1 Year On

So a year has passed since my last post. A lot has changed. I won't bore you with the details of how why etc but here is a brief summary. As the previous post states, we are 4, occasionally 5, but certainly not the 6 we were before. I am no longer teaching in a formal setting, instead educating children in our local museums. I still have limitations to my right hand and arm, however, my mental health has greatly improved but the allotment continues to be the best form of therapy for me.

We had the same usual successes last year, our strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, in fact all of our fruit was great! We were picking tomatoes until November in the greenhouse. The garlic was superb and I'm just using the last couple of bulbs. The shallots mostly failed. We had a couple of good sized pumpkins and an abundance of sugar snap peas.

On to 2018....

Like the rest of the UK we have struggled with flooding on the allotment, which has lead to a later start.

Normally boggy in winter, not normally a paddling pool!

The drainage ditch overflowed and the entire back, up to the shed, is under water.

Even the front is flooded this year!

I had a kick up the arse from very good friends to get me started and since then have not let the rain deter me. All beds on the front except one, which is half dug, have been cleared and prepped (you'll see what slowed progress on the last bed.) We have a good crop of shallots coming on (No puns today sorry) The asparagus survived the winter. Broad beans planted in the Autumn had survived until the last cold snap took most of them out, but new seeds have been planted. That's 3 planted, 4 beds good to go and 1 nearly. I think we can safely call that progress.

7 out of 8 good to go

CP has taken over one of the beds and has started organising it (distracting mummy from the last bed, but getting some lovely quality time together.) She's planted a row of broad beans, (Her personal favourite) parsley, basil and had me rooting round for strawberry runners to add to her bed. That means that any strawberries grown from now on, are her personal supply, although she will still help clear the kilo a day we get from the other patch come June/July! She's planning on planting carrots and flowers too. When it finally dries up, she wants to paint the outside of her bed. Looking good CP.

CP's bed

JJ and Bob will help from time to time but have more important things to be doing with their friends now. They come and help when I need muscle and 2 working hands.

As you can see from above, the back section of raised beds has been too flooded to do much. The 2 back beds still need repairing, however we have all the materials and are waiting for it to dry up a bit.

I'm keeping the middle section fallow. As suggested by a friend, I'm laying down cardboard and when it arrives, piling up the manure and covering it over for now.

Work in progress.

So there you are for now. We will have to see how the year transpires.

Hope you all have a productive year. Happy digging :)

Name change

It was pointed out to me that I had not blogged for a long time and this morning I felt the urge to blog again. 6 P's on a plot was no longer appropriate as we are now 4 and have been for 18 months now. Only one of us is a true P so a name change was called for. Escape the Chaos seems a more appropriate name, as that is exactly what I go to the lottie to do.

Further updates on how the allotment will follow. But for now, happy digging :)

The joys of Spring

What a fabulous couple of weeks weather wise! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the blossoms on the trees are starting to open and the Little P's were persuaded to come and do wheelbarrow runs at the allotment.

six of the eight new beds are now topped up with compost and I have planted our sugar snap peas. They are just starting to break through the surface, but are still being protected by the net from all those lovely beasties, who would love to have a munch on them.

We have started painting the new beds. (We, is not the royal, but JJ and I) We are half way there.  

CP is very happy as her broad beans are finally making an appearance, along with the Narcissus she planted last year.

I planted my squash, courgette, gherkin and cucumber seeds in pots in the greenhouse, only to return and find that the seeds have been chewed by a visitor. I will set them again in the propagator at home to get them going. I was trying to avoid planting at home as I have a marauding Mo, who likes to dig in pots. In a battle of cat and mouse, I know which one I'd trust most. Also I can shut the kitchen door and keep marauding Mo from digging.

The strawberries have been refreshed by removing all the old growth and relocating some of last years runners. I took out a few of the original plants as they were past their best. Advice given by other growers is to remove plants after 3 years. Given all the runners grown over the past couple of years, we have a self sustaining patch. A top up of compost and a quick weeding and off we go again. Jam is going to be this years focus, although the strawberry wine is divine!

The shallots are coming along nicely. The carrots which were planted around them are now breaking the surface. Although I did have a moment and was quite shocked to see so many 'weeds' until I realised they were supposed to be there and were not weeds, but carrots!!? Oops. luckily realised before I removed too many. For the first time ever I think every seed has sprouted!

I have been gifted some nice big pots so the next job will be to transplant all the tomatoes and chillies which have survived the marauder. I have planted flower seeds which were left alone by the beasties and are shooting well now.  When they are big enough they will be transplanted around the plot. New beetroot seeds have been planted and 2 remaining from last year, have been left to go to seed. The potato bed needs rotavating (Mr P assistance required please!?) and they are ready to go in. Certainly in a better position this year to last year.

Thanks for reading, I'm off to enjoy the wonderful sunshine. Keep digging. :)

Surely there shallot of puns out there???!!!

I am enjoying my time at the allotment at the moment and am waiting for the bad weather to do one so I can get on with backfilling the new beds. When I'm at work the sun is shining, when I am free to visit the Lottie it is persisting it down. Oh well take advantage whenever I get the chance.

I have started planting in the 2 beds now they are settled. 2 beds of shallots from last years harvest. Definitely a satisfying feeling knowing that we are using what we have already grown. I made sure I hid them from Mr P and KP otherwise they would have ended up in a tart served for boxing day dinner. The plan is to companion plant carrots. Fingers crossed!

Next job finish back filling the rest of the beds from the compost heap. Here's hoping for a dry day tomorrow so I can get an hour or so in before the Little P's come rampaging out of school.

Short but sweet today. Thanks for reading. Happy digging :)

Managed to grab a couple of hours at the allotment on Sunday afternoon. The sun was was bursting through the grey clouds giving a generous dose vitamin D to all those who wanted to blow away the cobwebs. I managed to get one last look at the crocuses before they went over and can't wait for my daffodils and tulips to open!

It's looking quite sparse in the flowerbed and the grass is sneaking back, but an hour of pulling grasd roots, some new spring plants and the flowerbed will be full of colour again.

It was great to get some time up there alone and really think about what I'm planting where and the next steps.

On a previous visit we backfilled the new raised beds with leaf mould. As this has now settled I felt it was time to take the top off the compost heap and start adding some of the good stuff.

We haven't used any of the compost off the compost heap since we started the allotment so it was interesting to see what it was like.

The compost looked fantastic and excuse the pun but the earthy smell was great.

Not being able to push the wheelbarrow, I had to come up with my own way of transporting the compost. 12 potato buckets  full later and I can genuinely question why did we build the compost bins at the back of the plot? There is definitely a lot to be said for keeping your compost bins in the middle of your plot or even better, have a few dotted around the site which are more accessible.

I only managed to back fill 2 beds but I am very pleased with this achievement! Next time I might be able to get one of the Little P's to do the wheel barrow and save my bruised leg from the knock of the bucket. Certainly earnt those bruises, however the 2 beds are looking great and are ready for planting!

Charlie Bear enjoyed a bit of freedom and was very good off his lead. He went visiting friends on neighbouring plots once, but when your friends offer you biscuits, it's rude not to go and say hello! :)

Although it seemed too early to leave, I decided the light was failing and it was time to call it a day. For the first time in years I am less bothered about losing an hours sleep, and more excited about the prospect of getting to stay out later. Reminds me of my teenage years, pre social media, where you went out to catch up with your friends and would stay out as long as you could. You made sure you were home before it got dark otherwise you were grounded! Quite calming to experience those memories. Makes me want to call my group of friends up and go meet them on the swings again.

The Little P's are getting to this stage and it gives such a warm, fuzzy feeling to see them enjoying a bit of freedom and racing around on bikes or 'chilling' with their friends.

That's enough reminiscing and getting mushy about childhood. As the sun sets, leaving a final burst of light through the clouds, casting rays of gold and red hue across the landscape, I call it a day. Moments like this leave you with a feeling calm.  Looking forward to my next day off so that I can get some more quality time up there.

Thanks for reading and keep digging :)

Busy week

Being on half term we took advantage of the time out of work to catch up on paperwork and get some quality time at the lottie.

Dad W helped me to carry wood and make 8 new raised beds. He carried on even though it was getting dark until they were built.

Kp helped me to back fill them with leaf mould. Next job is to clear a space to get to the compost heap, which has been overrun by brambles over the autumn, and use the good stuff at the bottom of the pile.

Not the straightest but more than fit for purpose. Just need to stake them in the middle of the long sides to ensure completely secure and don't bow.

We had 1 casualty from storm Doris. (seriously why Doris? I had a great, great Aunt Doris who would always give us cups of tea and penguins (the biscuit variety, not the cuddly kind) when we went to visit. How can I think of her as a storm?) Any who, the wind took out 2 panes of glass and although I have what seems to be half a shed full of glass panels, none will actually fit and I need to get a 45 degree angle piece cut. Hopefully before the wind takes any more of the panels out.

That's us done for now. Next stop get some seeds in.

Thanks for reading and happy digging. :)

Start as we mean to go on

So after my mamouth grass pulling session, Mr P decided he needed to get down to the plots and do something constructive.

At the end of last year we dug the main bed up to the last few scallop squash and rebarked it ready for the winter.

Unsurprisingly we didn't go back to finish the job and left the section until now. KP and I set to digging while Mr P tinkered with the big rotavator.

While Mr P and KP dealt with the main bed, I set to digging up the roots of the dock leaf that had started to grow again in the flowerbed. Several 2ft craters later, we had a sizable mound of ridiculously long roots and some as thick as my wrist!

The training I'm doing for this year's Swimathon is clearly paying off for this one armed bandit ;)

I now also have an excellent excuse to replant the flowerbed. (Yes I was careful not to disturb the newly emerging daffodils, crocus and tulips.)


The result of an afternoon's work:

Next steps? Dad W is coming to help repair the 2 damaged raised beds towards the back of the plot and start building new beds on the main bed. Hopefully it will make 45 more manageable for me and free up time for Mr P to focus on 47.

Then I need to chit the seed potatoes and get the dozens of seeds started in the propagator.

I've been reluctant to get the propagator up and running, as our latest family member has an affinity for compost and anything with leaves, especially chilli plants!

Found this branch pulled off and the 2 chillies mauled. Cheers Mr Mo Stash!

Thanks for reading.
Happy digging :)