Neigh? Yes please!

We've had a glorious weekend here in our part of the world! How can you not run to the allotment to do some invigorating digging? Well, I didn't exactly run, I drove, and I didn't have hours to spend. However, Mrs. G. and I met up for a bit of digging yesterday afternoon and we were not alone. We were in the company of lots of these little things: 

Healthy soil has lots of healthy looking worms and we seem to have loads of them. Great start!

We managed to finish digging over the big space and after looking at the surrounding allotments and talking to some of the experts, we decided to take a trip to the local garden centre today. So we headed off just after lunch and filled our trolley with this:

Horse manure! 8 bags heavier and something to plant, we headed back to the allotment. Time to do some serious planning. Armed with string and some very useful hooks, we methodically outlined beds and paths. It took some thinking and giggling before we were done. Pleased with ourselves and our ability to create a plot that looks similar to the ones around us, Mrs. G. carried on digging over the smaller patch where we intended to plant raspberries and I started pouring manure over some of the beds.  I used a fork to mix it with the soil, which wasn't too difficult, but we were both working so hard that we forgot to chat! How about that? 

Mrs. G. digging away.

Look at those beds!

One of our lovely neighbours came over to chat and brought some everlasting salad onion and chives. How nice was that? We separated the onions - we'd never heard of them before - and planted 4 clumps. Looking forward to using some in salads! We've decided to plant onions and leek in the first bed and planted  a row of red onions. The garden centre was out of yellow onions so that'll have to wait until next weekend. 

Thank you neighbour!

We'd also bought first potatoes and decided to plant a whole bed of them. We both love new potatoes and are planning a midsummer meal at the allotment in June. Roll on potatoes! Luckily, we seemed to be the only ones left in our area of the allotment as we must have looked a sight. In order to raise the soil into three mountain range like rows, I thought it was easier to crawl on all four pushing the soil with my hands. Well, it might have looked silly but it worked. Look at this:

Actually, they don't look like mountain ranges in the picture but I blame the photographer. They certainly did in real life. To round off our extremely productive afternoon (we're really chuffed with ourselves - can you tell?) we planted our 4 raspberry pots. Minus the pots that is. We'd soaked them straight after coming back from the garden centre and ignored that the label stated to soak over night. Let's hope they'll grow anyway. They look alright, don't they?

And a close up shows some lovely shoots:

I realise this is sideways but I have no idea how to turn the photo. Sorry.

We had a brilliant afternoon and are already longing for next weekend. We're both too busy during the week so the allotment has to be a weekend activity at the moment. I'm sure we'll get a lot of pleasure from this new adventure of ours. I'm also sure that I'll sleep like a log tonight!

Mrs. M.

The End

Today marked the end of the holidays. Both Mrs. G. and I are back to work tomorrow so who knows when we will  next be able to do a bit of digging. 

This last day started very early for the M. family. At 6 o'clock to be precise. Little Miss M. had a race to run so we had to set off early to arrive well in time. The older Master M. escorted his sister to the starting area while Mr. and Mrs. M. parked themselves by the finishing line. We only had to wait half an hour before the first runners arrived and about 20 minutes later the colour of little Miss M.'s race started appearing (each age group and race had a different coloured t-shirt - made it a lot easier!). We didn't expect the little girl to run quite so fast so we were pleasantly surprised when she ran towards us. A very happy girl and totally chuffed parents reunited before heading home.

The weather forecast had promised us sun and hot weather but we didn't see any of that until half way through the afternoon. Lots of rain over the past couple of days didn't bode well for any digging but I couldn't stay away so I took a little trip over to the allotment. They sun was out, it was hot and the rhubarb looked fabulous!

Yes the soil was totally wet and soggy but I couldn't help myself with the spade. I had to straighten out the line that Mrs. G. had started digging while I was munching away on her delicious chocolate cake last week. 

Our wellies were well and truly covered in mud so we stopped after a very short while. Actually, little Miss M. almost stopped digging before she started....

So instead I dug up some leek - thinking of potato and leek soup - and headed home.

Some of the allotments are looking great and I can't wait to start planting. However, before that we need to do some planning. What are we going to plant? How are we going to set out our plot? We need some serious discussion Mrs. G. and moi. 

Mrs. M.

Little Miss Naughty

This is Gwen. She's one of our three chickens and definitely the most awkward one. When the builders concreted the new kitchen floor last Friday and gave us strict instructions not to walk on it over the weekend, this little hen completely ignored them and ventured into the kitchen when we were upstairs. How do we know? Well, she kind of left something on the floor so that one of us, contrary to the builders' instructions, had to step on the floor and clean it. How do we know it was Gwen? We just did. Just like you know which child has done something even though they deny it.

When our elderly neighbour two houses away rang the doorbell today and told us he had a chicken in the garden, we knew it was Gwen without looking in our own garden to see who was missing. And of course we were right. Gwen was picking away happily while her two friends Peggy and Marjorie were still at home. Since chickens don't fly she must have flapped and jumped over the two fences that separate us and this particular neighbour. We didn't dare leave her or the other two in the garden after that so we put them back in the run straight away. This clearly annoyed Peggy and Marjorie as they wouldn't stop making noises and kept to the other end of the run, away from Gwen, for quite some time.

Mrs. M

Rain and a tiny leek

So the weather forecast was correct for once. Rain, rain and rain. What a grey and dull day we're having today. Doesn't really matter to me as I'm busy painting doors and skirting boards but I can't help thinking about the allotment and that I'd really like to to go and dig over the remaining part. So while waiting for the undercoat to dry I've snuggled up on little Miss M's bed (the plasterers have invaded the kitchen and the living room is cold) with a cup of tea and some yarn. If I can't get to the allotment I'll just have to let the allotment come to me!

I'm forever mislaying my keys so I thought I'd make myself a big keyring in the shape of a leek. Why a leek you may wonder? Well, I have the colours of leeks in my yarn basket to start with and we've still got leek on the allotment, planted by the previous tenant.

This is way too small for me to find!

That's better. Hopefully I won't have any difficulties finding this one.

What shall I do now? Some more painting or, after looking in the yarn basket, make a tomato?

Mrs. M.

I do dig a good dig.

Has spring finally arrived? Mrs. G. and I decided to meet up at 11 this morning to do a bit of digging. And dig we did! We've almost finished digging over our main plot now and will probably not be able to move our arms or stretch our backs tomorrow. Never mind. We had a good chat while swinging our spades discussing everything from strange bathroom installations (something very much on our minds at the moment) to crop rotation. In between the very vigorous digging we also made time for some of this:

Drinking coffee on our little porch in the beautiful sunshine was glorious. I arrived home looking like a lobster so must remember to add sun lotion next time.

Mrs. M.

Our new allotment!

We've finally got our allotment. When Mrs. G. asked me some time last autumn if I wanted to share a plot at the local allotment with her I said yes without hesitation. Thinking this would take a while as the waiting list was rather long made me quite calm as to when this would actually happen. We were planning an extension to our house and knew that we would have a lot to do at home come springtime, but hey, there was a long waiting list wasn't there? Hm, a delighted Mrs. G. called me up two weeks before Easter declaring we were now next in line. A week later we had the key in our hands! 

We couldn't have been any luckier! The plot has clearly been well looked after by the previous tenant and has even got a little red shed in the corner. We're already making plans for lovely summers evenings, admiring our crops over a glass of something. We spent two days over the Easter weekend digging away and have almost covered half the plot. The weather has since turned cold and wet so no more digging for a while. Just as well for me really. There is a bedroom to decorate and a bathroom to tile...

Mrs. M