Well the exam marking is in full swing so I’ve not been able to give any time here. Just wanted to post a few photos. I’ve been managing to make weekly visits to the allotment and TRYING to keep on top of the weeds!!!! These photos are from last week.
We have strawberries!!
pumpkins!!!
Don’t know what this white stuff is. It’s on the strawberries we left in the old bed. When I went today, the old bed had these lovelies…
We ate loads more down there, me and my youngest. It was so lovely, especially after having some rubbish days at work! Reminds me what it’s all about!
I forgot to take the camera down there today but things are looking good. We need to get everything covered up at the weekend. Going to go crazy with the netting!!
The strawberries we replanted aren’t looking great. But there are still plenty in the other bed…just not sure what the white foamy stuff is!!
The other things on the plate I picked off the pumpkins. I’m sure I read somewhere that you should only keep two fruits on each plant so I nipped some off!
Will try to keep up with the posting!!
Well, we decided to pop down to the allotment on Sunday, last minute… and what a surprise!!!!
This bed had a few garlic shoots and NOTHING else last time we went!!!
We worked out which were plants and which were weeds in one half of the bed. So we’ve got garlic and potatoes there (the frost obviously didn’t get them!!)
The other half of that bed has onions but we don’t know what they look like!!! So we’ve left the weeds there for now as we don’t want to risk pulling the onions up!! It looked like this when the other half finished with it…
The strawberries we took out and re-planted in a new bed have flowers on them!!! I was SO excited!!!
There were still loads more of these plants in the original bed, so we re-planted some more in the new bed.
My son then found this…think it’s purple sprouting broccoli????
We haven’t done anything to this bed yet…in fact, we’ve been dumping all the weeds and rubble on this bed! There were some pretty buds in this bed too, so I cut some to bring home. Then when I looked in the RHS book… I discovered that they’re chives!!!! So I have some chives in a vase…I have so much to learn!!!
My oldest son found this lovely egg shell when we got there.
He has been so excited about it! His teacher from last year happened to be walking by, taking her children for a nature trail. She took photos and he was so proud!! He’s taken it in to show his class.I mentioned going back to the allotment at the weekend to make a scarecrow and he’s very excited!
I left feeling fantastic that all these things are growing (we also have beetroot starting to grow, and carrots! But the pumpkins are not looking good.)
We’ve just got to make sure we look after them properly now! Wish us luck!!
Things have been a bit crazy here lately but lots of fun!! We had my cousin and his lovely girllfriend over to stay. Was so nice to spend some time with them. The kids loved it…getting lots of attention!!
Things are going to get a lot crazier when I start marking for a GCSE exam this June!!! Right in the middle of the marking is my eldest son’s 6th birthday…so I think this old blog will be neglected for a while. I’m hoping the allotment isn’t going to get neglected too!
I haven’t been down there for over a week, the last time I went, the pumpkins were not looking good which is a shame. There were some kind of shoots coming through but we weren’t sure if they were just weeds!!! The photos on my phone are a bit rubbish…
This uncertainty prompted me to go the local library and see if I could get any books with pictures. I love getting books out at the library. It feels like you’ve treated yourself…but for free!! Our library has a lovely kids’ section too. Anyway, I managed to get these lovely books…
Doubt the above will be me any time soon at the rate we’re going!!
Our potatoes aren’t doing anything yet…they’ve been in there for weeks so I am thinking maybe the frost got them???
I found this RHS book really useful, to be able to see what the plants look like when they first start coming through. So we should be able to work out which ones are weeds now!!
We’ve got soooo much to learn!!! It’s scary!
Just to change the subject…
My friend has just had a baby girl so I’ve been very busy making this…
Just need to make a border around it..am very pleased with this blanket…almost want to keep it for myself!!
Can’t wait for a cuddle with the new owner!!!
Packed lots in today!
Got up and made a cheesecake. While that was cooking I went for a run.
I use a recipe for New York cheesecake that I found in a magazine years ago. I never had the right size cake tin so always guessed the measurements; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t! It’s always gorgeous, no matter what it looks like!
I finally treated myself to the correct size tin and it’s one of these spring form tins (it wasn’t cheap!). I’ve used it twice now and both times, some of the mixture has seeped through and bubbled on the bottom of the oven. This time, I put greaseproof paper on the area where I thought it might be leaking and it still leaked!! With this new tin, the cake has split in half too!! So annoying!! It still tastes absolutely gorgeous but just spoils how it looks. I might have to go back to my old tin!!
We spent a couple of hours on the allotment. The pumpkins still look ok. The lady on the next allotment was saying you should wait until late May to put them in the ground!! Will see what happens!!
We moved some strawberries into a new bed. There were loads of strawberry plants from the previous occupant, all overgrown with weeds and grass. I’ve tried my best to move them gently. I had to separate some of them too as they looked too big. We’ve covered them with netting and the blue pipe things.
This was their old bed…so overgrown…
Their new home…
The boys were so good today. They found some sticks and mud and set up a drum kit. The youngest was singing so loud! Hope nobody has escaped to their allotment for peace and quiet today!!
The other half dug over another bed and put some Charlotte potatoes in. we got these from the allotment shop. They were already ‘chitted’ and ready to go in.
In the bed where we put the first lot of potatoes, garlic and onions… something has started growing. I think it might be garlic but we didn’t secure the labels and they blew away. I thought I would remember where I planted what but I’ve forgotten. Well, I do like surprises so that’s ok!
Things are starting to look good!!
We then had a Sunday lunch and took the oldest to a party.
I am absolutely shattered now! Going to put my feet up and watch ‘The Village’. Although I am quite traumatised after last week’s episode so might just half watch/half crochet!!
Hope you all had a good weekend!
Me and the youngest popped down to the allotment this morning to see how the plants are doing. We planted the pumpkins and carrots we’d been growing in our kitchen on Sunday. I know it’s probably a bit early still but the pumpkins were starting to look too big for the pots. The other half put together some poly tunnel type things which were left over from the last person who had the plot. Hopefully this will stop the frost getting them…fingers crossed!!!
Everything looked ok down there. We’ll go again at the weekend. We also planted some seeds straight in; beetroot and more carrots. (Forgot my phone to take pics but will do at the weekend)
After half an hour down there we went to the Yorkshire Museum in York. Mark Hearld’s work is on display and I’ve been dying to go and see it. Again I forgot my phone!!! Believe me it was fantastic. I’m going back soon to take my oldest. He wants to be an illustrator when he grows up at the moment(He’s nearly 6 and this changes on a regular basis!!) I know he’ll love it!
It was amazing to see how he layers things. There were real feathers there and all sorts.
I bought ‘A First Book of Nature’ from the gift shop; more for myself than the kids really! It’s gorgeous…my favourite book!!
I think his work is only there for another week or two so I need to get down there soon.
Well, not a lot’s gone on down at the allotment lately as my youngest has been poorly so we’ve been staying in and keeping warm. The pumpkins are still going crazy in the kitchen and it’s beginning to look like something out of ‘The Day of the Triffids’!
Anyway…. all this extra time at home has made me see how little my children actually play with all of this plastic we have amassed over the the past years!
Seriously…it has taken over!!! I was reading a post on the blog: ‘Tales from a happy house’ and also one on ‘oyster-pearl’ (still have no idea how to link other blogs yet!!) and was inspired by them to get de-cluttering!!! There is so much I think they just can’t decide what to play with!! Their birthdays are coming up so we definitely to de clutter by then.
Whenever we have tried to get rid of stuff over the years, my oldest gets so upset (even when the toys are his brothers, he cries for him!) that we end up giving up! What I have decided to do this time, after seeing how little they play with any of this stuff, is to gradually take out stuff and hide it. If they ask for it and want to play with it then fair enough, I’ll get it out, but otherwise, if they don’t ask for it and haven’t even realised it’s missing after a couple of weeks then I’ll be taking them to the charity shop!!! Here are some pics I took this afternoon. This is actually quite tidy for our front room. I have removed two bags’ worth at this point!!
As you can see, we need a sort out!!! That tent is actually full of all sorts too!! That big hideous blue plastic box in the background gets so full we can’t shut the lid! My mission is to be able to get that lid shut by the end of the weekend. I picked up a nice crocheted granny blanket for a couple of quid in a charity shop which I could chuck over the top.
Will let you know how we get on!!
Well, I headed up north today with the other half and my two boys to see some family. My oldest has been so excited about taking Daddy on the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ themed crazy golf. He was so excited! My youngest played by his own rules!
Anyway, when we got back home tonight, we were ecstatic to see how well the pumpkin shoots had done in our absence!!!!!! Just look at them!!!!!
Honestly, I thought someone had been in while we were out and replaced them with these!!!
And the carrot seeds are doing well too!!
More shoots from the carrot seeds today!! One of the pumpkin seeds looks as if it’s made it’s way upwards and has started sprouting a shoot type of thing out of the side of it. You can see it in the top two photos. Think I might have put it in the wrong way!!! Will see what happens with the others…
You can see that we didn’t follow the instructions of ‘sow thinly’!!
After the garlic disaster I mentioned, I managed a covert operation with my youngest!
We went down to the allotment the next day and it was such a miserable day, very few people were there. I got straight in to the bed with the garlic, managed to dig them up, separate them and get them back in with nobody seeing!! They were a bit damp and some of the cloves looked a funny colour, so I didn’t put those ones back in. I don’t know if they were rotten.
On another positive note, we have shoots from the carrot seeds in our kitchen!!!!! We’re all very excited and my youngest is calling them his babies!!! The pumpkin seeds don’t seem to have done anything yet. I guess we’ll just wait and see!!
I’ve got some stock seeds so I think I’ll try to get them in pots tomorrow
We all went down to the allotment today. My other half was desperate to get something planted. I personally think it’s still too cold, but there you go!
The kids were also desperate to plant something so they helped plant some potatoes (Charlotte) which have been chitted in our kitchen. We also planted some onion seeds, straight into the ground and some garlic.
I have made such a silly mistake though! I am embarrassed to write this, but basically, I put the bulbs in (3 of them) without splitting them into cloves. I just didn’t think about it until we got home! In my defence, I did have a two year old swinging a rake round my head at this time, so I was a bit distracted!!!! I am going to go tomorrow to dig them back up and split them into cloves them put them back in. So lucky I’m off work at the moment!! I hope our neighbours aren’t there while I do this…so embarrassing!! I did contemplate going down there tonight with a torch, just so nobody could see how stupid I’ve been!!
Really need some tips on how to keep the kids entertained down there. We’ve only spent a few days down there here and there but I can see my oldest is getting bored. The first time we went down there his school friend was there on his allotment so they had loads of fun. Need to find out when they go I guess and arrange a get together!
Wish me luck for tomorrow!! Might have to get a disguise!! Or I could just blame the kids…..
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