Clairesallotment's Blog

Popped to the allotment this afternoon, and phew! Another hot day, very muggy also, which didn’t help. After picking more Mangetout, and nibbling a Pea I spent the rest of the afternoon weeding a bed, then watering the de-weeded bed. Must get the strimmer to the allotment again, as the grass is getting a little on the long side. I keep forgetting to take it. Everything is looking really good and growing well. Some of my Onions are huge, but they’re not ready yet. I’ll try to remember to show you when I harvest them.

Today is a mixed day is celebration and sadness. Happy birthday to my Uncle David (my Mum’s baby brother) and also in 1987 Granddad died (my Mum’s Dad). Gosh has it been that long ago. I was 13 years old!
Anyway, back to gardening after all it was my Granddad who got me interested in gardening. I popped to the allotment this morning and had a weed and harvested some more Potatoes, Mangetout, Radish, and Spring onions. Everything is growing very well, the Squashes and Pumpkins are starting to take shape, so hopefully I’ll get a rather large Pumpkin this year. I also did some filming for Claire’s Allotment, so hopefully Mark can get those sorted this weekend. Have a great weekend…oh and we did manage our BBQ.

Well the kids were at home today because of the teachers strike over pensions, so no going to the allotment today. Instead I spent the afternoon in the greenhouse potting up the rest of the Chillies (I’ve finished potting them all on) and as many Tomatoes as I could do. I’ve still got to find homes for about 12 – 18 plants. I’m sure I’ve still got spaces on the allotment that I could put them in. Planning to have a BBQ this evening, hope the weather holds!

Oh my, we’re nearly at the end of June, and into July. Where has this month gone? I was woke up this morning at some un godly hour of 4.45am…I never knew that time existed…to the sudden down pour of rain!! It didn’t last long, about 5 minutes I think, I went back to sleep and woke up 2 hours later. Not quite so hot today, so I went to the allotment this morning for a couple of hours. The skies were very threatening, but there was no rain, but when I got back home there was a faint rumble of thunder. The thunder rumbled around for about 4 hours until it finally left. We had a massive drench about 2pm I think it was, but I was in school adjusting show costumes at the time. Whilst at the allotment this morning I picked Mangetout, Carrots and Potatoes that we’ve just had with some gorgeous sausages. I also cut 2 small fennel and 1 round green Courgette that we’ll have tomorrow with some chicken. The weeds seem to love the rain, oh the joy!

And I thought yesterday was hot….today was even hotter at 33!!! Needless to say it would have been suicidal to go to the allotment today as I don’t have any shade at all, and I even tried to go in the greenhouse at home, but it was like an oven. I made sure the plants were all well watered as well as myself, and spent the day with ALL the windows open and trying to keep as cool as possible. Thunder storms are forecast for tonight, but only time will tell.

Just got back from our 5K walk this morning, it was incredibly hot and the car said 29.5 degrees on the way home, Phew! Sally and I made it in 55 minutes, which we are very proud of. We all got a medal each, a goodie bag with bits in, and a lovely cold bottle of water. Please watch the video to see what we got up to. And huge “Thank you” to everyone who sponsored me I raised a massive amount of money, you’ll find out how much at the end of the film.

Well today was exciting up the allotment, there I was merrily weeding away and then suddenly the heavens opened! I had to make a mad dash for the car, try that in your wellies, not the easiest of things to do. There were several words that I uttered that I’m glad no one else heard. After spending at least 5 minutes in the car it cleared I could resume with my task. As I left I decided to see if anything was ready to pick, and found enough Mangetout for dinner tonight, and several Spring Onions. For lunch I had a rather large Radish, a Spring Onion and a sandwich. Then I went swimming and cleaned all the mud off (I wasn’t that dirty).

Filmed a few more bits in the greenhouse today, and realised that yesterday I had been using the camera wrong, so what I did yesterday I’ll need to do again. Found a new button on the camera though, so that’s good! After managing to operate the camera correctly I then re potted some more chillies which seem to be growing very well. I didn’t go to the allotment today because rain was forecast, and as I was on a bike ride to deliver a few bits the heavens opened. I got very wet!

Another beautiful day, may be a little windy. I made a little film this morning on the new camera. Knowing me I’ve most probably filmed nothing at all. I won’t tell you what the film was, otherwise that’ll spoil the surprise. I also planted more Tomatoes and yet more weeding. The rain sure has made them grow. And just as I left I spotted 1 Mangetout that was ready, so I had a nibble.

Popped to the allotment this morning, and got a fair amount done. Firstly, I planted a load of Tomatoes in various places, then sowed some more mixed Lettuce seed in the Asparagus bed. I just weeded over the soil, sprinkled the seeds on top and then smoothed the soil over, and watered. Hopefully they’ll start to come through in about 7 – 10 days. The sun has been out today, which is a lovely surprise because the last few weeks have been very un-Summery. The weeds enjoyed the rains as well as the plants, but everything looks much healthier now, but I must keep on top of the weeds, otherwise they’ll take over. Oooh, and I picked a load of Mangetout today, so we’ll have them for dinner, and some very round Radish, which I’ll film more of tomorrow.