giving up

Hello all

I have decided to give up my plot, over the last 3 months I have only been down there 3 -5 times. My health has not been very good. And so the plot became over run with mares tails and bindweed so I just gave in my key. Although I have left the door open as i have said if one of the diasbled beds becomes available I would like one

So it was with deep regret I had to give up the plot.

But that doesn't mean I have stopped.

I have a small area at the back of my shed at home. It was a rockery when we moved in, but it has become a dumping ground. So today we got some of the old wood we had lying around the garden and doubled the size of the area. We made an edged raised bed and intend to use that for the time being. We have planted out some of our tomato plants that are still in pots. They should do okay there. it is sheltered and get the sun for most of the day.

I will post photos soon
Mim

Digging the plot

Well at last the weather is good enough to do some work at last.

As you can see we have started to plant stuff in the Lottie

We planted 2 rows of lettuce, 2 rows of radishes,a row of beetroot and a row of kohlrabi. We have lots of seeds in the conservatory and the green house with more being done as you read.
Broad beans and peas are being started off in the greenhouse whilst chillies and flowers are in the conservatory.

The weed suppressant has worked a treat and has saved a lot of time being spent on weeding thus giving more time for digging the plot. We will use this again next year.



Simon has dug over bed which had nothing in it last year, and since this photo was taken he has done the bed behind him as well. So now I can get on and plant my potatoes and peas and beans soon. Easter weekend will be a good time to do this as we have time off work and can spend a day down there. The shopping bag is there to collect the mares tails in. That way we don't have to forget to take them home and burn them.



Here is my new compost bin, I am just waiting for the wind to die sown so I can move the old one over and turn it at the same time. The secretary of the site built it for me and painted it so many thanks to him.



So after a couple of hours at the Lottie with Simon doing the hard digging slog he is tired and just wants to go home and have a Chinese delivered so he can rest from his labours

Well done him.



Anyway peeps I must go now as I have lots to do.
Happy digging and sowing to you all
Mim

All on the move

Hello All

Well it seems that we have some sun at last and so I have been down to the Lottie. When I get down there I find that things are a foot. The allotment I share is being split into 3 which I have no problems with as the person who will be sharing the plot with me is a person I have known for about 35 years.

It means I get to lose 2-4 foot of mine but I don't mind, as I have not been able to fill my whole Lottie anyway in the last 2 years. Due to ill health, bad weather and Horseradish (which i cant get rid of). So at least I have less to fill and someone who can help me do mine at the same time.

But not only did I find out that the Lottie is being split but that the compost heap has got to be changed. Health and safety are saying that metal cannot be used on the first 4-6 feet of the Lottie in case children hurt themselves. Again I have no problems with that. But It does mean that the bin can be moved.


So from the photo below you can see where the compost is being from and to. The Secretary of the Lottie is going to help me build a new one as I have no idea as to how to do it. But we are considering making an extra 2 bays so I can turn the compost or store the other bins and water barrels there.

The best bit is that the compost has not been moved for 5-7 years so it should be really good for my beans this year



From this one you can see how far the path is moving. Again no problems to me



All I have to do now is re do my beds and edging and then we are set to go for the new year.
Hear from you all soon
Mim

What a lot to do

Hello All

As you can see there is not much doing here this year. I have even considered giving up, but I will be giving the Lottie another year to see how we go.

I am going to be putting in some Fruit bushes here and move the Rhubarb from in front of the compost bin. The compost in there has been there for at least 3 years so it should be very well rotted by now. So I think that it needs turning over so by moving it I hope to do that at the same time. The rhubarb will love the compost as will the runner beans.

We covered the plot in the autumn to stop the weeds resurfacing so early. Lets hope it has warmed up the soil as well.
We have so much work to so this year I don't where to start. it was a difficult year last year, with not really good health, lots of extra hours at work and the bad weather. It's really made me very despondent and I didn't know whether to carry on or what. But as I have said we will give it another year.

Anyone in Lottie land got any ideas on how to pick yourself up and get on with the work.


Anyway I must stop being so down hearted so I will go and think about looking at some seed catalogues

Yours Mim

My Holiday

Hello All

I thought you may like to see some of what I have been doing whilst not on the Lottie.

I have been to the Lake District recently and where were staying had a community garden.



As you can see they have a wonderful setting in which to garden. It is on a fairly steep slope and has a lot of acid soil areas but they have done a fantastic job of changing a field into a lovely garden or Lottie. They had a bee hive and several chickens. About 400 metres away they have a beautiful waterfall and grounds in which you can sit and reflect on the quietness and peace of the place.

It was worth the walk up the steep slope to see the lovely garden and sit and rest .




Late in April I was helping mom do some wedding flowers for a friend and they turned out extremely well. The bride was extremely happy. Tell me what you think?



The last 2 photos are just there so you can see nature at its utter best

1 Simple buttercup and a beautiful sunset over the North Cornish coast.

Hope you like them


That's what I have been doing whilst not on the Lottie; what have you been doing in your free time?

Yours Miriam

The latest News From Me

Well hello all,

A long time since my last post, well things have been busy. With a wedding and the bad weather and me doing lots of overtime at work things have just been left to their own devices again. But as I have said in earlier posts This Year will be different.

Well so far it has been, the Hubby has been done at least 5 times this year instead of the twice last year. Every time I go over I am weeding and planting and not just groaning with despair at the weed growth. Little and often is probably the motto for this year.
These are some of the Potatoes we out in in Feb and March. I thought I had lost them because we had put them early and we had some fairly hard frosts. But we have only seemed to have lost 1 or 2 plants over all. Behind these spuds we have put another 4 rows and so we should have some for them winter we hope. Lets hope the blight don't come again.

I have put in some runner beans again but I still have more to put in yet. As you can see I have swapped the spuds and peas and beans around for this year and I hope they will all do well. my heritage peas are starting to put on a spurt. If all goes according to plan they should grow to about 10 foot tall. Thus dwarfing the runner beans


The Rhubarb is coming on well and we have had a lot off it already, but we shall see what happens to this year as we will have to dig and split it as there are too many for such a small bed.
A new venture f0rm me I am trying some strawberries and I shall keep you post on how they do. Does anyone have any ideas as how to best look after them

The broad beans are actually doing very well at the mo, they are taller than in this photo which was taken about 3 weeks ago. again I have only lost about 5-8 plants of the 50 I planted. So not doing badly with them either.




Here you can see 1 of my bush marrows and some small lettuces. I have had to net them, as the birds wont leave anything for the slugs to eat if I didn't.

Anyway I just thought you may want to see what we both look like after a hard day at the Lottie

I am on the left and Simon is leaning on the spade

Hope to hear from some of you soon

Mim

Nearly Cleared plot.....

Hello All

It is that time of year again; what with finishing the digging and starting to plant out this years seeds and plants, when do we have time to stop and do anything else.

Well I managed to get to the Lottie today for a couple of hours, first time since the end of Feb, due to work and weather conditions. Having cleared some of the rubbish and tidied up the Lottie I find we only have the following bit of ground to sort out.
We cannot do much with this as most of it is either compost bins or Rhubarb as you can see from the next photo.


But Rhubarb is not the only thing growing on the Lottie to date. We have planted up 3-4 ranks of spuds with another 4-5 ranks to go in still. There are 5 rows of broad beans in and I still have some kale and broccoli left in the ground but that is nearly finished.
As you can see the plot is looking quite tidy at the mo and lets hope this year we can keep on top of it better than last year.

The piece of ground we could not use last year because of the mass of horseradish can now be used this year. We think we have got 99% of it out and if we do get anymore then I will us Azooral on it and that should sort out any little ones.

We have started planting the broad beans in it so far but we will also try planting carrots and Kohl Rabi and beetroot in there this year and see what happens.


Hope to hear from some of you soon
Yours Doidge

Not much doing

Hello again

I thought I would put the world to rights again today. The weather has been really bad again this week and I have been at work while the sun has been out so no work at the Lottie again. When I get home at 6.30 I cannot get anything done at the Lottie so I have to wait until the weekend and then try getting a whole weeks work done in a couple of hours.

We have been down twice in the last 3 weeks and planted some more stuff in the ground. But I have been sowing some things at home. I am trying to save some money this year and am trying to grow some flowers from seed this year instead of buying them.

I have tried this before and not had much success. I do better from cuttings, so my neighbours had better watch out.

So far all I have got is really long spindly growth so I think I will have to do some more and see what happens.

This week I am going to start some new broad beans and try sowing my peas in pots and then get them ready for the ground.

I like being able to see things grow from seed and then eat off it later.

So what about the plot. we have dug over 2/3 of now and we have decided to get rid of the grass paths as they are taking up a far amount of planting room. The grass has been saved to make into loam for next year.

So instead we are going to dig out the winter stuff soon and then make one very large bed and divide it up using the same fencing we brought last year. That way we get back about 6x3 foot of ground we can use. I am aiming to get it better laid out for the competition this year and get a better variety of plants in and hope they all come up in time.

I will definitely be growing Nasturtiums again as they did really well as did the Sweet Peas. But I don't have the room for too many flowers this year so I have planted bulbs which I lift and put back into my own garden for next year.

Anyway I will go now and try to take some photos the next time I am at the Lottie.

Happy sowing
Mim

New start 2008

Today is the first time since November I have been the Lottie for about 6 weeks .

I lost my keys over Christmas, and only found them when I got back to work. The weather has been awful like most of the country and that has prevented my return until today.

When I arrived I expected to have to deal with a lot of wind damage but found that the only thing that had blown away was my compost bin lid. Which someone else had found and so I got it back.

When at the Lottie in November I planted some broad beans and when I looked at them today I found that they have already started coming up and 1 was already in flower.

The 1 in flower was the one I found growing where the spuds had grown last year and we thought we would try and keep it. Looks like we may have done the right thing.

Today we planted another 2 rows of broad beans and we hope they will do as well. Come the end of Feb we will plant Bunyard's Exhibition ones as they don't like frost .



Again, we also planted some more pansies and some heather I had had in the garden and we will see how it comes on over the next few months. The small daffodils we planted last year also have some green leaves and mom thinks it also has some flowers ready to come on them very soon.

Down one side of the 4 beds in the middle of the Lottie we have planted some bulbs of various sorts. I found a lot of bulbs left over after plating up my own garden for the spring and so I have mixed them up and planted unknown bulbs.
I look forward to see what comes up.



At the Lottie today we meet our neighbour and he had a lovely spade which made light work of turning over the soil. It appears to be spring loaded at the back. If anyone has any idea of what this tool is or where I can get one from I really would like to know.I had a go and so did mom and we both liked it as it would be good for people with bad backs and knees, like me.

The work over we took some purple kale of Broccoli back for tea and I gave it to mom as she had done a lot of useful work today.


Anyway, it its time I went and did my tea and sorted out what I am planting for the next season.
Happy Lottie time
Doidge

Last post of 2007

Hello all

I have no photos today but I thought I would end the year on a positive note considering the past 12 months appear to have been fairly fruit less. I have decided to try and get my Lottie really sorted this year and I have now started to get things sorted for the next 12 months. I have kale and broccoli already in the ground as well as some broad beans.

I am looking through lots of my old seeds and deciding which to keep and which to swap with others. I may even see if anybody has something I may want to try growing my self in exchange.

But again I look forward to the new year with hope but a wry eye on the weather man a little more and more knowledgeable than last year, thanks to the lectures we have had given to us on our Lottie site.

All the best to you all and a good new year and lots of bumper crops as well.

Yours Miriam

The Miracle has happened

Hello All

The miracle has happened the Hubby has arrived at the Lottie.

He could not understand why I wanted his picture, so I told him I always take the camera to the Lottie with me in case I see anything unusual and this counts as 1 of those times I think.

Well he got stuck in digging for about an hour and then it got too dark so we came home. The tatties I had put in for Christmas have not done any good at all. In fact we have none anywhere.
Here is the strange sight of the hubby on the Lottie.

Whatever will I find next?? Alan Titchmarsh in my shed!!!!!!! Yes please. Even better still Sven Wombwell. He is so cute.

Here is my new planting area. I have put in the broad beans Aqua........ whatever I can't remember the name.

Talking of water does anyone have any ideas for a small pond. I have never done one before and could use some advice on all aspects.

Anyway I will go now

Yours Mim

What a Year????

Well Hello all

I hope you are reaping the rewards for your hard work. I have not got much out my Lottie this year, so I am starting to look towards the winter and the crops I can grow now and try to recoup a bad yield so far this year. I did get some potatoes and a few runner beans but not a lot. I did very well on the sweet peas which are still going very well indeed.

So what about next year?

I am going to really look at the plot and start to plan it better. I have started some more spuds and I have some broccoli, winter cabbage and some sprouts to put in.

But I also have some Chinese veg which I am starting off in the greenhouse and will have to transplant this week, they were only planted on bank holiday Monday and they are already nearly 1 1/2 inches tall. Wow I thought. I will have fun with those.

I don't have any photos this week as the Lottie is looking very empty and not much more than weeds are growing at the mo.

The open day at the allotment went very well and the Sandwell Show was a huge success,despite having to move because of the foot and mouth disease threat to the rare breeds at the usual venue.

The Green Pennant we got was the 1st one to be won by an allotment in the whole of the UK we believe. The Committee work hard every year and they deserve it. Let's hope we keep it next year.

I shall sign off now and hope to hear from some of you soon.

Mim

Hello Again

Hello All

Some new just in we got a Green Pennant award this week for the Lottie site.

We also got the results of the allotment competition; I did come last but 1, so what I have plenty to aim for next year.

The best bit about it is though I beat the couple who got me the Lottie into last place. Who cares we only did it for a laugh. The Lottie site got the prize for the best allotment for over 50 plots prize though.

Hear from you all soon
Mim

Weeds have gone part 2

Hello again

Look what we found under all those weeds

Sweet peas growing very well this year I got none last year and this year they are doing better on the allotment than in the garden.
The cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts have all been eaten by the pigeons but they are still trying so we are giving them some more space, and we have planted the courgettes and marrows at the end of the bed so we have some more stuff in for the competition judging this weekend.
The corn has done well, it was only put in 4 weeks ago before all the rain and the wet weather appears to have done it good.
The broad beans have done very well and not too many black flies on them this year so I will try them again next year but I will plant more of them and try putting some in the ground directly in Oct/Nov.
Look we found the spuds and they are doing fairly well considering the blight that is plaguing Britain at the mo. we are going to put some more in within the next 2 weeks so we can have some for the winter. I have done it before and they are really nice dug on Christmas Eve and then eaten on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
This is a photo of the Lottie from the same angle as the 1st photo in Part 1. Can you see any real differences?

I hope the hard work pays off and we get some good pointers and suggestions for what we can do next year to improve.

When I get some feed back I will let you all know.

Until then we will keep weeding and growing

Mim