I have a big favour to ask you all and that is to give your honest and much appreciated opinion. Please feel free to drop me a private message to my email address [email protected].
Me and my Dad have been talking about opening up a small business since before Christmas now and for a few months we have been planning and jotting ideas down including setting up a website, blog and designing products. The shop will be called ‘The Allotment Gardener’ and we will be selling handmade and vintage items with gardeners in mind. There will be vintage items such as pots, galvanised tubs, sieves, containers, enamel ware, jugs and tools etc. We would also be crafting wooden dibbers, plant rulers, boot scrapers and tool racks as well as sewing jackets, shirts, aprons, bags and tunics.
We were simply wondering what you guys think, would you buy items like this and how much would you spend for a handmade item? We would always try to keep the cost as low as possible, taking in account the price and quality of fabric, the time it took to make etc. Here’s a few rough prices: Jackets would be £95.00, tunics and dresses £50.00, shirts £55.00, bags £19.00 upwards, Dibbers £15.00, Notebooks £15.00.
We just wanted to do a bit of market research before diving straight into making all the items, because obviously you are who we want to be making these items for and we don’t want to get it all wrong
For now though, at this precise moment I currently have 4 hessian harvesting bags for sale. I made one for myself last year and it’s proved so handy! You can harvest and carry flowers aswell as vegetables, use it as a groundsheet when pruning fruit bushes or weeding and also use it as a small log carrier. I wouldn’t be without mine so I wanted to create some more to share with everyone. They are 75cm square, have a handle on each corner and are made from superior hessian. They are £19.00 each with £3.00 postage to the UK (£4.00 EU and £5.00 Everywhere else)
The bottom three photographs feature my own bag which has been used for the past 7 months. The photograph below is a brand new, freshly made version.
If you are interested in buying one then please comment below and I will send you an email and we can proceed through Paypal. There are 4 currently for sale right now but I can always make up some more
What a complete and utterly glorious day it’s been today! The sun has been shining, the birds are singing and theres not a gust of wind or signs of rain in the air, Springtime is just around the corner and I cannot wait!
It is however, still too early to sow any seeds and I’m being patient and not risking it, there’s nothing worse then sowing seeds for them to only be destroyed by cold weather a few weeks down the line. Instead there’s a few jobs that need to be done so off I went nice and early to spend the day up the allotment in the sunshine. I miss this place terribly during the working week and especially in the Winter when evening visits are out of the question. I long for Summer days when I can relax outside the shed, surrounded by flowers, butterflies, bees and eat raspberries straight from the canes.
That is all to come though and right now my mind is set on sorting out the fruit cage, ideally I would like it netted and secure before the bushes start producing so I can actually enjoy my homegrown berries this year! It is only the bushes 2nd and 3rd years so I’m not expecting a lot, but last year the cage was unprotected and the birds beat me to it, let’s just say I was not at all happy.
The first job on the list was to sort the ground out. Now I’ve always liked the idea of having a layer of bark on the ground of the fruit cage; one, it would make my life a lot easier because I wouldn’t have to weed, and two, did I mention I wouldn’t have to weed? Ok I admit I’m a tad lazy! However, fate intervened when my Dad decided to prune some large trees in the back garden, he brought a second hand shredder and then all of a sudden we were inundated with tubs of shredded, bark sized brances. So today I find myself on hands and knees, carefully rolling out weed control fabric around the fruit bushes and securing it into the soil with pegs.
I managed to take 5 tubs of bark up to the allotment and it covered roughly about 1/4 of the cage, there’s still a huge mountain of branches to shread at home so it’s going to be a busy few days but so far I’m rather pleased with how it looks. I’ve left around 8 inches of fabric around the edges so it can be attached to the planks of wood that I’m planning on putting around the edge of the cage. The netting will also be attached to the wooden edge and a stronger net will be attached to the roof (which needs to be made higher so I can actually stand up in it!) I also mulched the 4 blackcurrants and 2 gooseberry bushes with a layer of well rotted manure and the next job will be to prune the older bushes. Once the cage is complete then hopefully the fruit can just do it’s thing, with the exception of harvesting and pruning, and I’m hoping all the hard work pays off with buckets full of berries
I also took advantage of driving the car up to drop off my new vintage trestle table. I’m planning on using it in future cooking videos aswell as for picnics and BBQ’s on the plot. The legs fold up for easy storage and so far it’s been very useful for potting on snow drops and for planning out the plot on. Now all I need is a bigger plot and then I can invite you all round for a picnic! x
As a few of you already know, I found a couple of genuine vintage French work jackets at a market once and snapped them up. The plan was originally going to involve taking one apart so I could create a pattern to make my Dad his very own tall fitted jacket. So many of you seemed interested in purchasing the jackets that I decided to go back and buy the other 6 jackets for sale and I’ve finally got round to photographing, measuring and listing them on our business Ebay page.
All 6 jackets are in very good condition, they all have 3 outside pockets and 1 inside pocket, concealed buttons and buttoned cuffs too. Some of the jackets have manufacturers labels on them. They are priced at £25.00 each and range from european sizes 56 - 46, but for more detailed sizes please check the listings on Ebay (the jackets are in the Miscellaneous category).
So I made the decision to sell my little Ghillie Kettle. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it but after attempting to cook some bacon on it I discovered it wasn’t pratical to cook anything on, especially if theres more than one of you. Thats when I came across this neat little cooker on ebay and I instantly fell in love!
I managed to get it at a bargain price and after a little clean and maintenace it looked brand new. It has two hobs on the top, a grill and a little oven which is all run by gas, and the overall size of the cooker is tiny (I think they were originally made for boats and caravans!) I also brought a little table from Ikea for £5.00, covered the top of it with oilcloth and made a little patchwork curtain to hide the gas bottle underneath. It just so happened to be the perfect sized table to fit into my shed beside my vintage kitchen cabinet, and it was also the right height (and the price was great too!)
Once we moved it into the shed I just couldn’t wait to test it out, so we planned to have lunch up the allotment during the week and I wasn’t dissapointed at all… It worked like a dream! I cooked me and my Dad an omelette with cheese, bacon and some swiss chard freshly picked from plot 15C. There is nothing better then harvesting your homegrown crops and then cooking it up straight away, and the omelette was delicious too.
Now my shed is starting to look like a proper little kitchen and I just love how my little cooker looks sitting next to my 1950′s kitchen cabinet. I’ll be making a little shelf to sit above the cooker so my pots and pans can be stored there and the utensils can hang there too. My shed will end up looking like a little home, if only it was big enough for a bed! However, I did come across one big problem, I have no sink and therefore nowhere to wash my messy pans and plates. I have come up with a plan though and that is to create a little washing up area outside my shed consisting of a tall log with a galvanised tub sitting ontop so I can fill the tub with warm water from the kettle and wash my dirty dishes.
I do wonder what the neighbours will think when they see me cooking and washing up, or if I’ll be getting any orders for cups of tea!
For this years Fathers day I decided treat my Dad to a meal out at The Pig which is nearby in the New Forest. We’ve heard so many good reviews about this hotel/restaurant and after seeing it on the television we put it on our wishlist of places to visit. Now the best thing about this restaurant is that they have their own kitchen garden where they grow their own produce to cook, the food that they can’t grow is locally sourced. I booked the table for 12.30pm back in March as they get fully booked rather quickly, so we headed down to Brockenhurst with grumbling hungry bellies.
As we walked up to the hotel we were greeted by a large beautiful building with a large greenhouse style conservatory, there was even a large tree out the back with an old fashioned swing big enough to seat 3 people hanging from one of its large branches (unfortunately there were children playing on it, and they were still there after we had finished our meal so I couldn’t get a go on it!)
We went inside and as we were taken to our table I was blown away by the beauty (I actually gasped!), to sum it up I would call it a shabby chic, vintage garden potting shed. There is the largest pine dresser against one wall with crates, herbs and terracotta pots. Vintage enamel lamps and large paintings of walled gardens and allotments. Odd chairs, odd tables and odd cutlery which go perfectly together, with little strawberry plants as centre pieces on each table. Vintage tiles on the floor, hessian seat pads and plants growing up the pillars. I really cannot explain how lovely the decor is!
Now when it comes to the menu I was a little worried that my fussy tummy wouldn’t like anything they had to offer, how wrong was I! There was so much to choose from but I settled with a wild nettle and hock ham soup with some triple cooked rustic chips as a side (which came served in a terracotta pot!) The soup was surprisingly delicious and I’ve made a note to make some nettle soup at home. I also just have to mention how adorable the chips served in a terracotta pot was, but that was nothing compaired to my cranberry juice which was inside a welly boot shaped glass! Now for pudding there was only one thing I wanted and that was the hot white chocolate pot, which was served inside a cup and saucer with a shortbread biscuit balancing ontop with homegrown gooseberries, elderflower cream and edible flowers!
After our meal we decided to go for a little walk around the hotel’s grounds and have a nosey at their walled kitchen garden. It was the perfect size, not too big and not too small, there was even the most beautiful green house I had ever seen. I wanted to move in and live there! After exiting the kitchen garden and greenhouse the path lead you passed a large lake and the potting shed where they offer massages and beauty treatments, we made a note to return here simply because it looked so peaceful sitting in the middle of the lake. The path then turned into a wild flower meadow with a freshly mown path winding through it, it lead passed the walled garden and you could see right over the wall, the most perfect view. I cannot recommend this place enough, I loved it so much I can’t wait to go back again! The decor, the location, the food and the kitchen garden, everything was perfect. And if you don’t want to go there to eat then it’s worth popping in just to have a look around the kitchen garden. You won’t want to leave!
As you all well know my fence was put up last week and I am so happy with it. It protects my crops from those pesky deer aswell as making it feel like my very own little garden. I am going to be making a bunting to go around the top of the wooden fence posts, 1: to stop the deer leaning over the fence and nibbling my climbing beans, and 2: because it will look pretty! I will be making it out of oilcloth material so that it is weatherproof and therefore should last me a fairly long time. But first of all I just had to officially name my lottie.
I used an old welsh slate tile and simply drilled some holes into it and screwed it securely to my pallet gate. I also used a waterproof chalk pen to write with so that the rain won’t wash it away. I think it looks perfectly rustic and suits my little lottie down to a tee and the best thing about it? It only cost me 50p! Now I’m the only allotment on our site with an official (handmade) plot number sign, it doesnt really need it but I thought that it would look nice, and I do like it when things look nice
I have just uploaded another little video onto my Youtube channel, I realised I didn’t give everyone a tour of my shed so here it is. Possibly the most girliest shed in the world!
The next full length video will be completed at the end of March so stay tuned for that
Well what a glorious week of sunshine we have had and will hopefully be getting for the next few weeks ahead. I just can’t get over how hot it was yesterday whilst working on my fence up the allotment, it was so hot I could have even worn some shorts!
The daffodils have finally bloomed and they look beautiful, adding that much needed colour to the plot, my first homegrown flowers. The tulips are also forming really well and a couple of them are showing their tips so they should bloom very soon. I also finished sewing together my first ever tapestry (which had been sitting on a shelf waiting to be completed for ages) I think it looks very patriotic by the daffies, if only it was waterproof!
After working hard on my fence all morning we decided to take our campervan out for a much needed spin in the New Forest to enjoy this beautiful weather. We had a lovely picnic with a brilliant blue sky above us, the perfect way to end the day
My allotment is literally a five minute walk away from my house and the best and most eco friendly way to get there is by bicycle. Last year I used to pile my basket high with seeds, plants and I even balanced a bag of compost on the saddle once! Therefore when I came across this trailer at a market I didn’t have to think twice about snapping it up.
It’s French and from the 1950s, we think it was originally handmade using a metal base and wooden frame. I love everything about it right down to the distressed paint and the flip down back panel, it even has two handles so it can easily be pulled around by hand! However it had its faults, there was no mechanism to attach it to my bicycle and we soon found that the size of the French tyres were very hard to come by. But I was determined and after trawling the internet I came across a towing hitch that would fit onto my bicycle seat clamp. My amazingly talented dad welded the tow bar onto the trailer and ta-dah! The trailer could easily be mounted onto my bicycle with ease! The tyres however were proving harder to find, after weeks of trying to replace them we came to a dead end and decided the only way would be to change the entire wheel. I managed to find a cheap pair of 16″ wheels with tubes and tyres and after a little more work from my dad (I really can’t explain how wonderful he is!) my trailer was officially ready!
I absolutely love it! As soon as it was finished I loaded it up with gardening goodies and cycled up to the allotment. Yes I got some very strange looks (and even some giggles) but do you know what? I am one happy lady right now and that for me, means more than popularity
