Ready, steady sow!!

I went over to my father-in-law's house to spend some time in his greenhouse. Lovely to have loads of space to work and be out of the elements.

The seeds were mainly from Thompson & Morgan and a few from Lidl. I planted most of my seeds that couldn't be sown straight outside, including red peppers, banana peppers, hot chilli, parsley, dwarf green and dwarf yellow French beans.

 

If you ever wondered what I do with all the containers from the Total Greek Yoghurt I think you will see from the photos how I re-use them!

I don't need to plant tomatoes because FIL grows enough for all of us!!

Nice too that I can go home and know they will be watered and looked after by FIL.

It's a start so watch this space......!

Thompson & Morgan Sow the Seeds!

I have been lucky enough to be sent a selection of seeds from Thompson & Morgan the seed specialist.  They sent me all the main things that I want to grow on the allotment this year.

I am planning on starting small this year and expanding next year.  So for starters this year I am looking to plant red peppers, red banana peppers, chilli, dwarf green and dwarf yellow french beans, beetroot, courgette, herbs such as corriander, basil and parsley, radish and a few other things.

My potting table in the back garden

The new trug ready to be put to good use.

 They also sent me a red gooseberry bush to start my fruit collection!  So much work to do but we shall keep working and hopefully we will be enjoying the fruits of our labour from mid-summer onward!! 

 

 

A busy weekend

The weather finally was condusive to doing a bit outside this weekend. Plus we had our grandaughter (Miss Small) visiting us for a couple of days. Miss Small loves being outside and also is the best helper around. Most of the days she had been with us were too cold but Saturday the weather improved and the three of us popped up to the allotment for a couple of hours.

Mr R set fire to the blackberry rubbish he had been clearing and it went up really quickly. Funny how men get that pyromaniac look in their eyes when they start a bonfire!

A whole pile of bramble bushes were swiftly reduced to a smoldering area. We made sure the fire was out before we left.

Check out that pyromaniac smile!!

We gave Miss Small a task to collect stones and she went at it like a stone collector possessed!

 

Miss Small was relentless in her stone collecting and had a great time outside in the fresh air.  She calls it 'Nanny's new garden'. As soon as she was on her way home in the afternoon she was sound alseep in a matter of minutes! You can't beat a bit of fresh air!

 

 

My Herb Bed

Today I popped over to the allotment and whilst Mr R carried on with his blackberry hedge clearing I got on with the first steps towards a lovely and full herb bed.

 

Even with a bad shoulder I managed to turn over a good size square which will soon be the home of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!  My daughter (mummymoments1) gave me some herb plants for Mother's Day and these will soon be living at the allotment.  I also want to add two more herb types but haven't decided which ones to grow yet. 

 

I am going to try to source some seeds for Shiso Leaf - a Japanese substitute for Corriander and give it a try.

 

During the week I will pop back for an hour or two and start preparing this herb bed, once the grass roots have dried out and can be extracated from the soil.  Some good compost will be added and mixed in to completely change the claggy texture of the soil and the bed will be ready for planting. 

 

I will also be siting the tyres and filling the bottom with rubble although it is not nearly time to plant the courgettes.

 

It will be good to see things starting to shape up!