red and ready

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Ruth Paris

The ancient wheelbarrow had become nearly impossible to use as the tyre had somehow accumulated heavy debris inside which was making it very difficult to manoeuvre, impossible to reverse and characterised by a disconcertinly loud clunking noise! By adroit use of an angle grinder and ingenuity, I now have a posh new wheel which bounces it along beautifully! It almost makes a pleasure of humping large volumes of compost around.

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What do you want to do ?

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One side of the plot is now ready for its winter compost mulch … garlic is planted and brassicas netted against pigeons.
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summer’s last hurrah

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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tomato themed lunch

Posted on September 18, 2019 by Ruth Paris

Feeling rather pleased with my first focaccia with Sungold tomatoes, even though it was a right old fiddle to make! It was delicious alongside tomato soup, all ingredients freshly picked today – a good way to use up rather a lot of produce quickly.

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blue dream of sky

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Ruth Paris

“I thank you god for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e.e. cummings

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hooray

Posted on September 8, 2019 by Ruth Paris

We won the best plot 2019 🙂

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abundance

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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Munchkin pumpkins and Crown Prince squash.

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Note my very first aubergine! I’m rather pleased to have grown it successfully 🙂

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up and over

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Ruth Paris

Onion harvest has started; Rose de Roscoff and shallots are now drying while in the background Mammoth onions are living up to their name and continue to grow. I’m rather proud of the Rossa di Tropea, grown from seed and now getting quite big – a long way from Calabria, but they don’t know that!

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Thai basil and lemon verbena combine to make a heavenly & welcoming scent by the entrance arch where yellow beans and little climbing pumpkins ‘Munchkin’ are now taking over from the declining sweet peas.

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And the squshes are going bonkers!

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yellow

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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furry visitors

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Ruth Paris

So glad the bees are arriving… they have not been much in evidence until now.

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And a pretty new visitor enjoying the scent where the nepeta had just been cut back.

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Daily harvest, with an early tomato, Noire de Crimée; not a beauty, but wonderfully tasty.IMG_6305.JPG

 

 

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blackcurrant pie

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Ruth Paris

Here’s what happened to those blackcurrants! Very short pastry. Delicious, if not elegant.

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up with the lark

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Ruth Paris

At the huerto at 6 this morning; chilly but happy-making. Berry picking and watering, accompanied by birdsong.

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Posted in Allotment, gooseberries, onions | 1 Comment

with warmth, abundance

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Ruth Paris

Today’s first picking of potatoes (second earlies), garlic dried in the greenhouse now ready for use – and delightful baby broad beans, so tender they are even delicious raw.

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The recent warmth has prompted massive growth – all around, the plot thickens 🙂
Various squash here (kuri, munchkin, crookneck, crown prince and zappho).

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And here are golden chard, beetroot scarletta, dwarf french beans cupidon and purple queen, then outdoor tomatoes attended by very vigorous tagetes and then roses beyond…

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This is a cool corner, with rose James Galway against the shed and teardrop peas from the Basque country, “Guisante Lágrima“, which are finally taking off – just about managing to keep the massive nettles behind the deer fence at bay.

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today’s flowers

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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And a quick view of a corner of the garden at home (can you have too many roses?…)

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The bird (buzzard?) was serendipity.

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june harvest

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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golden chard

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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Sunday best

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Ruth Paris

Next week all the allotment sites in Farnham will be visited by the town council judges, so I’ve been busy making sure the huerto is looking her best. It’s rather like being reluctantly but compulsorily entered into a beautiful baby competition; in love with your own idiosyncratic wayward darling, yet recognising that others better match the judging criteria. Wanting one’s own at least to be wearing her prettiest frock – and to be clean and smiley! So here we are:

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The brightly coloured Tibetan prayer flags are traditionally used to promote peace, loving kindness and compassion; blown by the wind to the world (including I hope to the local pigeon population, encouraging them to find alternative sources of food to my carefully tended peas!).

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busy, busy, busy

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Ruth Paris

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plot 10 over the years – and a happy find

Posted on April 13, 2019 by Ruth Paris

I came across this photo taken on the first day I acquired Plot 10, in April 2007. Amazing to contrast it with how it is now; a lot of my blood, sweat and tears shed during that time!

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… here is the view now, photographed from the same spot:

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And here is the “shabby chic” garden seat (French??) I was delighted to uncover in an unlikely corner of the wonderful Stamford antique centre, and destined now to live under my quince tree 🙂

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spring cleaning

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Ruth Paris

There’s nothing like a bit of sunshine to spark a frenzy of spring cleaning/clearing. This weekend I finally managed to finish the new structure, doing away with the last of the horizontal grass paths. Just a bit more work to be done, spreading compost on top and the plot will be ready to start planting. Other exertions included cleaning the greenhouse and tidying out the shed; the “before” photos below show just how crowded it was – now happily restored, at least temporarily, to cleanliness and order. (Special thanks to Clara, whose Mother’s Day help was very much appreciated by her mummy!)

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hope deferred

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Ruth Paris

“… makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Fed up with perpetual cold wind and rain, I’ve just ordered (yet another!) David Austin rose, a new variety with the wonderful name Eustacia Vye. She is destined for the rather crowded rose/flower bed where I trust she will establish her space and be happy. I certainly will!

Meanwhile, to remind ourselves that warm days will come again, here’s a moment of hope realised last summer when the divine R. Boscobel first flowered:

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