Saturday 7th November 2015 – Manure day on the allotment!!

Posted on November 7, 2015 by clairesallotment

I’ll apologise now if I ramble on a bit, but I’ve had 2 glasses of wine. When you hear what I’ve done today, I’m sure you’ll understand. Today was “Manure Day” on the allotment, which is very exciting. A HUGE MASSIVE THANK YOU to Malcolm for bringing in 12 loads of manure on site using a tipper truck. How many tons on manure that equates to I really don’t know, but it a lot!! I hope the people we hired the tipper truck from, don’t want it back clean, because that’s not going to happen. The first load arrived at 9am, and the last load at just after 3.30pm. Malcolm worked solidly throughout the day. So Thank You Malcolm, your an absolute star!! I got on site at about 9.30am, for the weekend, that very early for me, I’m usually thinking about getting dressed at that time. I left at noon as I then had a wedding to bell ring for. I arrived at the church wet, messy and to be honest looking a complete mess. I was greeted by a man in a very smart suit who looked very worried by my appearance. I reassured him that I wasn’t anything to do with the wedding party and just a bell ringer (we work very hard you know) and had just come from my allotment. This put him at ease. I would like to reassure you all that I changed into some clean clothes before I started to bell ring. After the wedding had finished myself and our tower Captain Mark had to clamber about the bells and put some muffles on the clappers, because it’s Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. Big Wilf makes it so easy. Once this was done I returned to the allotment site to again assist in the Manure day. To be honest I didn’t have to do much, so spent the time sorting out my plots. I got a huge amount done in 4 hours. Once I got home, just after 4pm, I think I was entitled to a glass (or 2) of wine and a lovely hot bath. Now I feel clean, and more human, if a little spaced out and relaxed. The perfect end to the perfect day. My glass is empty, I’d better fill it up again.

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The great weigh in begins!!

Posted on October 30, 2015 by clairesallotment

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Dinosaurs are go!!

Posted on October 30, 2015 by clairesallotment

On Thursday 29th October, George and I visited the Natural History Museum in London. Out of all the places in the world, this has to be Georges favourite place to be. Emily was filming with friends so I had a Mum and Son day. The train journey was nothing out of the ordinary, but it’s what you do on your journey that’s the most important thing. We started playing “I Spy”, but that gets a bit boring after a while, so instead we played the “Alphabet Game”. This can consist of any subject, Boys names, Girls names, Animals. You take it in turns for each letter of the alphabet. It gets rather interesting when you get up to “X”!! We then did Counties of the World. This is a fun one. The rules are the same, but with a slight difference. If there are 1-5 counties beginning with that letter you have to name just one, 6-10 you name two, 11-15 you name 3 and so on. There are a lot for “M” and “S”. George ended up with both of those. In contrast there are no counties beginning with “X”, only one for “Y” (do you know what it is without looking?) and two for “Z”!! It’s a fun game for all ages. We finally arrived at the Museum and the queue to get in was biblical!! But it moved fairly quickly so it was ok. We continued with our games and the time flew by. There were lots of very impatient parents with their children, and lots on moaning kids. I know that queuing isn’t much fun but you need to make it interesting and play a game like we did. We finally got in and were greeted in the Earth Hall by a baby Stegosaurus. At about 4-5 meters long, yes it was a baby, but still huge!!

Baby Stegosaurus! She's watching us all as we go past.

Baby Stegosaurus! She’s watching us all as we go past.

We then went up the escalator and through the world to the Earthquakes and Volcanoes area. Every time we go, we always go to the same bits, but if that’s what the kids want to see, then I’m not complaining. We went on the Kobe Earthquake simulator. The TV footage looks very scary, and I wouldn’t like to be in a real earthquake. We then went to see “Human Biology”. Last time Emily didn’t like this section (she was at that age), but George, maybe being a boy, was fascinated with everything. There was a short 6 minute programme on how babies develop in their mums tummies. Like it’s that easy. It then stopped before the birth bit. I said to George it’s like Jurassic Park “Oooh ahhh, that’s how it always start. Then later there’s running and um, screaming”. We then went and found a quiet spot (by the monkeys) to have some lunch. Being the cheapskate I am, we took our own lunch. Once we’d finished we then continued on our quest, and visited the Creepy Crawlies section. I love the house with all the bugs in. Some are good and some are bad. It makes you want to rush home to make sure there aren’t any lurking in your cupboards. George loves the large scorpion.

The giant moving Scorpion. Mind or he'll sting you.

The giant moving Scorpion. Mind or he’ll sting you.

A bit of sad news the ant colony is no more. Apparently the Queen ant died, so the rest of the colony then fails and the ants die. They’re waiting for another Queen to arrive soon. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen them like that. We then went to view the Mammals. They’re in the process of moving the Blue Whale so there’s a lot of scaffolding around it at the moment. We saw the Elephants, Polar Bears, Hippos and all the rest. The once that was done (and we’d had another little sit down) we then queued up to see the dinosaurs. Again the queue was epic, but it moved surprisingly quickly. We again played the “Alphabet Game”, but this time we had to name dinosaurs. I’m pleased to report that I did incredibly well, even George was impressed. So he should have been, I’m a cool mum!! The moving T Rex is amazing, and very loud. As we were waiting to see it, a little boy in front of us asked his dad “Are they real dinosaurs?” The innocents of the young!! A very lovely man took our picture underneath the T Rex head which was very kind of him.

Aaaahhhh!

Aaaahhhh!

By this time we were exhausted so headed back to the station to work our way home. George had been so looking forward to this day all half term, I know he enjoyed it….and so did I.

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Claire’s Allotment Part 263 – Some Massive Potatoes!

Posted on October 28, 2015 by clairesallotment
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Carrots and Radish harvest.

Posted on October 27, 2015 by clairesallotment

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What a HUGE harvest!!

Posted on October 26, 2015 by clairesallotment

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Friday 23rd October 2015 – That’s 4 beds all ready for winter.

Posted on October 23, 2015 by clairesallotment

Now that more has been harvested, I now have more beds free that I can sort out, clear, weed and manure ready for winter. I don’t mind sorting them out, one here and then one there. But I much prefer to sort them in an organised fashion. I guess I’m a little OCD, but then we all our in our own little ways. So today I managed to finish the 4th bed in the row on plot 1!! The only bed that is left to sort on that line is the big fruit bed, but that shouldn’t take too long as it was done not long ago and I’ll them put down some weed suppressant fabric down and then a load of wood chips on top. This should make it very low maintenance. It’s half term next week, so maybe I can get it done then. I may need an extra pair of hands, so will bribe the kids with a special treat so they can help me. What that treat will be I don’t know, maybe a special lunch of a trip to the dinosaur museum always goes down well.

4 beds are manured and ready....just loads more still to do.

4 beds are manured and ready….just loads more still to do.

On the wood chip paths various fungi are growing. Some are very small and thin and black and white in colour, and others are the most gorgeous turquoise colour. I leave them to grow because they’re eaten by various wild life animals. Don’t worry I won’t touch them and eat them, I’ve seen Alice in Wonderland!! Maybe some of them are Magic Mushrooms, who knows.

The turquoise colour doesn't come out very well in the photo, but they really are that colour.

The turquoise colour doesn’t come out very well in the photo, but they really are that colour.

Well that’s all for today. I was up the allotment for about 4 hours today, and I had to WALK there and back because Mark had the car. How dare he use his own car, I’ll have to have words with him. Well he is at the MCM Comic Com in London all weekend. If you want to pop along and buy a copy of Robot Overlords please do, it’s very good!! Have a great weekend, see you soon.

 

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Thursday 22nd October 2015 – Autumn is definitely here.

Posted on October 22, 2015 by clairesallotment

The mornings are now very cold, not frosty, but cold. If I have to leave early in the morning to go to work I put on my stripy gloves and my Tom Baker scarf (it’s not really Tom Bakers scarf, but it’s very long). When I say early I mean it’s still dark!! On Monday I was out the house at 7am and Wednesday 6.45am. On a normal day I’m up at 7am, so this is early for me. When you open the front door to leave and it’s still dark, it’s like “What is this!!” Today was a “normal day”, if there can ever be one. I had lots of errands to do in the morning, and so this afternoon I popped down the allotment for a couple of hours. I got to use my new head phones which was very exciting for me. My old pair, the sound only came out the right ear piece so that’s very annoying when a song is recorded so the music comes out of one headphone and the lyrics come out the other. With my new headphones in, I managed to finish weeding the bed that I was about three quarters way through last time, and then started on another one. I dug up a few small Onions and some Carrots some of which were purple and others orange. Most were lovely and straight, but there is always one that wants to have it’s picture taken for my blog.

Give this Carrot a couple of wings and it'll look like a chicken all ready for the oven.

Give this Carrot a couple of wings and it’ll look like a chicken all ready for the oven.

I harvested some more Kale for the chickens and once I’d given it to them they’d stripped it within about 20 minutes. The way they go manic for it, you’d think I never feed them, but I do honest!! I was on my plot for a couple of hours before I packed up and came home. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully be able to go, but Mark has the car, so I’ll have to walk. It’s not far, but it limits me to how much I can bring home. But as most of the really heavy stuff is already harvested then I should be fine.

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Friday 16th October 2015 – Now that’s a proper Claire Shaped Carrot!

Posted on October 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

I only had a couple of hours on my allotment this morning because I then had a wedding to bell ring for. But no wanting to waste any time and make the most of the little time I had, I popped down to my plots to see what I could accomplish. The weather was very overcast today and even though they’d not threatened rain, it looked like it would any minute. But it didn’t, so that was a bonus!! I continued from where I left off yesterday with weeding, (with weeding and weddings no wonder I get confused), and didn’t quite get it all finished, but very nearly. The bed still had a few carrots left in, so as I dug them up, if they looked far too small, then they went in the compost, but if they were decent sized ones, then I kept them. Yet again they were all coming out lovely and straight, that is until I dug up this one.

And out it popped, my 2 legged Carrots.

And out it popped, my 2 legged Carrots.

Now that’s more like it!! I also dug up the last of the Radish, some had nibble holes in them, but I managed to take home some for myself (I’m the only one who eats Radish in our house), and then finally before I had to go, I went and harvested some Peas that I sowed a couple of months ago. They’ve been slower than when you sow them at the beginning of the season, but the weather is getting cooler. I had to open a pod to see what treasures were inside, and then eat them of course. So fresh and scrummy.

8 little peas in a pod. Very tasty!!

8 little peas in a pod. Very tasty!!

Hope you all have a great weekend, I’ve got “stuff” to do at home so most probably won’t be back on my plot until Tuesday at the earliest. Still I’ve got to weigh the Pumpkins tomorrow so that’ll be exciting.

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Thursday 15th October 2015 – Whoo they’re some large spuds you have there!!

Posted on October 15, 2015 by clairesallotment

A fabulous day spent on the allotment today, although I did have to pop home for a bit to get another large plastic box. If you’re sitting comfortably then I’ll begin. I started with something gentle, which is always a good way to start. I don’t want to pull any muscles gardening do I? I dug up the last of the Beetroot and found a few rogue Potatoes as well. Once this was done I then moved onto the first of the final 2 beds of Potatoes that I needed to dig up. There I was happily digging away and impressed when some very good sized potatoes appeared. Then all of a sudden I dug up one that was rather impressive. I was sure that it was the largest one I would find that day, I put it to one side. So let’s call this one “The small potato”. You may remember that my heaviest potato last year was 1lb 9.4oz, well this was heavier!!

This one weighs 1lb 11.7oz. But wait it gets better.

This one weighs 1lb 11.7oz. But wait it gets better.

Then up came another one!! I may have said some rather un ladylike words at this point. Just from sheer excitement. Well when you see it, you’ll understand. There were a few other plot holders on site, but I didn’t want to brag. I’m not that sort of person. This potato was longer than my entire hand!! This is my own “Personal Best”. That’ll take some beating next year.

Yes you are reading the scales correctly. It's 1lb 15.9oz!!

Yes you are reading the scales correctly. It’s 1lb 15.9oz!!

Once I’d calmed down from all the excitement I then went and harvested the remaining Pumpkins. I had already harvested 3 the other day and today I did the remaining 4. So if you know your adding up, that means I’ve got 7 in total. They’re all varying in size, and I’ve not weighed them yet, but will do that tomorrow and report back to you. I tried to carry the heaviest and another one to the car, but even me being as strong as I am couldn’t manage that. They’re now sitting on our garden table at home. I hope it can cope with the weight tonight. Once they’re weighed I’ll put them in the greenhouse whilst I think of what to make with them.

All my Pumpkins in all their glory. Not weighed yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

All my Pumpkins in all their glory. Not weighed yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.

I then popped home for some lunch and get another box because I’d filled the one I bought earlier with Potatoes and still had a load more to dig up. Once I returned I got back to work. I dug up the rest of the potatoes in the other bed and now all my potatoes are harvested and ready for us to eat for dinner. Hopefully they’ll last us for a while. Then just to finish off I did some weeding and a bit of clearing away. My plots are starting to get some order to them, but I’ve still got lots more to do before I pack it away for the winter. I don’t have radioactive soil, just incase you’re wondering. I just use well rotten horse manure and seaweed fertiliser. After a really crappy start to the week, this made my day!!

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