From the above you might guess that we got the the allotment yesterday, put in four hours of fairly solid work and are now suffering (Beth and me) and, if you did, you would be quite right. But it's a nice, fulfilled, satisfied, productive 'ouch' and it's not that bad really. :-)
It turned out to be sunny and warm when we met there and got going
At the beginning of the day, this bed was more or less covered with weeds and after a couple of hours it looked like this . . .
. . . and then we had a coffee or two and a good chat.
Then we set to again and by the time we had finished, we had our soft fruit bed - Autumn fruiting raspberries and strawberries taken from runners in my garden. We should have put the raspberries out last autumn but, for very good real life reasons, we didn't. However, they have survived and are shooting so our fingers are crossed. We might get a bit of fruit from them this year. Ditto the strawberries but next year will be better and the year after that - loads!
It's bit muddy but the first rain will sort that out and we intend to sweep it tomorrow anyway - if I remember to take my broom!
We do feel pleased with ourselves!
Given fine weather, today is mainly mowing and strimming the grass, planting out the last four strawberries (I didn't take quite enough yesterday and moving some old pallets to the back behind the shed. Then we have two large beds to sort out another time but that won't take too long as the soil is more crumbly and weeding will be easier.
And then it will be time to plant and sow.
I came home with a few little leeks (the last of the row) and some more rhubarb. I don't know if you can see in the photos but the rhubarb is doing really well so I am going to try this. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rhubarb-cordial
and this
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/rhubarb-vodka/
Don't they sound good!
Apart from the above, I am going to Aldi for ten o'clock to get some bits and bobs and later on I will have ironing to do and also planning, as school starts again tomorrow. Poor kids; a rotten holiday, weather wise, and the day they go back it is wall-to-wall sunshine. That's life.
It should be a most productive day today, I think. :-)
It is just 8 am and you posted this 5 hours ago! My goodness, you are the early bird, Joy! But what a lot you and Beth have done on the allotment, and it looks to have been in sunshine, too. Here, yesterday, we had thick sea mist, and today it's raining. But they say "rain before seven, fine by eleven" so I will keep my fingers crossed that the weather clears up. This four hours is the approximate time that a weather front, apparently, takes to move across the country (this was once mentioned on TV, otherwise I'd have thought it just an old saying with little to no substance.) Anyway, it will save me watering the pots of tulips, now in bloom.
ReplyDeleteYes, your rhubarb is doing well. We haven't any fruit or veg I our tiny garden, I have to buy rhubarb, and bought some this week so I an make another rhubarb cake - the last one (the first time I'd made it) was delicious.
Husband gave the grass in our back garden it's first cut this week, but already it needs another cut - OK, he had the mower on a high setting, but it's like a meadow again. But there again, we do have a lot of rain in Devon, and the grass grows in abundance (along with the weeds!)
Margaret P
A lot of hard work at the allotment and it's looking great. I do hope your fruit trees are successful. I'm hoping for better results from my strawberries this year. Last year I only got about 5!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your day. X
I'm afraid I am having another spell of being wide awake in the middle of the night and, from experience, I know that they only thing that works is to get up and do things and after an hour I feel tired again and can sleep. It's dull here and the forecast is for cloud today. That won;t stop me allotmenting though. :-) I HAVE to cut that grass.
ReplyDeleteJules, our fingers are crossed for the fruit trees - last year the plum got caught by a late frost and, from being covered with blossom, it went to no fruit whatsoever. Disappointing. Ditto with the pear. However, they had been moved the year before so that won't have helped. It would be nice to have a bit of fruit this year.
J x
You've put me to shame with all your hard work. My garden still looks a mess and hasn't been cleared from last year - it serves me right for not doing it when I had the chance and now my eye problems prevent any effort at all.
ReplyDeleteWeather wise, it's looking fairly promising out there. It's lovely to look beyond the fence and to see the green appearing on all the trees. There's definitely that Spring feeling in the air!
I think being awake in the middle of the night is par for the course as we age. We are often wide awake then; husband made tea and toast at just gone 2 am this morning, then I read until gone 3 am and then slept through until 7.30 am.
ReplyDeleteI've read recently that this is how we used to sleep ... the long 7 or 8 hours uninterrupted sleep has happened only relatively recently and in past centuries we had two sleeps: early for a few hours, and then an awake period when we got up and did things, followed by a second sleep. How true this is, I don't know (can anyone know?) but we could be regressing to our past selves, perhaps? I have given up fretting about being awake in the night ... we are retired and if we fancy a nap in the day to compensate, that's perfectly OK by me.
Margaret P
Eileen - if you could have seen the allotment this time last year you will understand why I never want to go back to that state. It was terrible and took so much hard work to lick it into something like decent shape. This year it isn't nearly so bad so I really want to deal with the weeds, etc, before they get out of control again, especially as I will be out of circulation for a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't do it, you can't do it so try not to worry. I'm sure you will when you can. Is getting a jobbing gardener in a feasible proposition for you?
Margaret - that's very interesting, thanks. When I was working I used to worry as I got so tired in the afternoon and had so much work to do through the evening too but you're right, now I can have a nap if I want. Thanks.
J x
Wow great work! Winter will not seem to let up here in Mid West USA.
ReplyDeleteI read in another blog about still getting snow in parts of the US. It has to warm up soon, doesn't it? Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteJ x