Tag Archives: GYO

Adventures, Lost label roses, roses, Soft fruit, Uncategorized

Blooms and Buffy: Frocks, fruit and flowers

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The last week has seen several episodes of rain and flooding; not very conducive to going to allotment. I finally made it to the plot today to see what the state of play was; there are weeds to  be got rid of but also lot to positive about.

 

pink lost label rose
red lost label rose
first batch of strawberries
roses in the floral trug
bouquet

The first handful of strawberries have been harvested. A couple of them a little under ripe, but they are bright red and edible. I may have even eaten one to taste check, and I not even a big fan of strawberries. These have arrived a little earlier than usual, with strawberries usually cropping around Wimbledon fortnight. I know that sounds very cliched, but I do have memories of hearing of Andy Murray winning wimbledon and only having one strawberry that year.

The rain has done little to thwart the roses; they are a bit damp and fluffy, but still blooming. There are easily a dozen roses in that bouquet and in an assortment of colours.

There was also some adventuring this week. Adventuring, that I have been looking forward for some time and is completely unrelated to the allotment. I actually went to a convention. Not a conference, a convention; a convention celebrating Joss Whedon’s Buffy:The Vampire Slayer and Angel:The TV series. Two shows, that I have very fond memories of having watched them as a teenager; and two shows that I can watch over and over alongside Star trek and Shakespeare. So I went.

 

And it was rather fun! An amazing opportunity to talk to other whedonites and to meet some of the stars as well. The highlight was meeting Anthony S Head who played Rupert Giles. There were eight guests in total, and it never ceases to amaze me just how iconic Buffy and Angel were. Hearing the guests talk about their jobs was simply mind blowing.

This was the first time that I had ever been to a convention, so I was a little bit worried as to what expect. It was however a really positive experience, and sat there at half ten talking about Buffy episodes at a disco was rather surreal. As you can see, part of it involved dressing up. That is my attempt at Bad willow, though I do look more an extra waiting to keel over in GoT. On the right, that’s a better attempt at dressing up to attend a whedon prom.

I can safely say, that whedonites are by far one of the most amazing groups of people in the world. I flew solo in this adventure, I didn’t take anyone with me. Yet there were couples there-a couple of which had very new babies in tow, I take my hat of to them!-where whedon was a shared passion. So in being by myself, i was adopted and made to feel very welcome at my first convention.There was a huge diversity in age ranges and nationalities, people had travelled in from very far afield. Apparently, there are not many Buffy/Angel conventions, so this was a rare one.

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Soft fruit, tomatoes, Uncategorized

Plot produce picking up

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Gooseberries
mixture
carpet of flowers
tomato!
Purple haze

Things are starting to pick up! Inside the poly tunnel, the first of the chilli plants is starting to flower. The Purple haze variety has sent out a couple of flower buds. These tend to be a purple rimmed flower that indicates that the fruit will be a matching purple and eventually turn red. I did have a quick scan around the other pots, and I think the jalapenos were also on the turn.

Across swathes of the allotment, there is a carpet of white flowers. These flowers, all being well, will turn into strawberries. I don’t think I have seen quite so many strawberry flowers; they seem to have run riot.This is not altogether unexpected, the idea was that they would run riot and send out lots of runners and form a carpet that would help reduce other weeds from springing up.

In terms of other soft fruit, there are the tiniest of gooseberries coming through. To be honest, I had not seen much by way of gooseberry flowers. The plants are still young, and will still need time to become more established. I am looking forward to see the different colours, there are red, yellow and green varieties that are all looking very leafy.

Then there are tomatoes. There are quite a few plants, seventeen, at the last count; and they have taken something of a beating with the inclement weather. At the moment they do look a bit weather beaten; however they can’t be that miserable as there are baby tomatoes. There are tiny fruit on both my plants and those planted on Mum’s half plot. They could be a little more leafy, but all being well, they well catch up.

 

Taking stock, Uncategorized

Piece of Mind: Mental Health Awareness#MHAW 2016

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sunflooer!
vased up
one ripened cayene

Yesterday  saw the start of Mental Health week 2016.It is also, funnily enough, National Tomato week.

At first glance, those sentences couldn’t be less connected. It might cause you to question how the humble tomato might link to Mental health.

And if it does. Good.

That question is well worth considering.

I like gardening, I like tending to my allotment; I also happen to have an interest in Mental health. Over the last few years, the two have become somewhat linked.

By trade, I am teacher of Social Sciences; my specialism is Psychology. I have been teaching for a number of years, about the science of the human mind, our brains and behaviour. In doing so, I have be able to reflect beyond the visible and easy to see Physical health. My experience has informed me that whilst the medical model is heavily entrenched in what we can see, there are concerns that exist even though we cannot see physical signs or symptoms.

Not only do I teach, I have become a trained listener, I support survivors of abuse and also have an interest in supporting veterans of conflict. Mental health is a concept that somehow has managed to feed through all of those areas in one shape or form.

Being on the allotment, is something I enjoy. There may well be the odd tantrum when things don’t germinate, or the plot gets waterlogged. These things happen; but the plot also serves to have a rather positive impact upon both my physical and mental health. Physically, I will know about it if I have been digging or dragging my wheelbarrow around. There is a great deal of activity to be done on the plot. Mentally, the plot has a number of functions. In the first instance, there is a sense of mindfulness. Being able to stop, pause, take stock. To think about the here and now. Second, you find yourself thinking of other things rather than marking, planning lessons or trying to work out how you might have changed a lesson. Third, you get to experience mud beneath your finger nails in connecting with the world. Fourth, you realize that sowing seeds and seeing them germinate does rather make you feel warm and fuzzy.

Yet the merest mention of Mental health and the subsequent response is anything but warm and fuzzy. There is still alot of stigma, negative attitudes, and a disparity on a national scale as to the support available to those who experience mental health concerns. In the last eighteen months, I have noticed there have been attempts to shift the perception of mental health. A number of organisations have made strides towards an increased awareness. Even the venerable Stephen Fry tried to remove the use of  the stock ‘head clutcher’ image so very often used to accompany the words mental health.  Mental  health has started to come to the fore in the media, and people are talking about it. People are sharing their experiences, their journeys and making incredible first steps in helping Mental Health be placed firmly in the public consciousness.

Only in the last few days, I have seen the ‘Campaign against Living Miserably’. Prior to that, there was Professor Green’s documentary about how the increasing number of men committing suicide. The mental health of children and adolescents has also become a talking point. There is something definitely in the water.

As a teacher, I am mindful of a number of things. The students that I work with, may well be experiencing mental health concerns; they may know of someone who is experiencing mental health concerns, they may have questions in general about mental health. Fortunately, I am able to listen and signpost if necessary. I am more than willing to offer support. Sadly that is not always the case, and there are unfortunately, communities out there, where Mental health isn’t spoken about. If it is spoken about, it is discussed in hushed tones, behind closed doors and with people surreptitiously looking out for the Joneses and Patel’s lest they hear something. The mere sight, sound and feel of mental health concern elicits a shaking of the head, a tut, and a ‘pull yourself together’, and further makes a difficult situation even more challenging.

I mentioned the fact that it is National tomato week. This is a nod to how over the last few years the activities within therapeutic horticulture (or horticultural therapy depending on where you are) have contributed a great deal to supporting individuals with mental health concerns. The charity MIND was very successful in using activities and being able to measure the level of impact. Thrive is another example of work carried out to positive effect.

For me personally, having an allotment and tending to it, has been a really very positive experience. Beyond the lack of germination, the odd slug attacked cabbage, I firmly believe that my outlook, my mental health has been positively influenced. For example, when you have marked two dozen essays, are seeing stars; seeing the roses that you planted in full blossom is always going to gladden the soul.

So why not smell the roses? Why not, during Mental Health Awareness Week, sow a sunflower, sink some runner beans, try and sow some lupins or maybe you fancy growing your own Dahlias? You never know.

Beyond that; if you are experiencing mental health concerns, then you are not alone. There is support, talk, have a chat.

And if you know of someone who is experiencing mental health concerns. Listen. You’d be surprised just how much that helps.

 

 

sweetcorn, Uncategorized

Sinking Sweetcorn

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sweetcorntwo.JPG

It has been sometime since I last had sweetcorn on the plot. It was only when revisiting my previous two out of three sisters experience, that I decided to have another go. Plus Mum wanted some for her plot. I have decided to have another go at two out of three sisters. It is two and not three as I will not be putting runner beans into the equation. Runner beans are something of a sore subject; they have currently failed to germinate twice, and also cucumbers seemed to have died a death.

I think there are twelve plants  (Incredible F1) in the picture above. In previous experience, I only had eight, so I am hoping for a better level of success. The plan is to plant squashes in between the rows; probably about three or four as they do tend to grow quickly  and take up a lot of space. That is if we don’t get a frost! The frost window closes in two weeks, so I am taking something of a chance. The squashes in question will need to keep growing and will also need to be hardened off as well before being put in situ.

The seeds were sown into pellets, and had come through in a matter of days. Subsequently, they grew quickly and were quite tall. I think we may have had a few casualties along the way, but there were enough plants to be shared between Mum and I. We both have blocks of sweetcorn. The one difference is that Mum’s are in open ground, mine are in raised beds. The raised bed contains a combination of multi-purpose compost and leave mold; and this will form a nutritious base to feed the plants.

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(P.S. I realise that I do sound a bit miserable in the video; I noticed it a week or so ago. Will try to get that sorted!)

Books, chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Fruit trees, loldeantimber, overwintering alliums, paperback, tomatoes, writing

Hello, Sunshine, where have you been?

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tomato

If you ask my Mum, the tomatoes have been looking routinely quite sad. They needed watering, and they were cheered up with doses of haitch two oh as and when required. What was more important, was sunshine. Sunshine, which has been somewhat absent and has finally turned up. And very welcome it is too, as it has kick started and renewed feelings of optimism as far as the allotment is concerned. According to the weather people, the sunshine is going to be around for a while; a week at least. With that in mind, the tomatoes have been sent outside to the path in Dad’s garden to start the process of hardening off. Unlike last year, where the tomatoes were all grown under cover; these are going to be outdoors and in raised beds or open ground. Currently they are all having a strop in pots, and I am hoping that if the plants sun bathe for the next few days that I can then take them to the allotment and bury them a bit deeper. The appearance of yellow flashes, tomato flowers, suggests that these all need to get a wiggle on and fairly soon.

chilli runners
purple haze chilli

This year’s cohort of chillies are the current room mates of the tomatoes, and will also need to be removed to the poly tunnel and be potted up. There are chillies here that are supposed to be small and stumpy, as it were, and those who are supposed to grow tall and abundant. I did sort them out into two groups to make the sorting out easier. The taller chillies will be potted up into large flower buckets, whereas the smaller ones are going to put into pots as they are not expected to take up a huge amount of room. In the last few weeks, the chillies have rather had something of a grow spurt and on time. In the next four weeks they will grow further before being moved to the poly tunnel. Having been sown a little late doesn’t appear to  have to knocked them too much.

chard in the poly
emerging cucumbers
seedling squashes

With the chillies hitting a stride, there are also emerging seedlings. Recently sown cucumbers and squashes have started to come through. With the frost window remaining open until the next May bank holiday, both of these have got four weeks to grow and become more robust.  In my experience, squashes grow very quickly; you sometimes have to re-pot them to key up. I am hoping that with the four week window they are suitably sized for planting out once that they have been hardened off. With the cucumbers, I do intend for these to be planted and grown outside. I have previously grown crystal lemon outside and harvested a crop.

Seedlings are sat on the sidelines, mean making crumble. Last year I was able to harvest trugs full of apples and these were then frozen alongside some plums. Today has been spent making a plum and apple crumble. The second in four days!

With the crop of a previous year being used up, we can look to the future crop. A walk to the plot meant finding cherry and apple Blossom. The two cherry trees, Sylvia and Morello, are new additions to the plot; so it was rather heartening to see white buds n the Morello, but a lovely white bloom-just the one!-on the Sylvia tree. I wasn’t expecting to see any blossom on them this year, so I am really quite surprised to see blossom. I did check on the Concorde pear, that appears to have taken the frost on the chin, and is still looking frilly. The darling peach tree does still have a couple of deep pink blooms, there had been half a dozen; I did fleece at one point only for the wind to disagree with the shrouding.

The otherwise heavy clay of the allotment has had a chance to dry out. This has been to the relief to the heritage garlic that Marshalls were kind enough to provide for the plot. Garlic is wonderfully resilient, and is actually doing quite well given how much rain it has suffered. There are no signs yet of any bolting, and the ground is weed free so the bulbs should be making the most of the nutrients available from the clay.  The foliage is still very green and leafy, and with another eight weeks to go there is still a lot of growing to be done.

heritagemarshall

I do like it when the post person delivers something that you’ve been hotly anticipating. Copies of ‘Sow Grow and Eat’ landed on our doormat and rather made my day. My thanks to the fabulous Howard-(the artist who once sunk spuds, remember him?) for having put the cover together. You will also spot that the Loldeantimber trug is now something of a cover star, it also appears in the book. Given how the trug is used so much on the plot, it was definitely going to end up in the book.

Books, ebook, Uncategorized

Kindle promo: #plantpottales #sowgroweat

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Tomorrow the kindle promo kicks off with Playing with plant pot tales being at reduced price. This will subsequently be followed by sow grow and eat.

Alongside this, there is an event on the Facebook page. So if you picked up a copy, why not join the event and share your experiences; may be even like, share and comment on the page to help others hear about allotment adventures.

You can find links to both books and their paperback equivalents, right here on the blog. (Right hand side —–>)

Onions, Preparation, Uncategorized

Aloos, Onions (and 32)

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The day after a birthday is never good. 32, incidently. I didn’t mind 30 or 31. This one just feels different; as there is a checklist as to what I should have achieved by this point. If my life was to be measured by the Disney Scale of loveliness (and general bollywood standards of doing what you are supposed in relation to cultural normals and behaviours), I am failing on not having two kids and a significant other. So trying not be to be a grumpy sour puss old woman today, and reflecting-on balance-on what I have done so far.

It snowed this morning. I actually leapt out of bed having been informed of that fact by my sister, and pulled back the curtains. I swore. The plan was to sink the last of spuds and some experimental onion sets. This did not bode well, there had been little time for the allotment to dry out this week. Given how it is the middle of April, I should know better than to discount April Showers.

Thankfully, the snow subsided. There had been big fluffy flakes of snow falling onto the garden like feathers. Somewhat unexpected, though friends in the northern climbs had already been bracing for impact. Plus I had some how avoided watching the weather.

This meant that normal service could be resumed. Having filled raised beds earlier this week,  the final lot of potatoes could be sunk. The last remaining bag was of Pink Fir Apple. These have already been split with Mum, who has sunk some in the open ground of her newly acquired half plot. I guess we can do something of an experiment. We can observe the possible differences in raised beds and open ground. Whilst her plot has rather friable soil, mine is heavy, sticky clay. For this reason, I have learned to not plant my potatoes in open ground.

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The other thing to do was to sink onions. I haven’t done this for a long time, as I don’t tend to garner much success with the sets. I have previously sown sets in autumn and in spring, with the resultant crop being quite small. There was definite poor results with red onions, so I have always been a bit wary. However, as Mum was intent on sowing onions and asked for me to find some; I don’t mind another go.

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As for 32. I don’t really want to dwell on it; but it will take time to let go. The bullish amongst us will naturally just shrug their shoulders and say that it is just a number. That is true, the next one is 33 and doesn’t-at this stage-look or feel scary.  I think I looked at it yesterday morning as being half way to my pension (it’s not worth a lot, unfortunately). Then again, that age changes with the frequency of an elected government.

I could, sit here and tot up a list of done, outstanding yet to do, and might possibly like to do. I would be there a long time, I am likely to depress myself and get angry about it. The outstanding yet to do section is the sort of  column dictated by the old school Bollywood aunties and the edict would be:: ahem:: get married, have babies, do the Disney Princess thing. In part, I am exaggerating, in part, it really is  ‘what is wrong with you,(there must be something wrong with you at this point) you should be doing X, Y and Zed, you’re not getting any younger’… see, it’s infuriating, but stupidly true. (I’d quite like to walk 100m of the great wall of China, and see the vatican, but you know…)

Anyway, the spuds are planted. There are squashes to be sown.

We’ll get there.

 

 

Preparation

Fresh dirt under the nails

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To misquote Maroon5, that was what happened today.

Half of the plot has raised beds. It is far too low to use otherwise with frequent flooding that means very deep puddles. Raised  beds have worked very successfully over the last few years. However, their levels do tend to decrease over time. Each year, I collect leaves for leaf mold and then any organic material I put into the beds. Some of the beds have some of this and just needed topping off. Others were rather weary. So today, there was something of a mission.

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Thankfully, today was actually a dry and sunny day. I was able to lug around the compost bags during the course of the day; I had parental support getting them to the plot. I know ache a little having done so, but all being well today will be worth it. I aim to sink the rest of the seed potatoes in some of the beds. Further to this, I might root around in the seedbox and see if there is anything that can be broadcast sown into the beds. Might even make another attempt at sowing onion sets.

Books, ebook, paperback, Uncategorized, writing

Now available: #SowGrowEat

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kindlecover

sowgroweat Cover for paperback

Both copies of the second  book are now online and available to buy. You can click on the images on the right hand side to get yourself a copy.

Potatoes, Preparation, Soft fruit, Uncategorized

Spud sinking and plot pottering

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Potatoes waiting in the wings
potatoes in situ
Morello Cherry

It’s not raining! It’s Good Friday, and it’s not raining. Yet.

There is rain scheduled, it is after a bank holiday. Before it arrives, I have taken this opportunity to wander down the plot, sink potatoes and check on the fruit trees.

First with the potatoes though:

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Kestrel and Lady Balfour potatoes have been sunk into raised beds. I still have to sink pink fir apple, once I have filled the other beds with ‘orse poop. I put the seed potatoes into raised beds as there is better drainage, less resistance for the forming tubers and previous experience has meant a big, quite successful crop. I’m not sure yet if there will be any international kidney this year on the plot.

There was also the opportunity to look at the young fruit trees that are planted on the plot. With the site being windy, they could do with some bracing support so that they don’t keel over. I did quick count, and found that I had quite a few fruit trees, I guess I don’t need to buy any more! In the picture above, you see the morello cherry tree. This one, along with the sylvia, moor park apricot, darling peach, pear du comice, czar  and victoria plum were all tied to a stake sunk beside them.

With the exception of the Czar plum tree, all of the trees appear to be waking up and have buds forms on their boughs. I am not too sure about the Czar, as it has always been a little bit of a miserable looking tree.  The plot most certainly has it’s own little micro-cosm that doesn’t fit in with the rest of the site; i think the peach is the only that is sending out pink fuzzy buds. Have been watching it closely and willing the bud to burst.