Over the last few days, the weather seems to have turned. It definitely feels more like autumn than summer and the torrential rain more like winter. At this time of year, if the weather is still good there is still lots going on, harvesting and weeding as well as putting in the winter crops. The... Continue Reading →
Big steps forward
Today, despite the rain, something very exciting happened. I put Pop out into the tree pot and left her for a few minutes to enjoy the greenery and a fresh chunk of courgette. Leia had laid another egg and assessed my every move as I cleaned out the bedding. When I finished, I checked on... Continue Reading →
Beavering Away
I arrived down on site at midday today, determined to do some more weeding and cleaning out the greenhouse. When I arrived, I spent a few minutes sitting in the shed, looking at the plot. I am so pleased with how it has transformed this season. The new sections have made my life much easier... Continue Reading →
Building the Ponderosa
When I arrived on site today, I found Sarah and Cliff hard at work digging an enormous hole for the new pond. Cliff had spotted a perfect container on another plot and the plot holder was happy to donate it. This saved huge amounts of time and effort as we didn't have to buy pond... Continue Reading →
Slow and Steady
The rain has set in for the next couple of days so I times my walk to the allotment for a short break in between the showers. Upon arrival, I went to chat to Geoff and spent a while setting the world to rights. I had brought down some kitchen scales and Flubenvet - a... Continue Reading →
Harvesting
Despite growing very little veg this year, I managed to harvest two beautiful little squashes (plants courtesy of Liz and Sarah) as well as Ken kindly giving us a small melon. I am always amazed at the variety of fruit and vegetables that can be grown on site. Here in the north of England, the... Continue Reading →
A quiet few days
Over the last couple of days, there has been no significant events or exciting adventures. I know that now I have written this, there will instantly be several incredibly noteworthy events happening simultaneously. But allotment life has gentler days when all that needs attending to is the chickens and time on site is spent chatting... Continue Reading →
Mid-season Tidy
It was a long day yesterday and I barely had time to stop let alone complete the blog. So here it is, very late! I walked down early to make a start. The greenhouse and the shed needed cleaning and tidying, weeding and general sorting amongst other jobs. It was going to be a busy... Continue Reading →
Tropical Crewe
Out of nowhere, we have been hit with boiling temperatures and high humidity. By the time I got down to the allotment, it was far too hot to do anything other than feed the chickens. I stopped to say hello to Cliff who was down with Koko. We both agreed it was too hot to... Continue Reading →
Building a Bee
Today I trotted down to the allotment, marvelling at how changeable the British weather really is. Yesterday was showers and overcast. Today was boiling. Not dry heat which somehow is more tolerable but the sticky, oppressive heat that makes everything difficult. All the usual gang were there when I arrived and after a preliminary check... Continue Reading →
Evenings at the allotment
After work today I ambled down the allotment. Although it's been a lovely week, it has been exhausting and I was glad the week was over. When I arrived, my first job was to water the loofa plants. I can't believe how much they have grown since I last came down. I am sure if... Continue Reading →
Back with a Bang
After spending a much overdue few days away, I arrived down the allotment this morning to find major changes had occured in my absence! As I walked through the gate, I saw Dave the Plod busy fiddling with something that suddenly spat out an enormous tongue of flame. It turns out, Dave was burning weeds... Continue Reading →
Ticking over
The rain this morning stopped me walking down to the allotment as early as I had planned. By the time jobs were done at home, it was almost lunchtime before I arrived on site. I met Geoff at the gate and said hello. My first priority was Pop and checking on how she was doing.... Continue Reading →
Another long day!
Today I ambled down to the allotment determined to finish off the path and beds. Rain was forecast for this afternoon so it was a race against time to get it completed. Liz swung by before I started work to have a look at the new layout. She was staggering underneath an enormous pile of... Continue Reading →
Never board at the Allotment
Today was an epic long day at the allotment. I arrived with one plan but ended up doing something else. Initially, I went to have a look at the stumpery. It's looking much better although I decided there was no point in re-organising the logs until we had enough to fill the stumpery. Pondering what... Continue Reading →
Building the Stumpery
Today was a very busy day at the allotment. I got down early to make sure I had fed the chickens before receiving a cockerel from a colleague who took three of our work chicks. Unfortunately, she can't keep Napoleon so I had arranged for a local farmer to come and collect him. Abi arrived... Continue Reading →
The Adventures of Charles the Racing Pigeon
So today was another one of those memorable and eventful days at the allotment. As with these days, things started off quietly. I went down to feed the chickens in the main coop, collected four eggs and sorted out their food (tons left) and water (also tons due to the intermittent torrential downpours). I spent... Continue Reading →
Pigeon Rescue
This evening, I walked down to the allotment in the blistering heat. It has been insanely hot today, it hit 31 degrees by 10am and the temperature continued to climb. Even at gone 6pm, the temperature was awfully high. As I arrived on site, I spotted my poor monkey puzzle tree was beginning to wilt.... Continue Reading →
All plot and bothered
I walked down to the allotment this morning armed with my bee suit just in case the bees were being checked. There was a breeze so it will be done another day as bees hate wind. They tend to get rather angry if you open up their hive for an inspection if the wind is... Continue Reading →
Starting the path
This morning I walked down to the allotment alone initially just to feed the chickens. The weather was not looking promising and I left my husband busy sorting out the lawn before it started to rain. As I first arrived, I spotted Steve de-miting the White Leghorn chickens from Phil's plot one at a time... Continue Reading →
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