Clairesallotment's Blog

Just come in from tidying the garden. It’s all lovely and clear now. I’ve got a few old terracotta pots that need to got to the tip as the cold winter finished them off, so hopefully that’ll be a job for the weekend. You know how things are when you’re potting bits on and out, that you just pop pots and trays anywhere. I’ve also picked the rest of the Apples off my little tree. It produced a huge amount of fruit this year the poor little branches where touching the ground. I also picked my first 2 Okra, which I’m really chuffed about. I’m sure they’ll still be producing fruit when the kids go back to school, so I’ll make a little film.

Emily brought home a few tomato seedling from school, so this afternoon we put them in 3 inch pots, they’re very small and there’s only 6 plants, so I don’t think much will come of them. I’ve told her that she’s in charge of them, but I’ll keep an eye on them also, just incase she forgets. Odd thing is she doesn’t like tomatoes at all. I’ve also spent the last 2 days having a good tidy up of the garden, so everything looks much neater now.

Well the kids are on Summer holiday now, so the only time I’m able to get to the allotment to do any work is at the weekend. So I popped down this morning for a couple of hours and got a fair amount done. Everything has got slightly overgrown lately, so the only thing to do is to start at one end, and just work my way through systematically. So I’ve been taking 1 bed at a time and harvesting, weeding, then strimming the grass. It looks so much neater when the grass is short. I think I’ve got enough Potatoes, Carrots, Onions etc to last the week. If I don’t the kids will just have to come with me to harvest. They like THAT part of gardening, but any of the boring bits like weeding, forget it. I can understand though, it is a bit tedious.

Well there was no fog this morning, but it rained this afternoon, only drizzle mind you, so no sudden sprints to the car in my wellies. I planted out my Borlotti Beans today, I’ve only got 6 ft sticks left, so they had to do. I’m sure the plants won’t mind. I also picked some more Peas, and dug up some more Potatoes. I’m getting some fairly large ones (jacket potato size), which I’m rather please with. The Pumpkins are still growing, and are getting bigger by the day, hopefully I’ll be able to grow my largest yet!

Woke up this morning and there was fog about! It is July, and not October isn’t it? It soon cleared though, and the sun finally showed it’s face. I had a lovely morning on the allotment this morning. More weeding (but of course), but I harvested Spring Onions, Peas, Mangetout, Onions, Carrots and a few rouge Potatoes. The grass is getting very long, so I must get the strimmer out tomorrow. The kids break up for the Summer holidays on Thursday, so I’ve not got long. Let’s hope the weather realises that it’s Summer and the sun shines so I can get the pool out. Oh and I also picked a tomato that was ripe, but it didn’t make it home, as I ate it!!

Sorry it’s been a while since I last blogged, but I’ve not been able to get to the allotment as I’ve been helping with a school play. It’s all far too complicated to explain, but it’s going great. I did however, manage to get to the allotment this morning and harvested loads: Carrots, Beetroot, Potatoes, Radish, French Beans, Courgettes and Onions. I made a few films also, which hopefully Mark’ll be able to sort some this weekend. It was great to come home with a box full. I love this time of year, when all the hard work is paying off.