Sunny Saturday

Hello reader.

After the snow and ice, the weekend was brilliant. Sunshine all weekend. Fortunately I managed to find a few hours to visit the allotment. All was well.

There was still some clearing to do, and some digging, and I took the opportunity to pile more leaves up on the dug areas.

The peas under the fleece are all OK:


There isn't too much winter damage on the broad beans (yet!)


Meanwhile at home, the greenhouse has arrived. I'm waiting for some trees to be cut before I finish the base and start assembling.

New Year Tasks

Happy New Year. May 2011 feed us as well as 2010 did. In fact we are still eating frozen beans and courgettes, potatoes, carrots parsnips, celeriac, leeks, and cabbage. Still to come we have purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbages, and possibly some late developing sprouts.

We had a very short visit to the plot today and dug up the remaining parsnips, leeks and carrots, before we have yet another freeze. Most of the cabbages have rotted as they thawed, so they have been removed, but there are still a few Killaton that may survive a week or two.

Back home, in a cold shed I have sown Onions (Bedford), Leeks (Mussleburgh), Cauliflower (All the year round), peas (Jaguar) and sweet peas. I've also sown some replacement Sutton broad beans in a pot as those planted in early November seem to have disappeared.

I'm now waiting in excitement for my Christmas present to arrive: a new greenhouse. Then I'll have to spend weeks assembling it!

Happy Christmas to Our Reader

Does anyone actually read this drivel? If you do leave a Christmas message!

After weeks of snow, it was necessary to go to the allotment today and try and chisel out some parsnips for Christmas lunch. In fact with a lot of hard work we harvested parsnips, carrots, celeriac, and leeks. The ground was well and truly scarred afterwards ... we need new snow to hide the mud.

Being the shortest time of the year, snow, poor light etc, the photos from a phone are VERY black and white.

Have a very happy Christmas.

Snow

We have been covered with snow for much of the week, so no allotmenteering.

Curiosity got the better of me today, so I donned boots, hat, gloves and multi-layers and made the 1.5mile trudge through the snow with the camera.

This is what greets you as you come through the pedestrian gate:

We now know where the one vote for England's world cup bid came from:

The path towards our plot:

Views over our plot:

It was so cold I couldn't get the fork into the ground, so no leeks, carrots or parsnips. I managed to grab one cabbage, but by then my fingers were too cold to attempt to pick sprouts (not that they are worth picking.)