Hello fello gardeners. I have an allotment. Had it 9 years. My lovely husband (not a gardener) and a fellow allotmenteer kept it going for me last summer when I had my SAH. This year I aimed to cultivate 50% whilst keeping the other half covered. Happy to say I have managed it. From only being able to get to the plot and do about 5 mins before being exhausted, today I did 3 hours of weeding and tidying.
Yesterday I picked plums, pears, blackberries, French beans and courgettes.
I made blackberry cordial earlier in the week and blackberry jelly too!
Feels good to be doing something ānormalā even if it takes me longer to do it.
Soft fruit down south been a disaster, blackberries desperate for rain. Visited a community garden that relies on sales of jam.They 5 freezerās for soft fruit only one is half full, if we get rain soon autumn raspberries may help them out
@Crazicatapila wow youāve done really well. Love the sound of your allotment. Sadly weāve not had a lot of success with fruit & veg this year as weather has been too dry. Blackberry cordial sounds lovely
Morning @Crazicatapila. Little by little to reclaim the parts of our lives we love. So what it it takes longer. The product of that effort tastes just as sweet. Keep on weeding , Julia
Harvesting going on, trailers come down our narrow lane shedding nice clean straw so been out on lane with rubble bag collecting, never one to miss an opportunity. As kid in 1950ās use to go out with bucket and shovel to collect horse poo left on road by milkman and coalmans horse
Shwmae @Loshy, I have no idea. The first time I got seeds, I accidentally pulled out the seedlings because I thought they were weeds. This is a particular variety called Golden Line, I think. I planted them in an area I used to have Goji berry plants that didnāt produce berries. I didnāt feel like planting them today, because I have been feeling like rubbish all day, but I forced myself to because I knew they couldnāt sit in their pots any longer. Iām glad I did though, sometimes it is all too easy to let symptoms sway oneās mind.
The Oxford book of plant foods give the height of liquorice 3/4 feet , leave for 3/5 years before harvesting by which times the roots will have reached down 3/4 feet and spreading several yards
Afternoon @Rups . Gardening teaches patienceā¦ as long as it works out, and sadly it often doesnāt. These look good and healthy though and you know youāve done the best by them, the rest is up to them, the weather, beasties that like liquorice, etc etc. Everything is a gamble but doesnāt that make it more interesting/rewarding when it finally works out? Julia x
Really good to see there are a few of you, who like me enjoy being outside and cultivating.
I have a small asparagus patch. Grown from seed. I am told it takes a few years for them to be big enough to eatā¦so I will need some patience.
This weeks funā¦apple and ā¦yes more blackberries in a crumble.
Got a glut of pears waiting to be picked.
The plums I picked have had to goā¦unfortunately I forgot to put sticky bands round the tree. The inside of the plums had what looked like rust in them. Turns out its due to a moth that gets at the plums in springā¦ I am ready for next year now and have bought the sticky band stuff in readiness!
Lucky that it was only a small crop of plums.
Rups that arrangement is lovely - so natural. I ate my first home grown tomato today. Theyāre far too late really but I only got round to potting them up in the early summer. It hasnāt exactly been a productive hobby but itās been fun.
Picked enough toms for my wife to make a good batch of soup, just garlic, red onion, thyme and veg stock cube.Hopefully will manage to put down another batch if tomato blight holds off. All grown in pots against south wall in own compost and liquid fed with seaweed. Fantastic year for all cucumber family, courgettes cucumbers and butternut and two other types of squash
feeling very jealous - Iāve only picked one small tomato as yet but I have hopes of the other green ones. Dug two holes for a peony and a rodgersia today so thatās me finished for the time being
Our tomatoes didnāt do so well this year. Plenty of the plants but they were only small & odd shaped - looked more like mini pumpkins. Werenāt overly tasty either.
Our potatoes have done well & also our beetroot & broad beans.
Do love fresh veggies from garden.
, Julia
