WOYWW

Hello peeps and welcome to my desk!  Well, sort of its actually the garden table with a cover over it as I have been getting the varnish out and it stinks!  A few weeks back I shared with you the wooden plant labels that I bought from a local charity, the Brandon Trust, for adults with learning disabilities and they make stuff out of wood and make these from the offcuts.  They are a decent size (about the length of a paperback book) and are £1.50 for 5 and all the money goes to the charity so I often buy a pack when I go past.  I paint them with acrylic and use a posca paint pen to create the lettering.  I have been slowly making a whole load of them and these are the latest ones.  I then give them 2 coats of yacht varnish to hopefully winter proof them.  Takes a while for the coats to dry before I can turn them over and repeat the process hence it takes a while but I think they are worth it. 

Also thought I would do an update on another make,  my final batch of elderberry vinegar was ready recently.  I do love this and have made it for a few years now.  Its great over salad or even added to soda water to drink like a victorian shrub.  Either way, elderberries are meant to be good for the immune system so its always worth me making some and it tastes delicious too.

So, what's on your workdesk this Wednesday then?

Kyla

Allotment Update

Just a quick update, those of you who follow me on Instagram or facebook will know that a couple weeks back the allotment site was victim to another arson attack and 2 sheds were burnt out.  We dont have a shed (the plot is too small) but sadly the direction of the wind meant the top third of our plot was burnt and so we have lost these 2 beds of strawberries (I know many years ago farmers used to burn their crops to clear top growth so hoping the strawberries grow back for next year, just bad timing as we had just started to pick them for this years crop!)

the cloches all burnt and with that my beetroot, carrots, spring onion and lettuces

as well as the cabbages, garlic, onions, shallots and some sweetcorn

This was the lettuce etc all burnt through the cloche

HOWEVER-cutting off the burnt tops we noticed the crowns appeared to be intact and what a difference a couple of weeks can make!  This is my little gem now!  They have sprung back to life and I have now started to transplant the thinnings to another couple of beds so they can heart up over the coming weeks.  The burnt garlic we dug up and used as a wet garlic and the same with some of the japanese onions badly scorched, we have dug them up and are using them now rather than storing them.

On the positive, it also means that I now have almost an entire bed now clear after the fire so somewhere to plant some late summer/autumn crops!

Kyla

Allotment Update

So, my Instagram (kylacotterell) page has my allotment haul but I thought I would put a picture on the blog as a general update too.

The photo is from a couple weeks back as now all my broadbeans have been picked, blanched and frozen for the winter and I am now officially fed up with both green and yellow courgettes!!! We have made fritters, ratatouille, griddled and also in salads

Now I have also made some spiced courgette chutney.  Never made this before (usually make rhubarb chutney) but it used up several of our onions and courgettes (especially the marrow like ones) so it has to be worth it.

Any other ideas for courgettes always welcome!

kyla

Plot 12 update

 Hello peeps, thought I would do an update on the allotment.

As you may have seen a couple of weeks ago I made a plot sign from an old wooden stamping block and it is now in situ (having had a couple of coats of varnish).

Now all my strawberries I inherited with the plot have finished for the year I will take some runners with a view to starting a new bed as they are quite old so need replacing.

With the strawberries I made Strawberry Vinegar for the first time.  It is a recipe from Pam Corbin, known as Pam the Jam and is the lady behind the River Cottage preserves.  

It is similar to the Elderberry vinegar I make but is lighter and more fragrant, perfect for salad dressings throughout the summer and cost me pennies to make!

I have also started to harvest my potatoes.  No main crop for me but lots of 2nd earlies which I love as new potatoes, boiled or in salads.  I have 15 plants to dig up which I plan on digging up one plant a week so hopefully they will see us through the summer.

I have already harvested my garlic so I started to harvest our red onions

I am drying them out, though to be honest I am also eating them rather than buying any onions straight away. I have another couple rows still in the ground so I am hoping they will last us through the summer too

I was shocked as to how big they had gotten too!!

I am loving the allotment, it is very much a learning curve as I am growing different produce than I used to grow 20 years ago and having to understand what I can do with my Rheumatoid Arthritis and work arounds-like they say every day is a school day!  Luckily in this day and age there are some amazing instagram pages, youtube videos etc that have so much advice and suggestions so I am slowly working out what will work.

Kyla

Allotment update

I have been loving my allotment and slowly it is coming together.  

I am sure that it will change in layout over the next year but for now I just wanted to get as much of my seedlings etc in the ground as I ran out of space at home!

We were lucky enough to get some strawberries from the plants we inherited with the plot.  The plants only tend to be really productive for 3-5 years so we were really surprised that we got quite a good picking from them.  I will plant some runners from them this year ready to make a new patch next year.

The potatoes are 2nd earlies (charlotte) and I dug these up to see how they were developing, the rest (another 3 rows) will stay in the ground for another month and i will just dig up a plant at a time as and when I need more spuds!

The broadbeans tasted delicious, I have about 15 plants which I now know is SO not enough so next year I will plant more.  I bought them as seedlings and they worked really well, even after being totally attacked by blackfly earlier in the season (I made a garlic spray to keep them at bay and it seemed to work, so I will spray earlier next year).

The beetroot are golden beetroots.  I bought about 9 small plants and they are developing really well, I also sowed lots of ordinary beetroot seeds and these seem to be growing ok.

I also have lots of herbs and micro greens I have been picking and am looking forward to the crops as they develop.

Kyla

Allotment update

Thought I would catch up with what has been going on at the plot.

The past few weeks we have been busy weeding and digging.

We decided to keep the black plastic on the top left of the plot as there are some thick deep rooted weeds under there so in an effort to break this into smaller tasks to help manage my Rheumatoid Arthritis we have decided to leave this until later in the year/winter to think about dealing with it.  I plan on planting some courgettes/squash in the tyres and through the plastic so the space won't go to waste.

The top part was very stony and heavy so we planted potatoes to help break up the soil.  Yes, it is old school with the long trenches (remember I was taught to garden in the 70's so I am old school I suppose) and they do resemble buried bodies-but it is main crop spuds!  Honest!

We planted some onion sets in the front of the plot and put down some weed control fabric pinned down with some metal wire and piled with bark chippings that the council kindly donate to the site.  This will help me with my stability on the site and make it easier for me to walk on a slightly firmer ground.  Later in the year I am thinking of edging it with some wood to help keep the chippings in place.

I also bought 4 pallet collars.  A bit dearer than I hoped BUT I think this will make life a lot easier for me, easier to reach the middle without stretching and as they fill up I won't have to bend down as much, and if my mobility gets worse then I am thinking I can add another pallet collar on top easily to increase the height even more.

So far so good, I am also toying with the idea of growing some plants for dying fabric too, but that will probably be next year as I need to do a bit of research and see how much space I have when I have my fruit and veggies all growing.

Kyla

Allotment sucess

So, a few month's ago I put my name down for an allotment and then earlier this year I found out my name had gotten to the top!  Hurrah!

So I am now the proud renter of this plot (not quite a full plot, thank goodness that would be too much for us).  It is about 15 foot x 37 foot (approx) and doesn't have a shed or beds but it does have a compost bin and some tyres!

Not too many weeds, though quite a stony plot so will plant potatoes to try and break up some of the soil this year

The end of the plot has loads of old strawberry plants!  I know these only tend to have a lifespan of 3-5 years before they stop being really productive so I plan on seeing how these fruit this year and then potting up some of the runners if they are strong this autumn ready for next year.

the plots to side of me have sheds but I am lucky that we live close by so I plan on taking the tools that I need on each visit as there seems to be quite a few thefts etc in the area so I am thinking no shed may reduce the risk of plants etc getting trashed by people.

Even though I used to have 2 allotments throughout my 20's I haven't had one since I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis so hubby has kindly agreed to help out with this one and it will be interesting to see how I get on.  I know that some days I struggle to do basic tasks so I am thinking low maintenance so it can be left for a few days when I am not very well.  I was thinking of chipped bark paths and some raised beds as that will help with my mobility and allow me to work from each side of the beds without having to stretch too far.  

I have already started clearing and planting so will update with some photos really soon.

Kyla

Seedlings are taking over

When I was a kid I used to help my parents grow their own fruit and veg.  I was SO lucky as our council house had a big garden so we used to grow most of our own and from a very young age my mum and dad taught me how to plant, tend and cook them (I have fond memories of picking the spuds, placing them in an old biscuit tin and burying it in the bonfire, when the embers died down we had hot baked potatoes-and my mum's face as we walked in the house stinking once again of bonfires (sorry mum, I am no better these days)!

Then in my 20's I moved in with my now hubby and rented flats, missing the garden I spent my 20's renting allotments and growing my own fruit and veg, an experience I loved.

Then we finally were lucky enough to buy a house and I have been tending the garden since.  The past 8 years have been hard as being diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis has meant I have had to learn how to pace myself and remember that I can only do short bursts and accept on bad days I am not able to!  Seriously, I have a REAL issue with trying to accept I am NO superwoman!!  Anyway following a year or so of struggling with my pay the bills job (too much work, not enough time...yadda, yadda....many of us know this but SO grateful I have a job and am still able to work with my disease) I decided I would expand my growing and convert a bit more of our small garden/patio to more veggies, I also put my name back down on the allotment waiting list, knowing it can take a long time to get near the top, but it costs nothing to put your name on the list so why not?

So a couple month ago my window ledges look like this, nice clean and organised. 

 A mixture of propagators and upcycled plastic containers from the kitchen and even the labels were cut from my yogurt pots.

However, in what seemed like quite a short time my window ledges looked like a mini jungle and the plants started to take over!

 I have a sneaking suspicion I may have sown the seeds a few weeks too early so they are still too tender to plant outside as the night temperatures are still a bit too low

They have gotten a bit leggy now and I have started hardening them off, not sure if they will be any good (so I have sown a couple more as a back up for a bit later and if push comes to shove I can always look to buy a couple plants, we often see them being sold from people's front gardens etc).

What have I learnt from this?  Well two things really, I need to remember to wait a couple weeks before I sow them next year (I have made notes this time of the date I planted them etc, whereas previously I just guessed!) and secondly my hubby has the patience of a saint!

I will be pleased when these can be planted out and fingers crossed they take, if not, well I can try again next year!

Kyla

Gardeners learn by trowel and error

I have 3 loves apart from family and friends.  That is art/craft, music and plants.

Over the years I have had allotments, window boxes and front and back gardens. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house that had a massive back garden and parents that liked to grow their own fruit and veg.  

So, this weekend my Mum and I went on a coach trip (haven't been on one of those for many years-but handing the driving and organising over to someone else was a delight!) to Blenheim Palace, Gardens and Flower show.

I warn you that this is a photo heavy post and nothing to do with craft, but if you fancy a nose around then pull up a chair and grab a pimms (well, it is summer!).

 The show was not too big which meant we had plenty of time to wander round and take lots of photos.  The flowers were stunning.  This one is a fuchsia called Eternity. 

 This little maroon firework is Centaurea Sordy, I think it looks like a little catherine wheel whirling round.

 Persicaria Purple Fantasy reminds me of a snakehead.  A real vipers nest of a plant

 The lillies on this stall were HUGH (hence my hand for scale)

 This one was called "African Lady".  I did wonder if they were made of wax they were so big!

 No idea what these were.....I was in need of a coffee by now!

Coffee and maybe a shared cake (well, it was a day out!) later we continued round the show.

 I love these dew plants.  Hubby loves carnivorous plants so I took quite a few photos of these weird specimens

 

 This display won a gold, I could see why-stunning

 There were quite a lot of cacti stalls and I even bought myself a small trio in a china pot for the craft room window sill.

 This Hydrangea was called Kardinal Violet and was a beauty.

When my Dad was alive he was a keen Bonsai cultivator and spent several years growing and pruning several beautiful trees. So whenever I see some I always think of my Dad (particularly pertinent as in the UK this week end is Fathers Day).

 There were some fabulous alium displays

 The miniature flower arrangements were made with such precision.  This one in a broken egg shell!

 

 We were lucky enough to catch garden designer and TV gardener Joe Swift on his free talk about designing your back garden.  He was SO funny, a natural performer.

 There were several different poppies that I have never seen before, this deep wax like purple one particularly caught my eye.

 This tickled me!

 Once we looked round the show we had a look around the house and some of the garden (they are SO large there is easily enough to fill another visit).

 The ceilings are stunning

 Whilst everyone was looking up I spotted this dragon

 and the library was stunning, floor to ceiling shelves of old books in leather bound covers.

 The formal knot garden

 and finally there was a garden depicting the war, complete with some of the ceramic poppies from the Tower of London (I was lucky enough that last year my mum bought me one).

 

A great day out, now I just need to get out into my own small patch and weed!!

Happy horticulture!

Kyla