen (sometimes more) splashes into the water as I walk up the path. I can't remember the last time I was there when I didn't see a frog though which is great! I also noticed last time I was there the arrow head flowers have started to open. I wasn't sure if they would this year but they look beautiful. The marsh marigolds have come into flower as well, which is just another reassurance that the pond is pretty happy. 

I also spent some time weeding the onion/carrot bed. I took up some of the stragglers from the edges and decided to take them home to pickle them. No idea what they'll be like, but thought it was worth a go! I'll give them a taste in a couple of months. 

The shed/greenhouse has also come into it's own over the last few weeks. I've been harvesting plenty of cucumbers and jalapeños (I decided to pickle those as well) and my tomatoes have finally decided to fruit! 

 We've had a fair few storms lately as well, a lot of heavy rain, wind and thunder and lightening over the last couple of weeks- so there was a true test on the shed which I was happy to discover it held up perfectly. So it was definitely will built and it now gives me confidence for the winter. 

My husband and I also installed a bird feeding station next to the pond. Complete with fat balls, seed, mealworms, peanuts and fresh water. I'm looking forward to visitors turning up for a feed. 

Plans for Autumn/winter

Well, it's safe to say that on lovely sunny summer days I'm glad that a turfed garden area was part of my plan. 

My husband has decided he finds the wheelbarrow to be a comfortable seat. He may get a little upset when I bring just a regular garden table and chairs along!

But after a bit of work on the allotment the other day it was time to lie on the grass, eat some blackberries and read my Kindle. Perfect!

I am now planning on installing a bird feeding station, an allotment away from mine is lined with older trees and we can always hear plenty of birds in there. So figured I'd continue to do my bit for the local wildlife and feed the birds. 

So, my to-buy list this week is:

• bird feeding station

• individual seed/food holders

• plenty of bird food

• manual hand-push lawn mower 

• lawn rake

The last 2 things on the list is because I couldn't have asked the grass to take any better than it has! So very happy about that- though now it's starting to go to seed so it needs cutting this week! I'm glad it took so well though, for the grand total of pretty much £20 it was totally worth it!

I've also developed an obsession with Sarah Raven. I ordered the autumn catalogue so I can plan my bulbs for the spring time. The website and catalogue is amazing. The colours are just beautiful so I plan on getting plenty tulip bulbs, albums, crocuses and bluebells. Can't wait to see the allotment in spring time!

We've also been planning our raised beds for creating in the autumn/winter so they're ready for spring planting. So another job this week is to removed all the weeds I'd put to dry out (which I'd left on top of the tarpaulin) onto the compost heap. There's plenty of bricks/stones on there too so it won't be the easiest of jobs but it needs to be done. I want to lift the tarpaulin and start making the raised beds on that side of the plot before the frogs decide it would be the perfect place to hibernate!! 

Dodging the rain showers...

Today the weather doesn't seem like it knows what it wants to do. One minute it's lovely and sunny and the next it's chucking it down. But- knowing I have thirsty plants in the greenhouse-shed on the allotment I popped down inbetween rain showers. 

Every time I get to the allotment I always have a look around the pond first. Now when you walk up the plot you can hear all the frogs jump into the water. There was loads today! Though some still had their heads poking out when I got there. 

Considering we created the pond in April/May I really wasn't expecting much from it this summer. But it seems, if you build it, they will come! I have been amazed- and every time I go there's more to look at. 

Beautiful flowers pop up all over the place around the pond it's just lovely to see, and lovely to see the bees, hoverflies and butterflies (as well as other insects) keeping it all well pollinated. 

My window box on the shed is looking beautiful too! These flowers which I paid about £3 for (and have some growing around the grassy area at the back too) just keep looking better and better! I don't actually know what they are- but I really need to find out as I'd definitely buy them again. I've literally just watered them a few times and that's it. Well- apart from admired them!

But I really do think it's important that we have areas full of flowers and areas just left to nature as much as possible. I don't think we need places to look immaculate and clinical. If you just let nature do it's thing (to an extent anyway) it can be beautiful. 

I seem to have poppies popping up all over the place. Along the pathways, and in the onion and carrot bed apparently. There's a few growing in here- it doesn't bother me though, I'm just leaving them to it! I love them- and as soon as they flower the bees are all over them! What's not to love?

 In fact today I went around harvesting the heads from the dead poppies so I can dry them and get the seeds for next summer...i'm going to be covered in them!! 

In my last entry I wrote about my butternut squash. I've grown them from seed and didn't know what to expect having never grown them before. I'd looked them up online and of course read the back of the seed packet and it said they needed loads of room! I'd left them in their little pots for quite a while, mainly because I didn't have anywhere to put them at the time, and I noticed they'd started to flower. So after giving away a few plants (I had far too many) I planted 2 in large bucket style pots and 3 in the ground. The ones in the ground, as I said last time, have pretty much died! However the ones in the pots are looking fab. As you can see some fruit has started to appear on both. 

Inside the shed/greenhouse is looking great too. (I never know what to call it!!) but there's a perfectly lovely aubergine in there, with a couple more flowers appearing. We have peppers, jalapeños, cucumber and tomatoes- which I noticed yesterday have 2 little tomatoes on! Sounds pathetic but I was getting the impression that I just wasn't going to get anything from them!

At least I'll get a few peppers!!

The perfect summers day...

Today was the perfect summers day. A leasurly morning with the sun shining down. It was about 20 degrees here today so I got the bike out and headed up to the allotment. 

I was happy to see my aubergine and in fact all the greenhouse plants are looking happy. There's plenty peppers and jalapeños now, and even though I thought I wasn't going to get any tomatoes this year (plants given my a neighbouring allotment) they've finally decided to produce tomatoes; until now it was just the flowers!

I harvested a cucumber 2 days ago. I wasn't really sure when was best to harvest. But it seemed to have stopped growing and I was worried that it was going to go yellow and over ripen so I took the plunge. 

Perfect timing as well I think! It was perfect inside, so today I had some of it with my lunch which is always nice to do. 

I have been disappointed my the butternut squash on the plot. I have 2 in large bucket style pots which seem to be doing really well! Leaves are still green, they're flowering nicely and there's a few baby squash on each plant. I wish I had planted all five in the pots now (as I was originally going to do) but instead I put three of them in ground where the strawberries once were (though not for long) I'd been giving them plenty of water, as well as the rain we'd had, I'd also fed them a bit as I wasn't sure how much nutrients were in the ground. They seemed like they were going to do really well! Suddenly plenty of flowers appeared and a couple of baby fruits appeared but then over the space of a few days the leaves all turned yellow and today they pretty much looked dead. So really sad about that; but it is all a learning curve!! Just need to try and figure out why they died. Will give them a good look over next time I go- It may be a bug. 

I did enjoy spending time watching the pond today. There were frogs everywhere. I crouched down on the pebbly beach section for a while, and it almost seemed to become a game of 'Where's Wally?' It's sometimes quite hard to spot them hiding in the pond plants and in the grasses around the outside but it was really fun trying to spot them all. This little guy on the white pebbles underneath was hiding in the grass just before the pebbles, so he quickly hopped off when I arrived, though seemed to enjoy sitting on the pebbles for a little while; or as I call it, the beach!

 There were some quite sizeable frogs sitting around the outside of the pond. I feel really happy that I've been able to create a suitable habitat for a range of creatures.

Two days ago we also took an old rotting log along to put behind the pond under the bamboo plant. It has been sitting in my concreted back yard for about 2 years now and plenty things had already moved in due to the north facing but sheltered and damp environment it lived in. But I figured it can continue to rot down behind the pond and it can become a home for plenty insects.

 I'm also looking forward to creating an insect hotel. I've gotten inspiration from Pinterest for some really cute but rustic ones just made from things collected. So I will try and make one before the summer holidays are out. Only 3 more weeks left unfortunately. 

Sunday morning pottering...

It's been raining a lot. But it's actually been perfectly timed! After we lay the turf at the back of the allotment last week I was worried that it would dry out and wouldn't take- not just a waste of money but a waste of time too. 

 Though so far,  I've been pleasantly surprised. The timing was spot on as it's rained a lot since we put it down. We haven't had to water it at all.

 The problem with turf is it dries out very quickly, so the soil always needs to remain damp so the roots stay alive and can bed into your own soil. The first 2 weeks is crucial for getting your turf to settle.

If you haven't been lucky enough to get plenty rain, you need to make sure it's watered really frequently. And not just the top, but it needs to soak through to the soil underneath. If your grass starts to dry out before it's bedded in, it's really hard to get it back. Granted turf is fairly cheap- but you don't want to be laying it over and over again.

This morning the rain paused for a gory while, though it was a bit drizzly it was still warm. So I stuck my waterproof on and headed along. Glad I did! It was lovely. Really quiet (thanks to the drizzle) but it certainly didn't stop the bees from their busy morning. Plenty insects buzzing about and my usual froggies sitting with their heads poking out in the pond. 

I noticed how pretty the flowers were looking on the shed. I bought when I last went to Stanton Hall- about a month ago now? And they just keep looking better and better. Perfect for a window box! The violas are looking super as well!

Don't really want to pick them as I know the bees and hoverflies seem to be quite happy they're there!

I also noticed butternut squash have started to appear! I'm doing a little experiment, and while they've been grown from seed all in exactly the same conditions, I've put 2 in large pots outside by the shed- and I've put 3 in the ground. The soil in the pots was a fresh multipurpose compost with feed, whereas the soil in the ground is just the allotments clay soil, I've just added some straw around the plants in the ground so they're not sitting directly on the soil, and to prevent weeds growing so close to the plants. So far while the squash have just started to develop on the ones in the pots, there's actually a lot more flowers on the ones in the ground. Just not sure I it's all a bit too late in the year! I'm just hoping for a warm sunny September! You never know! 

It's also safe to say the Brussels sprouts are doing well. I've done literally nothing with these. From when they were put in the ground I've simply watered them when it's been quite dry (quite a heavy water right at the base of the plant) otherwise I've just left them. Don't think I've watered them for a good month or so now as we've had plenty of rain. While some of the leaves have been minced presumably by snails (there aren't many slugs on the allotment thanks to all the frogs!) there are still plenty leaves- and of a considerable size to keep the plant alive as happy. So fingers crossed for home grown sprouts for Christmas dinner this year! If they're a success I'll grow them again next year- though maybe not quite as many! 

One last little pond photo- I feel like I need to keep taking photos of it because not only do I think it looks beautiful (I may be a little biased!) but I also find every time I go it looks different! There's always new flowers popping up- particularly poppies, which I love! And it's a good job too- there seems to be a lot of poppies on my plot, they randomly keep popping up in vegetable beds between the onions and in the middle of the path. I never pull them out- they genuinely make me smile when I see them- they're such hardy things despite their really delicate petals- and the bees absolutely love them too!

All in all, a pleasant Sunday morning!