Sunshine!

A beautiful weekend and a long over due session at the allotment. I was ill last weekend (I had a really bad cold for the first time this school year!) so Mrs. G. had to be plant mistress on her own :)
She did a good job! We now have several courgette plants under cover from slugs and birds.

We don't seem to have planted very much this year. Not that it matters that much. We planted lots of things that didn't really take off last year and that we weren't all that bothered about anyway. The potatoes are doing well and even though they're not as big as the potatoes on the neighbouring plots, I'm very confident that we'll get lots of spuds this year. 

I planted 3 tomato plants to the right of the potatoes in the the first bed a while ago. I put cut off plastic bottles around them to protect them but something (birds?) have eaten a fair amount of the leaves. Very irritating. We covered them loosely with netting, hoping that'll do the trick.

We also got rid of one of the two composts as we don't really need more than one. All we did was remove the sides, cover the ground in old carpet and put the sides on top to weigh it all down. Hopefully the grass underneath will wither away and die and we can work that area into an extra bed ready for next year. 

The spinach we planted last year was very successful. To our surprise it has just kept on coming. According to one knowledgeable neighbour it could be perennial spinach (we clearly didn't check the label) and so Mrs. G. cut it all back a couple of weeks ago. It's come back no end! This time we need to pick it asap as it will otherwise bolt. The celery we planted last year never really happened and died in the winter, i.e. we never got round to removing it, and believe it or not but that has also started to grow. I suppose it's all because of the mild winter so there's no magic involved but nevertheless, we're quite chuffed. On a more negative note, the rocket seedlings I planted two weeks ago have all died...

The yellowy green plants are celery and the green row in the middle is the spinach.

The autumn raspberries are looking fabulous but the summer ones we got from a friend don't look too happy. We're not too down about that though. They probably need a year to adjust and will give berries next year. 

We did a bit of weeding as well and then sat down on the grass for a chat. The weather was glorious! It does mean that we need to water in the evenings but that is a really good thing for me. I need an evening walk! Getting up at the crack of dawn every weekday to get some report writing done leaves me very tired in the evening. A walk to the allotment might do the trick. 

I love having flowers on the kitchen table and always buy a bunch when I go to the local farm shop on a Saturday. My favourite flower, the tulip, is now gone so yesterday I bought some very unusual smelling pretty things. There was a label of course but I have forgotten what it said. They smell quite strongly of something similar to cloves. Very nice!

I feel like I'm a student again with the report writing hanging over me. I tend to think of lots of other things to do. Last year we painted a blackboard on Little Miss M's wardrobe door and the other day I got the idea that I could use the paint to make labels on jars. Completely unnecessary but good fun!

As if we didn't know that we only have muesli in that jar.

Well today is yet another fantastically beautiful day so after I've finished some reports I think I'll do a bit of gardening. 

Mrs. M.