Lotty Update

Firstly I wanted to share the fact that I have now collected my Eglu and am booked on a beginners course to learn how to keep chickens. It is on March 1st and costs £15 for two hours. To say I am excited is an understatement. I can't sleep properly at the moment due to having 'Too many chickens in my head'. Anyway, here is the rest of the lotty news.....

When you inherit an allotment that has previously been looked after by someone else, it is wonderful as you don't have to do all the ground work which is back breaking and incredibly time consuming but what you do have to do is solve a few puzzles.You aren't meant to grow many crops in the same place as the previous year, which is a challenge if you're not sure what was there before and you end up being a bit of a detective trying to find clues. A bit of a root here or an old half rubbed off marker there.

Another puzzle I had, was whether my summer fruiting raspberries had already been pruned. My Autumn ones were not a problem as you cut all the canes back, but with the summer ones you have to prune out the the old canes that fruited and leave the newer ones. It's not as easy as it sounds, to identify which are which. After watching lots of u tube videos I finally plucked up the courage and just went for it. I'm hoping I've not lobbed off any new canes in my enthusiasm and that I will get some fruit this summer. The same goes for the blackberries and the tayberries (which I had never even heard of).  Talk about a steep learning curve. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's meant to be fun and I don't have to live up to the standards of the previous owner - who only retired due to ill health and who did a marvelous job by all accounts. My mum's new patriotic wellies helped keep my spirits up even when we were sliding around in the mud!

Whilst at the lotty, I took a little peek at my garlic which I planted in November and which has been tucked away under some fleece to help it keep warm and also to keep the birds from pulling it up.
It might not be much, but it is quite a thrill to see my first little crop growing. I'm going to put in some Spring planting garlic but the ones planted prior to Christmas are meant to grow bigger bulbs - so we shall see!

I don't want to be accused of all style and no substance but when it's decent weather I want to paint my shed a lovely colour like this sea grass colour above. (Ronseal advert!) Ok, so my shed isn't half as cute as this one, but I it would look a lot prettier in sea grass and I may as well make the most of it as I'll be spending a lot of time there!

Another day I will show you a few little plans I have for the inside :)

I shall also be needing a comfy chair and a pile of magazines for when its too wet to do anything but wait it out and drink tea! x