Clairesallotment's Blog

Firstly thank you to those of you who sent their best wishes yesterday. I had a wonderful day, and made so special by my lovely family. I spent some of my birthday money today. I bought some knee pads, pink ones of course, and some Micro greens. Will be making a film about those seeds when I plant them. We have no snow and the odd spit spot of rain at the moment, but the rain is supposed to come in later. Hope that’s those of you who have bad weather are ok.

I know that when some people have their “special day”, they relax by sitting in front of the TV to catch up on all those films they’ve been wanting to watch for weeks, or go out for lunch with friends. Me, what do I do? Well I go to the allotment for two and a half hours in the morning to dig two beds and plant a loads of potatoes, come home for French brie on toast, a cake, an apple and a cup of tea, and then go back to the allotment for another two hours to dig another couple of beds and plant yet more potatoes. That’s how I relax in a strange sort of way. At least I’ve now planted all my Apache and Picasso potatoes. Oh and I’m still in my 30’s, but it’s the dreaded 40 next year. Better have a shower and get cleaned up before we go out for dinner tonight as I’m a bit muddy.

I’ve got a lot to put in, so I might as well get started on them now… I started putting in my potatoes today! I managed half of the Apache variety, I’ll do the other half tomorrow. I also sowed Salsify and Snap Peas, which are new, so there will be a couple of films to follow. It’s great when your parents are over as when you’re making your flask of tea to take down the allotment, your mum gives you a hot cross bun, just incase you get hungry.

Sowed lots of brassica type seeds this afternoon. I’m getting very excited now that sowing has begun. I’m trying to use up as many of the old seeds that I have knocking about, but sometimes they just put far too many in the packet. I don’t really want 500 cabbages this year, a couple of dozen would do me just fine thank you. However, I’m sure I’ve sown far too much again, but here goes on what I’ve just sown. Cabbage varieties include “Primo” and “Savoy“, Sprouting Broccoli, Kale, Brussels Sprouts of which I’ve sown “Falstaff” and “Trafalgar“. We do love our Brussels, but not just for Christmas.

Well there I was in the greenhouse this afternoon having a fantastic time. I had my ipod on, I was singing (well trying to anyway) and the sun was shining and I was very toasty and warm in my little glass home. All the Cur-cubits for this month have been planted. For those who don’t know that posh word (I know it’s a rather large word for me to use anyway) it’s basically courgettes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. I’ve sown the following: Courgette “Golden Dawn“, Butternut squash “Pilgrim” and “Hawk“, Spaghetti squash, Gagat Squash, and the last of the squash that I got from Spain. Here’s hoping they all come up and we have loads of squash to get us through the winter months.

Well the sun has shown its face today, which is wonderful, still rather chilly though, but then I suppose we can’t have it all. I got quite a lot done this morning. The soil is rather wet as you can imagine, but I managed to dig over the last bit of a started bed, and them I sowed my Carrots (Nigel and Purple Haze) some Broad Beans (Stereo), they must be very musical, but then beans are the musical fruit, especially the baked kind, and finally a row of Lilia Spring Onions. Home for lunch which was last nights left over curry made into soup, then into the greenhouse for more sowing this afternoon.

How exciting, I love sowing something that I’ve never sown before. The anticipation of how it’ll turn out, and what it’ll taste like. You may have to wait a little bit for the new films as we’ve got a very busy weekend, but as soon as Mark can I know he’ll sort them out. But as a tease they’re about the following: Chop Suey Greens and Tree Tomato. That’s all you’re getting for now, you’ll have to wait for the rest.

Well the thunder seems to have stopped, but the sky is still very grey. Nothing will stop me going in the greenhouse though. I’m doing seeds in little bursts, so there may be a few blogs today, so I hope you don’t mind. I’ve just sown the following: Moneymaker Tomatoes (they don’t really make money, which would be great, but they taste great), a mixture of lettuce leaves: “Salad Leaves Mixed” and “Winter Blend“. Coriander, Cress and finally Oriental Stir-fry and salad. Need to charge the camera and then out for more.

What was that all about? I was just about to go to the greenhouse and it suddenly started hailing, then there was a rather large rumble of thunder! Not wanting to be perturbed (rather large word for a Monday) I ran to the greenhouse, balancing seeds and my flask of tea. I made it in one piece and proceeded to sow some seeds when a large flash and another large, loud rumble happened. Having given the weather a few stern words it stopped and I was able to listen to my music, have a dance and sow the following flower seeds: Californian Poppy, Silene, Wildflower Honey Bee Flower mix, and a selection of grasses (which are from Johnsons, but they don’t seem to do them anymore). In to get a few more and then back out again. No more strange weather please.

Note to self, “Get more leggings”. When they get to the state that mine are in at the moment, with holes in various places where they shouldn’t be, it is time to treat yourself to some more. The wind was a bit chilly on the plot this morning and it was blowing through the small holes that have appeared in places where they shouldn’t be. However, I got another bed turned over, with the intention of sowing some seeds next week. That’s if the weather warms up a bit. Fingers crossed.