Summer growth spurt

So summer is well and truly underway! The pond area went literally wild!! It needed some serious neatening up. At one point crouching down by the pond meant I totally disappeared. While it was lovely it was just becoming a bit crazy so we trimmed down just one little part of it. The rest is still really long though. And the frogs are loving it! 

I think it's safe to say the frogs love the plot! 

The apple tree is also starting to look like something this year! I'm really enjoying it- and little apples have now appeared!

I spent some time planting out some cauliflower and beetroot as well. There's also plenty white and red onions on the other side.

The bees are certainly enjoying the flowers on the plot as well.

There's plenty of things growing. The lettuce is happy. There's some courgettes planted out there too, as well as a greenhouse full of tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet red peppers and chillies.

There's still loads to do! But in just over a weeks time I'm spending 3 weeks in Peru taking some students on a school trip- so hopefully my husband will head down a few times and get his hands dirty!! 

Aaah deep Spring!

I love this time of year. Things aren't racing ahead and everything seems to suddenly become really green! 

I'm loving the pond at the moment- there's still a million tadpoles in there and on a sunny day we've seen plenty of frogs. The plant life is bursting to life as well!

The apple tree I planted last spring (too early- not realising there would be another frost- so last year it just sat in a huff!) but now- it's clearly very happy!

I have started to work back from the gate now and have covered that area in a weed preventative sheeting and bark. The gate area was just getting too bogged down with weeds it was getting very annoying climbing over them to get in and out! 

Another one of the Apple tree- I have a feeling we might get apples this year!

I'm also absolutely in love with the tulip zinc bath! How amazing do they look?!

Here is a closeup of the latest to open. The variety is called Artist- and you can see why!! I think they're amazing! I planted these ones lower than the purple ones in a hope that I'd get a longer tulip season- I think it's worked as planned as well, as the purple ones are just past their best now, just as these ones are opening! So perfect! I'll definitely do that again! 

Lots happening down on the plot...

Every Spring I take a walk around to an allotment that I know will be covered in tulips. And this year I was not disappointed! I don't know who owns the plot but it really is stunning and makes me smile every year!

I absolutely love tulips. They're one of my favourites (tulips and peonies are the top 2 for me) so I wanted to have my own on the plot.

So I was happy to see the other day when I turned up that the deep purples ones had all opened and looked stunning!! They really are so beautiful! 

A close up- no filter of any kind is needed for any of these photos as the natural colours are just so vibrant and beautiful. Definitely glad I went for the zinc bath idea! I'd love to plant tulip bulbs of all different colours around the grass area so they all come up together. These ones in the tulip bath I planted 2 different kinds, one kind (artist) slightly lower than these purple ones so they'll come up a little later!

I also had a pleasant surprise when I went to take a look in the pond! Last year I was given a little clump of Snakes Head Fritillary and planted it out by the pond. It didn't seem to last long before it died off so to be honest I wasn't holding out much hope for this year- in fact, I'd forgotten all about them! So despite the thick long grass around the pond, I was very happy to see it had managed to fight through again this year! 

My allotment is quite a sun trap though and the soil is a fairly thick clay soil so it does retain the rainwater really well, without getting all waterlogged- so I was also happy to see the alliums are already pushing out their flower buds.

I still make a beeline for the pond every time I get there. It doesn't get old at all! And it's different every time! There's still masses of tadpoles and everything is looking so healthy.

If you look at the last blog post you will see a photo of the marshmarrigold- and this photo is of it this week- so it's already putting out a lot more leaves and a lot more flowers! I love it! 

As well as having a jam packed greenhouse at the moment I've also got my windowsill in the house full of seedlings. The tomato seedlings are doing really well. I've got a lovely bunch of parsley and basil growing from seed, and the chillies and pepper seeds have recently come through as well!

After work the other day my husband and I went to the allotment and did a bit of work, including planting out the onions. Excited for this growing season to get underway!

Spring is taking hold!

So Spring has definitely taken it's hold on the plot! Absolutely loving it at this time of year despite how much absolutely needs doing!

 A selection of photos to show where I'm at:

 Marsh marigolds are now popping up.

The pond is looking awesome and is absolutely full to the brim of tadpoles.

The tulip bath is on he verge of bursting into colour (this photo was taken today)

Beautiful flowers have started to appear. The alliums have also started to come up- and are now several inches tall! 

And the greenhouse is looking good! I've currently got lettuce, onions and cauliflower in there, I've also got tomato seedlings, cayenne pepper, sweet red pepper and bell peppers sitting on windowsills at home. 

So it's all looking really great! There is a lot of ground work that needs doing though- and I need to get the potatoes in the ground pretty soon! Lovely time of year though- beautiful when the sun is shining!

It's about time I did some work...

So I'm not going to lie, we have neglected the allotment a bit lately. I had the best of intentions for my first full year with an allotment! But then mid February my husband was offered a job in Canada starting in September, which would obviously mean I'd be going to! And despite that sounding a fair way off, it means I'm thinking 'do I really want to spend a fortune in time and money on a plot I may essentially never see again?' Hmm. So, for March we were pretty rubbish. We didn't do anything. But, as time has gone on I've thought, ok, so we leave in September, but I can get someone to look after the plot for me, and we might only be away for a year so I'd had to think I'd throw in the towel now when it took me five years to get the plot in the first place. 

 So, a few days ago we went to the plot.

I was stupidly excited to find a mountain of frogspawn in the pond. I saw some in next doors pond the week or so before hand and was a bit disappointed that there was none in mine. But happy when I was there to see some frogs have decided my pond will make for a good nursery after all!

I do love this time of year! It was also great to see the £5 willow tree we bought last year has never looked happier with all of it's new growth!

The crocuses I planted not that long ago have started to flower as well!

And the zinc bath of tulips are reaching up to the sun! Can't wait to see these in bloom! I absolutely love tulips.

After a trip to my favourite plant nursery (Stanton Hall in Northumberland) I then finally set to work!

Jobs I did the other day:

Mowed the lawn.

Tidied up around the pond.

Planted alium bulbs everywhere (I don't know if it's too late or not- they'd started sprouting in the bag so I didn't really have a choice).

Pulled up the celery that wasn't a success from last year.

Planted some of the plants and herbs I'd bought at the nursery.

Tidied up the shed and placed in the new plants/seedlings.

I was sad to see someone has taken my wheelbarrow though! Whoever has taken it kindly shut my allotment gate after them. But I'm still a bit annoyed about that. 

Anyway- I am glad to have gotten started on it again! And I really need to make the most of having it before we leave!

Fun morning on the plot and making a terrarium...

So this morning was quite nice! It was quite grey and drizzly, but once we got out there it was fine. We were determined to finish the right side of the plot- and we succeeded! 

We had loads of bricks on the plot, but now that we're going to create timber raised beds we have no need for them really. So instead of spending money on paving slabs (which may only be say £5 a slab, but when you need around 15 it soon adds up!) we decided to use the free bricks to make a "patio" area. I say that quite loosely as you will see what I mean in the photo:

It's not a huge area but it's big enough. The left hand side where you see the soil by the fence will be planted with some perennial plants come the spring time. We are then going to cover and bark the whole entire plot (apart from the garden and pond area at the back of course) this will then mean we can essentially create the raised beds off site, bring them along and just stake them into the ground then fill them. It will make the whole thing much more manageable and means we won't be fighting with weeds growing through the thick clay soil.

Pretty happy with how it's going now! I'm really feeling as though we're achieving something and the left side isn't looking so scary now! 

I also spent the morning on the plot making a Victorian style terrarium! I've been meaning to make one for a while but have gradually collected the materials together. I had a suitable vase for years I just wasn't sure what to do with it! I wanted to do a Victorian style terrarium so that it can basically take care of itself. I find it quite fascinating!

 I have researched it a fair bit so I knew what I was doing (ish) so here's what I needed and what I did:

• suitable vase- that you can get your hand in if possible! (It's hard work otherwise) 

• something to seal the top- I got a cork

• pebbles

• activated charcoal

• compost 

• moss 

• plants (slow growing plants that like high humidity- I used small Peruvian plants)

• something decorative (optional)

What I did:

1) Clean the vase.

2) Pour in a layer of pebbles on the bottom of the vase.

3) Put in a layer of activated charcoal. I ordered it from Amazon. The charcoal keeps the water and air clean and stops mould or algae building up.

4) A layer of compost. 

5) Plant your plants out- I used three slow growing Peruvian plants. One will go red in the summer for something a bit more interesting to look at. 

6) Place your 'decorative object(s)' this isn't essential- but I added a little rock in there just for aesthetics

7) Cover the ground area in moss, covering a fair bit or all of the moss.

8) clean the inside of the vase and place on the cork. If the things that have gone in are dry it will need a light water/spritzing. The soil and moss I used were moist enough. 

9) Check on it over the next fortnight or so to make sure there's not any mould growing or too much constant condensation. However, condensation is normal, as how a terrarium works is as the plants respire, the air condenses on the sides of the vase, it then dribbles down and keeps the plants moist. The cycle just continues. 

There are different kinds of 'terrariums' a lot of them are made using succulents or cacti- but remember these should not be sealed as they're not jungle plants and therefore do not need a high humidity or a damp surroundings. 

Getting to work...

Right- prep time!!

 This morning we had a leasurly Sunday morning, not getting up in a rush. Popped to Morrisons on the way to the allotment to grab something for breakfast and then went straight there. Stood for about 10 mins eating breakfast and just looking at the plot. There was a lot to do!! While the back sort of quarter is for a garden area- so I can ignore that part- there's still a lot to do! 

 A few months ago we were in JTF and saw they had rolls of garden liner 40metres by just over 1metre for less than £10. Bargain we though- so we got 2 rolls. And I'm so glad we did! Perfect stuff for the job!

 And to top it off, a few months ago I contacted the lady in charge of the allotments at the council about wood chippings. Someone happened to mention it- and it seems she can simply direct the woodchippings removed from

other council sites to which ever allotment site ask for them. A good bit of recycling! I was actually worried a few months ago that I was going to have to spend a fortune on something like that. But never mind! Not any more!

So before we started putting the liner down the ground was very uneavenly and while the majority of large weeds were gone due to the previous liner we put down, there was still lots down the side by the fence. So I'm sure out neighbours will be happy to see that gone!

So one side of the allotment is 3 rows thick. We took it to sort of where the edge of the path will be running up the middle. This was me taking a little break from some manual labour while my husband did wheelbarrow runs to the woodchippings. 

As I've said plenty times before- we have really thick clay soil. It does seem to have really good drainage- but at this time of year it's very thick, sticky and 'claggy' as my mum would say. Which meant you couldn't walk for more than a few feet without having plenty heavy mud weighting you down!! 

 And yes- my allotment boots are Uggs. They're warm, cosy and pretty old now- and due to their thick soles mud rarely goes past the sole. Makes for a much more comfortable day!

And the final photo of the day!! I'm really happy with it all. The whole area has cost less than £10 as I haven't even used one roll of the garden liner yet, and the bricks and woodchippings were free. So even better!! 

 It was safe to say after all that we were both quite tired and pretty achy!!

Mid winter and a year on...

So, it's the middle of the winter and it's not particularly cold today. Well, it hasn't been particularly cold at all this winter- yet! There's been the odd frosty cold day but not many. Today was around 8 degrees. So not bad really. 

 There has been a lot of rain though- even for us- on the north east coast of England rain wise we're not majorly effected. Yes we have weeks where it just rains none stop- but fortunately we don't ever get effected by flooding unlike other places. 

 This is a year on in the life of my allotment. It had never had an owner before me. It had been empty land for several years and before that it was a car park! So it's interesting to see how the land is effected by the things we do.

The soil is very thick clay soil- and at this time of year it's horrible to work with. You could mould shapes out of it!!

But we went along today- to plan tomorrow when we will begin working on it.

 We would have started sooner but my husband dislocated his shoulder and so has been out of action for a good while now. 

As you can see, it's looking like a bit of a shambles. Though the sprouts are still happy enough.

We plan on starting on the left hand side tomorrow in front of the shed. The council have kindly dropped off a lot of woodchippings at the entrance to the allotment site- so we will collect those as well to neaten things off and stop weeds from coming up in the spring.

My pond seems to be quite happy. It's the area I leave as wild- and it certainly looks wild right now!! But the actual pond seems happy enough- some of the pond plants are dying back but it took a long time for the winter to kick in! We had a super warm November! In the spring I plan on getting some more pond plants- I'm thinking more grassy things. 

We also saw these beetles today. They're called Rosemary Beetles. We've never seen them before, but it would explain why they're on the Rosemary!! They're so pretty- I was quite mesmerised. When I Googled them to identify them it came up with he RHS website; which says they're pests. They're meant to sort of destroy the plant while they eat it in late autumn to late spring- though my Rosemary has never looked better so they may have just arrived! I don't want to get rid of them though. Everything has a place on my allotment- and if it means I have to sacrifice a few plants every now and then to certain insects then so be it. I don't like to consider anything a pest if I can help it.