Monday ...

Well I've had quite a productive evening, I've managed to sow one third of a bed with beetroot - Detroit 2 and Detroit 6 somethingorother:



I've also managed to stake the peas for the very first time since I've had my lottie ... I feel it going to be a really good year for my peas, they look fab :)





I've been rounding up my spare strawberries, some are now settled into the glass greenhouse and the others have gone into the bed in front of the glass greenhouse.



Stuff in the potting shed is really coming along - I've potted on 40 Marigolds and so far they are faring much better than last year (the meeces ate most of them last year):



this is some Fennel that has self seeded in the glass greenhouse - I'm not sure when to harvest it though ...



I've also got lots of tiny Mizuna seedlings and what looks to be 99,000 baby tomato seedlings:




Here are the Jerusalem Artichokes that I didn't get around to harvesting this winter ... I'm going to be overrun with them this year !



My thyme is looking really pretty at the moment:

Never enough time

The weather has been incredibly hot this weekend, far too hot for working at the lottie, so all things considered I didn't do too badly with my list:

I managed to weed the broadbeans (x2 beds), the rye bed and the onion bed. I also mnaged to plant out 9 cauliflowers from the greenhouse, they went into shock yesterday, but look to be coming around today - I watered them with seaweed as a little treat. I've also planted some more beans to fill the gaps. In this picture you can see the broadbeans with cauliflowers, then garlic with some more cauliflowers and then the rye bed at the back:



I've potted on the melons, courgettes and squash. The courgettes look so good and its been so hot, I've decided to leave them out overnight:



Unfortunately I've had a couple of disasters too - my very expensive cucumbers have keeled over, I think with the heat, although I've never had much success with them - they are Bella and for just over £4.00 I got 4 seeds, so I'm not very pleased. I also appear to have cooked my beans - nearly all of them ! Again I think they have been way too hot under the propergator. I've resown Borlotti and will do the others one evening this week. I'm also wondering whether John Innes seed compost is not the right compost for them.

OH has set up my bean poles (just in case I do get any to germinate LOL). I'm putting two rows into one bed this season, as I think I was a little generous with my spacing last year.



My homemade compost is germinating quite a few things, most of which I don't recognise, but I did find 4 sunflowers making a break for it, so I've potted them up.



Here is one of my peppers, they are usually quite slow to grow so hopefully the sunshine will get them going:



The crabapple's delicate pink blossom looks lovely .. it is just starting to go over. The tree is from Lidls and was quite small, I will be very pleased if I get a crop this year



We made a start on the fleece barrier for the carrot bath, but unfortunately had some technical issues with the stapler (erm, namely running out of staples), so I'll need to finish it one night this week.



I thought it would only take a couple of hours to dig over the bottom of the lottie, but with the heat of the sun and the sheer profusion of weeds its taking much longer:



I'm sure there has been a danelion explosion this year ... my plot was covered in their cheerful yellow faces a couple of days ago and now I've got feathery little seeds floating all about ...



Here is the 'all you can eat buffet', I didn't get around to turning it yet. No sign of the little vole family, much to OH's disappointment:

All present and correct Sir !

Oh, how smug do I feel ! Look at my beautiful peas - all three lines have germinated beautifully under my magic plastic tunnels. I am so pleased with myself :)



The pea bed had buckwheat in it last year and I notice that a few plants have emerged, so I'll probably transplant them to the greenhouse to encourage the hover flies in:



I finally spotted my first artichoke head making a very shy appearance:



These are the carrots from the brick bed that were planted at the end of the season last year. They differ in size quite a lot, but I'm very hopeful of a good crop ... I've had a peak at some and can definitely see some gold in the soil !



Meanwhile, back in the carrot bath, I've got lots of lovely lines of carrot seedlings. I've labelled them this year, so at least I'll know what I've got and I've gone for traditional lines vs broadcast sowing. I have my fingers crossed for better results this season:



My Vales Emerald Potatoes are just pushing through the soil ... I'll have to earth them up over the weekend.



The bed of Rye is looking very good, I'm not really certain what to do with it now, so will probably just leave it until the seeds ripen:



I'm very pleased with the progress my tomatoes are making. Sadly after the incident with the naughty cat I don't know what variety half of them are ! Here is one of my Roma:



The Avalon Squash seedlings are looking nice and strong:


I've had excellent melon germination, although I've not quite decided where they will go yet - ideally I'd like to put them under glass ... hmm, wonder if my magic tunnels would be a good home for them over the summer.

Ken's gooseberries are looking as good as always, I really wish I liked them:



The blueberry bush has sprung into life again:



I took my camera down to the bottom of the lottie to try and get a photo of my lovely little vole residents, but they are far too quick for me. They are really enjoying living in the compost heap - I have some carrots to take up there tomorrow for them ... well, if you can't beat them ! Whilst mooching around I spotted an egg on the bark area - I think it is a Blackbird's egg, as it is 'duck egg' blue, with delicate mottling on it, in a soft brown. I wonder how it got there.



This is my list for the weekend:
- Pot on courgettes / melons / beans / sunflowers
- Plant out sweetpeas
- Sow beetroot
- Plant potatoes
- Clear salad from greenhouse
- Stake peas
- Weed broadbean bed
- Weed rye bed
- Weed onion bed
- Clear weeds from bottom
- Weed raspberries
- Sow parsnips
- Sow salad
- Sow herbs
- Sow buckwheat
- Plant strawberries in greenhouse

OH's Jobs:
- Make fleece frame for carrots
- Stake apple tree
- Set up bean poles
- Set up sweetpea trellis
- Turn compost heap
- Add more woodchip to paths
- Collect broken glass from greenhouse
- Fit new panes ? (from the ‘lean-to’ greenhouse)

Just for Dug & Rob ... have you caught up yet ?

Everything is blooming ...

I was surprised to see that my broadbeans are just starting to flower, but when I checked my dates, they are about two weeks behind last season.



The strawberries are getting in on the act too:



I was still thinking of moving them, but looks like I'm too late. Nearly every plant is in flower, despite having frost only last week !

The lottie is postively blooming at the moment:



The pond is a writhing mess of tadpoles and the water is looking a little murkier, so I hope they get busy and start eating the algea. The pond skaters have arrived, just a couple, but they are already jealously guarding their little patch. The King Cup is in full flower and is absolutely stunning:





Unfortunately the weeds have also gone 'boom' and I've had an explosion of Shepherds Purse at the bottom end of the lottie, with a liberal sprinkling of obligatory danelions:



Actually, they look rather lovely in the weak sunshine and the bees were buzzing around them.

Some of my tomatoes have germinated, which is a wonder in itself. I decided that the house was too cold to germinate them, so thought I'd give them a helping hand and placed the onto the bedroom radiator ... not realising it was on full. A couple of days later OH pointed to them and asked if I was trying to cook them :) Having moved them to a windowsill, around 10 have germinated. I potted them up at the weekend and then took the remaining seeds home. A couple of hours later OH found then upside down on the floor of the bedroom ! The pesky cat had knocked off the tub - so now my remaining seeds are all jumbled up ... grrrr.

One of my neighbours called in to say hello. She was cursing the meeces, who have been munching the peas that she sowed in the greenhouse. Being such an experienced allotmenter(!) I shared with her my top tip for direct sowing peas. No messing about with paraffin, or holly (honestly, where are you going to find holly in the middle of a city). No, no, no, you just need a plastic mini tunnel. For some reason the meeces leave the peas alone so that they can germinate in peace. Last year I had a fleece tunnel and a plastic tunnel side by side and the fleece tunnel was raided over several days and decimated, whereas the plastic tunnel wasn't touched. She looked at me a little skeptically I'm sad to say, but she'll rue her doubting ways when I have the best peas on the block !



This is one of my herbs, I've totally forgotten what it is - maybe Oregano ?



... and here is .. erm, another one:



I realise how far behind last year I am when I look back to April 07, but the weather is so different (better I think) this season. I've only just started to sow my main things. My courgettes are just poking through:



and I finally feel it is safe to sow my beans - boy, have I got a lot of beans this season:

Canelloni and Borlotti beans from Seeds of Italy (would recommend them, you get plenty for your money):

Milky Canelloni:


Borlotti:


Yin Yang kidney beans - we've not yet tried the ones from last year. I keep meaning to make something with them, but the house has been upside down for so long I've lost track of where they are:



Tee Pee dwarf beans - they look really interesting on the packet, with their black pods:



and I couldn't resist planting some Scarlet Emperor as well. They were fantastic last season. I've tried to restrict myself to ten of each.

I'm using some root trainers for the first time. My dad gave them to me, so we'll see how they go (I'm slightly suspicious that if they were that good, surely he would have kept them for himself !!?)

The wildlife garden is stirring back into life slowly. I'm keeping my eye on it to make sure that no nasties get a hold, such as thistles, bindweed or creeping elder. It is a little difficult to tell what should be there and what shouldn't, so I'm trying to leave it as much as I can. I planted a couple of Lupins last year and so far they seem to have escaped the slug & snail buffet. I used to adore walking around my mum's garden when I was a little girl, looking at the lupins after it had rained. They are truely stunning plants and I think undervalued as a garden plant:



Whilst gathering rhubarb from the wild end of the lottie, I managed to disturb this little critter. He's a very different colour from my usual visitors. I'm wondering if he was the albino baby we found a year or so ago in the pond:







My last job of the day was to make a start on clearing the Shepherd's purse, and I found a ladybird basking in the sunshine:

Distractions, distractions !

oh dear, I may never get anything done again !!!

The new kittie arrived at the weekend. He has just got over the sniffles. He has two switches - on and off.





Oh my God, he is soooooo cute and gorgeous. We have spent hours watching, laughing, stroking, coo-ing ... I have to really tear myself away to go to work





He loves my laptop - the flashing lights, fingers dancing across the keyboard, the heat, the mouse and images swirling around the screen ! Oh and of course, its very comfortable for a little snooze !





We love him to bits already, but he still doesn't have a name ... although 'terror' seems to fit him. I'm boring everyone I meet with tales of how cute he is and OH calls me at work to tell me that "the kittie has woken up" or "the kittie has eaten some food" or "the kittie blah blah blah".

I think he and Ianto are going to be really good friends, they've got over the surprise and shock of meeting each other and have been spotted 'kissing' (ooo, maybe they're the only gay cats in the village !)

Ianto:

slowly, slowly ...

I realised that I needed to get sowing seeds, otherwise there will be nothing to plant later ... the weather is atrocious, really cold and wet, so I was a bit half-hearted really, but I did manage to do my tomatoes and peppers ... finally I hear you say - most people I know already have fairly sturdy plants, never mind. I'm sure they'll soon catch up:





I've also planted some courgette seeds, but am going to wait until next weekend until I sow anything else - hopefully the weather will a bit warmer then.

I purchased some seedpotatoes during the week, I've got Kestrel and King Edwards to join the Vales Emerald. I'm thinking of popping a few of my Pink Fur Apple in too. It was too cold this weekend, so perhaps next weekend I'll tuck them up

I seem to have lost another couple of panes of glass from the greenhouse, but it looks as though someone may have thrown something at them to break them vs the wind, as the pieces are very small have have a 'shattered' appearance. Nik & Marcele next door said that they've also had some panes broken and they suspect vandals too. They're replacing theirs with perspex type material.



whilst clearing away the glass, I thought maybe it was time to dig the borders over. I stupidly tried the mizuna and yep, it blew my head off, it has now made a great addition to the compost heap - which had two little voles running around .. aww, so cute. Look what I found making itself at home in the greenhouse ... grrrrrrr



My fruit trees are bursting into life, my plum especially looks very solid and healthy:



My Lidl's Crab Apple gives the lottie a gorgeous splash of colour:


and here is my Bramley Apple tree - it urgently needs staking as the recent winds have left it listing:


The phacelia has germinated very well, despite the cold weather and the ground is covered with little seedlings;



ooo, the tadpoles have arrived ... the pond looks brown, there are so many !



I think this is one of my favourite photos ever, the tadpoles are still inside their eggs and were wriggling frantically. They look like baby sharks !



My king up is bursting into life


and the forget-me-nots have started to flower

Those darstedly meeces !

Trying to make a little space in brick greenhouse this morning, I moved some clutter, err, stuff out of the way and saw that last years seeds and packets have been raided by the dratted meeces. They've picked over each packet and helped themselves to some tasty treats. A clearout has been long overdue, so I've spent the best part of the day finally clearing the brick greenhouse and potting shed out. I'm ashamed to say that not only were most of the ring cultures and boxes still in place, but they were also complete with crispy plants !



A new family appeared in Joe's lottie, the next but one to me. The lady was very sniffy and complained very loudly at the top of her voice about the state of the lottie, her kids, husband etc. It is pratically weed free, due to Joe's love of spraying anything that moves with weedkiller, but he has a greenhouse frame (needs glazing), a tool store, a sitting shed, fruit cage, paths, waterbutts etc and over the years has really looked after his lottie - it will only take a couple of months of digging to get the whole lottie functional again. Joe was ill last season and is getting on a bit and I think it has just become too much for him. It also turns out that some vandals have kicked in his gate, forced open his shed and then been into each of the lotties on the row - so it seems that my innocent wind damage isn't mother nature at all (it does also explain why my radio was part way down the lottie, when nothing else was - at least they didn't seem to take anything or damage any of the plants). If I'd been offered it I would have been skipping with joy - perhaps she'd expected the council to plant it up for her. I really hope they don't take it.

Sadly old Ken has also given up his lottie, next but one the other way. He suffered from a heart attack last year and was reduced to very light duties, so more changes - again whoever gets it will be very lucky as it will need minimal work to turn it around - not like the jungle next door. I've not met them yet and they've done a lot of work, but it will be a long haul similar to mine to turn it around.



I've set the potting shed up with its temporary seedling station (wallpaper pasting table) and even managed to sow my first seeds of 2008 - some marigolds. I stuffed loads of seeds into an old tub, as I seem to remember that the meeces ate three trays of them last year. I think I'll sow most of my seeds next weekend, I know I'm behind lots of people, but I don't think it will be long before I catch up - especially as I'm not going to grow aubergines or okra this year. I said I'm not going to grow them .. I will not sow them ...

Even though I haven't yet lifted last seasons potatoes that did not deter me from planting my first of this season - 10 x Vales Emerald. OH thought I'd started a pet cemetary. It does look a little creepy.



I was midway through planting them when I heard a loud rustle between mine and Ken's lotties. I glanced up and saw a very striking cat, it had such a beautifiul coloured coat that I stopped to watch it slinking between the fence panels, just catching glimpses of it. I made a kissey noise and it stopped and turned to look at me - then I realised it wasn't a cat at all, but a young fox. He was beautiful, with a lovely bushy tail. I realise now that perhaps if it had been a cat, maybe I should have been running, vs sending it kisses as it would probably have wanted to eat me for dinner :)

The parsnips were looking decidedly healthy, with lots of green leaves, but I wanted to dig the bed over, so it was time for them to come out. Lookey at the size of them !!! I was screeching with excitment as I wrestled them from the ground. They're my biggest ever - I have about four monster sized ones ... probably normal size to you :)



I've started to lift the Cara (potatoes) and am very pleased with what I've dug up so far - miminal critter damage and no shoots. Not tried them yet, but OH loves them as chips, so I'm guessing they'll be making an appearance on the dinner table this week sometime. I'm hoping that he is going to make some leek & potato soup too ... she said loudly.



I came across this little plant yesterday and decided that it was a flower, vs a weed. It has a very strong smell, almost herbal, however when I got home and checked my weed book I couldn't decide whether it was feverfew or ragwort. Fortunately next door confirmed it is feverfew - I think it has arrived on my lottie via the wind or our feathered visitors.



Mr Froggie has been staring up at me from the bottom of the pond today, lurking in the weed. I've spent ages starting back into the water (its a real distraction LOL) and nearly fell in when the hugest tadpole nonchalently swam in front of me. I didn't think anyone would believe me, so I hunted down a clear container and eventually managed to catch him - unbelievely he has legs developing. I wondered whether he could possibly be left over from last season, but OH thinks that he is from the warm weather we had in February (not that I remember any warm weather).

Its not a great photo, I'm afraid my camera was about to die, so it was snapped in a hurry, but it proves he is definitely a tadpole:



It has been a beautifully sunny day here in Sheffield and the wildlife could be forgiven for thinking summer has arrived. I'm really glad now that I haven't pulled up the flowering salad just yet:

Back in business

Spurred on by my earlier forays to the lottie, I tried my luck for a third time and managed to get a bit done before the heavens opened.

I've been thinking about what to plant in the bed that is next to the glass greenhouse. From memory it is the only bed that has not been manured (originally it was my root bed) and in honesty I think its probably my poorest bed. I dug out last seasons remaining beetroots and added them to the 'eat all you can buffet' formerly known as the compost heap. I'm pretty much decided that I'll sow Phacelia and perhaps some buckwheat - the bees absolutely loved it last year so it should be beneficial for the greenhouse too.



I've noticed a big problem with my compost heap ... most of the 'good' stuff is disappearing, yesterday for instance a huge carrot that was past its best was added .. today it had disappeared ! OH suggested putting up a polite sign ... I wonder what he has in mind ... perhaps it will need to be multi-lingual.

The Phacelia in the Artichoke bed was springing back into life, so I have turned it in - I think this has the effect of improving the soil. I'd also promised next door a Globe Artichoke when I thinned them out - its heeled into bed no. 2 for now until I see them next, hopefully the plant will recover - it had huge tap roots. Whilst turning the soil I came across one of my missing gloves - I have no idea how it got there ... I wonder where the other one is ...



Mr Frog was back again, he is a very happy fellow and let me tickle his tummy. He is a very patient subject. No sign of his friend today, just him.



There was no croaking today, perhaps it was too cold. I'm sure he is smiling at me :)



Some fresh frogspawn has appeared in the pond overnight - I have about 10 clumps of it now at various stages of development. The new stuff looks like jewels glittering in the sunlight.







There is evidence of a visitor to the pond, either a cat or a fox ... I hope they are not planning to practice their fishing skills ... Its surprising how protective you can feel towards little globs of spawn !