Making progress

This was part of the plot before we started today, (we've done more now) it's really making progress and just from cultivating some of the land the drainage has improved massively. The nice weather has also helped and my drainage trench at the back of the plot. We've been making small steps forward the last couple of weeks but looking at the photographs really helps illustrate just how much progress we have made. Mini is loving going down to the plot now and getting muddy, last week I had to stop her from eating mud off her spade, aren't kids lovely!?

So far we have broad beans and early peas in the ground and some new raspberry canes. I have parsnips and tomatos coming up in trays and the potatoes are spread out in trays to chit. I have prepared a large pot with peat so I can have a bash at growing some blueberries a much rated superfood so it would be good if we could grow some and I've also made up some large terracotta pots with compost ready to grow herbs.

I'm really keen to grow the things that we like to eat, it's pointless growing stuff we don't enjoy because the likliehood is that it will get wasted. I'm really getting into my cooking these days too and I'm really looking forward to when I can make things with our own home grown produce.

Our wider family has grown this month too with the safe arrival of our nephew, baby Ole James. Perhaps when he is a little bigger he will be able to come gardening with us but certainly by the time he starts weaning we are hoping to have some fresh delicious fruit and veg to serve up to him yum!

Planted our first seeds

Our broad beans went out in the ground today and it was quite momentous to put our first thing in. I completed building one side of the fence and have put the stakes and fence frame on the other side just need the mesh now to finish it off. The fence really defines the plot and I am secretly quite proud of my first attempt at fence building. The sun shone today and it was lovely and warm a really great day to spend outside. The roots bed is now also dug and work has begun on digging over the potato bed. The ground is atill quite wet but if we have a few more days like today then I am confident that it will soon dry up. Mini was good today, the waterproof suits are absolutely fab and I am so glad I managed to bag a bargain in the sales with them. My wellies are also a top buy, they were so comfy and practical today so I'm really pleased I bought them.

Seed shopping

I'm quite sad, it was the last day of my Christmas Holidays today and I'll be back at work tomorrow morning but this afternoon Mini and I went seed shopping, we managed to find the exact same seeds that I wanted to buy off the internet at our local garden centre for the same price, less in fact if you minus the postage charge. We bought broad beans, 'Aquadulce Claudia, ' beetroot, 'pablo,' and some lettuce. The most exciting thing is that the beans can go in straight away as they can be sown in Jan/Feb so hopefully we will have the beds finished by the weekend and I'll be able to plant them in the new legumes bed. We took a flying visit up to the plot today just to check for any wind damage because it was really stormy here last night but everything seems to be ok. The shed windows have stayed secure and the plastic greenhouse is pretty much in the same state, the access road up to our end of the site was in something of a state after all the rain but still just about passable, we'll have to keep an eye on it though it's only a very thin access road up to the top car park and I'm not sure what chance we'd have of getting towed out.

We also went to the library today and I got 4 different books on allotments which so far I've only browsed through, the one that looks really good for us at the moment is the half hour allotment which is published by the RHS, it's got loads of ideas in there and is really encouraging for new plot holders who also have other responsibilities and can't spend all day every day on site. It's interesting to see all the different ways of doing things and the different ideas people have, maybe this getting back to nature business will help me to be more creative, we'll have to see.

I've been reading through a site about allotments the last few evenings when Mini has gone to bed at http://allotment.org.uk it is a really useful site if you need some help or inspiration to get started and had loads of information that I found useful, it's also really nice to see pics of other sites and plots and when you see lovely stuff that people have grown it is quite inspiring.

I'm dreading being back at work tomorrow I have really enjoyed this holiday because it has been so relaxed and we didn't overdo it with loads of entertaining. I've spent quite a bit of time cooking which has been really nice because it's normally a stress to rustle up something for tea at the end of a busy day but I've really enjoyed being in the kitchen and taking time over making things, I can't wait to have some of our own produce to cook with as then it will be even more satisfying, highlights over the festive season have been, baking bread flavoured with sun dried, tomato and parmesan, tofu stir fry which I only did to use up leftover veggies and it tasted gorgeous, home made pizzas, making the dough and tomato sauce from scratch which we took to a party and they were gone in minutes, lemon, grape and vodka bomb, the best dessert I have ever tasted and my Christmas Dinner duck with cranberry and orange gravy (I didn't taste it by the way I am a vegetarian but my husband does not compliment my cooking very often so I knew it must have been good.)