Friday 19th June 2015 – I’m getting there.

Posted on June 19, 2015 by clairesallotment

It’s happening slowly but surely, but the allotment is slowly getting to the place where I’m feeling happy and not over whelmed with weeds. I managed to weed, feed and water a load more today which was great. It was a funny sort of day and I spent from 10am-3pm playing. I don’t think I’ve ever spent that long on my plot before. My sister popped along at noon and we started to get some of the glass in the greenhouse. The roof is now done, just the sides to go and then the door to put on. We’ll get together next week, and finish it off. You do need 2 people to put in the glass, it just makes it much easier to do. Before Michelle arrived I put in my Pop Corn, and a selection of Pumpkins and Squashes. There is a lot of manure in the bed, so hopefully they’ll be very happy and grow well. I’m not sure if I’ll break my record for my heaviest pumpkin, but I’ll let you know when I harvest them in October. You never know, so watch this space.

A mixture of Atlantic Giant, normal Pumpkins and Squashes.

A mixture of Atlantic Giant, normal Pumpkins and Squashes.

Once Michelle had gone I carried on for another hour or so before I left to take some bits to the rubbish tip and then home for a lovely cold drink. I got in just moments before George came in from school. He found me with the chickens giving them some corn, talking to them in the only way I know how (“Hello babies, have you been good?”) and collecting the 6 eggs they laid today (“You have been clever!”). They’re very good girls. Well that’s all for today. The weekend is busy (no change there), but I’m sure I’ll find some time to get in the garden.

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Friday 18th June 2015 – I’ve Graffitied on my plot!!

Posted on June 18, 2015 by clairesallotment

I was working this morning at a school doing a Dinosaur workshop with 5-6 year olds which was great fun. George would have been proud of what I told the children about various dinosaurs. So because I was working this morning I was only able to get down the allotment this afternoon for about 2 and a half hours. Still I got lots done in just that short amount of time. The first job today was to get my Cauliflowers in. I have 9 good sized plants, 3 were a bit weedy and small so they went by the way side. There’s no point in putting a small plant in the ground that you know wouldn’t grow, it’s just a waste of space and time. This year I’m growing a variety called “Graffiti” and they’re bright purple!! Make sure that you protect them from slugs/snails and the pigeons. Netting is essential otherwise you’ll go back the following day and there won’t be anything left.

9 little cauliflower plants. Hopefully I'll have lovely purple heads soon.

9 little cauliflower plants. Hopefully I’ll have lovely purple heads soon.

I then continued with my weeding, watering and feeding. I did one huge bed on Potatoes, and then moved on to weed a section of path that has tyres on. I managed to finish that before I had to leave to come home. Tomorrow I’ll be on my plot all day. In the morning I’ll continue where I left off today and then my sister is coming to help put the glass in my new greenhouse. Not sure how long that will take, but I’ll let you know how we get on tomorrow when I finally get back home.

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Wednesday 17th June 2015 – That’s a quarter all perfect, only three quarters left to do!!

Posted on June 17, 2015 by clairesallotment

I continued today with sorting meticulously through each bed by weeding, cutting the grass, watering, manuring and feeding. It takes a while to do some beds, but once a bed is done you get a huge sense on achievement. I continued from where I’d stopped yesterday hoping to get to the end of the row today. Which I’m pleased to say I did. First it was a large bed that needed to be weeded and then a load of manure smothered on top. Last year my Potatoes and Broad beans were in there. I’m not sure what I’ll put in it this year, but most probably some brassicas as I’ve got some ready to go in. This took about and hour and a half to do and once I’d finished it was time to sit down for a spot of lunch.

I think I'll put some brassica plants in this bed. Lots of manure to keep them happy.

I think I’ll put some brassica plants in this bed. Lots of manure to keep them happy.

After my soup, bread and currant bun I was raring to go again, so it was onto the next bed which contains my Horseradish and Globe Artichokes. This only needed weeding and then a thorough water and feed. I can’t believe that the Horseradish plant has been in for about 5 years now and was so small when I got it in it’s 3 inch pot. Now it’s massive!! The Artichokes are growing well, but seem to have got a few black fly, so I’ll have to sort those out tomorrow.

These just grow larger and larger every year.

These just grow larger and larger every year.

Then finally it was time to sort out the bed where last year I grew the Sprouting Broccoli. It’s now finished, but did really well last year. It’s quite a small bed so I think my Sweetcorn will fit perfectly in it. The Sweetcorn is nearly large enough to go out, but I will either do it by the end of this week, but most probably next week.

A perfect bed for my Sweetcorn.

A perfect bed for my Sweetcorn.

But by about 1.30 I’d had enough so decided to come home for a little rest. Now I’d better go and water the garden. I’m even having to water the grass when I have spare water as it’s starting to turn brown because we’ve not had rain for ages.

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Listen to these exclusive clips of the Robot Overlords audiobook…

Posted on June 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

MarkStayWrites's avatarMark Stay Writes

I took delivery of a master CD the ROBOT OVERLORDS  audiobook today, and have been able to listen to a couple of previously unheard clips and I’m delighted to share them with you today!

The audiobook is read by Rupert Degas, one of the best readers in the business, and I’m absolutely thrilled with what he’s done. Rupert hasn’t seen the film, so his voices are based entirely on the characters’ descriptions in the novel (Mr Smythe sounds like Brian Clough!), and he’s made the story his own, giving fresh readings to lines familiar from the film.

It’s also been beautifully produced by audiobook veteran Peter Rinne, who has seamlessly woven in excerpts from Christian Henson’s movie score, and the film’s original sound effects. The audiobook also includes the short story THE MEDIATOR PROTOTYPE and my behind-the-scenes shoot diaries, and it’s available to pre-order now from Audible…

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Tuesday 16th June 2015 – My staging has arrived!!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

Now on the allotment today it’s the time to go through your beds one by one and weed and water. Some sections of my allotment are a little rustic at the moment (or messy), but I’ll get to them soon. So I started to systematically go through as many as I could get through today. I managed to meticulously go through 3 beds, and once I’d weeded, I watered and fed with Seaweed Fertiliser. I cut any grass round their edges and weeded any unwanted bits from the paths. It was a warm day today so lots of water was needed in the 4 hours that I was playing.

Now let's try and keep you this weed free for the entire summer!!

Now let’s try and keep you this weed free for the entire summer!!

Some of my Sugar Snap peas are ready, so before I harvested some I had to try one. Oh they are so sweet and crunchy. Sugar Snaps are much easier to harvest that Mangetout. You may be thinking “What does she mean?”, but Mangetout is perfect for 2 days maximum on the plant before it goes past it’s best, where as Sugar Snap don’t mind if they get fat and don’t go past their best as quickly. Hope that makes sense. We’ll have what I harvested for dinner tonight. There are more that’ll be ready in a couple of days so that’s really exciting.

The first of the Sugar Snap peas!!

The first of the Sugar Snap peas!!

When I got home there was a card put through my door for an attempted delivery of my greenhouse staging from The Greenhouse People. Bugger I’d missed it!! But I wasn’t expecting it to be this early in the week. I was online making another date for delivery when the delivery man turned up!! He had just decided to come back again, on the off chance I was in. What a lovely man he was. I was so grateful that he did otherwise I’d have had to stay at home for a day and wait for it to arrive. It’s very heavy and sitting in the hallway at the moment. I’ll start to put it together most probably at the weekend because this week I’m hoping to spend all of it on the allotment. I’ll take a picture of it when it’s in the greenhouse so you can see.

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Sunday 14th June 2015 – Gardeners World Live at the NEC!!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

Now I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go to this year as everything is just so busy at home. But Sunday was free so off I went. I left home at 8.30am and after getting some fuel and some lunch I drove for 2 hours all the way up to Birmingham. I arrived just before 11am and as soon as I got inside I felt like I was home. Now where to start? Gardeners’ World first and them Good Food afterwards. That’s a good plan because by mid afternoon you’re starting to get a bit tired and peckish and they have lots of food samples for you to try. I got my free show brochure and marked down the places that I needed to find, and various stalls that I wanted to find and anything else was a bonus. Now I went with an idea of what I wanted to buy, but then just as I arrived I saw “The Greenhouse People”. Now I don’t need a greenhouse (I’ve got 2 you know), but my staging is very old, brittle, breaking and wonky. You can’t put too much weigh on the shelves otherwise they collapse. They had some really great deals so I had a quick chat with Rob and took a brochure and told him that I needed to figure out what I needed, but would be back at the end of the day (I’m sure they hear that a lot, but I wasn’t kidding). I then continued on wandering round and seeing what other wonders I could find. I saw some wonderful bird feeders, they were in all sorts of shapes sizes and colours. I think this is my favourite.

It's bigger on the inside you know!!

It’s bigger on the inside you know!!

The show gardens were amazing and so imaginative. I then went in the marquee because I needed to find “Pennard Plants” because they have some wonderful varieties of seeds to try. I’ve picked up some rather strange seeds which I’ll sow next year, but you’ll have to wait until next year, no sneak peaks before hand.

What a wonderful array of fruits and vegetables.

What a wonderful array of fruits and vegetables.

There were wonderful displays of Lilies and Alliums, but the plants that amazed me more than anything are the “Just Air Plants”. They look like something that you’d find in a grave yard, they look all spooky and creepy.

These plants are able to survive just by air alone. Perfect for those who forget to water their plants.

These plants are able to survive just by air alone. Perfect for those who forget to water their plants.

Once I’d walked all around Gardeners’ World, it was then time to take what I bought back to the car. I then had my lunch and then moved on to Good Food. I was under strict instructions to come home with some lovely sausages, so I had to make sure I found some. If you’ve ever had “Heck” sausages you’ll know how tasty they are. If they’re in your local supermarket (they’re not in mine) give them a go. I also bought some cheese, brownies, cake and bread and lots of other things as well. You could enter a competition to win one of these sports cars. They’re very nice, but not very practical for someone like me. I’m used to a large car. I like speed don’t get me wrong, if I got the chance to race round a track I would belt that car as fast as possible. But if I had one of these sports cars I would feel like I was having a mid life crisis. Please don’t take offence if you have one. Also you couldn’t fit much manure in this car. I can fit 28 bags in mine!!

Very pretty, but not very practical. No room for manure!!

Very pretty, but not very practical. No room for manure!!

Lakeland also had a stall and I had a wander round it. We have one in our town and I’m always drawn to go in. They had a couple of silicone cake moulds. One was the Millennium Falcon and the other R2D2. I was tempted to get one for Mark for his next birthday cake, but he’s 42!! There is a point when you just have to stop!!

No Princess Leia in the gold bikini silicone cake mould!!

No Princess Leia in the gold bikini silicone cake mould!!

It was then time to go back to “The Greenhouse People”. I’d spoken to Mark on the phone about them and sent him a link. Even though it was my money I felt that I should talk to him before I bought what I needed. Mark said to me “You don’t have to justify it to me. You need it!” I love him so much. So I went back and found Rob (he remembered me), and after I’d double checked my calculations I placed my order. He gave me a discount because I bought so much and didn’t charge me for P&P. My order came to £628!!! Yes I know that’s a huge amount, but if I’d have bought it full price it would have cost me about £250 more!! It’ll last me for at least 15 years, if not longer. The frames are very sturdy metal and the trays are all very solid plastic. It’s just what I’ve been after. They should arrive this week, and then I’ll have the fun time of putting them all together. I then got back in the car and drove home. It took just under 3 hours because the M40 was very slow and then it was the joy of the M25. Mark had dinner all ready for me and after I’d eaten and given them all their little treats of brownies etc, it was time for bed. A wonderful day, and I’m so glad I went. I drove 251 miles today, so tomorrow I don’t think I’ll drive anywhere. I can’t drive tomorrow, Mark has the car!!

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Friday 12th June 2015 – The greenhouse frame is up!!

Posted on June 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

My sister is very kindly giving me her 8 foot by 6 foot greenhouse as she doesn’t need it in her garden anymore. Her garden is a little on the small side and the greenhouse just takes up too much room. I was the first person she asked if I wanted it, and of course it’s not something that I would turn down. It’s going down on the allotment so it’ll mean that I can grow some of my delicate fruit and vegetables (like Melons, Cucamelons and Tomatoes) in there as well as some in the greenhouse at home. I had cleared the area where it was going the day before, so I spent the morning putting down weed suppressant and then putting a load of wood chips on top of that. Hopefully that’ll keep the weeds at bay. My sister works in the morning, so I then drove to hers around lunch time and after a cup of tea and a bit of a chat we loaded the glass in her car and the frame in my car. It just fitted diagonally through the boot but only just!! I’ve got an estate car, but an 8 foot metal base only just fits in. Then it was off to the allotment to put it all together. Now they had forecast rain and thunder that day, but fortunately we didn’t see any thunder and only had some drizzly rain. We spent about 3 hours putting the frame together and it’s really heavy and sturdy so there is no need to attach it to a concrete base. In fact there are 4 large spikes in the four corners and they are firmly in the ground. We’ll get together next week and put the door on and then the glass in. It’s looking good if a little draughty at the moment.

And here stands my greenhouse frame. Soon it'll be full with all sorts of plants.

And here stands my greenhouse frame. Soon it’ll be full with all sorts of plants.

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Thursday 11th June 2015 – I found some Leeks!!

Posted on June 11, 2015 by clairesallotment

My sister is very kindly giving me her greenhouse. I know I’ve got one at home and it’s 6 foot by 6 foot. But I’m not going to turn down a free greenhouse. It was given to her, but she no longer needs it, so she’s giving it to me and it’s 6 foot by 8 foot!! I know, I’m so excited!! So today I cleared the area where it’s going to go. My sister and I are putting it together, hopefully tomorrow, weather dependant. It’s supposed to thunder and lightning, and I’m not putting metal bits together when that’s going on. I just need to go and buy some weed suppressant and then some cheap paving slabs and I’m all set. I’ll do that tomorrow morning as we’re not putting it together until the afternoon because she works in the morning. Hopefully it’ll mean that I can grown some Tomatoes on the allotment and with them being in the greenhouse they won’t get blight. I live in hope!!

My greenhouses new home. Some weed suppressant, wood chips and paving slabs and it'll be ready.

My greenhouses new home. Some weed suppressant, wood chips and paving slabs and it’ll be ready.

Once this was done I then started some more sorting out of various beds. My other Rhubarb bed needed some serious TLC. The Rhubarb had sent out seed heads so I took them all off and then started to remove the Sprouting Broccoli from last year, that has now finished. Oh and to my surprise I’d left some Leeks in, so I harvested those. there’s only 7 of them, but they’re good sizes.

I thought I'd harvested them all, but clearly I didn't. what a lovely surprise.

I thought I’d harvested them all, but clearly I didn’t. what a lovely surprise.

After 4 hours I’d had enough and needed to come home. What little water I had left had gone warm….yuck, not very nice. Please be dry tomorrow then I can get my new greenhouse up, pretty please, I’m very nice.

 

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Wednesday 10th June 2015 – More Strawberries!

Posted on June 11, 2015 by clairesallotment

Well the strawberries are in full fling, so it’ll be a job and a half to harvest them. Still that’s what happens when you have as many as I do. Now that plants are going in at a fair rate I now how the wonderful task of weeding constantly. Some parts of my allotment have been left to go a bit wild recently so I’m working very hard on trying to bring it all back under control. It’s not easy, but hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll feel like I’m on top of it all….mostly!! I only had just over 2 hours today to play so basically that was all I did. Sorry it’s not very exciting. But Thursday I get to be on my plot all day if I want to. But we’ll see how long I can do, before I really need to go home because I’ve either run out of water or am completely knackered. It’s supposed to be hotter tomorrow so I’d better take care.

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Tuesday 9th June 2015 – Rhubarb, Rhubarb!!

Posted on June 11, 2015 by clairesallotment

What is the best medicine for a migraine (apart from my wacky pills as I call them)? The answer …… going to the allotment. The one I had in the early hours of this morning, 2am to be exact, was not one that I would like to repeat again. I have known nothing like that before. Let’s just say I wanted to cut open my head and take out my brain!! But that’s enough talk of that, let’s get down to business. I took it fairly easy on the allotment today as it was still niggling so I planted the following: French Beans – I had put up, a few days beforehand 26 poles and that was just perfect for the amount of beans I needed to get in. I started my beans off in 3 inch pots and planted I think 3 beans in each pot. About half had germinated so in some pots I had 1 plant and then in others I had 3 plants. I didn’t separate them out, I just planted them as they were. I also planted out 5 Pumpkin plants. These were from seeds that I’d saved from last year, so they could be any variety, I’ll just have to wait and see. I then planted out 18 Sprouting Broccoli plants. Make sure you protect them from below and above. But they will give you an ample supply of sprouts early next year. Then finally before I left to come home I harvested a load of Rhubarb. Once I’d harvested what I needed, I then weeded their bed. I’ve got lots of Rhubarb and am looking for something different to do with it. So if you have any suggestions please feel free to mention them.

Fresh ideas on what I can do with this please....nothing rude though!

Fresh ideas on what I can do with this please….nothing rude though!

It was then home to have a sit down before the kids came home from school. Hopefully I won’t ever get another migraine like that again. If I had to score it from 1 (lowest) to 10 (really bad), I’d put it at 11!! No kidding!!

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