Adventures in the life of an English allotment
So today I headed down to the allotment with the aim of redoing the pond by the shed. The pond base is a massive tree pot which our beautiful olive tree came in. However, over the past three years, the liner has degraded to such a point that it hardly retains water. Happily, I had... Continue Reading →
Mid-morning I ambled across to the allotment. The sun was out, the sky was blue and it was perfect weather to be outside. The only flaw in my plan to spend the day at the allotment, was the heat. Today was a scorcher! With a south facing plot, there was absolutely no break from the... Continue Reading →
After a wonderfully relaxing holiday, I trudged down to the allotment this morning dreading what I would find. In my mind's eye, the weeds were waist deep and would require days of hacking back to rediscover the plot below. Having seen the amount of sunshine Crewe has had over the past week, I knew the... Continue Reading →
Yet again February and March have disappeared in a blur of work and holidays and somehow it's April and I've not started growing anything! It doesn't matter how many years I have the allotment, I always seem to end up planting late. I promised myself I would get things growing in February after last year's... Continue Reading →
Before work this morning, I fed the home chickens and quail. With DEFRA finally lifting Flockdown on next week (the 18th April), it's so good to know that the girls will be able to explore the garden again. After feeding the fluffy and ravenous silkies and shifting three idiotic birds off the nest. I had... Continue Reading →
I ambled down to the allotment later than usual this morning. I was greeted by Maude and Mavis at the door, looking distinctly unimpressed when I merely said hello and disappeared off to the Main Coop. With the big girls all fed, I moved onto the New Coop. Gertie made short thrift of the food... Continue Reading →
I'm writing this after collapsing at home. Fed up of waiting for others to volunteer to sort out the pond on the Community Garden (over a year and still waiting!), I decided that I had had enough of our hall being cluttered with the pond liner. I messaged Nikki to see if she would be... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I discovered some exciting signs of spring on site. It's been a long, cold and dark winter and the current cold weather makes it still feel very much like winter. But over the past week, small changes have been happening. Small buds are appearing on the fruit trees, the bees are coming out... Continue Reading →
There really is nothing better than getting outside and getting stuck into digging to clear away the cobwebs after feeling under the weather. The relatively dry weather over the past few days has meant that our usually water-logged plot seemed like it might be dry enough to dig over without running the risk of sinking... Continue Reading →
Poor Gertie. She is holding her own well at the moment but she isn't happy. The others are tending to give her space but as yet, I haven't spotted anyone preferentially staying with her yet. I may yet have to strong arm one of the others into the role by putting them together in a... Continue Reading →
I may have been somewhat over-enthusiastic yesterday in Wilkinson's. Hauling the loot home took ages! This morning after breakfast, I raised our egg boxes to find three big ones to put on the window sill in the dining room. There is always something so exciting about putting the potatoes out to chit. Maybe it's because... Continue Reading →
Late this afternoon, I ambled down to the allotment. I had hoped that the weather would have warmed up during the course of the day, but no such luck! Wrapping up warmly, I filled the big water bottle with hot water and used it as a hand warmer as I walked to the plot. The... Continue Reading →
The past week has been a constant battle against the weather! Coming back to the allotment after our holiday, it was rather a shock to the system to find such cold temperatures. A drop of over 20 degrees is rather severe! As always, Geoff, Nikki and Dylan had done a fantastic job of looking after... Continue Reading →
Rather to my surprise, today was dry and, even more shockingly, there was sunshine! Granted in November, the sun contains little warmth but it's a vast improvement on the past few days! Armed with cleaning supplies, I dashed down to the allotment during my lunch break to clean out the chickens. Poor Maude and Mavis... Continue Reading →
Winter in the UK is wet. Not full monsoon for weeks on end but a persistent drizzle interspersed with heavy rain accompanied by howling winds. You may wonder why Brits have no problem going outdoors in this depressing weather. It's simple. If we waited for the rain to stop, we wouldn't leave the house for... Continue Reading →
Why is it that whenever I go to feed the chickens, the heavens open? Even the merest thought of "I'll go and feed the chickens in a bit..." seems to send out some invisible signal to the clouds to ready themselves for a full monsoon. Usually this phenomena is limited to my leaving the house... Continue Reading →
Shortly after lunch, I dragged my somewhat hungover husband down to the allotment to make a start on the jungle. As he fed the chickens, I walked around the plot, trying to work out a plan. I decided that if we could clear some of the main beds then other jobs such as clearing the... Continue Reading →
After work this evening, I ambled down to the allotment enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. There wasn't anyone else on site as I arrived and I pottered across to check on Maude and Mavis. Mavis seems to have joined Maude in deciding to shed her feathers all over the run. If they weren't standing... Continue Reading →
After a busy day out with the family yesterday, I headed down to the allotment to make a start on the seemingly endless battle against the weeds. My first job was to finish pruning the willow screen and arch, a job I started last week. I dread cutting the top of the willow. It's a... Continue Reading →
Over the past few weeks, the Omlet in the garden has become a battleground. Three of the silkies have been conducting a battle royale to hog the nest. The majority of the past four weeks, I have daily been turfing off Stratus from the nest. She has absolutely no idea how to be a broody... Continue Reading →
The Good Life Crewe 
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