- allotment
- allotment supper
- asparagus
- bees
- borage
- chard
- compost
- courgettes
- golden gooseberry jelly
- golden sweet mange tout
- gooseberries
- gooseberry jam
- greenhouse
- hanging basket
- lemon apple cucumber
- lemon verbena
- no-dig allotment
- onions
- purple basil
- quince
- radishes
- rose de roscoff onions
- shed
- snowdrops
- strawberries
- sweetcorn
- sweet peas
- tomatoes
- yellow raspberries
- zinnias
Category Archives: Allotment
spring cleaning the shed
Tardis-like, my modest shed had somehow accommodated a massive jumble of ‘stuff’, much of it dirty from muddy winter days when tidy cleaning up was secondary to getting home to the Aga. But yesterday, the time had come! Here it … Continue reading
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vintage terracotta pots
I was so happy to find these treasures at the Saturday market at Farnham Maltings this weekend, provenance an old manor house sale. The teeny ones are over 100 years old; auricula pots. They had all been stored safely in … Continue reading
bean structure, pea weevil & asparagus
Busy busy busy… so much to do at this time of year. On the plus side, seedlings are germinating in the cold frame, broad beans established in situ, all the beds dug and fertilised – and I’ve even managed to … Continue reading
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secret snowdrops
I love it that the allotment plot is ‘hidden in plain sight’; right in the middle of an urban roundabout, yet completely invisible unless you know to look. Just inside the 5-bar gate the two trees I planted early last … Continue reading
back in action
Due to a mixture of laziness, other priorities and a pusillanimous reluctance to engage with the chill dampness, I have been sadly neglectful of the huerto over recent times. However, a delightful array of gardening Christmas presents filled me with … Continue reading
P.S. I did it again
… broke the fork, that is!! As my daughter Clara observes, “Mummy is insanely strong!”…
autumnal bounty
This year’s extended fruiting season has been an unexpected pleasure, with all sorts of wonderful produce, including a good crop of quinces on the tree planted just 3 years ago.
the long view
My friend Gill recently remarked that she had not appreciated the extent of the allotment plot. So here’s my attempt to show the length; there are 12 raised beds, six on either side. And at the far end the shed … Continue reading
and sometimes disaster happens…
I was overtired. You can see for yourself the consequence of delusional thinking that strength would prevail, despite an excellent start entailing a newly harvested pink French onion (the triumphant very first), yellow and green baby courgettes and my friend … Continue reading
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summer delights
Early morning at the allotment, picking whatever was beckoning to be made into lunch for friends later this morning. All to the accompaniment of a song thrush, invisible yet so present, hidden in the green depths of the background trees. … Continue reading
Posted in Allotment
Tagged alpine strawberries, BMW, chard, courgettes, raspberries, song thrush
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purple podded peas
purple podded peas growing with sweet peas, borage and calendula
ladybirds and box trimming
Awake early, I was at the huerto by 6am and breakfasted on my first cucumber and precious three hanging basket strawberries (Temptation, you manifest in my neighbour’s big juicy strawberry bed!). Delicious, but hardly sustaining. The task du jour was … Continue reading
roses and goosegogs
Suddenly there are roses in abundance. And bees. And an embarrassment of gooseberries, such that I fear the branches may break…
grando violetto broad bean mystery
So three boxes of broad bean seeds were planted on the same day, and in the same way; heritage crimson flowered, witkiem manita and grando violetto (purple beans with a green pod). Then all placed in the cold frame to … Continue reading
digging, digging, digging…
It’s been hard work but now there’s only one final bed left to dig over – and that’s been covered all winter with black plastic, so should be fairly easy. There are lots of worms in the ground, even though … Continue reading
lavender, leeks and white sprouting broccoli
The lavender at the end of the rose bed had become very woody and overgrown. Time to dig it out. Which was surprisingly easy. And it gives the adjacent roses more light and space. So now I have the luxury … Continue reading
L’Oignon Rosé de Roscoff
For ages I’ve wanted to try growing the marvellous pink French onion ‘rosé de Roscoff’, aka Keravel; the sort Onion Johnnies used to bring to the UK on bikes and old Citroëns. I managed to find seed on a French … Continue reading
now with snowdrops
A month of rain later, clumps of snowdrops lifted from my parents’ garden now grace the bare earth around the base of the fruit trees. ‘They’ say that you shouldn’t have anything competing with newly planted trees, but surely such … Continue reading
raspberry renewal
The raspberry cage had become horribly overgrown and last year’s summer fruiting crop was not great. Also, the farm manure, while very welcome, had imported a lot of persistent weeds that had tucked into the root system. Radical action was … Continue reading
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