Spuds are in !

Welcome back to our Allotment Retreat. Today, with a tiny bit of help from my friend, I managed to plant the first row of spuds. The First Earlies,(v.Maris Bard) are amongst the first spuds to go in on the site. The first in though were third week of feb by Steve - good luck with those!. I figured it was about time to get planting. All told, we have a total of 120 odd tubers to go in, so we'll try and do a row every couple of days. The ground (recently dug over by Neil) is not too wet and I think we'll get away with it. Time will tell! (There were plenty of raised eyebrows from those "that know" as we set about planting! I even got "told" i was throwing money away. We'll see).


The Rhubarb is seemingly flourishing, with the first stem a good 8" tall , and the second stem just appearing. There's loads more weeds too, but they're on the list. The list - boy is it growing!!







My plot neighbour (whom I've yet to meet), has decided to erect a scaffold net wall around his plot, which saves me a packet as I wont need a windbreak now. All i need now is all the other neighboring plots to do the same, and I'll be quids in. I know it looks neat and tidy, but is it really necessary ? Some people just seem to throw money at the allotment - goes against the grain with me!


The Primulas that we transplanted from Bill's garden in Strood last year, are finally coming into their own. Lets hope they do really well and keep the Bee's coming back to the plot. More flowers is the order of the day. What shall we add next ?






Finally, or should I say at last? The seed planting is underway at home. Ruby got the ball rolling this year after Grandad bought her a Tomato starter kit. These are doing ok on the kitchen windowsill, So we decided to get cracking. Regular blog readers will know we have accumulated an abundance of seed, and we're gonna try hard not to buy too much more this year!
Today's sowings include: Sweetcorn(v. Swift Early), Courgette (v.All Green Bush), Tomato's (v.Garden Pearl) - for the hanging baskets at Reads Retreat, and some Sprouts (v.Red Delicious).

That's enough to get us going. The enthusiasm is overflowing now, so watch this space for more news from the plots.

Take care all and enjoy your gardening.

TTFN.

One less weed!

I stopped smoking on Tuesday this week.

Now I just have to stop the weed from coming back!

Wish me luck!

TTFN

Mother's Day!

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat, where I start this post with a shot of the lovely Roses I gave my darling wife today. Aren't they beautiful, just like Jen - love her to bits xx.
Further, can I extend a Happy Mothers day to all of you mums out there ( mine included!) - where would we be without you all.
Right after breakfast this morning I nipped to the plot to harvest yet more tasty leeks, which accompanied our Roast Pork dinner today - yum!


Whilst at the plot I took great delight in spotting that our Rhubarb crown is bursting forth from the manure mound that was unceremoniously dumped on it before Christmas. Rhubarb - as you know - is a hungry feeder, so hopefully this "rough treatment" will see us bag a bountiful harvest this year?

Thats all today folks, but really itching now to get cracking at the plot. Just need to get my health back.


Wherever you all are, I hope you are ready for the season ahead, and I wish you all a successful year.

Pop back soon for more updates from the plot.

TTFN

Digging update !

Well - what a grand job.
Neil really got his teeth into the task at hand, and we now have enough room to plant the first earlies! All I had to do was make the coffee! At least now we can get cracking!
Cheers !




Whilst at the plot, we couldn't resist harvesting a half dozen or so Leeks, some of which went into tonight's stir fry, while the rest will go into a leek tart for tea tomorrow!
We're excited now about the season ahead, and not so daunted by the mammoth tasks.
We hope you'll pop back soon for more updates from our Allotment Retreat.



Till then, take care all and enjoy your gardening.

TTFN.

What a gloomy day!

Skies are overcast, and there's a slight chill in the air.

But, todays the day when the help arrives. My brother in law is coming over today to help with the digging on the plot.

Will post an update later !

TTFN

Chitting at last !

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat. Finally we have got our seed potato's and have set about getting them chitting. This year we have decided not to grow Maincrop varieties as; despite their excellent taste, they take up a lot of ground for a long time. Also, they are readily available locally for £3.50 per 25kg sack! So, our choices ? Well, our First Earlies are Maris Bard(pictured). Although we have started the chitting process a bit late, it looks as though the planting date may also be later than usual too. The recent heavy rains have left large parts of the allotment waterlogged and unworkable. Couple that to the fact that I'm off sick from work still with my neck problem, and the planting of these seems far away! Once again we purchased these tubers through the allotment society, which proves again a great cost saving i.e. We paid £4.90 for 6kg of tubers - which is 55 tubers to be exact. Some of these are quite large and will be halved to make them go a bit further. Our choice of Second Earlies is Nadine. We grew these last year and were really impressed by the yield and their taste. These too were £4.90 for 6kg, and we'll get these chitting soon too. This represents a considerable saving over hgh street costs where, typically, 5 tubers are about a quid! The other main learning from last year is that we will not plant all at the same time, rather we'll stagger the planting for a continued crop.

Thanks must also be extended to my brother in law - Neil - who has kindly volunteered to help with the final bit of ground preparation prior to planting. I would not have been able to do this myself and am very grateful.

That's all for now, but pop back soon for more updates, our enthusiasm is growing fast for another good years growing ahead.

Take care all and enjoys your plots and gardens,

TTFN

Tempus Fugit - End of Feb 2010

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat, for a long overdue update posting.

There's many reasons for my long absence - not least the weather: January was Cold, Frosty, and mostly snowy, which prevented any gardening activity what so ever. And then there was February! I awoke on the morning of 30th Jan in excruciating pain. My right shoulder and right arm in worrying agony. A trip to the emergency quack on that day left me with the diagnosis of a trapped nerve somewhere in my neck / shoulder. The treament : Morphine tabs 3 times a day for 6 weeks, as well as Happy Pills to ease the inflammation. Further doctors surgery visits followed and then the dreaded referral to a Spinal Specialist. I'm still waiting on a date for that. The pain has eased somewhat, but I've only had one good nights sleep in a month, the rest of the nights have mainly been spent sitting in an armchair covered by a quilt.

So you see, I've not ventured to the plot since 7th Jan. I've been in touch with the allotments site manager, and informed him that i will be coming back. My order of seed potato's is there waiting for me, as well as the endless job of ground preparations! Not sure how much will get done in the near future, but i cant wait to get fit enough to get stuck in !

On a happier note, I received a blog award from Tanya at Allotments4you. Awards are always welcome, more-so when you're feeling down, so I thank Tanya very much for that. In keeping with idea, the information pertaining to the award is detailed below:-

I had this award passed on to me because my blog makes her happy. That's a nice thought.

There are a few rules with this award which are as follows:

I have to link Tanya's blog to me, which I have done above.

Next, I am to list 10 things that make me happy.

Family.
Friends.
Gardening.
Good Food.
Real Ale.
Reading.
Photography.
The seasons.
Natural history.
The thought that Labour will not win the next election!


Now all I have to do is pass the award on to some of my favourite bloggers...these would be:

Fiona @ The Cottage Smallholder
Nick @ The Tree House Diaries
Jo @ The Good Life
Mr H @ The Subsistence Pattern
Rosie @ Eco-Gites
Dan @ Urban Veggie Garden Blog
Carrie @ Grow Our Own
Amanda @ Eight by six
Sarah @ Our patch of earth
Layla @ Eco Experiment
Michelle @ From Seed to Table
Jenn @ Gamine's Garden

These are just a few of the blogs I read on a regular basis, that usually make me smile!

So what now ? Well, i need to see the specialist as soon as possible, and get back to work too. I cant live / survive on sick pay for too long. Also, i need to get some help on the plot - even if i have to get paid help, as i cant see myself being fit enough for a good while yet, and our second child is due in early July.

So, take care all and enjoy your gardens and gardening. Keep your blogs updated too, they are a huge incentive to me at the moment.

I hope the aforementioned bloggers happily receive their awards, and I look forward to posting a gardening update soon.

TTFN

Freeeeezing!

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat. As you can see, we're bearing the brunt of the white stuff, and hence not venturing up to the plot until this lot clears. We did manage a brief outing to the plot on Wednesday this week, and were able to dig some Leeks as well as some Parsnips. I must add that both were delish, as well as a few small carrots that we managed to pull. Sadly there's been a lot of vandalism on the site recently, and a lot of plotholders sheds' have been broken into. My shed lock kept the buggers at bay, but they had a good go at the lock on my shed door, and the Hasp&Staple will need replacing. It really is soul destroying that this goes on, and short of posting Armed Guards, I cant see any ways of keeping the perpetrators at bay.

Anyhow, we hope you'll pop back soon for more updates from the plot.

Till then, take care and wrap up warm!

TTFN

Happy New Year Everyone

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat.

2010 is upon us, where did the last 12 months go ? Any ideas ??

We had a light covering of snow to welcome the new year in, and with frosts forecast for most of next week, it's hard to see when we might get to the plot!

However, wherever you are and whatever you do this year, we hope you have a fab time doing it. And we look forward to sharing our gardening exploits with you all. Keep us bookmarked - there's bound to be a break in the weather soon!

TTFN

Better pictures - we hope!

Welcome back to Reads Allotment Retreat. Sadly there's still no news from the plot due to the persistently inclement weather. The ground is either sodden or frozen, and there's little that can be done at this time. On a more positive note, I'm now the proud owner of a new camera. This was a combined Birthday & Christmas present, from my in laws and Jen. I've been after a decent upgrade for some time, and this Fuji s7000 is a great replacement to my Fuji Finepix 3800. The latter has served me well, but this new camera is a far greater spec than i had before. All we need now is for me to get to know it! There's a huge instruction manual to read and digest, before i can switch off the "Auto" button. There's no rush and I'm looking forward to rediscovering some real photography.

Hopefully the next time you drop in, I can bring some news from the plot.

Till then, take care and enjoy your gardening.

TTFN