This has been our first winter where we have been 90% self sufficient with vegetables over the winter period and it’s been great! Obviously we won’t ever beable to grow the amount of potatoes needed for a family of four to survive on all year round, but the other vegetables have been fantastic. I still have kale, flower sprouts, chard, leeks and carrots left for harvesting on my little plot. We finished the red cabbage off a while ago and everything was harvested before the frosts got them. Over on my Dad’s larger plot he has swede, sprouts, flower sprouts, calabrese, purple sprouting brocolli, cavolo nero, curly kale, cabbages, leeks and parsnips. We are in veggie heaven right now!
I am an avid second season grower, if theres space on the allotment I’ll be sure to fill it with flowers or vegetables! I’ve always liked the idea of overwintering vegetables to fill in those hungry gaps when nothing else is growing and carrots are one of those perfect crops to grow. They actually say that carrots which grow over winter are sweeter in taste, and I have to completely agree. I sowed these ‘Autumn King’ variety of carrots at the end of August, and I am only just starting to harvest them now. They may be dinky in size but they sure are tasty!
To learn more about my second growing season plans and ideas head on over to the ’2015 Plan’ page.
The 2015 allotment plan is now up and ready to read, Hooray! I’ve created a new page along the top so it’s easy to find, and I’ve just posted a little video where I talk through my plans as well.
I am so unbelievably excited for the year ahead and cannot wait to start sowing seeds and watch them come to life! I’m longing for lazy days up the allotment watching the bees buzzing, frogs hoping around, picking raspberries straight from the cane and being surrounded by sweet smelling flowers. Spring is just around the corner however, there’s big plans and some interesting varieties to grow this year, and not forgetting the anticipated arrival of the chickens (I will post more about them later, I promise!)
But for now, I thought I would share all my plans, hopes and dreams of what my allotment will look like this year and I hope you all enjoying reading (or watching!) x
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
I was so happy this morning to find out that a layer of snow had finally made it down South, it was only a very small amount but I was so excited! I love this season and absolutely adore the snow, we didnt get any last year but I remember there being lots of snow the year before that. My little allotment however, has never seen the snow (well not in my care it hasn’t!) so I raced downstairs, pulled on a coat and some boots and headed to the plot with my camera.
Luckily I was able to capture the snow before it melted, and sure enough an hour later it had vanished. At least all this cold weather is doing wonders for the garlic, fingers crossed for some delicious large cloves this year!
For Christmas I made my Dad one of these little A5 journals so that he could write any notes, ideas and lists down whilst on his allotment. Of course I just had to make myself one and so far it has proved very useful indeed, it has my seed list in, my plan, my to-do lists and I’m sure by the end of the year it will be jam packed!
Spring is just around the corner and I am giving you the chance to win your very own allotment notebook so you can get planning for the year ahead. It’s made from real leather with ‘Allotment Notes’ stamped on the front and there is a grey cord to keep the book shut. There is a pen holder inside as well as some handy little pockets.The best thing about this journal is that the notebook is removable so it can be used every year, just simple replace the A5 notebook once it is full to the brim with all those important notes!
All you have to do is simply comment below with your full name and one reason why you are excited for Springtime to arrive.
I will draw the winner at random on the 1st of February 2015.
Even though Winter has been a mild one so far, I’m longing for sunshine, for staying up the allotment until 10pm, for flowers, bees and fresh peas straight from the pod. However, the first signs of Spring are starting to show and I noticed a little tulip tip poking out from the trough, just one of 58 tulip bulbs that I planted back in November. I cannot wait to see the trough full to the brim with beautiful tulips and to see all the bees buzzing happily around them!
I am pleased to say that the garlic has survived it’s first test, all 18 cloves have germinated and are sprouting above ground level. I have yet to make some cloches to cover the row of garlic, last year the crop pretty much failed due to the amount of rain we had (and the clay soil didn’t help either!) So this year I am being extra careful by placing a cloche over the single row so that I can control the amount of water the cloves get, that way they won’t be waterlogged, I’m hoping anyway! The variety that I am growing is called Provence and I brought the cloves from the Garlic Farm over on the Isle of Wight, surely if they can grow this variety successfully just across the water then I can too?
The broad beans have also successfully germinated and are safe and sound under their little netted tunnel. Luckily the mice didn’t run off with any of the seeds and the small seedings are safe from any hungry birds! I even sowed extra seeds just incase the mice were hungry but I’m guessing they were a tad upset after I evicted them from my shed, maybe they found a new plot to terrorise? I’ll have to thin the little seedlings out very soon, or move them somewhere else, I was only sowing one row simply because we had such a big glut of beans last year and plus my Dad is growing the next succession so it seemed silly to waste the space with unwanted veg.
Seeing these little signs of Spring on a cold and very windy day makes me even more excited for the warmer months. Hurry up Springtime!
Winter is starting to set in now and the temperatures are dipping ever so slightly (it’s been an ever so mild Winter so far hasn’t it?!) The frosty mornings and cold weather does mean one thing though, and that is soup!
I am a little addicted to making soups and never realised how easy it was to turn vegetables into such a simple and delicious meal. One of my favourite soups is leek and parsnip, it just so happens that me and my Dad are growing both of these vegetables and now is the perfect time of year for harvesting them.
Yet again I must confess that I was never a leek lover before owning my allotment, I had never tasted them before let alone grown them before! However, leeks are one of the easiest vegetables to grow not only when it comes to planting but also when it comes to looking after them. As a matter of fact they don’t need any looking after at all. They are hardy and therefore can be left out all winter, harvesting them when you need them (although this can be a tad hard when the ground has frozen!)
The variety I grew are called Musselburgh and I planted 2 rows out in July, replacing the potatoes that had already been harvested from that bed. They were ready to harvest by October and since then they have been turned into mainly soups and ham and leeks pies and I only have 8 leeks left.
After growing them for the first time ever and falling in love with their taste, I can proudly say that I am in love with leeks. It’s rather lucky I do love them as my Dad planted 6 rows of leeks at the same time as me, and he still has 5 rows left! Now I didn’t really have to grow any leeks at all but I had the spare soil left over from my potatoes and I thought why not?
And anyway, I couldn’t not grow any leeks on my plot could I?
I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy New Year!
I am ever so grateful for all your comments, love and support throughout the year, thank you so much for following my allotment adventures.
Here’s to a brighter and happier 2015! There’s lots of new ideas and plans underfoot, more videos, a new blog and a new venture aswell! All will be revealed shortly but for now…
It’s Christmas eve and I’ve literally just finished making the last handmade gift! Like usual I left everything until the last minute but I do feel a little proud, all my presents this year are handmade and I can’t wait to see everyone’s face’s tomorrow when they open they’re gifts.
I just wanted to quickly say how grateful I am for all you lovely people that follow this blog, watch my videos and follow me on instagram, facebook and twitter. All your support has been so amazingly brilliant and I just wanted to say thank you before the festivities begin and before I stuff myself on homegrown veg and delicious turkey tomorrow.
I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year! xx
