Clairesallotment's Blog

Patsy wants to build an Absolutely Fabulous garden…..

Posted on November 7, 2013 by clairesallotment

Good on you Joanna Lumley. I think this will look wonderful, and brighten up the morning commute to work. Click here to see.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged absolutely fabulous, claire's allotment, garden bridge across the thames, joanna lumley, london, patsy | Leave a comment

Tuesday 5th November 2013 – At least 1 tonne of manure!

Posted on November 7, 2013 by clairesallotment

My wonderful friend Clair has a horse at the stables where I get my manure from. She’s helped me out before with transporting some manure in a trailer from the stables to my allotment plot. A little while ago, I asked if she could do me the same favour. So today she got the trailer loaded up, and hooked up to the back of her car (we don’t have a tow bar on our car, just incase you were wondering). And off we went to my plot to off load my gardeners gold! As we stood in the trailer shovelling out the manure into a rather sizeable heap, I asked her how much she reckoned it all weighed. Turns our it’s about a tonne of manure that can fit in the trailer! That a lot of poo if you really think about it. Not enough to cover all the beds in my plot, but it’s a start. When I’ve spread that lot about, she’ll get me some more. It must have taken us about 45 minutes to empty the trailer, then Clair left to do the school run, and I stayed for another 30 minutes to start spreading what I could. I think I did about 5 barrow loads. It then got to the point where my back was telling me to stop, as it had had enough, and needed to stop. After a hot bath, I think I dozed off about 9.30pm.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged claire's, manure | 2 Comments

The wonders of being a Red Head!

Posted on November 4, 2013 by clairesallotment

Just incase you didn’t know how special us natural Red Heads are, here’s a little bit more information on what makes us tick….Click here . If you are a natural Red Head like me, always be proud of it. Yes we may not be able to wear pink and red, but we have so much more to look forward to.

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Some weird but beautiful gardens.

Posted on November 2, 2013 by clairesallotment

Click here to view some weird and wonderful gardens. I think my favourites are the Carousel and the Bottles, but I do like the Face. What’s your favourite?

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The Pumpkin and treats are done!

Posted on October 31, 2013 by clairesallotment

Well George and I have just spent most of the afternoon carving my 2 Pumpkins and icing the treats for tonight. He was very helpful, and told me that my Pumpkin looked “Gross”…which is what I was going for. I did pinch the idea from my friend Aimee who sent me a very disturbing Pumpkin picture, and adapted it for my 2 babies. The treats are completely my idea. They are little doughnuts, that I made myself this morning, then iced them and put little ghosts on top. I’ve got 41, so hopefully that’ll suffice. It depends on the weather to how many come knocking, but if there are any left, then we’ll (or the kids) will eat them. Just got to get George dressed up later, he’s going as Sean of the Dead, with a cricket bat. Needless to say, that’s why I’m going round with him tonight, as the bat can be classes as a weapon. Mark will stay at home with Emily, who doesn’t really like dressing up thing. It’s got nothing to do with her age, but the fact that she doesn’t like face makeup. Anyway, if you’re going out, be safe, have fun, and get lots of treats. Hope you enjoy the photos.

My 2 Pumpkins afterward….PUSH!!!

Hallowe’en treats…yum, yum.

My 2 Pumpkins before….

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged claire's allotment, cricket bat, doughnuts, ghosts, hallowe'en, nick frost, pumpkin, sean of the dead, simon pegg, treats | 3 Comments

Carving pumpkin day!!

Posted on October 31, 2013 by clairesallotment

Well it’s that time of year again when you get out your sharpest knife and try not to cut any of your fingers off! Have fun carving your pumpkins today, whatever size they are. I’ll take a photo of my creation later and put it up, but for now have a look at my video.

Happy Hallowe’en :0

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged carving, claire's allotment, hallowe'en, pumpkins | 2 Comments

Tuesday 29th October 2013 – Allotment is A ok, and a walk round Toy’s Hill.

Posted on October 29, 2013 by clairesallotment

The kids and I had a few errands to run before we went out today on a little adventure. One of those errands was popping to the allotment to see how it had faired in the storm. Fortunately everything was fine, nothing had blown away from my plot, and nothing had found its way onto my plot from anyone else’s plot. Then the kids and I went out for the day, taking our wellingtons with us. I decided that Toy’s Hill would be fun. So off we drove, which from us takes about 45 minutes. We had to make a slight diversion as a road was closed, so had to approach it from another direction. Toy’s Hill is basically a wood with various walks around it, which are all clearly marked with various colours. You choose which route you want to take and then follow the arrows. We started on the orange route, which was quite short, but stopped half way and sat on a bench looking out at the view and had our picnic lunch. We then carried on and got back to the car park fairly quickly. Whilst George and Emily were playing in a huge dip (don’t ask), I looked at another route, and decided that the red one looked good. It’s very long, but can be cut in half, as it joins another coloured route on the way. So once the kids had found their way out of the dip they were playing in, we wandered off to see what we could find. I would just like to reiterate that the routes are clearly marked, but when you miss one, you could end up anywhere….which we did! We ended up going over a fence sty into a field of sheep, and coming out the other side of the field. We then found ourselves walking down a track, that I’m not sure where it went. The kids did wonder if this was correct, which I was starting to wonder myself. So after a little more walking, we decided to retrace our steps and found a path that took us back into the wooded area. After another side down and a few biscuits we carried on, and finally ended up on the coloured routes again. As we followed the red route back to the car park, we found the point at which we went wrong. Instead of going into the field, we should have turned right just before it. The signs are fine if you see them, but me, with hardly any sense or direction really has no hope. Never mind though, we found our way back to the car park before it started to get dark, removed our wellies and got in the car and came home for a well earned cup of tea. I don’t know about the kids, but I’ll sleep well tonight.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged claire's allotment, fence sty, National Trust, sheep, Toys Hill, wellingtons | Leave a comment

Monday 28th October 2013 – We’ve emerged from the Dark Side!

Posted on October 28, 2013 by clairesallotment

Well last night was fun!! The wind started to pick up in the early hours of the morning, and I was woken up just before 3.30am by it. It had rained, but not a huge amount. Having had a quick peek outside (both back and front) to see what was going on and if there was any damage Mark and I went back to sleep. Not that you can see much at that time of the morning, but everything looked ok. We then woke again at about 6am to the wind even louder. This time the sun was starting to emerge, so a closer inspection of the garden was in order. To my utter amazement, everything was still intact. The greenhouse is fine, and apart from the water butt lid that tried to make a run for it (I blogged a picture earlier on), and a plant pot, that is a bit top heavy anyway and is leaning on another pot for comfort. We seemed to have come out of it totally unscathed! Our wonderful new fencing with our concrete posts hasn’t moved a millimetre, and the new fencing out the front is still as secure as ever. All the plant pots and hanging baskets are still happy, and the bins are exactly where I left them. It’s still rather gusty outside at the moment, and there are reports of trees down near us, so going to the allotment is not on the cards until tomorrow. But it all looks good so far, and therefore I’m hoping with the way I tied everything down at the allotment, that that’s all ok too. I’ll go tomorrow with an open mind, and if something is a miss, I know I tried my hardest, and did all I could. Phew…at least I was in a sturdy house last night, and not a caravan….I know some people who where, but they’re ok, as I sent them a text this morning.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged claire's allotment, concrete posts, fencing, greenhouse, gusty, hanging baskets, october storm 2013, plant pots, trees, water butt | Leave a comment

Sunday 27th October 2013 – Brace for impact!!!!

Posted on October 27, 2013 by clairesallotment

Well for the past few days the weather people (it’s easier than writing men and women) have been talking about a storm that is coming our way. I’ve been watching it with great interest, and getting ready to prepare the garden for the 80mph winds that have been forecast. Yesterday I spent the afternoon checking that everything in the garden at home is battened down, putting bricks on the wheelie bins and compost heap, taking down the hanging baskets, turing the garden chairs on their side and putting them all together, and turning the garden table upside down and putting various weights on it to hold it in position. Today I went to the allotment to do the same. First though was a trip to Homebase to get some rope, which I used to attach the shed to the compost heaps and the wheel barrow to the shed. There wasn’t much rope left in Homebase, but I found what I needed, so 30 meters of rope would be sufficient. I’ve removed all the loose plastic bottles off any bamboo canes, and put them in black bin bags which are now in the boot of the car. Then just as I left I told my allotment to brace itself for a battering, and not to worry as I’m sure they’ll be fine. Now it’s just a waiting game. It’s now 6pm and the wind has started to whip up. The rain is due to hammer down at about 9pm, and then the wind will be at it’s worst at about midnight. I’ve done all I can to protect all my belonging, but have a feeling that other haven’t, so tomorrow maybe a day to clear up others mess. I’ll let you know how we get on, unless we have no power. Fingers crossed that all will be well, but as Captain Kirk says so many times “Brace for Impact!!!!”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bamboo canes, bbc news, bricks, captain kirk, claire's allotment, compost heap, garden chairs, garden table, hanging baskets, homebase, october storm 2013, plastic bottles, rain, rope, shed, star trek, weather, wheel barrow, wheelie bins, wind | 1 Comment

Women inspiring action, transforming lives.

Posted on October 22, 2013 by clairesallotment

A little while ago, I was asked to come along and give a little talk to these lovely ladies. They do amazing work for women and girls all over the world, click here to find out more.
I was asked to talk about my allotment, and how I got into gardening. So not wanting to disappoint anyone I popped along last night (Tuesday 21st October), with notes for my speech and some vegetables to show them. I was asked to talk for about 30-45 minutes, which as you know for me is not difficult to do (I can talk for England on a subject that I love). They were really interested in what I said, and asked quite a few questions. We had a very interesting discussion about certain plants you shouldn’t really grow, but what health benefits they can give you (I’m sure you know what I’m talking about). I took along my 17lb Pumpkin, a couple of Kohl Rabi, a Cabbage (and worm), a large Potato (with dirty, so they knew I’d not got it from the supermarket), an Onion, various Popcorn, and some that I’d popped so they could try it, a Squash and a few other bits. I would like to say a massive “Thank you” to Barbara for inviting me, and also to everyone who was listening to me chat about gardening. They’ve also asked me to come back another time, so obviously I wasn’t that bad!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cabbage, claire's allotment, Kohl Rabi, onion, popcorn, potato, pumpkin, squash, women inspiring action transforming lives | 1 Comment

Clairesallotment's Blog

Patsy wants to build an Absolutely Fabulous garden…..

Tuesday 5th November 2013 – At least 1 tonne of manure!

The wonders of being a Red Head!

Some weird but beautiful gardens.

The Pumpkin and treats are done!

Carving pumpkin day!!

Tuesday 29th October 2013 – Allotment is A ok, and a walk round Toy’s Hill.

Monday 28th October 2013 – We’ve emerged from the Dark Side!

Sunday 27th October 2013 – Brace for impact!!!!

Women inspiring action, transforming lives.

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