Clairesallotment's Blog

Well today I promised the kids we’d go to the beach, but on the way we’d pop into a National Trust place on the way. It’s always best to do the beach last, as you know that sand can get everywhere. So we packed up a blanket, 3 chairs, metal detector (George thinks he’ll find some treasure), trowel (to dig up the treasure), swim wear for the kids (I was just going to have a paddle), sun cream, extra clothes, and a couple of towels. We got in the car, to go and get some fuel, and lunch to take with us, and drove to Petworth House and Gardens. It’s such a lovely place. When we go there it was lunch time, so we sat and ate our lunch in the gardens and then went in the house to play the game “What painting would look best in our lounge”, and as there were lots of marble statues, “What statue would scare the neighbours the most”. We found some lovely contenders for each game, my favourite was a statue of a man holding a spear. George (being a boy) was very giggly about the males statues….dangly bits. Why, I don’t know, he’s got some!! Anyway they found some costumes to dress up in, and after Emily was a bit hesitant to start with, she soon joined in the fun. We wandered round for a couple of hours, and then drove on to West Wittering Beach. I’ve never been to this particular beach before, but it was recommended by my friend Sally. It’s brilliant. A mass expanse of sand, and loads of room. We arrived as the sea was half way out, so loads of the beach was available. The kids were straight in the sea, I lost sight of them several times, but I knew they were safe as they were together, and the sea goes out so gradually and there is no current. You can go out for about half a mile, and still be only up to your shins. The parking at the beach is great also. You end up parking in a field, but not far from the beach, about a 2 minute walk, which is brilliant. It’s £6.50 for the whole day, and there’s a decent loo, first aid building, life guards, so you’re well looked after. We stayed for about 3 hours, and had an ice cream before we left, and as we drove to my sisters (she’s on holiday and I’m watering her garden) we played the number plate game. If you don’t know what this is, you take the letters of the car number plate in front

Prince George and Princess Emily of Surrey.

of you and make up a phrase. So say: MNK 405P (a car my dad had when I was young) My New Knees Ping!! Try it next time you’re in a traffic jam, it’s a great way to keep the kids entertained. You can of course think of rude ones, we usually do!! Then it was home for Fish and Chips. George snuggled up to me and said, “Thanks for taking me to the beach.” Don’t you just love him, well I do anyway.

Check out the latest special offers at Victoriana Nursery Gardens.

We’ve reached our 50th Birthday – yes, on the 17 July 1963 Jo and Jerry Shirley first moved to Challock and started selling plants. 50 years on, we’re still here doing the same thing! 

Time For Sowing & Planting Herbs?

Its scary to think we’re already in August – but we are! Of course now is a time to be sitting back and enjoying your efforts from earlier in the year – but now is also the perfect time for establishing a herb garden. Virtually all the herb plants we supply are large enough to start cropping from the day you plant – making this instant gardening! And for the ‘softer’ herbs such as Basil, Dill and Coriander this prolonged warm spell means sowing will get off to a roaring start!

To get you off to a roaring start with herbs we’d like to offer you…

20% Off Herb Seeds

20% Off Herb Plants

To claim these fantastic discounts simply use the offer code AUG13 between now and the 18th August 2013.

Nursery News

As we’ve said, our most important recent news has been reaching our 50th birthday. In other news, we’ve done a lot of watering in July! This has more than slowed us down on some of our other planned projects – but keeping things alive always has to take priority.

But one of the biggest benefits of the warm weather this year is that our Tomatoes are more advanced – not a bad thing as it is our Tomato Tasting Day next Saturday (10 August).

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Fantastic news from the Watford Observer….

I saw this article on-line, “Cannabis Found in Flower beds”. I thought it was fantastic! Who ever planted it, brilliant on you. The question is did they know what the plant was? I bet they did….

The time has finally come, and I have 4 lovely men working incredibly hard in this heat to replace all our fencing back and front, that has been in for over 10 years, and is falling apart. They ripped all the fencing out first, very easily I have to admit, and took that away, and now they’re in the process of putting the new fencing up. Nearly one side of the back is done, and they’re trying to take out the horrible concrete posts that the Council had in the front of all their properties. My garden is looking a little disorganised, as I’ve had to move all the pots and various other things to the middle of the garden, so they can easily get to the fencing. A few bits have ended up in my neighbours garden, but they’re away on holiday at the moment, so it doesn’t matter. I don’t like things messy, so I’m finding this a little stressful at the moment. I know it’ll only last a few days, and the garden will look so much neater when it’s finished. They’re very polite, and won’t come through the house as their shoes may be dirty, so they always go the long way round. They arrived at just after 7.30am (we were all still in our nightwear), and have worked solidly through, without stopping even for lunch. I’m keeping them fed with cake, and lots of tea, coffee and cold drinks. I don’t know when they’ll finish, but they expect my fencing to take a couple of days to complete. I’ll post a picture of when it’s all done.