Update on Plot 58

Photo 1 (see below)
I spent an hour or so at the plot today digging in one of the beds of green manure, ready for my cabbage plants. It was planted with phacelia…..easy to dig in. Tomorrow I’ll go and tread the bed down so it is firm for the brassicas.

The next two pictures show what the plot next to mine looks like. One of the other plotholders calls this one the Carpet Queen. I think she has been a bit busy elsewhere this summer.

The next three pictures…in the interests of fairness…show the messy bits of my plot! These are my project for this autumn. I will spread the manure which is under the tarpaulin, strim the weeds, have a bonfire of the piles of rubbish I have been collecting all summer (no bonfires allowed 1st April to September 30th), dig the soil and move a lot of the bank in front of the fence back on to the beds. The next door plotholder (south of me) said the previous people had moved all the top soil up onto the bank when they took up the weeds when they took it on. I thought some bits were lower than the paths…..! There should be enough to raise it a couple of inches.

This afternoon I tidied some of the back garden veg beds. I took down the trellis holding up the borlotti beans and took up the bines (leaving the roots in to do their bit.) I pulled off all the remaining beans. There were loads of really dry ones which I want as next years seed. There were some where the pods have swelled, but the beans are not dry…these we’ll eat as shelled beans….delicious. And we had the green ones for dinner this evening. After that I weeded and dug the bed and will sow some green manure tomorrow. The bed is wanted for shallots and garlic which I’ll be putting in in a few weeks time, so the phacelia will improve the fertility and also ensure the soil is not left empty.

I still have a mountain to do in the back garden. but we are off to E Germany for a week very early Monday and I have to leave the house presentable for the dog sitters, so I’m a bit busy!!!

 

  

 

 

 

Our Anniversary

Not much gardening done today…I have been busy….!

36 years ago today we were married. So this is our Anniversary. How young we looked….actually I was just 22 and he was 26. I still have the dress. I did get into it just to see if I could a couple of years ago after a diet. It wouldn’t go on now as I am a bit heavier.
DH still has the tie……nothing else.

I made the dress myself for £5. We paid for most of the wedding ourselves as our parents couldn’t afford it. We put most of our money into our house deposit. As Baby Boomers we had to buy as there was nothing available to rent. I am so glad we did as we are proud owners outright of our home now…!

DH bought me a new food processor for my present (prompted by me!). I have spent the day re-organising the kitchen worktops to accommodate it. I think I will now get rid of a lot of things like blenders and grinders and juicers and Kenwood Chefs, as this new machine does it all…! It even has an add and weigh function, and can be used simply as electronic scales too…so it will live on the worktop rather than in a cupboard. That will make it more certain to get used…!

We had a quiet day otherwise. We are building up to being guests at a big wedding on Saturday and conserving our energy for that. DH is best man and we’ll be putting up two couples overnight….so I’ll be busy.

For our 30th Anniversary we decided to celebrate by going to the US for a holiday. We were in New England on Sept 11th 2001 and once all the dreadful events started unfolding it made the day one we would never forget. We thought for a while we’d never get home. We were pretty scared.

BTW the cake was pink. That was a mistake, but there was nothing we could do about it at that late stage. I’d given the baker a picture of the cake I wanted copied, and the photo had a slightly pink cast to it….so that is what he did!!!!! My Mum couldn’t believe that I just accepted it and didn’t throw a fit…! It doesn’t show much in the photos.

This was picture number 1….
Will this appear?

I wonder if they’ll stick if I do them one at a time?

This was picture number 2

Update on the Kitchen Garden

I promised pictures of my back kitchen garden….so here goes.

Things are cropping heavily….mostly. The outdoor tomatoes were rubbish this year….they all got blight. The Burpee cucumbers didn’t like the wet weather and haven’t really recovered. The sweetcorn have been magnificent. We’ve had lots and still there are some growing.

Runner beans have been superb….lots and lots and very tasty. The Borlotti beans are still cropping. I have left some pods to get old and dried for seeds for next year.

We have plenty of leeks coming along, fennel too. And the celeriac is beginning to swell. I have some salsify too which I will have to harvest a sample of to see how ready it is. Then I’ll have to look up how to cook and serve them as I have no idea.

In the first photo you can see the asparagus bed by the tunnel, and the strawberry bed in front of that.

The sweetcorn, courgette and bean bed has been a success. I trained the beans up poles instead of the corn and thus had the benefit of the symbiosis of growing them all together without the irritation of the beans strangling the sweetcorn cobs!

The bed at the right of the second picture, with the green cloches….is where I put the last Sq ft bed with salads in. They have not done well. I need to cloche them as the cats dig things up otherwise, but I think these types of cloches cut light out so the seeds have germinated patchily. The lettuce mixtures have sprouted but that’s all.

The long bed against the wall is my winter project this year. The bindweed has rather got a hold here (it comes through from next door) and I need to get tough with it.

Photo a day…..1st September

 I have not been well. Vertigo problems. I have not felt like taking photos or gardening. I have however been able to sit and finish my Quilt. This is for a friend who got married in January 2006, so it is long overdue.
I collected the fabrics for her over many years, ready for when she got married, then she upped and married a bit quick so I wasn’t able to finish the most ambitious one I have done yet in time for her wedding.
I’ll be taking it to her next week. It is a surprise (she knows it’s coming but not what it looks like) so please all those of you who know her don’t let her see this. I know she won’t find it on her own as she doesn’t surf!
I enjoyed every minute of the time it has taken, and it goes to her with all my love and best wishes for a long and happy marriage.

I hope my balance problems will soon let me get back to my gardening. All I can manage at the moment is a bit of harvesting of crops. And I can’t drive either…..what a pain!

Photo a day….27th August

Here is another photo from my Saturday jaunt. This was my view of the stage at The Globe Theatre in London. We weren’t allowed to take photos during the play so this was the intermission.

On Sunday and today I have had a funny migraine. One where there is no headache just flashing lights, nausea and vertigo. I’m not sure what brought it on, but suspect it might be the “dope” from the 7000 Scooters we have had buzzing round the roads here on the Island this weekend. The smell was horrible. I had to follow a load of them on Sunday afternoon and ended up in bed really dizzy.

I had planned a full day of gardening but honestly couldn’t face it. Hope I can do it tomorrow….! Lots to do!

Photo a day….25th August.

 I’m back from the big City…totally wiped out! But I need to do a photo a day so here is one I took in London.

We had lunch at the very quiet cafe at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre before the play. This was the flower decoration on the table. The flowers were real, held in a sort of golden wire spiral thing in the bottom of the goldfish bowl, with pebbles in the bottom and water. It was very effective but very simple.

No gardening done today, but I did look out for allotments from the train. I saw two lots on the route from Portsmouth Harbour to Waterloo.

Blogging!

No photo…sorry. I meant to photograph the path we’ve worked so hard on but I forgot and it’s dark now. I was so busy today in the back garden. Then I walked the dogs through the allotments and got up a row of carrots, which we needed for dinner.
I’ve cooked a large batch of courgettes with onions, garlic and chopped tomatoes. I’ll freeze it tomorrow when it’s cool.
Tomorrow I’m away to London from quite early. We’re going to see “The Merchant of Venice” at the Globe Theatre. i won’t be standing….we shelled out £19 for seats way up high. I went once before to see Midsummer Night’s dream there and it was magical. I hope tomorrow is as good.
I won’t be blogging tomorrow…see you Sunday.

Photo a day…..23rd August

 This week is Regatta Week here in Seaview, and tonight was the fireworks display. I didn’t go down to watch as it means a walk back uphill in the dark, and DH isn’t fit to do it at the moment (knee problems) and I didn’t fancy it on my own. So I watched from our back bedroom window. This poor shot is handheld and therefore rather shaky….but I like it.

I got to the plot to harvest some veg today and pick the raspberries. I have a stack of courgettes to freeze for soup, and some cabbage to make into freezer coleslaw. Also we brought home a half sack of Desiree as the earlies are now finished.

I noticed that I have a beautiful spaghetti squash nearly ready for picking. I managed to track one down last year to try and it was over £2…so I am chuffed!

I pickled 4 jars of red cabbage today as well. Tomorrow I must do another lot. I get 4 jars from one head.