Adventures in the life of an English allotment
Today was hot. Really hot. Too hot. I went down to the allotment this morning to get ahead of the weeds. I started with the weeds in the greenhouse which insist on growing in our tomato bed. The mix of bindweed and mares tail is lethal to any plants attempting to grow within several feet... Continue Reading →
This afternoon, we ambled down to the plot to prep the soil ready for transferring our seedlings from the greenhouse. The sun was out, the sky was blue and there was a gentle wind too which was lovely. I left my husband with instructions to hoe the beds after removing all the dreaded mare's tail.... Continue Reading →
Today I headed down to the plot early with a long list of jobs to do. The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It's been weeks since we had such beautiful weather! My first job was the most important, catching up on all the site news with Cliff and Geoff.... Continue Reading →
Over the last week, snow and ice have ruled supreme in the UK. The news has been filled with snowy wastelands and amber weather warnings. Yet Crewe was a different story! It seems to have a slightly different micro-climate which is always warmer than the rest of the local area. In the first day where... Continue Reading →
Over the past two days, we have made huge inroads into the jungle of weeds which used to be our plot. On Saturday afternoon, I headed down and focused on clearing the nettles, doc plants and other weeds from the back of Geoff's plot. The nettles are lethal and it was challenging to cut them... Continue Reading →
This weekend, we went to visit our friends Jackie and Richard in the stunning Yorkshire Dales. I've never been to North Yorkshire but I adore watching the rolling hills and wild moorlands on programmes like All Creatures Great and Small, The Yorkshire Vet and The Yorkshire Farm. To say it was breathtaking was an understatement.... Continue Reading →
Feeling a little bit at a loose end, I decided to take advantage of the dry weather and go for an explore. There is always something so beautiful about the spring, maybe it's the vivid green of the new leaves after so many months of bare trees and rain, or perhaps it's the crocuses and... Continue Reading →
With the rain of yesterday over, I went down to the allotment this morning to see how the plot had faired after yet more rain. I'm not hopeful that we'll be able to start off any of our crops for another two to three weeks as it will take at least that long for the... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, I ambled down the plot to catch up with everyone and feed the chickens. The sun was out, the sky was blue and there was more than a hint of spring in the air. It was lovely to see the site busy, with people appearing after their winter hibernation. Despite wind, rain and snow,... Continue Reading →
With a couple of dry days (finally!), I managed to get down to the plot and finally start sorting out the growing beds. Grabbing my trusty Wolfgarten tiller, I began on the top bed by the pond. I decided due to the heaviness of the soil, which was still holding a lot of moisture, I... Continue Reading →
Considering how wet this summer has been, any day when the British weather isn't trying to emulate the height of the monsoon means it's time to get down the allotment. Even rarer are the days where the sun is actually visible and the sky changes from drizzle grey to blue. Days like today can't be... Continue Reading →
My plans for a full day at the allotment today were scuppered by the fickle British weather. Despite living in an era of climate change and increasingly hot dry summers and milder winters, July has been a total washout. As frustrating as the relentless weeks of drizzle are, I find it somewhat nostalgic. I remember... Continue Reading →
After spending all week on the verge of melting into a puddle, we made it down the allotment to tackle what used to be a well-tended plot. As we arrived, I looked at the plot in despair. There were so many weeds and it was going to take hours to get it back under control.... Continue Reading →
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 →
With the sun out and showers forecast for tomorrow, I decided when I woke up this morning that today I would finally clean out the chicken coops. It's incredibly difficult to clean the allotment chicken coops over the winter due to the water being off and having two large wooden nest boxes to clean. Plus... 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 →
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 →
The Good Life Crewe 
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