dippy eggs on drippy days

It's July. Yes honestly. I have this week off work and when I booked it, I had lovely visions of doing the allotment in a bikini top and picnicing with Pearl in poppy fields. Instead I am doing the school run in wellies and trying to find enough indoor things to keep Pearl amused. Flora has gone on her first residential school trip to an outward bound centre- I didn't bother packing her sun cream.

Not having to hare about like a lunatic in the mornings is a real luxury. Pearl couldn't believe her luck this morning when I made her favourite boiled eggs for breakfast. A feast fit for a princess!

easter harvest

Happy Easter everyone, I hope the Easter bunny has paid you all a visit.

We're celebrating with a roast dinner, accompanied by our first harvest of the year- I can't wait to sink my teeth into those tasty spears of purple sprouting broccoli. I bought the seedlings at a car boot sale on Easter Sunday last year, so it's funny to think a whole year of growing has gone by before we finally get to sample the goods! 

The rest of the allotment is coming along nicely too, but there's still lots of work to do. The pear trees we planted last year have more blossom on than you could shake a stick at, and we have lettuces, spinach, carrots, onions, garlic and broad beans already in the ground. We really must get on with planting some potatoes though.

The guinea pigs have been pretty chuffed with the leftovers and weeds we've been returning with too- just look at today's juicy guinea salad! 

super saturday

Hope everyone's had a tremendous day in the sunshine. We've had a brilliantly busy one including a trip to the hairdresser and a Charlie & Lola matinee performance at the theatre. This afternoon Flora went to a party and Pearl was good as gold, bug hunting in the sandpit whilst Steve and I put in several hours' hard graft at the allotment. The purple sprouting broccoli is finally nearly ready to harvest- yip yip!

pretty in pink

Happy Saturday! We're having a quiet weekend snuggling in doors, as poor Pearl has chicken pox and we're all a bit worn out. I'm hoping to get up to the allotment tomorrow, weather dependent, to plant my garlic (overdue job, I know!). 

This week, I saw in my 32nd birthday and I was spoiled with lots of lovely cards and presents. I also ran my first ever 5k, probably a bit of an odd thing to do on the evening of your birthday, but I'm feeling very proud as I've never ran further than the bus stop in my life! I'm hoping to run in a proper organised event later in the year, but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to do a half marathon just yet.

I finished off the week with a rather exciting Pyrex purchase, spotted in a charity shop on a work-related trip to Somerset. 

It's the coral-pink sister of my blue Gaiety divided dish, that I was so excited to find last year. £2.50 of utter Pyrex joy!

Don't they look happy together?

I also had another nice Pyrex surprise this week, when a parcel arrived containing this fab pot stand:

These were being given away on the modern Pyrexware website last year, but were only available to those living in the USA, so I had asked an American friend to apply for one on my behalf. I had completely forgotten all about it until she contacted me just after Christmas to check my address. I absolutely love it- so much fun! 

I can't quite decide what to do with it, as it is far too lovely to use, so for now it's hanging by the bread oven in my dining room, complimenting some of my other favourite Pyrex-related bits and bobs.

weekending

What a beautiful, bright, crisp weekend- I can't tell you how happy the sunlight has made me. I managed to squeeze in two chilly woodland walks, a blissful child-free night away in an Oxford hotel and several hours digging on my first trip of the year to the allotment, all in two days. Signs of spring are already peeping through the frost.

out with the auld

Farewell to 2011- it's been a funny sort of year where I feel like I've achieved little in some ways, but a lot in others. I've done very little in the way of creativity this year (that Ysolda beret is still on the needles, a year down the line), I still haven't worked out how to use the non-automatic settings on my DSLR and I never did nearly as much with our allotment as I'd planned. 

However, other aspects of my (mainly non-bloggy) life have gone well- I started a pretty exciting new job and, after a highly embarrassing incident climbing back up from a beautiful beach in Cornwall (I actually thought I was going to die of a heart attack at the grand old age of 31), I took charge of my health for the first time in my adult life. 48lb down and many hours of sweat later, I still have a way to go, but I'm looking forward to challenging myself further throughout 2012 and am hoping that the girls will notice the difference in my beach-olympics when we return to Cornwall this summer (who knows, I might even brave a swimsuit too!)

So happy new year to one and all, I hope you get all you wish and dream of and 2012 passes without too much misery. And go easy on those resolutions! xx

festivities and fry-ups

This weekend our whole town has gathered together in the market square, pints of cider in hand, to enjoy the music and entertainment at our annual arts festival. The girls have been running free with their friends, skipping, dancing and drawing on the pavement with chalks. In a minute we're back off out to see some of Flora's friends take part in a 'flash mob' freestyle dance routine. I've no idea what to expect!

I've also been tackling the jungle of weeds down at the allotment- I put in three hours' hard labour yesterday and can hardly move today. I harvested the last of our early 'Maris Bard' potatoes and made some delicious hash browns with them for this morning's breakfast, served up with bacon, eggs and mushrooms- yum!

Back to work tomorrow, but I'm buoying myself the thought of Cornwall in two weeks' time, yip yip!

hello

It feels like such a long time since I last wrote a blog, even though it's only been a couple of weeks. I've been so busy with work and other things and I just had no head space to think about anything else, so it's good to be back. What did I miss?

I haven't just been working though, the allotment has needed watering and weeding, of course. Thankfully all the hard work has been paying off and this evening we went down and had our first proper harvesting session. We were all squealing with delight as we felt around in the crumbly soil lifting up golden potatoes and cheering as we pulled up our first few juicy carrots- the other allotmenteers must have thought we were a little eccentric to say the least!

In the rest of my spare time I've been crafting my socks off making fancy dress costumes for my friend's 30th birthday 'British Icons' themed party, which all four of us are attending on Saturday. I have been getting a little bit carried away, and can't wait to show off what I've made... more on that in a few days.

Oh, and do you remember I was grumbling about not being able to find an old watering can to go in my little back yard? Just look what my wonderful dad surprised me with at the weekend- it's exactly what I wanted- hurrah!

I've got a little bit more fancy-dress making to be finishing off tonight, but I promise to pop by all your blogs and have a proper catch up over the coming week. I can't wait to read about what you've been sewing, knitting and harvesting in the sunshine. I've missed you all!

our backyard

Whilst I love our allotment, I've been missing having a nice relaxing outside space at home, where I can potter about with the watering can in the evening after the girls had gone to bed. When we moved here in the winter, I had grand ideas for our rather shabby little backyard, but zero budget meant that these did not come to fruition. So this weekend I headed down to the garden centre to see if I could pick up some bits to cheer up our sad little space. 

I switched my thrifty radar to high alert and was able to pick up eighteen flowery bedding plants for £7 and found some slightly droopy packs of Jamie Oliver herbs on the reduction trolley, reduced to £1.50 from £7.99 for six little pots (I bought two packs).

 

Once the plants were potted up in terracotta pots alongside the olive trees my mum bought me for my birthday and the herbs planted in the lovely wooden planter my dad built for me last year, the yard was looking a far chirpier place to sit.

A few jam jars with tea lights inside made do as the garden lighting and the bunting I won in the Me Old China giveaway a few weeks ago looked just right along the outhouse (which still houses a toilet!).

I saved a few of the marigolds I'd been growing from seed for the allotment and popped them in tin cans, for a bit of colour while we wait for the potted flowers to bloom.

All I have left to do now is sew up some little cream blinds for the windows in the shed, to hide all the junk inside. I'm also on the look-out for an old metal watering can, to stand by the garden tap, but unfortunately I was not in luck at the carboot sale on Sunday. 

I'm really pleased with the transformation and can't wait for some warm evenings to make the most of it.

Happy days!

rain

Yesterday I could almost hear the vegetation sighing with relief when the rainclouds finally arrived. They poured down on and off for most of the day, leaving the most incredible smell of freshness in the air that is impossible to describe.

Up at the allotment, I couldn't believe the difference the rain had made- all the plants were the most perfect bright green and many of them seemed to have doubled in size. The broadbeans are now completely covered in flowers and the purple sprouting broccoli has bounced back with a vengeance. Even the strawberries I thought I'd lost have come through unscathed. Sadly the rhubarb hasn't recovered, but I don't think that was because of the dry weather, I just think it didn't like being moved from my parents in law's garden and had developed some unfortunate crown rot. Fortunately, several of our neighbouring allotmenteers have offered us free-pick of their booming plants so we won't go without rhubarb crumble this year.

The soil, which had become rock-hard and almost impossible to dig is now perfectly soft and crumbley. Today we got on and planted out our peas and beans, as well as our maincrop spuds (late, but I was stalling because I wasn't sure if we had the room for them) and I even risked planting out the courgettes and squashes under covers. I've popped lots of little french marigold seedlings in amongst the beds, in the hope that they will keep the bugs off the crops as we've had a few nibbled leaves already.

I hope everyone else had good weekends- what a horrible thought that we actually have a five day week for the first time in ages!



dry spell

We haven't had a single drop of rain for a month now and despite daily watering, our allotment is looking rather sorry for itself. We have scorched strawberry plants, wilting rhubarb and flaccid purple sprouting broccoli.

The only things that seem to be thriving are the broad beans, sprouts and potatoes, which we earthed up again today.

There were also a few carrot and parsnip seedlings poking through the dusty soil.

Despite it's parched predicament, I'm delighted with how the plot is coming together- it will be so beautiful in a year or two when the fruit trees have filled out. I'm planning to move that enormous  concrete compost bin by the shed (behind the water butt) and weave a living willow playhouse for the girls in the winter.

This morning we made a scarecrow to guard our crops- the girls have named him Sidney. Let's hope the birds are fooled!



It also seems important to mention the government's plans to end the right to have an allotment, thus placing plots up and down the county under threat. For more information and what you can do to speak out against the plans visit here. All the more reason to vote wisely on thursday...