Clairesallotment's Blog

My kids don’t usually ask if they can help me do things in the garden, but this morning George, aged 10 wanted to help. I wasn’t going to turn down this offer even if it lasted for 5 minutes. So I asked him to get some pots from the cupboard as we needed to see what needed picking in the greenhouse. He was very helpful. Firstly we found some tomatoes that were ripe, there are loads growing, and some others are starting to turn. He got very excited about the rather large one that is growing so when that’s ready I think it’s got his name on it. We then found various chillies. He was curious to know which ones were the hottest, so I told him to steer clear of the small ones. We picked enough french beans for all of us to have with dinner, and some blackberries. “I only ate 4!” he told me, which is much better from when he was about 2 or 3 and he hid behind a bush next to the blackberry, and when I called his name he popped his head out and his mouth was all purple. “Have you been eating the blackberries?” I asked. “No” was his reply. He then disappeared and proceded to eat more. I don’t think I managed to pick any that year.

After bell ringing this morning I popped to the allotment to do some work. I was there from 10am til noon. Oh my was it hot! My cap needs another wash, and my hair was a state when I’d finished. I didn’t need to water as I was sweating so much. Not a pretty sight! I managed however to weed 1 bed and I dug up all my carrots. They’ve done ok, but not as good as other years. I also harvested some onions to keep us going for a few days. We’ve just had a paella for dinner this evening, and I’m proud to say that the onion, sweetcorn, peas, french beans, runner beans, garlic and carrots all came from my allotment.

Just before I went on holiday a lovely lady called Sally Newall contacted me asking about my Your Tube videos. Sally is a journalist from the Telegraph and wanted to put me in her article. I was jolly excited and we had emails going back and forth. Today was the day, and it’s in the paper. Have a read here, there’s a photo of me too, hehe!

We all had a great time, very relaxing, lots of sun bathing, swimming in the pool, eating too much and drinking too. A huge thanks to my mum and dad for making us so welcome. We got back on the 17th but at some unmentionable hour in the morning, (just after 3am I think). After a long sleep it was time to sort everything out. It took a while and we all had a nap later on in the day. Therefore, I had no time to pop to the allotment. However, after and early night and a fry up (again) I headed on down to the allotment to say “hello” and pick what I could. I came back with quite a sizeable haul. The weeds have had a field day, but I’ll start to sort them out tomorrow. I managed to pick some sweetcorn, it’s growing really well, and looks like a good harvest this year. Loads of runner beans, they seem to have gone mad over the last 2 weeks. I had none before I went and now there are loads! A few french beans, a couple of onions to keep us going until tomorrow, some radish and the asparagus peas have gone wild. I picked a load, but there are still more to harvest. When I came back from the allotment I scanned the Telegraph on Saturday paper, will explain on my next post.

Off for 2 whole weeks in the sun. Oh my, we need a holiday so much. My wonderful sister is looking after my garden and allotment while I’m away. What a star she is. I’m sure they’ll be some filming that we need to do, but until we get out there I don’t know what it’ll be. Hopefully I’ll come back with a lovely tan, and a big smile on my face and if it gets too hot I’ll just have to get in the pool for a swim. Holidays are hard aren’t they?

Popped up again today, and the first hour and a half was great. I was however watching a huge black cloud drift across the sky. Hoping that it would bypass us, I went to the far corner of the site to collect a wheel barrow full of wood chips, but then it started to rain. Oh and did it rain. I had to run back to my plot pushing a wheel barrow, then find the car keys as I’d lift the windows ajar, and then run to the car for shelter and close the window. Electric window are great, but not in an emergency, you have to turn the engine half on to get them to work. The drivers seat was half wet, I was soaked, and all my equipment was being rained on. When the rain stopped those of us who had taken shelter in our cars returned again to see what devastation had been caused. I finished what I was doing, then packed away and went to do some shopping. As I got to the supermarket, thunder, lightening and hail started, so again I had to sit in the car until that had past. I got home eventually, then went to ring the bells again for the ladies race. Phew!

Well, I hadn’t been to the allotment for 6 days, so there was a lot to pick. I went through each bed, and came home with some lovely runner beans, more asparagus peas (warning, don’t eat these raw, they taste horrible), more potatoes, some purple and green french beans, a bunch of radish, the last few mangetout, and a load of peas. After I’d done this I did more to the path and weeded a bit more. I then came home, had lunch and then went and rang at a church whilst the mens cyclists went past. Busy day.

Yes I know they’re an unlikely combination, but we didn’t eat them together. I’ve got a few french beans growing in the greenhouse and I went to pick a few about 1 hour ago. We then had them for dinner, and very nice they were too. You can’t get any fresher when you pick and then cook straight away. Also there are a few more purple chillies ready. They seem to be doing really well this year, even though the beginning of the summer was basically pants! They’ve now gone in the freezer with the rest, and I’ll take them out next time I need them. Hopefully going to the allotment tomorrow morning, and as we’re having a fry up for breakfast I’ll need to burn the calories off some how.

What a wonderful day it was today, we really are being spoilt. It was definite shorts and vest top weather today, I even put on sun tan lotion just incase. After ringing this morning I moseyed on down to the allotment and managed to get a lot done. I sorted out more of the path, harvested enough potatoes for the week, picked more peas, more asparagus peas and weeded more. Then I came home and we went to see “The Dark Knight Rises (awesome film) before we had a BBQ this evening. The perfect way to spend a Sunday.