It’s been two whole weeks since I’ve been able to get up the allotment and yesterday was the first free day that I’ve had in such a long time. It’s been all hands on deck getting the website and shop up and running, getting the vintage stock, making products and getting everything ready for the village day stall (blog post about that to follow shortly!) The greenhouse however, is groaning with all the plants packed inside, lots of things are ready for planting out and I’m sure the weeds have grown knee high by now. The sun was shining and the birds were singing so off I cycled with a bicycle trailer full to the brim with plants and seedlings for a day up the allotment!
I decided to make my to-do list rather short so I didn’t feel pressured to get everything done in one day, it seemed more realistic to focus on smaller jobs so that I could feel good about ticking them off at the end of the day! So today’s main job was to get the two flower beds planted up with all the seedlings I’ve been growing in the greenhouse. There’s calendula, gypsophila, malope, linara moroccana, dwarf cosmo, scabious, wild carrot, giant sunflowers, sea holly, ranunculus, dianthus and some poppies too. All these flowers will be planted around the pond and also in my new flower patch down the side of the allotment. I’m hoping for a rather wild, almost cottage garden look where the bees will be happy and of course the flowers will make me happy too. I’m going to plant the four giant sunflowers at the back of the pond again and theres also a beautiful thistle like flower called Cirsium rivulare atropurpureum going in the new flower patch. This grows to 1.2metres in height and has these stunning bright pink flowers which remind me of thistles and globe artichoke flowers. I’ve also added in a few more herbs, theres some flowering chamomile and some garlic chives, aswell as a lemon balm which has the best smell ever! I have one of those herb teapots where you can add dried and fresh herbs into the strainer to flavour water so I’m hoping to make my own herbal teas this year.
The rest of the allotment wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the worst part being the chicken bed which is just covered in weeds. I’m thinking about leaving the weeds there for the chickens to devour once they arrive of course! There are a few weeds on the vegetables bed and I managed to weed the carrots, broad beans the new swiss chard plants. Last years chard has bolted but that needs to be pulled up to make room for the kale and red cabbage, I’ll be making some quiche with the leaves though so not to waste it.
Everything else is growing beautifully though, the fruit bushes have lots of fruit forming and it looks like theres going to be a bumper crop of strawberries this year. I desperately need to net the fruit cage by the end of this month though otherwise I’ll be losing all the berries to the birds again! The vegetables are looking great too, the broad beans need supporting but theres lots of pods of them, the potatoes need earthing up and theres three lovely rows of carrots popping up.
There is still so much to do but I’ll beable to get up there some evenings this week and tick some more things off the list. The main priority right now is to get the seedlings which are in the greenhouse out so they can start growing nice and big. There is the general weeding to do aswell and that fruit cage needs netting pronto! All this work however, pushes the chickens to the back of the list again as I still need to make the walk in run and to finish the coop before I get them. If only there was just more time in the day!
Amongst all the hard work and whilst I was busy weeding the pond area I was pleased to see three little heads pop up out of the water. I am so glad the frogs are enjoying the pond, it sure makes me happy knowing that I’m providing the wildlife with a safe environment to live in. Now if only they would be so kind enough to eat all those slugs before they demolish my lovely young seedlings!
12 thoughts on “The Neglected Plot!”
Your allotment is looking very productive. It will be so pretty once your flower seedlings start to bloom.
Thank you Jean, I can’t wait until all the flowers are in bloom, hopefully it’s going to look nice and that the bees are going to love it too 🙂
Lovely blog post Katie, thank you for sharing the update. So glad to see you put your Lemon Balm in a pot! I wish I’d been warned (or done the research myself) when I first planted mine in the ground a few years ago. It is All. Over. The. Garden. Each year is a challenge to pull it out of bad places but let it live in other places because the bees love it so much.
Thank you Molly. Oh dear! At least it smells nice though, you could have worse things all over your garden 🙂
Molly, I couldn’t help laughing when I read your Words: ” It is All. Over. The. Garden”. Sorry I know it is no fun with Lemon Balm all over the garden, but I just felt I could hear your tone of voice coming through in all the dots and capital letters. I also have lemon balm in my garden but if I don’t let it go to seed I don’t find it that invasive.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by work at the allotment and by work in general. When that happens to me I also do my to-do lists short. Often I end up doing a whole lot more work than I had anticipated.
That’s exactly what I do, make the list short and then if you get more done it’s a bonus! 🙂
Katie, I’m fascinated by your bicycle trailer. Did you make it yourself or did you buy it?
Hi Pia, it’s very handy! I actually found it at a market we go to every week. The sellers said it was a 1950’s French bicycle trailer. It actually needed a bit of work (new wheels and a hitch) but I love it now 🙂
Just re-read this to give myself a bit of inspiration to start on my to do list. I also put things on list I’ve already done so I can cross them off!! And we are kidding who??? Actually, still don’t know where to start……
It’s so hard to stay focused when you have a long list of things to do isn’t it? Thats why I like to make my daily lists short so I can feel like I’ve accomplished something at the end of the day 🙂 and if I get more done what’s written on the list then it’s a bonus!
What a wonderful allotment! I started mine a little earlier this year and have just discovered your blog. Great inspiration, I think a small wildlife pond is an asset to any allotment and I like the sound of a ‘chicken bed’. Is this going to be part of a permanent chicken enclosure or are you going to keep a bed empty for them to forage? Sorry if you’ve answered this in a previous post, I’m working my way through the posts! We have chickens at home and take them to the allotment whenever we can, great little lawnmowers, fertilising machines and slug control all in one! Thanks for sharing!