Garden and Allotment Update

It's been a few weeks since I posted a garden/allotment update, so here goes.

 

OH has now fully planted up the allotment. There's absolutely no more room for anything else to go in. Despite the fact that our local hardware shop has re-opened and is selling sweetcorn plants, we just have no room for them. I decided to buy some anyway this week, as soon we should be harvesting some potatoes and that will make some room.

 

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the plot as it is now:

 

 

 

 

We're just waiting until things are ready to harvest now. OH has been harvesting quite a lot of strawberries and raspberries these last few weeks. We seem to have inherited some summer fruiting ones that have self sown from neighbouring plots.  We're not complaining, as all of ours were autumn fruiting, so it has lengthened the availability for us.

 

This week, the site has had a tap fitted for a hosepipe, which should make watering much easier.  We are right next to the water tank anyway, so it won't make too much difference for us, but for people who have plots over the other side of the site it will really help them. Most plot holders chipped in and it cost us all about £15 each including the hose, which wasn't too bad.

 

Plot inspections are happening at the end of this month. To be honest, due to lockdown most plots on our site have been attended more than usual, so all of the plots are looking really good. I'll be very happy if we don't win best plot again this year, as we've won a prize for the last two years, so it's time for someone else to have a turn. It's not me winning anyway, it's OH and all his hard work.

 

Our garden is looking very green and lush.  The rain has helped. It still needs a lot of work in the long term as it needs a full renovation. We need a new shed and to completely rebuild the paths, as they have been ruined by the dog running around and are very rutted.  We need to lay bricks or pavers ideally, as bark just did not work and gets redistributed everywhere. I'm not sure when we'll get around to this, it may be next year now. 

 

The decking outside the back door is in really bad repair too and is rotting in places, so this either needs replacing or we need to rethink the surfacing altogether. It would be nice to just get someone in to do it all, but I don't know if we can afford it at the moment.

 

 

Anyway, the lovely corner of foxgloves that I transplanted are now virtually over and about to set seed.  I decided to put paper bags over the tops of some of the white ones in order to catch some of the seed to potentially sew in other parts of the garden.  I have cut the seed heads off most of the purple ones, as I only want white ones to self seed. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

This weekend, I spent most of Saturday in the garden cutting stuff back that was getting a bit overwhelming, planting my acer into the border. Here it is tucked underneath this corkscrew hazel.  it adds a bit of colour to this border. I may need to move it when it outgrows this space, but for now it's perfect.

 

 

The rose bush that I bought the other week is now in full bloom and very pretty it is too.

 

 

Whilst out in the garden, I swept the decking, pulling out all the pots and sweeping behind them. It was long overdue and it all now looks a lot tidier. I also created space outside the back door for OH to grow on some of his tomato plants, as it gets full sun for most of the day there. Here's a picture of the decking as it is now:

 

 

We keep our brown garden waste bin at the back now, as people would walk past and deposit their rubbish in it when it was in the front garden. It's a bit of an eyesore, but at least it's easier to fill it when it's in the back garden and we don't have to traipse the garden waste through the house. We just wheel it up the stairs and out to the front on the day that it is collected now.

 

 

I also harvested all of the gooseberries and blackcurrants from the garden on Saturday morning.  There weren't masses, but what there is, combined with what I harvested from the allotment later, will all get made into jam next week.

 

Another small thing I made for the garden this week was a new peg bag. I made it out of a small piece of shower curtain fabric that I had in my stash. I couldn't see me using this for anything else and at least the pegs will not get wet, as they do in the fabric bag I made last time. The old one was looking decidedly shabby and needed retiring. Here's a picture of the new one:

 

 

 

The raised beds in our garden are OH's domain these days. They are fully planted up with all kinds of lettuce, spinach, bush beans, kale, kohl rabi and sunflowers. We have been harvesting some lettuce leaves, but I prefer a nice head of lettuce, so I'm hoping these plants will develop into heads eventually. There is some kale ready to harvest, which I keep meaning to do, but I never seem to get around to it, probably because I'm the only person in the house who will eat it. Here's a picture of the beds:

 

 

 

 

 

There are still lots more things to do in the garden, but they are mainly big jobs that will take a bit of thought, planning and organisation. In the meantime, I can always buy a few more plants when I see them and fill in some gaps and then just sit in it and enjoy it. I definitely need to do more of that.

 

How is your garden?