|
|
Post by jane on Jun 23, 2017 21:40:43 GMT
So 2017 has started well-ish (mainly!) But isn’t that always the way! Successes and some, well not so much.... But every year we learn, and get better.....
I tend Plot 15 at the America Lane site with two of my daughters (Louise and Alice and sometimes Isabel my granddaughter... and oh, of course, Ozzy, the dog! He loves to sniff the air and watch the world go by....) My other daughter, Sarah, also has a plot on the site with her partner Tim. So it’s a real family affair!
So you see.... we ALL have a real love of gardening, plants, flowers and veggie growing.
There is never enough space (or time) in the garden/ plot to indulge our passion.... so.... often we meet on the plot, not just to attack the weeds, plant the seedlings and water, but also to catch up on the day, discuss the trials and tribulations of life and gardening and simply relax! Isn’t that what this is about? There should always be time for a cuppa and a chat!
I often think that sometimes we forget to step back for a moment and realise just what a great job we are doing! A couple of weeks ago a friend said to me “so... just what are you growing on your allotment?” So i told her.....:
Onions, garlic, leeks, swede, celeriac, cabbages, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, chard, pak choi, beetroot, peas, French beans (3 varieties... we don’t like runner beans!), sweetcorn, salad veg (lettuce),courgettes, butternut squash, pumpkins (yes! We are going for the pumpkin carving competition in October!), leeks, strawberries (amazing crop this year!), raspberries, blackcurrants, white currants, red currants, rhubarb, apples, plums, dahlias, chrysanths, sweet peas (not so good so far!) verbena bonariensis, nasturtiums and calendula (for bugs and bees!) and ornamental flowers just cos we LOVE them! – phew! Makes me weary just listing it all!
Every year there are success and failures (...oooh only minor ones really!) and we learn! Of course that’s what it’s about – learning and growing in our knowledge. Growing what we like and letting go of those things we feel we ought to grow but hey – i never liked eating them so why grow them!
For our family – it’s also about taking time to be slow, peaceful, calm and in touch with the wonder of growing your own. I love how my granddaughter smiles when she pops open a pod of peas.... she will always know where her food comes from and how it grows.... and that, for me, is one of the most important things of all!
Would love to hear your stories about why you have an allotment and what it means to you....
|
|
|
|
Post by wilbarra on Jun 25, 2017 9:15:35 GMT
what does my plot mean to me?
to me its a place where i can share and watch the life around me at there work.
i have learnt by sitting and watching that the phase "bird brain" only applies to
humans,certainly not to birds.
i have learnt that squirrels spend a lot of their time at play and many other
things about them and a lot of other small life.
things i would not have known if i had not had an allotment.
i had my first lesson on life and its people as a young lad when i used to sit in
old neds shed and listen to Rudi ,a german prisoner of war telling me about his home
in the black forest.
it was him that my mum got to tell me that my favourite uncle had been killed in
action in 1945.
it was on my little allotment patch that he told me.
i clung to him and his german uniform and sobbed.
it was on that allotment site as an eleven year old, that i learnt that the rudis were
the real germany and germans and not the hitler types who were at the time controling
things.
my plot has given me great joy and sometimes sadness.
it was on my plot, some twenty years ago, that my eldest grandaughter appeared one day,
at ten years old,clutching her suitcase and duly told my wife and myself that she had left
her mum and was going to live with us for a few months.
she finally left our house some thirteen years later dressed in her wedding gown.
in between that time i had spent many magical hours with her on my plots.
perhaps the greatest magical moment with her, was some three weeks ago when she brought
her son and my great grandson to the plot and introduced him to the place where she had
spent so many happy hours.
to me its a place where you spend time and peace and reflect on what has gone on before
and talk with john barlow over a cup of tea or with pat who lives in one of the bungalows
at the bottom of my plot,before getting back to growing whatever you are and growing.
its a place where i am at home and i love and it knows me.
for i know that it shares with me times of sadness but many, many times of happiness andjoy
|
|
|
|
Post by jane on Jul 6, 2017 9:14:27 GMT
|
|
bridgey
Clearing the weeds
Posts: 60 
|
Post by bridgey on Jul 8, 2017 8:08:55 GMT
nothing to add
both Jane and willbarra have said it all
there passion and love for their plots are plain
to see and feel.
they feel the same as me.
|
|
|
|
Post by jane on Jul 8, 2017 17:49:01 GMT
aww... thanks Bridgey. It would be lovely to hear from others. Do you feel the same about your plot?
|
|
|
|
Post by wilbarra on Jul 9, 2017 17:08:17 GMT
thought i would add a little bit more to what makes allotments a special place to be.
my wife and i went down the allotment early on saturday morning and saw the foxes had been
throwing my chrysanths about, looked in the greenhouse and there, curled up and fast asleep
on my tomato bed were two fox cubs.
did not have a chance to take a photo before they were gone.
nature , once again, provided a beautiful sight.
all on my allotment.
|
|
|
|
Post by jane on Jul 10, 2017 19:51:43 GMT
Wow - that must have been lovely (on one hand) but rather irritating on another!! You dont want them taking up residence on your plot, Wilbarra!!
|
|
|
|
Post by wilbarra on Jul 11, 2017 9:18:51 GMT
so right jane
went down the allotment this morning and found a large hole where
one of my marrow plants were.
marrow plant was on andrews plot.
but our wild life are there to be shared with us, so i just thought
naughty foxes (or something similar) and and put the kettle on.
life is good.
|
|
|
|
Post by murrayc on Jul 12, 2017 6:37:14 GMT
Some excellent posts so far in a great thread and I'm a little apprehensive about the competition and suffering from a little performance anxiety, perhaps, so I will take a slightly different tack and talk about just one of the things that is so rewarding about having a plot: the taste of freshly grown and picked food. The year begins, of course, with the first salad leaves and radishes, soon followed by beetroots and spring onions. Is there anything nicer than looking at the dishes for lunch or dinner and thinking "There are two, or three, or four things I have grown here and regardless of the cost of growing them, they are all 10, 20 times fuller of flavour and healthy minerals than their pallid cousins from the supermarket"? As the year goes on, these things multiply and the tastes grow more diverse: the nuttiness of the first new potatoes, their waxy skins peeling away to release a bomb of flavour as you bite into them; then the sweetness of peas, the more intense the closer the meal is to the time of picking, and not just the taste, all the senses and memories of childhood that are released from slowly shucking them into a colander and occasionally helping oneself to those little globes of green joy. Then broad beans, the outside shucking slightly more troublesome, but the removal of the husk from around the brilliant kernel always a labour of love. I came late to enjoying the true flavour of broad beans, but late loves are lasting loves. This year the dry, hot spring has toughened them a little, and I regret not watering more. We have a fine crop, but possibly a little mealy because of the heat and the comparative drought. Then there are the alliums, winter-planted and lifted in June for drying and plaiting. We try to keep as many as we can through the winter, hanging from the rafters of our conservatory, that doubles as our dining-room. Plaits of red and golden onions, interspersed with purple-skinned garlic are far nicer than decorative balls to hang at Christmas, and the knowledge that they have fulfilled this triple purpose - pleasures of growing and picking, pleasure of display, then pleasure of eating - is deeply satisfying. Last year's crop was slight, the wet spring rotted the roots and the onions had to be lifted early and were smaller, but this year looks exceptional. The daily pleasure is to bring back the pickings like pirate treasure and weigh them, to see what can be eaten straight away, what can be stored or frozen, and of course, which neighbour to bombard with that surplus that is still unclaimed! The yield in the pics below, from about 3 weeks ago, is typical of the midsummer abundance: 3 lbs of blackcurrants, almost the same of peas, nearly a stone of broad beans, then courgettes, turnips and the first of many pounds of Ryder's Blue beans, a magnificent cropper and delicious eater. |
|
|
|
Post by trickymicky123 on Jul 12, 2017 9:56:22 GMT
Thanks for contributing to our website Wilbarra and Murray, I fear there will not be any responses from our members as they seem very reluctant to contribute to ours.
Val and I are having a pretty good season on our patch. Despite having quite a severe stroke Val comes out to help me.
Our French beans have had a wonderful crop, loads and loads. Just right before the runners appear, its magic when you pick your first handful of runner beans. Courgettes galore, you can almost stand there and watch them grow. What do you do with them? Well we make soup with the surplus + giving them away.
Our autumn raspberries are already producing, blackcurrants all picked. Try blackcurrant cake - delicious. Find a recipes on internet. New potatoes and onions already harvested with onions hung up in our poly tunnel. In the poly tunnel we have tomatoes and peppers coming on.
My chrysanths are blooming far too early for my liking while we are picking sweet peas nearly every day. Always like to have flowers amongst my veg.
What would we do without my allotment ? I`ve spent many happy years here. I`m not one for sitting in a deck- chair all day doing nothing. Better to get some exercise. Lots of new members joining although some only last a few months never to be seen again. It takes some effort to keep a plot in good shape. Not had much time to meet them yet as I am having ongoing treatment.
Needless to say I`ve made friends over here and met the occasional grumpy one too. It takes all sorts !!
Happy gardening. M.B.
|
|
|
|
Post by jane on Apr 23, 2018 18:55:09 GMT
2018 is underway at last! Hasn't it felt like the longest winter EVER! Most of Plot 15 is now prepared, just one final bed to dig over and the front flower bed to weed! We have been inundated with dandelions! Pretty - but unwanted!! We had a lovely Sunday morning this last weekend when my granddaughter Isabel, joined us with her mum and baby brother. Isabel has her own part of the plot where we are growing flowers, carrots and sugar snap peas in tubs! Am guessing the regular watering will be down to me ..... So, the onions are in, the sweet peas are climbing, the dahlias are mulched and some salad leaves underway. More to plant soon when the seedlings are a little bigger!! I love this time of year! Am looking forward to perusing some interesting seedlings at the event on Sunday... maybe see you there. 😀     |
|
|
|
Post by murrayc on Apr 23, 2018 20:25:14 GMT
Great display of dandelions Jane.  |
|
