The third phase!!!

20.07.11.
According to Baz we are now in Phase 3 at our allotment. Personally I see it just as a gradual journey, heading towards Perfect Plot, which I know is unrealistic but the perfectionist in me can't help but strive for, well, perfection of course. I think Baz is right in a way though. Phase 1 being the first month or so when it was all 'CLEAR!' 'DIG!' 'QUICK, SOW SOW SOW!'; Phase 2 being 'Oh shit, why is nothing we put in from seed growing?' and 'ooh look, the potatoes are doing sooo well!' and 'ah, we've done really well in such a short space of time, look at how much we've done'. So unless I am totally mistaken, and believe me I am totally mistaken about a hundred times a day so it is quite likely in this case, Phase 3 signifies our second attempt at sowing a load of stuff and starting to harvest stuff ie potatoes.

Sooooo........here are some pictures as always. I know of the three or four people that look at this blog, probably only one, my loving partner, actually reads this so it's all about the pictures.....

 We thought we might have killed these potato plants, but we found these!!

 Aww...

 Our first potato crop!!

 Mmmm [vegan] buttery potatoes with mint...yummy.

 Aww again...

 Put in some spinach and yet more carrots....

 Sort of awww, depending on whether you like hornets (is that what it is?), for Baz it's more like 'Bahhh, shit, run!'

 A bird had used plastic in this nest, which was bizarre to see.

 Baz cleared a lot of the plants etc in front of the shed, and now we have an official bike resting place.

 There was a lot of rain, as you can see...

 Taking shelter from the rain and drawing up a plan of our crops.

Oh. We attempted to cook jacket potatoes in the bbq coal but they pretty much turned into charcoal...
-x-

26.07.11

The raspberry patches had really been doing my head in ever since we took on the plot. They were overrun with weeds and plants and dead canes and brambles...so as the old raspberry canes which have fruited already had started to die, and they needed cutting down, I got to work and tidied it all up. SO satisfying, if a little time consuming (seeing as I do everything in an ocd manner). So it all looks lovely now and you can actually see the individual raspberry plants and it will be so much easier to harvest the next lot of fruit.

 Aww...

 So our compost heap is pretty high now.

 Oh My God- BEANS!!! I was really unsure as to whether any beans would appear...but today I spotted these!!!

Feeling a lot more positive about the allotment these last few days, which is such a relief. What it means really is that I am feeling a bit better in myself, so slowly but surely the things which I used to enjoy are coming back to me, reminding me that life can be good, there is a point to all of this and I can look to the future once more.

-x-

off at a musical tangent...

this is off at a tangent from allotments and food and my mental health (which seems to have crept into my writing somewhat...) but thought I'd post this here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJnEzvY5E6k&feature=player_embedded

this is a youtube video that Baz made which he somehow persuaded me to sing and play and feature in....

hope you enjoy it xx

BBQs and flowers

Last weekend me and Baz had an evening BBQ at the allotment. Was really nice. Kinda funny though as we used a whole load of charcoal and our vegan sausages and burgers took all of 5 minutes to cook....bit of a waste but it did serve as a heater while we sat there for a bit after eating. Really peaceful up there in the evening. Here are some pics:

This is Henry the resident seagull. I have a feeling I might have mentioned him before but got his name wrong...

And here are some more pics which are from the 7th July (my sister's birthday).... They are mostly of flowers, which are everywhere at the moment, and none of which I know the names of!

 This is one of the crops doing really well, and not surprisingly it was something we didn't attempt to start ourselves...! This and the one below is the squash or pumpkin (not sure which) Andy from next door gave us.

 The first blackberries we've seen (at our allotment that is, not ever).

 Yay! They're surviving! This is the cauliflower..

So even though there isn't an abundance of things we have grown, who cares, there are a few things, and lots of lovely flowers to look at. Which are a good distraction from my silly mind and moods, if only for a brief while.

We didn't make it up there this weekend, we were too busy looking at museums in London and having roast dinners and swimming in the sea. We planned to go yesterday but thought we'd go tomorrow instead. So until then........ -x-

Pinch and a punch

for the first of the month and no returns.

So we are in July, how mad is that? Where the hell have the past six months gone....? Anyhoo. So a massive achievement for me personally is that I managed to go to the allotment by myself for the first time in three weeks. Yay! It wasn't particularly successful and I almost had an anxiety attack when having to speak to people up there, but I managed and hopefully no-one noticed I was feeling crazy inside....

So I've been up there once this week and Baz and I went up on Tuesday evening as well as on Saturday. Here is the photographic evidence of what we've been up to...........

These are tomato and squash plants given to us by our friend Lucy but sadly they have since died.....

Two more lots of carrots have gone in where something we put in died/failed to show.

 How cool is this pic?!

 Me finishing off the front bed that I took apart a few weeks back. We took up a load of carpet that was underneath.

 Baz is determined to grow rocket, mizuna and some other lettuce which were gobbled up by some critters.

Mmmm raspberries.

We bought some netting from Homebase (evil Homebase*) to put over some kohl rabi and cauliflower I put in last Saturday. We're determined for them to live!!

 Same for these squash.

 The first lot of cherries!

 Haven't got around to looking these bugs up, but they were on the dwarf runner bean leaves.

A sunny day at the allotment on Tuesday.

*Even though I say they're evil, we bloody love going in there and looking at all the pointless but cool stuff you can buy....
-x-