Growing Our Own

Every man needs a shed.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:18:00 +0000

The single most annoying thing about living in the house we do is the fact that out garage isn't directly next to the house, instead it's in a block at the far end of the row of houses. Most irritating about this is the fact that all our gardening equipment and tools are therefore just that little bit too far away to be truly handy.

The solution? Build a shed!

We don't have a huge back garden so we'd always thought having a shed as well as the greenhouse may be a bit much but finally the constant trekking back and forth to the garage wore us down so we picked a spot at the end of the garden, behind the greenhouse, and decided to go for it. We had a look around at the local garden centres to see what kind of shape and size would suit us and settled on something square and about 6foot by 6 foot. Then, as we so often do, it was back home to search online and check prices. You may not naturally think of Argos for garden sheds but in the end we plumped for one of their BillyOh models (mainly because it had a stable door seemed cute, if a little pointless).

First job was to clear the ground, easier said than done with a large well established bush taking up much of the corner we wanted to use. Eventually though, after much digging, sweating and yanking, we got it out and then only had the far easier task of clearing some turf before there was a nicely shed shaped hole at the bottom of the garden.

The next trick was to try and level off the ground enough that we'd have a flat surface to build on. As with the greenhouse a few years ago this was something of a pain as our garden is on a natural slope and the heavy clay soil makes fine tuning something of a pest. Eventually with the aid of a lot of sharp sand it was close enough and we finished it off with some paving slabs and gravel and prayed that the weight of the shed would kind of 'fine tune' the leveling process for us.

All that remained then was to actually build the thing. With the base laid down it was a relatively simple process of simply moving around attaching the side panels to each other before squaring it off on the base. As is often the way the instructions didn't quite match the reality but thankfully it was pretty obvious how it all fitted together so when in doubt common sense tended to get us through.

The roof went on last which was the moment of truth with regards how flat and square the structure was and it soon became apparent that despite our best efforts we'd not achieved perfection, thankfully it was close enough that the roof fitted on ok and we realised that the roofing felt would hide the slight irregularity and gaps anyway so we didn't feel too bad.

Lastly it was a case of fitting the windows and door then, hey presto, we had a great wooden shed!

Finally it was time to make that trip to the garage a few final times to move things into their new home and then we were done. Amazingly our on concern, about it taking up too much of the garden, proved completely unfounded as sat where it is behind the greenhouse and the apple tree it’s almost hidden from sight and seems to almost not be there at all until you look for it.

All in all it wasn't too hard to build either, it was defiantly a job for two people though (thanks Dad!) and we spread it across a couple of days as it took longer than I expected but really it all went up pretty easily. It's not perfectly square or flat but the roofing felt hides most of the ills and it feels ridged and secure. Fingers crossed it'll serve us well anyway, it'll certainly mean less trips to the bloomin garage...

Lemon Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:51:00 +0000

One thing we've always wanted, but never got round to buying, is a lemon tree. So, when the lovely people at Tree2MyDoor offered us one we were only too happy to take them up on it. Specialising in trees delivered as gifts for special occasions they offer a large selection of well developed stock including a variety of citrus trees perfectly suited to growing in conservatories, greenhouses, sunny patios or well lit and ventilated rooms in the house.

There's something exciting about being able to grow something as exotic as lemons at home and it sounds like we can expect the tree to fruit up to four times a year which sounds impressively productive to me. So, there was an air of expectation yesterday when the delivery driver knocked on the door and deposited a large box into our eager hands.

Standing upright the box folded open easily to reveal the surprisingly mature tree inside. We weren't really expecting it to be quite as well developed as it was having been used to the young straggly fruit bushes you tend to get from mail order companies so it was exciting to find over ten fruits already at various stages of development with another bunch of flowers ready to bloom soon from the looks of it.

The growing instructions provided in the box say lemon tree's need to acclimatise slowly to their new home so it's spending a couple of days inside near the patio windows before making the short trip into the greenhouse on a coolish day then we'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get too hot too soon.

I'm not sure how long it'll take the currently green lemons to mature but it'll be an exciting day when we can pick the first of them. We'll be sure to keep you updated...

How things have grown...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 10:26:00 +0000

After coming home to rather more weeds than we remembered being there when we left it's taken a couple of trips to the allotment over the last two days to get things shipshape but now we're pretty much back on target. It's amazing how quickly weeds grow but it's also surprisingly easy to get back on top of things with the aid of a faithful hoe and a bit of elbow grease. In previous years our annual holiday has kind of marked the point where the plot has got away from us so it's nice that this year we've been able to come home and regain control so quickly.

The best thing about the break was seeing how much things grew while we were away, perhaps the most impressive progress was the sweetcorn which is now looking really healthy and we should be seeing the cobs form soon we're hoping.

The parsnips too are thriving. Having seen Jono over at Real Men Sow have a little look at the size of his roots I wanted to check ours out and see if all the green growth up top was reflected below the soil. As you can see things are looking good, last time we grew parsnips they were monsters and this years look well on their way to being similar.

The home-made brasica cage we cobbled together seems to be doing the job, there's been some leaf damage but mostly things seem to be thriving. There were loads of weeds in there which did reveal a design flaw in the cage but we soon worked out that unhooking some of the netting and poking the hoe through did the job so at least we can keep any new weed growth down from now on.

The french and runner beans that were looking a tad sickly before we went away still aren't looking 100% but they're improving and the runners have started to flower despite everything so perhaps it'll all turn out ok in the end.

The red onions are looking good too, cant wait till they are ready to harvest as they're lovely in salads and sarnies.

The fennel seeds we planted a few weeks ago have all done so well they needed thinning out already. I've heard they can be a bit of a pain to grow because they bolt really easily so we'll be keeping an eye on them and making sure they remain watered.

The leeks are also looking really healthy, all signs of the holes we planted them in have gone which I assume is correct (?) we just need to keep an eye on them and earth them up a bit at some point to ensure long white stems.

Lastly the slightly random flower border we sowed with a sprinkling from one of those shake-n-sow boxes you can pick up for a couple of quid has started to bloom. We perhaps over crowded it a tad but it's starting to look nice and bright and surely attracts some nice insects to the plot.

It's back to the old routine of work next week but at least the plot is back under control and we'll try to have some slightly more interesting posts next week rather than just big long lists of what's growing.

We're back!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:43:00 +0000

Well that's holidays over for another year. Scotland was amazing, the Highlands have to be one of the most spectacular places one earth! Happily we've also got this week off work so it's not quite nose to the grindstone time yet.

We popped up to the allotment on Sunday to see how it had survived the week of neglect and were amazed to see how much things had grown in a week, everything seem to have come on leaps and bounds while we were away and even though the weeds have grown too it's not as bad as it could have been. I'll take some pics later today when we go back up to do some weeding.

We managed to bring home the first proper harvest of the year while we were up there, as you can see we've got a load of early potatoes, a few courgettes and the first beetroots along with the last winter cabbage.

We also picked some of the flowers that had bloomed while we were away and about 200g of blueberries which found their way into some muffins yesterday.

Back at home the greenhouse was tended to by a friend so everything was alive and well with plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers ready for harvest. The salad leaves have gone over though which is a pain as I'd not got another container sown yet so we'll be without leaves for a few weeks now which is annoying.

We were in town yesterday picking up a few things and I was stood outside Wilkinsons wondering who they thought would ever pay full whack for the half dead plants they had on display when a lady with a sticker gun came out and stared drastically reducing the prices. A couple of minutes later I was walking out with two hanging baskets fully potted up with a total of eight strawberry plants (Albion) for 50p each reduced from £8.49 and a fuchsia bush reduced from £5.89 to another 50p. A good day in the sun with plenty of water later and they're all looking nice and healthy, a bargain for £1.50 rather than a shade under £23.

Righty, I'm off to start the weeding, will do an update with some allotment pics tomorrow all being well. Tis good to be back!

Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:02:00 +0000

So far we're having a wonderful time in Scotland. We've had sun almost all the time since we got here until today when it's rained most of the morning. Can't realy complain with that ratio though so we're having a lazy one in preperation for more activity when the sun returns tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Just thought I'd share a few pictures taken on Monday when we went out on a sea cruise to see some whales and dolphins. We did see both, and a few seals and puffins too, but my camera didn't pick them out too well (I need a proper zoom lens me thinks) so I'm not going to bore you with those pics, instead here are a few more sea'y shots. As you can see the weather was stunning considering this is the far north of Scotland...

Alotment Update

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:02:00 +0000

It's proving to be a busy week so far, this post was supposed to be online Monday morning but time simply got away from me, we're also off on holiday on Friday for a week so there's a million and one things that need doing in preparation for that.

Before all that however there was last weekend and what a scorching Sunday is was too. finally a chance to cut the grass after what seemed to have been a couple of weeks of daily showers. As well as that there was chance to spend a few hours up at the allotment getting caught up on all the weeding after all the rain.

It wasn't actually as bad as it could have been, half an hour with the hoe and it was looking pretty good again. All the crops seem to have come on leaps and bounds too with all the wet warmth we've had. It's got to that time of year when, as you can see from the above picture, everything looks full of life and its hard at first glance to see the order amongst the chaos of fresh green growth.

The parsnips are looking amazing, loads of healthy growth up top that, with any luck, means similar is going on below the surface.

The maincrop potato's are looking great too. It's the first time we've managed to grow 'proper' rows of healthy looking plants (other years have always looks a bit bedraggled and higldy-pigldy) so fingers crossed for a bumper harvest. We've also started eating our first earlies over the last week or so. They taste really good but I was a tad disappointed with the yield, perhaps the second earlies will be better when we get to them.

We also finally got some beans in the ground thanks to a friend at work who supplied us with her left overs. Taking up the space left by the garlic the dwarf french beans in the front of this pic went in on Sunday and seem to have survived despite being really pot bound while the runner beans at the back of the pic are perhaps looking a little weak and wobbly at the moment after their re-homing, fingers crossed they pick up soon.

The corn has put on a growth spurt over the last week or so and seems to be back to its best after sulking a little when it was first transplanted. The courgettes too are just starting to produce (just in time for us to go on holiday, d'oh!).

The Oca seem to have survived the transplanting process, they got a bit damaged by the wind when they first went out and looked a bit sickly but now they seem to have settled in and are thriving.

We've also got our winter brasicas all planted out and netted over so fingers crossed for some lovely veg ready for Christmas. The netting is a bit cobbled together but it seems to be serving the purpose at the moment. The real test will be when the ground inside needs weeding...

In the fruit cage the blueberries are finally starting to ripen as well, fingers crossed they don't all do it in the next week or so and end up spoiled on the bush when we get home.

All in all things seem to be going really well this year, it's by far the most in control we've been since we started the allotment. It'd be good to get another few hours tidying under our belts before we go away but generally we're very happy with things for once.

Surprise Jostaberry Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:43:00 +0000

You many remember those large gooseberry bushes on our allotment that we covered rather haphazardly in green netting a couple of weeks ago. Well it turns out they aren't gooseberry bushes after all, they're Jostaberry's instead!

I'd assumed that because the fruit looked gooseberry'esq (well, red gooseberries anyway) as did the leaves on the bushes that they were indeed gooseberries. It was only when browsing through a seed catalogue that dropped through the door that I saw a Jostaberry plant for sale. Advertised as a cross between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry its fruit looked just like ours but it was the fact that the catalogue said the bush was thorn-less, just like ours, that really made me wonder. A quick bit of internet research later and it seemed we'd been wrong all this time, they were Jostaberry bushes.

Anyway, now we knew what they actually were it was time to do something with some of them so we popped up to the plant and picked a bowl full to make some jam with. I love making jam, its so easy and the result is always so tasty it's the perfect way to preserve any soft fruit glut.

We had about 600g of fruit which we topped and tailed before softening them in a large pan for a few minutes. We then added 600g of sugar (I assumed since both blackcurrants and gooseberrys have high pectin levels that Jostaberry would too so just used regular granulated sugar rather than jam making sugar) and let it melt while stirring over a medium heat.

Once the sugar had all melted (I tent to sample a bit from a teaspoon and see if you can still feel any grainy'ness from the sugar in your mouth) we whacked the heat up to the max, put a lid on, and let it come to a rolling boil for about 15 minutes.

We then tested to see if it had reached setting point by putting a small sample on a saucer that had been kept nice and cold in the freezer and pushing a finger into it to see if the surface wrinkled. It did, so off the heat came the pan and we gave it a stir to get rid of the surface bubbles. We then left it to stand for another ten minutes or so before pouring it into freshly sterilised jam jars and sealing.

Having cooled overnight now the jam has all set beautifully and, as we found out at breakfast, tastes lovely. Different to both blackcurrant and gooseberry but with hints of both, defiantly something we'll be making again.

Salad crops ahoy

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:17:00 +0000

Since the weather has decided that rain is very much the order of the week so far our attentions turn to the contents of the greenhouse once again. We've not really blogged about it for a while but it's been keeping us in salad greens for the last few weeks now as the mixed leaves and rocket have sprung on amazingly.

The container carrots we were experimenting with have also done well. They're not very wide but they're a decent length and taste lovely and sweet, perfect for salads in fact.

The cucumbers too have been doing really well, we've already eaten about five of them and there are loads more almost ready for picking. They're about half the length of your normal shop bought ones which is the perfect size for the two of us, we'll be growing these again next year for sure.

The first tomatoes are also ripening. We had our first proper meal from the Golden Nugget plant last night and there are a load more that look less than a week away from being ready to eat.

The Red Cherry isn't far behind either as you can see.

The African Horned Cucumbers are growing well but have no signs of fruit yet, the single Oca plant I held back from the allotment seems to be growing well in its pot and there's a teeny tiny fruit or two on the Cherry Bomb chili plant too.

All being well we'll get back up the allotment one night after work to check on things, then its fingers crossed the weather improves so we can have the barbecue we're planning for Saturday.

Blackcurrant liqueur

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 09:45:00 +0000

We picked the rest of our blackcurrants yesterday. We don't have loads this year as the bushes had spent the last couple of years submerged in weeds and the colapsed netted tunnel that stood where the new fruit cage now resides. All being well next year the crop will be much improved but this year we had to find something to do with our less then impressive harvest. Step forward Blackcurrant liqueur!

We made some Sloe Gin and Blackberry Vodka last year and they turned out yummy so all being well this'll be a great additioon to the homemade liqueur shelf.

First you need a jar, we used a large chutney jar we had spare, we then sterilised it using some homebrew sterilising mixture but you could just as easily do it the old fashioned way by washing it then drying it in a hot oven if thats easier.

Once that's done we simply add the currants (we froze them first like we did the sloe's last year to weaken the skins) and some sugar and then cover them with vodka and give it all a shake. You don't need to worry too much about removing all the tops and tails from the currants because in a couple of months you'll be straining the whole mix into a bottle to remove the fruit and prepare it for drinking.

Exact quantities are a bit vague, we had about 300g of blackcurrants, 70cl of cheapy vodka (don't waste the good stuff) and the sugar was about 200g. The plan is to taste in a couple of months and add any extra sugar as needed as this seemed better than overdoing it and making it too sweet. Ideally we perhaps wanted a higher fruit to vodka mix but we went with what we had and if it ends up not blackcurrant'y enough then we'll know for next year.

It'll need another shake every day for the next week or so to help dissolve the sugar then it's into the cupboard for a couple of months to allow the fruits to impart their flavour.

Garlic harvested and very late beans

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:45:00 +0000

The arrival of the rain over the last week or so seems to have kept us off the allotment for a while, we've been so used to lovely dry weather it's been hard to fancy a trip up there under dark clouds and the prospect of imminent drizzle.

However, last night was sunny so we got our backsides in gear and popped up for an hour or so after work slightly worried about what we'd find. Thankfully while the weed perfect weather had caused quite a few to raise their heads it wasn't too bad and will only take half an hour with a hoe to return it to some sense of order.

That wasn't the task of the evening though, we were there to harvest the garlic and plant some runner beans. This was our first proper attempt at over wintered garlic and I have to say I've been quite impressed with it. Every plant survived the snow and while a few of the bulbs were a little on the small side most had swelled up beautifully. In the end we harvested about thirty bulbs most of which then got strung up in the spare room to dry when we got home.

We also finally got some runner beans in the ground. We'd kind of given up on growing any this year as we simply never planted any, however, when a kind soul at work had a few plants spare I jumped at the chance of giving them a home. Even then they'd been sat in the greenhouse for a week patiently waiting to be planted out so it was great to finally get them off my conscience and into the allotment.

A couple had got quite tall so I've tied them to their canes in the hope they'll work out what to do once they realise they've now got something to grow against.

Spaghetti Squash

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:17:00 +0000

Amazingly we're still eating through last years squash and last night we had the first of our spaghetti squash. We'd been kind of putting off trying one of these as we weren't quite sure how to cook it, silly really but we had so many other squash to eat these just got put to the back of the queue a tad. Anyway, a bit of research later we took the plunge last night.

First up you wash the squash then prick it a number of times with a fork to stop it exploding when you cook it (although there was a little part of me that did wonder just how explody a squash could be...). Then you pop it in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees till it's cooked through.

When it's done you chop it in half and scoop out the pips etc. Then taking a fork you simply 'fluff' up the inside and it magically falls apart into spaghetti style strands.

Unlike a lot of other squash it doesn't have a very distinct flavour, it's not bland as such but it does need some seasoning and a sauce to improve it. We ate it with the same kind of homemade spicy tomato based sauce we use for pasta dishes and it went really well.

What it lacks in flavour it more than makes up for in character though, in fact we kinda wish we'd grown more of them this year now.

Catching back up

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:20:00 +0000

We managed to spend about four hours up at the allotment on Saturday in the sun which was lovely. Most of that time was spent weeding and tidying which meant a lot of the more jobby jobs didn't really get done. Despite that it was time well spent as the plot needed a bit of love after all the fruit cage related excitement of the last couple of weeks.

We did get a couple of things done worth reporting however. This year’s squash plants made it into their final homes. Most went into half of the spring brassica bed now that it'd mostly clear and the last couple went in with the sweetcorn in a kind of experimental Two Sisters approach (there's a traditional companion planting system called Three Sisters that involves planting squash, beans and sweetcorn together). Hopefully the sprawling nature of the squash plants will help keep the weeds down around the base of the sweetcorn.

We also made an attempt to save this year’s gooseberry harvest. When we took over the plot there were a couple of small gooseberry bushes along one of the sides. They didn't fruit the first year but since then they've grown huge despite our neglect. The problem is, since they started producing, we've lost each harvest to the birds who seem amazingly adept at stripping the bushes the nano-second the fruit turns ripe.

So, this year, now the fruit is starting to turn red (they seem to both be red gooseberries which is a nice change) we thought we'd take some of the netting we'd removed from the old fruit tunnel and try and cover the bushes up as best we can in the hope it'll deter the birds. It looks a bit makeshift, and we left the branches that were growing our the other side of the fence or the birds to have, but it should do the job. We hope.

Saturday afternoon we happened to be driving past the Gloucester branch of Focus which was holding a closing down sale so we popped in. It felt a little vulture like to be picking over the bones of a business gone into administration like this but we did find a couple of things to bring home with us. Most interesting was this nice big heated propagator.

I've wanted one of these for the last couple of years to enable me to start off chillies and peppers etc mega early so it’s nice to have one at last and it'll mean the seed sowing bug can take hold even earlier next year.

We also found a sorry looking whitecurrant bush that looked like it hadn't been watered for a week and was on its last legs. Taking pity on it we bought it and took it straight up to the allotment and planted it out in the fruit cage. Popping up there tonight on the way home it seems to be settling in well and looks a million times healthier already.

I'm not really sure what you do with whitecurrants but it’s nice to save something that was pretty much destined for the rubbish heap.

Ants

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:51:00 +0000

Hmmmm look what I found while watering the greenhouse last night... An ants nest poking through some spring onions!

In fact there were three of the blighters the more I looked around. How rude! I've got some ant powder that I could put down but I'm not sure it's safe so close to food crops. Does anyone know the best way of getting rid of them?

Other than that, the greenhouse is looking great, full to bursting yet actually semi-organised which is a first for us. I'll do a proper update at the weekend as work is calling...

Quick update...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 07:21:00 +0000

Just a quick update today, we managed to get the weed suppressing fabric down last night. Weighed it down with the paving slabs we got from Freecycle a couple of months ago and the tubs but it does still need some kind of pegs in it to keep really flat and 'floor like'. It does look better now though I think.

Tonight we'll start catching up on all the jobs we didn't get done at the weekend while we were building it... Never stops does it!

Ta dah! A fruit cage!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Tue, 31 May 2011 06:56:00 +0000

There we go, one fruit cage fully erected and installed! We got it all built on Sunday afternoon with a little help from my Dad who popped over to help.

Once we'd lugged all the poles and netting up to the plot (note to self, need a bigger car!) It was surprisingly simple to put up. First we laid out the top of the frame on the ground to allow us to mark where the uprights needed to go.

Then we had to get the supports for the uprights in, this was by far the worst part of the whole thing as the ground was painfully hard and didn't seem to want the supports whacked in with a mallet however hard we tried. In the end we half dug holes with a spade and just bashed the supports in the last few inches.

Once they were finally in it though was a simple case of putting in the uprights and the door frame then, with Dad holding the roof bars in place, going round the top of each upright and screwing the mushroom caps in place securing the whole structure together.

Once it was all tightened up and looking 'right' it was time to put the side netting on. I honestly expected this to be a bit of a nightmare but it was actually really simple. Dad went round holding the netting while M and I put four cable ties round each upright to hold the netting in place. All that was needed when we got round the whole thing to where we started was to trim the excess netting off and bingo, sides done.

Last but not least was the roof. This again looked like it might be fiddly but once we'd worked out the corners (helpfully marked with white and green ties) it was just a case of stretching it over the cage and using the S hooks to attach it to the side netting pulling it taught.

Finally we attached the door latch and there we were, finished. Well, I say 'finished', we aren't quite, tonight we're going to rake over the ground and cover the floor of it with black weed suppressing fabric which we'll leave there for at least the rest of this year just to guarantee all the weeds are gone. Next year we'll probably plant things through it, make raised beds, or both, we'll see. For now though we've put the fruit bushes we've already got in tubs on the plot in there so it's officially in use right away and they'll be joined this week by a few more from home.

It only took just over three hours to build which wasn't bad and the instructions provided by William Jams and Co were simple and easy to understand. I think I'll probably go round and tidy up a few of the ties and S hooks now it's up just to make it perfect but we're really really happy with it already. Can't wait till fruit bushes come back back in season and we can start filling it up now.

Preparing for the fruit cage

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:22:00 +0000

First time we've put a video on the blog, so this is a bit of a test really, hope it works OK...

We've spent most of the day so far clearing the space for the fruit cage. It was a massive pain to remove the posts and wires etc that made up the old netted tunnel that had been there before but, armed with some wire cutters and a hammer, it eventually all came down.

Then I dug up the worst of the weeds and dead bits of old fruit bushes etc out and raked it over. Tomorrow we'll rotovate it all and, time permitting, get the cage itself erected. It's all starting to take shape, just want it up and finished now!
Hope you're all enjoying your bank holiday weekend too.

Fruit cage and other packages

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Thu, 26 May 2011 18:06:00 +0000

Arrived home tonight to a lovely double surprise from Mr Postman. Most exciting was the arrival of the fruit cage from the nice people at William James & Co. It's just a big pile of metal tubes and a bag of netting at the moment, but come the weekend (weather permitting) it'll be transformed into the fruit cage of our dreams. I know, I'm far too excited about this...

There was also a second package, this was a bit unexpected as I'd kind of forgotten I'd ordered anything else in the excitement surrounding the fruit cage. It ended up being a selection of brasica plants and a Bilberry bush I'd ordered a few weeks ago.

Perfect timing on the bush front, a bit less so for the brasicas as I don't quite have room for them at the moment and other jobs planned for the weekend. So, I quickly potted them up into something they'll be happy in till next week when I can get them in the ground.

Now the fruit cage is here there's even more motivation to spend the next couple of evenings clearing the ground where it's going to live. Fingers crossed for the weather...

Surprise fruit and other things

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I spent some time up at the allotment tonight after work, the plan was to work on clearing the space for the fruit cage but managed to get a few other jobs done too. The best bit was the surprise discovery of a damson tree on the plot. You may think that in our fourth year on the allotment we'd have long since discovered everything that was already on it when we started out, you'd be wrong.

In the 'messy' corner, where things get dumped, there's been a bush/tree thing steadily growing over the years. At first we didn't notice it, then it was left doing what it wanted because it was in the bit of the plot we used as a dumping ground. This year however it's suddenly borne fruit and it appears, to my un-trained eye, to be a damson tree. How cool is that, damson jam and other goodies await later in the year!

Other than that surprise the other fruit on the allotment is doing well too. The gooseberry plant we bought earlier this year has amazingly got fruit on it already.

While the red currant we put in a pot last year has started to get its first fruit on it too.

All this is perfect timing for the arrival of the fruit cage which, fingers crossed, should be here ready for building over the bank holiday weekend. With that in mind it really was time to start clearing the space. So, hoe in hand, I got to work and managed to get the back half of the area pretty much clear of surface growth. I still need to get the poles that made up one side of the old netted tunnel out of the ground and clear in there but it's at least started now.

The rest of the plot is looking quite under control at the moment too, I even managed to get the courgettes and marrows planted out tonight. Once the fruit cage is built it'll almost be how we imagined it when we first took it on, just a seating area with some flowers etc to go...

Plot time

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Mon, 23 May 2011 06:17:00 +0000

Back to allotment business today. We managed to spend some time on the plot this weekend getting as many of the small jobs done as possible to keep the next week free for fruit cage business.

First off we finally planted out the Oca that had been getting a little pot-bound in the greenhouse. Here it is next to the sweetcorn we planted out last week.

We also got the leeks in the ground. I'm never quite sure how people make the holes required for these, every year soil crumbles back into mine as soon as I remove the dibber thing I use to make them. Anyway, we managed, kinda, and they seem happy enough. Will have to remember to earth them up a bit this year to try and make them a bit longer.

Next we gave the whole of the plot a good hoe and dug over most of the gaps in the brasica bed. Here's the parsnips which seem to have settled in nicely after looking a bit weak and wobbly for a while after they went in the ground.

Now it's time to knuckle down and get the fruit cage area sorted. There's a lot of ground to clear, the posts from the old netted tunnel removed and then the soil needs rotovating in preperation. As you can see it's a bit of a mess at the moment (and has been since we inherited the plot) so there's lots to do this week.

Cake, because we're worth it.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Sat, 21 May 2011 18:26:00 +0000

Sometimes getting the baking stuff out and filling the house with the smell of cooking cakes is just what the doctor ordered. So when M suggested an afternoon baking it seemed like the perfect thing to do after a morning of productivity on the allotment.

Look good don't they.

Got more allotment work to do tomorrow so I'll blog about things plot related next time. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Work. A Moan.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:06:00 +0000

It's Friday afternoon at last, another week in the office is almost over and two whole days of freedom ripe with possibilities await. It's not very gardening related I admit, so I hope you can excuse the change of topic and tone for today, but I have to ask, am I alone in feeling that way?

I know most people would obviously prefer to not have to go to work (footballers, actors and rock stars aside), but I imagine most people also get some kind of enjoyment or satisfaction out of their work at the same time? I don't. I work as a computer programmer and I genuinely hate it. It's not that the company I work for, or the people who work there, are horrible, they're not. In fact I'd go so far as to say if I liked computer programming then it would be a lovely place to work. No, the problem is that the longer I do it the more I realise I hate being a programmer. I get no job satisfaction from it at all, I'm not particularly great at it so there's a continual sense that I'm never far away from making a huge job costing mistake and I'm surrounded by people clearly enjoying themselves and being good at doing the exact same thing, making me feel even more out of place.

‘So change job' you may cry. I'd love to. The problem is, change to what? The skills I have are so specific to what I currently do there's very little that's transferable in any way. I'd also want to get out of the IT industry as a whole; I no longer have any real interest in the world of computers and have long since tired of keeping up with the continual forward march of technology. The problem, obviously, is that with no training or skills suitable to doing anything else I'd be starting at the bottom rung of whatever ladder I chose meaning a massive drop in earnings that we as a household simply couldn't support.

Yes, we could downsize our (small) 2.5 bed house to something even smaller, cut back on the few luxuries we buy and perhaps find a way of scraping by. But is that really the kind of life I want to live and subject M to? We don't by any stretch of the imagination live an opulent life; we drive old cars, holiday in this country and think about money before we go for a rare meal out. I earn a wage that's at the bottom end of the scale for the job I do (as I said, I'm no programming guru) so there's not exactly much room for belt tightening as it is, a substantial drop in wages would mean a substantial drop in everything else too. Basically I'm stuck.

Of course with all the economic problems in the world at the moment I'm grateful to have any job at all. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm lucky in many many ways and I appreciate more than ever how blessed I am that this is pretty much my only gripe with life as a whole. But still, with thirty five odd years of my working life still to go I do wonder if I can really do this for that long.

I keep my eye out for horticulture jobs from time to time (an unlikely dream), I've thought about re-training as a plumber (if I could magically afford the training course and somehow come up with some savings to tide me over while I started up a business), I've wondered if I could earn a living from writing in some way (unlikely even if I was good enough) and I've speculated about somehow growing something like chilli's, brewing or producing 'something' on a more commercial scale (again, would need start-up capital), but it's really just to keep me from going spare rather than because they seem like plausible escape routes.

Perhaps in the future something will present itself, perhaps I'll magically win enough money to buy a smallholding somewhere and forget about work entirely. Until then I'll keep counting down the minutes till 5pm on Fridays each week and dreaming of ways to avoid having to return to the office on Monday mornings.

Apologies for the wildly off topic self-indulgent venting, normal service will be resumed tomorrow...

A new look, some greenhouse stuff and a theft

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:58:00 +0000

First up, I hope you all like the new look. I've been thinking the 'black' look we had before was a little depressing so I've been playing around with Blogger templates to see if I can improve matters. It's a bit work in progress at the moment but I think it's an improvement already.

Back in the real world, despite the dry weather this week there's not been a lot of time for alotment'y things, although fingers crossed for getting up there tomorrow evening. Everything in the greenhouse has been growing merrily though including, almost without me noticing, our first cucumbers of the year.

The chillies are doing well in their new pots too, one looks on the verge of flowering already infact.

I potted up all the squash, courgettes and marrows over the weekend and they seem to be settling in well. I've managed to do far grow many squash again this year. We grew about eight plants last year which, with the benefit of hindsight, was just about the right number in terms of lasting us through the winter. This year I seem to have fourteen plants, so I think I'll be looking to re-home five or six of them in the next couple of weeks.

On a less pleasant note I woke up this morning to find my car had been broken into and the stereo pinched. It's more annoying than upsetting or anything, I could do without shelling out for a new one at the moment and it's not worth getting the insurance involved as the excess on my policy would pretty much cover the cost of everything. Ho hum, some people...

Rather than end this post on that slightly sour note I'll finish with a picture of a rose from the bush in our garden that suddenly seems to have burst into flower this week.

Hope you're all having a fun filled week...

Bit of a washout...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:59:00 +0000

I really wish I'd gone up to the allotment on Saturday now as Sunday proved to be a bit of a washout. Not heavy rain, just a lot of showers and there was only so long I wanted to be working in continual drizzle so only really did an hour or so of work up there in the end.

I did manage to get the sweetcorn planted out though, I'm half worried it may a be a little too early but they were getting pretty pot bound in the greenhouse so it was plant them or ruin them. fingers crossed they do ok.

I also picked the first spring cabbage of the year for Sunday dinner and it was a monster, the heart alone weighed in at five and half pounds! Despite this one success I'm generally painful bad at growing brasica, I either forget to plan them at all or plant them and then never tend to them very well. Last autumn I did manage get some spring plants in the ground but then kind of left them hiding under netting till recently and most stuff had been ruined. There are however four cabbages that seem to have survived despite my lack of care, so I'm claiming that as progress of sorts and I promise (honest) to be better at it this winter.

To go with the roast dinner I picked a few stalks of rhubarb to make a cheat'y rhubarb fool for pudding (basically just stewed rhubarb mixed with a pint of custard half milk and half single cream). Quick, easy and very yummy!

We've also got the first cherry tomatoes appearing in the greenhouse, thankfully way earlier than they did the last few years so the mega-early sowing seems to have worked. All being well we'll have salad crops all being ready to eat at a similar time this year. Yay!

Fingers crossed for some good weather this week so I can get the brasica bed cleared (bar the remaining cabbages of course) and dug over meaning I can then focus on clearing the space for the fruit cage. That's going to be a BIG job so need to get it started asap.

Apple Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Sun, 15 May 2011 07:14:00 +0000

Short post today, just really checking blogger is 'back' properly. Sorry to everyone who's comments on the previous post were lost, I assumed they'd re-appear when blogger sorted itself out but it seems not. :(

Off to spend a few hours up at the allotment today but just thought I'd share a quick pic of the apple pie we made last night. We've still got a load of apple in the freezer left over from last years harvest so we thought we'd make a pie.

We tend to add some cinnamon and a few raisins to the apples when we're making apple pie as it gives it a lovely bit of spice. then it just needs a nice thick custard poured over and it's a perfect end to the day. Unless you're M who seems to think my custard obsession weird so covers hers in cream instead. Weird lady... ;)

Hello weeds

noreply@blogger.com (Paul and Melanie) — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:21:00 +0000

I spent some time at the allotment last night and, as expected, the rain showers of recent days have woken up all the weeds. It's amazing how quickly they grow, the plot seemed to have gone from looking lovely and tidy to full of little green shoots in a couple of days.

Thankfully the now soft workable soil lent itself nicely to weeding and after an hour or so working with the hoe and on my hands and knees the areas with plants in were all back looking fairly tidy as you can see.

It was also good to see the 2nd early spuds and some beetroot seedlings poking their heads through the ground. I also finally took the netting off the brasicas I'd over wintered. A lot of them had died, or gone to seed (I have to admit to really not giving them a single iota of care so it's my own fault) and there was a lot of weeds under there too which I doubt helped. On the plus side there were a few lovely looking spring cabbages amidst the mess which kind of made it all worth while.I'm not very good at brasicas so I'll take my victories where I can.

At the weekend I'm going to tidy up the bed, pull out the failed crops, weed and dig the rest then put the Oca, leeks and a couple of winter brasicas that have been growing in the greenhouse in there and see how they do.

The exciting news of the day however is that we've finally bought our fruit cage. In the end we went for one from William James & Co as they looked good and my Dad bought one from them last year and he's been really pleased with it. It's a 3m by 6.5 meter one so should take up most of the far side of the plot that's been awaiting its arrival for so long it's currently a more than a tad overgrown. There's still two weeks before it arrives though so that should give us time to clear it all... Fingers crossed!