Monday 4th July 2016 – A stolen day of fun.

Posted on July 5, 2016 by clairesallotment

With Emily not at school, because she’s finished her exams, and George having an INSET day today, AND the weather being dry (yes I know shock horror). I decided that the kids and I would go on an adventure. We left home just after 10am all packed and ready with a blanket, picnic lunch, a change of clothes, some suncream, 3 chairs, as well as lots of other things.

All packed up and ready to go on our adventure.

All packed up and ready to go on our adventure.

You’re desperate to know where we were heading off to aren’t you? Well this is where we went. We drove to Petworth House and Park and arrived about a little after 11.15am. A very pleasant drive and no problems with the traffic. We’ve been here before, but not for a while. As we’re National Trust Members, it didn’t cost us anthing to get in, and we’d only stopped to break up our journey, stretch our legs, use the loo and have a snack to eat from our picnic, as well as have a little wander around. The sun was shining which was a bonus, but the clouds were gathering. The weather report in the morning had said that there would be the outside chance of a shower where we were going. But we were confident it wouldn’t rain, so refused to pack any sort of waterproof or umbrella. Jumpers on the other hand we were taking. When we arrived at Petworth we had a little snack, and then went to the house. We’d just missed a house tour, so decided to go and look round the kitchens instead. Very interesting and the experts in each room were very helpful. Being a school day there weren’t many people about, and we did get a few weird looks from people who may have thought that I’d taken my children out of school to come and visit. George got into the spirit of being a cook back in the 1920’s. He’ll find any excuse to dress up. I’m not going to stop him from having fun. There are so few kids his age (let alone parents who will let their kids)  having fun like my 2 do. It’s something he’s never grown out of, and to be honest I hope he never does grow out of it. He makes us laugh so much by his little expressions and his willingness to take part in anything.

What are you cooking for us today chef George?

What are you cooking for us today chef George?

We went into the preserving room, and myself and the expert lady in the room had a long in depth discussion about making Strawberry jam. I’m not sure how long we were talking for, but the kids went for a wander. When I went looking for them, I couldn’t find them, and finally found Emily, but neither of us knew where George had gone to. Emily popped outside, but still we couldn’t find him. Where had he got to? He didn’t have his phone with his, so I couldn’t call him. So Emily and I stayed together and walked into each room again to see if we could find him. Finally there he was! He’d been playing with sand and making his own land creation. I said to him, “What are you doing?”, his reply was “I’m playing God!” It kept him amused for ages. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him concentrate on anything for so long.

"I make mountain and then crush it with my hand!"

“I make mountain and then crush it with my hand!”

By this time it was getting on for 1pm, so we got back in the car and drove to our final destination which was…..West Wittering Beach!! Yes you heard me correctly. In the June half term we usually go to the beach, but the weather was so atrocious that we didn’t go, plus Emily was revising. So today was the first time this year that we went to the seaside. The car parking is brilliant. One fixed price and you never park too far away from the sea. The tide was going out and the lovely sandy beach was revealing itself. Now it was rather breezy on the beach, it usually is, so we set up camp behind a sand dune. We got settled in our little space and had our lunch. Now I don’t know about you, but when you go for a day out the kids eat so much!! I always take loads of food, but never expect them to get through most of it. I’ve got 2 teenage children and they eat so much!

We're British and we'll sit on the beach what ever the weather.

We’re British and we’ll sit on the beach what ever the weather.

After lunch George played football, but also took with him a tennis ball, so George and I then played catch. I’ve not done that for so long, and have never been a very good catcher. But today I was on a role. I even caught with one hand!! Yes I know, I hope you’re impressed. George catches with one hand all the time. How he does that I don’t know. And he can throw the ball so far. He doesn’t have a dominant hand for throwing or catching, and changes over when one gets tired. He writes right handed, but all the other stuff he does left handed. Mark is the other way round (writes left handed and everything else right handed). Emily and I are right handed through and through. So I have 2 weirdos in my household, and it’s not the girls! At about 4pm he’d had enough of being blown about, so decided to put everything back in the car, go for a paddle and then have an ice cream. I told the kids it was “non negotiable”. Blimey the sea was cold, but we’re British and we paddle what ever the weather.

We're paddling in the sea, and it's bloody cold!

We’re paddling in the sea, and it’s bloody cold!

George on the other hand had to always go one step further.

He kept his shorts dry amazingly.

He kept his shorts dry amazingly.

We had a lovely gently stroll along the beach, and it was wonderful. The only thing missing was Mark as he was stuck in the office at work. We did buy his a special treat of cookies and fudge from Petworth. After our walk we went to the cafe, and the kids had an ice cream, but me being slightly more sensible had a coffee. Decaf of course because caffeine makes me go like a meerkat, and that won’t be good driving home. Knowing that we had about a 2 hour drive home, we all made sure we’d been to the loo before we got back in the car, and then we towelled off as much of the sand as we could, but it gets everywhere. The drive home was very uneventful, until we got about 3 miles away from home, when we got stuck, but hey ho. We arrived home finally, all very exhausted and tired. We all showered before he had dinner to remove any residual sand from places I never even knew sand could get into. A great day was had by all.

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Friday 1st July 2016 – Pumpkins and Squash are forming!

Posted on July 1, 2016 by clairesallotment

Another busy day on the allotment today. Emily again came with me, and we got loads done. Emily weeded the Kohl Rabi bed, and I finished weeding the Carrot and Onion bed and then moved onto the bed where my new fruit bushes are growing.

Emily hard at work weeding away.

Emily hard at work weeding away.

The soil is still soft, so it’s easy to pull most of the weeds out. We arrived at the allotment about 11 am due to the fact that we needed to pop into town to sort a couple of things out. We then came home, changed, made lunch to take with us and then popped off to the allotment. The skies were very overcast today and the sun came occasionally. So we both took our waterproof jackets down, just incase we needed them. When the sun was out it got really quite warm, so our jackets came off, but when the clouds gathered overhead it got quite cold. We worked for about an hour and then sat down and had our lunch, then worked for another hour or so before we came home. I watered all my plants in the greenhouse and feed them with Seaweed Fertiliser as they are now producing flowers and fruits. As I was filling up my watering can from the butt by the tap I noticed that my Pumpkins and Squash are starting to produce some fruits. They’re all very small, but hopefully they’ll grow really well.

They start small, bot hopefully they'll grow really large.

They start small, but hopefully they’ll grow really large.

My weather app said that it would start to rain about 2pm, and it was right. Just a little before 2pm it started to spit spot, and as Emily and I started to clear everything away it became persistent drizzle. We planned getting in the car very well because by the time we got in the car to come home it was raining even more. Next week is rather busy, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to get down the allotment, but even if I end up going in the evenings I will. I’ll keep you posted.

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Thursday 30th June 2016 – My first Melon!

Posted on June 30, 2016 by clairesallotment

I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe that we’re now at the end of June. Where did this month go? The last couple of days I’ve been working, so I’ve been unable to get to my allotment, but today I was back on my plots and continued with the wonderful job of weeding. The rain has made the weeds grow so fast, and when you look at a weed covered bed, you wonder where to start. But I find that going up and down the rows in a systematic way is always the best, then you don’t miss any weeds. It can be quite a boring way of doing it, but you can see what progress you’ve made. The soil is nice and soft, so most of the weeds can be pulled out very easily which is great, as this then doesn’t disturb the crops. I then watered the plants inside my greenhouse and was very pleased when I noticed that my Melon plants are now just about to flower, and under the flowers there are some very small, albeit rather hairy, baby Melons. Hopefully they’ll continue to grow well, and I’ll keep you updated on their progress.

My first Melon!

My first Melon!

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Monday 27th June 2016 – ALL MY VEGGIES ARE IN!!!

Posted on June 27, 2016 by clairesallotment

Yay, I’ve finally done it! Apart from a few Sunflowers, which I’ll put in this week, everything I sowed is finally in the allotment, or in their final place. I never thought I’d actually get there, but I have. Now all that is done, I can concentrate 100% on weeding, watering and harvesting. With all the rain over the past few weeks, the weeds have really taken ahold. So I’m going to put a stop to that as soon as possible. Emily came up to the allotment with me again today. She stayed for a couple of hours before heading back home for lunch. I stayed on for a bit longer. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from home to my allotment, so it’s not far. During the morning Emily suddenly said “Mum what’s that?” I looked up and saw thousands (I’m not kidding) of flying things. I wasn’t sure at first what on earth they were. They were too big for flying ants, and anyway it’s not the right time for them to come out. The flying ants usually happen from the end of July to the end of August, depending on the weather. These were a lot bigger. I suddenly realised that it was a swarm of bees! I shouted “Quick in the greenhouse!” We both dashed inside and closed the door. None had got inside, and most importantly none of us got stung. I think they were Honey Bees. A swarm of bees does look nasty, but they’re unlikely to sting you when they’re in a swarm…apparently! Within a matter of minutes they were gone. Where they came from we don’t know. We could hear someone chainsawing a tree, so maybe they came from there? Where they went? We don’t know that either. But once they’d gone, we came out of the greenhouse and continued with where we’d left off from. I harvested the first of my Garlic and Spring Onions. I then planted out my Leeks (everything is in!), and then I continued with the systematic weeding of each bed. Emily cut some grass and did some weeding and assisted with the planting of the Leeks. It’s very useful to have her around.

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Saturday 25th June 2016 – MGSO4 Epsom & Ewell Arts Festival

Posted on June 27, 2016 by clairesallotment

Today was a very busy day for the whole family it was the first MGSO4 festival. Emily as a volunteer for the morning at the Ebbisham Centre, Epsom helping people find out where they needed to go for the events they wanted to see. Mark was also at the Ebbisham Centre doing an event at noon, then at Bourne Hall, Ewell at 4.15pm and then another event a little later at 5.30pm. I had an event at the Ebbisham Centre at 3.30pm and then had to whizz over to Bourne Hall for another event at 5.30pm. George was assisting Mark in the afternoon, and Emily was assisting me!! We managed to organise where everyone had to be, and got to our events in good time. We only have one car so it was a bit of a juggling act. I had too much to carry for my event so needed the car in the afternoon, and Mark needed the car in the morning for his. I won’t go into the logistics of what we did, but somehow we made it work. For most of the day we were like ships passing in the night. And finally caught up with each other about 6.45pm!! First of all I was doing a gardening workshops for little ones (and their parents) about how to grow. I took lots of produce from my allotment and garden to show and read “Lottie and Dottie Sow Sunflowers” to them which they all enjoyed. We then planted a sunflower seed and all the children gathered round to join in. I had 9 children who stayed for the entire hour and a couple of little ones that wandered in and out. Their parents sat and watched as well, and they seemed to enjoy me entertaining their children. I asked the children lots of questions and they were all very knowledgeable, especially one little boy of about 3 years old. He knew that the roots sucked up the water to help the plant grow. I was so impressed we all gave him a round of applause. He was very proud with himself.

Planting time with Claire!

Planting time with Claire!

My workshop lasted an hour and then I was signing my books for them. I chatted to all the children about what they are growing this year and the different colours and shapes of fruits and vegetables there are. All the school gardening workshops I do are just as interactive and all the children get involved, CLICK HERE  for more details. The parents asked me questions as well, which I dutifully answered. Peter Snell from Barton’s Bookshops had a pop up bookshop in the Ebbisham Centre and later in Bourne Hall, and was selling our books all day. He’s such a lovely man, with a long, bushy, white beard, he looks just like Father Christmas. Once I’d finished at the Ebbisham Centre, Emily and I rushed over to Bourne Hall because I was part of a panel called “The Path to Publication”. I’ve never been on a panel before, and was with another 3 authors. Each of us had taken a different route to getting published. We had quite a crowd listening to us. Mark was chairing the discussion. But no one knew we were married due to the fact that I use my maiden name on my books. We decided not to bring that up on the panel. The discussion lasted for about an hour and again the audience asked questions which we answered. I then signed some more books, and then once everyone had gone about 6.45pm, we met up as a family again, which was great. We decided to go to the Super Fish restaurant up the road for dinner before we headed back home again. The day was exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable. We all had an early night.

Story time with Claire!!

Story time with Claire!!

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Friday 24th June 2016 – I’m so excited because ALL my Brassicas are in!!

Posted on June 25, 2016 by clairesallotment

It doesn’t take much to get me excited, but today was the day when I had one of those moments. First of all today wasn’t raining (I know, shock horror!) and secondly, I finally managed to plant out all my Brassica plants. I have a few Sunflowers left and my Leeks to plant out, but that’s it!! I started with the last of the Cabbages. I had 2 varieties to get in “Cabice F1” and a few “Advantage F1”. I planted both these in between the Sweetcorn that I’m growing. I’m hoping that the leaves of the corn will stop the birds from eating the Cabbages. So far it seems to be working, but only time will tell. I then went on to plant out my Brukale “Petit Posy”. I had one small bed put aside for these, and was going to remove a broken down compost heap that I have been using as a bit of a rubbish pile for the past few year and extend the bed. However, some Bumble Bees had other ideas about that, and decided that like another of my compost heaps they were going to make a nice cosy home in it. So not wanting to disturb them, because they’re very important, I decided to leave the compost heap where it is and work round them. I had removed some of the grass and various bindweed covering, which the bees weren’t happy about. They were starting to get somewhat annoyed with me. So I was very careful when planting out what Brukale I could in that space. I then planted the remainder of the Brukale in between the Sweetcorn, so it wasn’t really that much of a problem. I’m getting there, slowly but surely. Hopefully if Monday is dry then I’ll get the Leeks and the Sunflowers in, then all I need to do then is to weed. Emily wasn’t with me on the allotment today due to the fact that she’d had her School Prom the night before and didn’t get home til gone 11.30pm!! Very late night for her. So I let her have a rest.

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Thursday 23rd June 2016 – My first Tomato!!

Posted on June 23, 2016 by clairesallotment

Well last night was fun. The “first” storm over head started about 10pm, just after I got home. It was more of an electrical storm, with loads of lightning above the clouds flashing all around and some wonderful claps of thunder. It lasted for just over an hour. We had a little bit of rain to go with it, but not the deluge that I was expecting. I was following a lightning website on my phone before we went to bed, and I could see it approaching at quite a speed. Before Mark and I went to bed we stood outside to watch some of the lightning and it was very still and very muggy outside. We checked on the kids before we went to bed and they were fast asleep. None of us are scared of storms (I used to be petrified, but was by Clapham Junction station about 20 years ago, and it got struck by lightning and it cured me), in fact when the kids were little we used to watch storms go by. Always waiting for that massive flash and huge bang! Mark and I finally fell asleep once the storm had gone. Then at 1am the “second” storm of the night approached. This one was even louder than the first, with lighting below the clouds this time. The flashes lit up the entire room, and there was one strike very close to home, because the flash and the bang were practically together. In fact we both jumped at that point. This storm again lasted for just over an hour and this time, oh boy did it rain! In fact we had just under 2 inches of rain last night. I know that because I had some empty trays on the garden table and they were nearly full this morning.

This was how much rain we had last night during our storms.

This was how much rain we had last night during our storms.

When we all got up at 7am, we said to the kids “Did you enjoy the storms last night?” They both looked at us blankly. They had both slept through both of them! Don’t ask me how. Emily usually wakes up and then goes back to sleep, but George would sleep through a bomb going off! We showed them footage of the lightning Mark took on his phone and put on Instagram. They were a little miffed they missed them. We’re supposed to get some more later today, so hopefully they’ll see these instead. It’s not like I closed all the windows, all our small windows were open, otherwise it gets too hot in the house. So with all that rain, and more forecast this morning I didn’t go down the allotment today. It would have been a bit silly to have even tried. But I did notice that in one of my hanging baskets at home, that some more of my Sweet Peas are flowering, and I have a tiny green Tomato, which is the very first for this year. I’ve got loads of flowers on my millions (slight exaggeration) of Tomatoes, by this is the first fruit. I’m very excited as you can most probably tell.

More Sweet Peas and my first Tomato!!

More Sweet Peas and my first Tomato!!

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Wednesday 22nd June 2016 – Some radioactive Rhubarb!!

Posted on June 22, 2016 by clairesallotment

I mentioned yesterday that I was doing a talk last night (21st June) to a local gardening group. It went really well, and they were all so wonderful. I spoke about gardening for about an hour and a half, and they asked some very interesting questions. I took along some plants and a few bits that I’d harvested that day. There isn’t much ready at this time of year, it’s all behind because of the weather, but I managed to fill the 6 foot table I was given. Most of what I took along was normal size, but my Rhubarb this year is just, well how shall I put this? It looks like it’s got super powers! The leaves are so big, they’re the size of a normal sized umbrella! It’s all huge this year, must be all the rain we’ve had. And possibly the fact that I feed it at the end of every season with manure and when I water, I use Seaweed Fertiliser.

My massive rhubarb. The glove is in for scale.

My massive rhubarb. The glove is in for scale.

Emily has now finished all her GCSE exams, so she’s got 10 weeks off school. I jokingly mentioned that she should come and help the down the allotment. Which she accepted immediately. She came down for the first time this morning, and it was great to have her with me. We only had the morning, so we just did a load of weeding, grass cutting and wood chip spreading on the paths. She’s very happy to come down with me again, but if she only wants to stay for a couple of hours she can walk home by herself. She commented that “It was fun!” which is always a good start. You may remember that I planted some Ginger ages ago on Episode 302. Well nothing had happened, so I dug it up to investigate. Two pieces have gone rotten and very soft, but the other one has a small shoot on it. I took that one, and planted it in compost in a 3 inch pot and it’s now on my kitchen window sill. I’m hoping that the extra warmth from the kitchen will start to make it grow better. I’ll keep you updated on its progress. They do tend to spray Ginger that you buy in the supermarket to stop it from shooting. If the one I’ve got left doesn’t work, I’ll buy some proper Ginger next year.

Two have gone rotten but one has a shoot on it. A bit more TLC and hopefully it'll grow.

Two have gone rotten but one has a shoot on it. A bit more TLC and hopefully it’ll grow.

Well I think that’s about it for today. I’ve just got to sort out the produce I took with me last night, and then it’ll be time for dinner.

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Tuesday 21st June 2016 – All my potting up is done!!!

Posted on June 21, 2016 by clairesallotment

I can’t believe that I’ve finally potted up all the plants that need to be potted on into 6 inch pots. I never thought I’d get there. But I’m pleased to say that I have. I’ve still got some planted to plant out in the allotment, but I’m nearly done there as well. Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll have everything in, and then I can concentrate solely on weeding!! Oh that’s an envious task. I’ll keep you updated and let you know when all my plants are in. I started off by potting up the last of my Spanish Cucumbers, Cantaloupe Melons, and my 1 solitary Aubergine “Casper”. I may only have one Aubergine, but I’ll give it so much love and attention that hopefully it’ll grow beautifully for me. The greenhouse is now full to bursting with Tomatoes, but everything has a special place, and it’s very well organised. I also planted out all my “Romanesco” Cauliflowers and “Red Arrow” Sprouting Broccoli. I have some Cabbages and Brukale left to do, but I’m determined to get them in by the end of this week, come rain, thunder or shine! I’m doing a gardening talk tonight for a local Gardening Club. I’ve spoken at another ones before, and done a few gardening talks to various groups. I was recommended as apparently I do an interesting talk. Hopefully they’ll enjoy what I’ve got to say. I harvested a few bits to take with me, leaving all the dirt on the produce, then they know they’re mine, and I didn’t go to the supermarket. Hope you enjoy seeing what I got up to today.

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Monday 20th June 2016 – Potting up Cucamelons.

Posted on June 20, 2016 by clairesallotment

Well this morning was pissing down again (will it ever stop)? But I popped down the allotment to pot up the last of the Tomato plants into 6 inch pots. They’re now all done and tied in, so that’s one job done. Then this afternoon I went into the greenhouse at home and potted up my Cucamelons into large 5 litre pots. I’ve put 4 plants per pot. I was going to grow some outside and some in the greenhouse and compare them, but we’ve had so much rain and the temperature is very up and down, that I don’t think it’s worth doing. I also had a couple of Sweet Pepper plants that needed to be potted up into larger pots, so I did that, and then potted up the rest of the Tomatoes that I have at home. Gosh it’s been busy, a lot of coming and going, but I’m getting there. I’m starting to see light at the end of the poly tunnel which is a great feeling. Still lots more to do. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, so I’ll be up the allotment for as long as possible.

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