Been busy paving at the allotment

Last night I promised myself a day of rest after a fairly busy time so what did I end up doing?  Laying paving stones at the allotment and planting out the peas!

My tall peas supported by an excellent purpose built runner bean frame. 

I bought a bean frame for the peas.  It is a purpose built frame with hinges on the top and bulldog style clips to hold the netting on.  It was very easy to put together and if it holds up to the wind I will recommend it.  Around it I planted Turners Spring, Table top and purple podded peas which I sowed in 1/4 seed trays and then hardened off in the cold frame at home.

I then planted the first thing in the raised beds. some Hatif d'Annonay peas which form sturdy plants and need no support.

Hatif d'Annonay Peas.  Apparently these need no support. We shall see.

I then stopped for lunch in my shed which gave me some time to admire the view and enjoy all my hard work over the last year.

After lunch I then started on laying some more of the paving stones around my shed.

These will give good access to the shed and compost bins.

I just need to add another row at the front of the shed to enable us to sit out and to easily get by the shed doors when they are open and I'll be done.

All the plants are doing really well.

The rhubarb has gone mad!

The radishes will need thinning soon.

The potatoes are growing fast.

The leeks are getting really tall and beginning to thicken up 

and the spring cabbage is beginning to make heads after their disastrous start.

All in all a very pleasant day down the allotment even if I didn't get my day of rest.  Who needs rest anyway if there's interesting stuff to do instead!

Early Autumn jewels

As the season turns surprisingly slowly to autumn this year my garden is loosing it's overall beauty but with just a little observation many wonderful sights can still be seen.  There is nothing better than pottering about finding delights at every turn.

My backdoor foot scraper hiding in the mind your own business.

Courtyard colour

This twinkles with the suns rays as they catch it in the afternoon

The bees are still busy

The sedum is doing extremely well this year

Garlic chives gone mad with an autumn fling!

Bay tree buds

Allium seed pod.  I really don't remember planting this but it reaches 6ft every year!

Autumn crocuses amongst the pansies

Can't remember the name of this plant but it's beautiful all the same.

White Autumn crocus

Callicarpa close up.  They are hairy berries - very wierd.

Callicarpa in all its glory.  Such a treat in the early autumn.

More white autumn crocus

Wonderfully striking Lobelia

The leeks I left from last winter. I will soon have loads of seeds for next year and pretty heads for the frost to fall on.

Autumn raspberries for my tea.

A newly cleared patch clawed back from the ivy filled with bulbs for year round interest.

The prize of my garden at the moment a waterlily autumn crocus.

I've actually planted something!

Today  I got the first bit of ground that I had dug over previously in my allotment, forked through, de-weeded, raked and I even planted something!

 I had previously sown some onions from seed and they had made onion sets last year. They have been growing nicely  in seed trays and I planted out in the newly prepared ground where I found the potatoes last time I dug there. It is a really sunny site so hopefully they will grow a lot better in my allotment than they had in my shaded garden.

 My inherited rhubarb is growing great guns in the sunshine.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks we shall be able to sample some. Every time I go down the allotment I weed over the ground around the plants. No doubt it will take many years to get rid of all the weeds busily growing around them.

While I was at the allotment today I was given a wheel barrow that was going spare!  It was really nice to be offered it.  There is a nice community spirit there.  I had to lock it to my compost heap though because people get in and acquire things if left around.  I left my watering can there too to save me having to remember it next time.

I think very soon I am going to have to get myself a shed to put all my tools etc in.  There is only so much I can lock to my compost heap!!

Digging and sowing and new shoots

The weather has be wonderful today. It has been 10c and sunny for the third day in a row!!  After the long long winter this year it really has been nice to be out. I spent the whole afternoon digging the rhubarb bed on my allotment. I at last have managed to get rid of the mass of couch grass straggling the rhubarb plants.  With the recent dry weather the ground has dried and I was even able to rake it afterwards!














I also recovered the ground that I am leaving uncultivated as the wind has blown the flimsey plastic off.  This time I have used the heavier woven plastic that I had but remembered the scissors to cut it this time!  I have also covered it with clods of earth to hold it down.  Hopefully it will stay in place this time.

I decided where to put my shed today and I also covered that area in the remaining plastic to kill the weeds whilst I get the shed ordered.

I found the new shoots on the raspberry plants just coming through.  I'm looking forward to tasting them in the months to come.






When I got home I sowed my flowering plants in line with the moon.  I have sowed some sweetpeas called Gwendoline, Autumn Broccoli, a white cosmos called Purity, tagetes called Golden gem and Monarda Bergamo - a new on for me it has dark pink flowers on long stems and is attractive to butterflies and bees.