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. 

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!!

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!

Creating the garden part of the allotment...

So thanks to the typical English summer, there has been a lot of rain and not enough sunshine! Thankfully today, the clouds finally moved off and we were able to get something productive done

 As I've said before I've always wanted the back part of the allotment to also act as a garden and a place to relax. We live in an old house and our backyard is tiny and North facing, so I really wanted a place to relax. 

 Next to the wildflower and pond area we spent this morning turning over the rest. Thankfully thanks to all the rain it made turning the patch over incredibly easy so we were able to get it all sorted before noon!

So my next job is to get even more plants and flowers around the grass area and pop up the rest of the little blue fence.

We also found the cutest little (though quite large) hawk caterpillar hiding in the turned over soil. We decided to move him across to the wildflowers instead. 

We didn't seem to have any success with the strawberries I was given from an allotment neighbour. We only got a few and they were pretty short lived. Though I decided that I didn't want to grow strawberries in the ground again next year so I weeded the strawberry patch and removed the strawbs. Instead I used it as an opportunity to put three of the butternut squash into the ground. So fingers crossed they will turn into something. There's a fair few flowers on all of the plants and a few have started to form into fruits in the pots, so fingers crossed they will become an edible fruit- though there doesn't seem to be much to summer left! 

 Fingers crossed we get more decent weather before winter begins! 

5 hours of shed painting...

Today was officially the first day of the summer holidays. So I spent the day as I mean to go on- productively!

I was at the allotment for 5 hours simply painting the inside of the shed- and enjoying the pond for a portion of that!

It's doing really well at the moment. The plant life around the outside is really starting to hide and protect the pond and other animals around. There are plenty frogs being spotted in their too now. Every few days there seems to be a new lily pad unfurling so hopefully it will flower at some point! Not sure if that will be this year or next thought.

I've really got no idea about what's growing around the outside. I did scatter a fair few wildflower seeds a few months ago, and there are some really pretty flowers coming up, so I'm assuming there some sort of wildflower. There are plenty of other things as well, from buttercups to dandelions and dock leaves, but for the moment I'm just going to leave it all. 

The Brussel sprouts are coming along really well now too! I had a peek under their leaves today and there are little baby sprouts sitting above every leaf, so hopefully I'll get a good harvest from them in a few months time! I have plenty people in my family who're looking forward to home grown sprouts on their Christmas dinner! 

And of course- a photo of my hard work today.

I painted the inside cream. I needed to paint it to protect the wood, as some of it is fairly old and has been left outside for a while (one wall is from an old fence) so it needed protecting on the inside and outside. I wanted the cream colour to lighten it all up. It took hours, but I'm happy with the final product. Now I just have to give the outside one final coat of blue, and then I can start attaching things to the inside and out. I have some hanging baskets for the outside and I want some shelves up on the inside, as well as hooks to hang my tools on. Project for next week I think!

The jalapeños look pretty happy in the shed too!