Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 February 2008
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.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
More ideas for kids
I've updated this section to include activities on the allotment for 11-16 year olds, any feedback comments welcomed.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Ideas for kids
I've started to build up some ideas for children to engage and interest them in your allotment, they can be found on my own website http://loweland.co.uk/benefits_for_children.htm
I will be adding to and updating them and at the moment they only go up to age 11 but there will be more soon. Any feedback and comments welcome.
I will be adding to and updating them and at the moment they only go up to age 11 but there will be more soon. Any feedback and comments welcome.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Been a busy week
With Grandma who was not amused by all the mud
All this work is very tiring!
The new path by the end of Saturday when we had to give up for the day and go home because the light was fading fast
The start of my new fence
Peter digging the legumes bed and the completed path
Mini helping Mummy in the shed
Saturday morning the path had collected loads of water where we had dug it out
I just love this pic she was having a great time being out in the sunshine
After her fall into the puddle, it was the first time the bath has ever been very dirty after she's been in
Telling Daddy what to do, note the new plot number I mounted on the shedWell it's been a few days since I updated, we spent most of the weekend down at the alloment and then my daughter and I have been a bit poorly with the wicked winter bugs so I haven't had a chance to record our progress.
Saturday came and the weather was excellent, it was more like a good spring day than the middle of January, so after nipping to the DIY store to get some roofing felt we went straight down to the plot with sandwiches packed for lunch, we togged Mini up in her waterproofs and wellies which was a very good job as she quickly found the mud and the puddles and within twenty minutes had fallen head first into some very cold water, she was fine I was closely supervising her but it was one of those moments that go in slow motion, I couldn't reach her quite quickly enough to save her from falling I lifted her up and she continued playing with a mud streaked face and messy hair. It did highlight the dangers for a small child on an allotment, especially an unprepared site such as ours at present, water has pooled and collected in a few spots and it is vital that we watch her at all times, this also means that although there are two of us there we are not both working 100% as we always have to watch a young toddler.
Our colony has a members shed and shop where you can get hold of essentials at very reasonable prices, they also have a seed swap tray and other useful bits and bobs, it is only open at weekends and for 2 hrs on a Wednesday and is staffed by volunteers. We went in to introduce ourselves and enquire about membership of the allotment association which is a very bargainous £2.50, apparently the cost of membership is going to be reviewed at the AGM in February so until then we can't join. I found this slightly frustrating as it blocks our ability to purchase from the shop at a time when we are clearing our plot and this facility could be particularly useful.
The site was very busy on Saturday and whilst making enquiries about membership we learned that halfway up the site there is a bay where wood chip and straw mulch is dumped every now and then for any plot holder to use. We had already spied the collection on an earlier visit and discussed how useful it would be for our main path so we made the most of the free resource and gathered some to use. It was quite a trek from our plot and 14 barrows later we still hadn't quite finished the path. A friendly neighbour offered his larger sized wheelbarrow on loan so that we could transport more in one go, I thought that was really kind, there seems to be quite a sense of community and that excites me because living in a city that is hard to find.
Later in the afternoon my Mother and her husband came over to take a look at our plot, my Mum is not an outdoors type by any stretch of the imagination but it was good that they took an interest. She was quite concerned at how dirty her Grandaughter was which quite amused me. I took her for a run out to the garden centre because I needed to get some supplies whilst Barry helped Peter to strip the old felt off the shed and re-roof it with new felt. They also did some more work on the path and took down the plastic greenhouse which was getting into a bit of a state, they used the shelving in it to make shelves in the shed and re-organised all the stuff in there so there is now a lot more room. When we came back I started to build a fence with some wood offcuts and chicken wire to the boundary line to the west of our plot, my Mum is quite old fashioned about things women should and shouldn't do and I think it unnerved her to see me saw in hand chopping wood and building a fence, eventually we allowed her and Barry to go back to our house with Mini then Peter and I stayed on for another hour until the light went on us.
On Sunday we went to church so it was afternoon when we got to the plot, Peter's main task was to start digging the legumes bed that I had marked out using stakes and garden twine. It was very cold with a bitter wind and raining on and off so Mini and I dropped him off for a while and came back later to join in, I don't want her to be put off if she gets too wet and cold so we aren't overdoing it just now. When I got back our neighbours were on their plot, the couple who we had met last week who had told us about their Grandaughters. The woman and her son and grandaughter were there and amazingly we already know the son and his wife and their daughter was at our daughters birthday and vice versa because Jenna and I met each other at a postnatal group after our babies were born. We couldn't believe the conincidence and with just 5 days between them in age the girls will be able to enjoy playing together as the weather gets nicer. Everything that has happened with this allotment makes it feel like it's just meant to be and after my initial reluctance I am really enjoying it. While I was there Mini was in her buggy as it was afternoon sleep time and we popped her into the shed with the door propped open so she was sheltered but we could still keep an eye on her, this gave me the opportunity to prune the tree on the plot and take off some of the very low branches that would be dangerous to a small child, it looks loads better. Peter dug out the legumes bed as we are trying to prepare it to put in some Aquadulce Claudia broad beans by the end of this month. Things that I think in my mind will only be a quick job invariably turn into a much longer job, either because I have been unrealistic about the pace of work or because we have to rely on the weather and the land itself to co-operate but I am alreadys starting to see big changes in how the plot looks and I just want to be there all the time.
The other momentous event this weekend was the purchase of a pair of wellies for me, I haven't had wellies since I was a young child but I soon came to realise they were a necessity. At first I thought I would have some lovely fashion wellies with pink spots or something but on closer inspection I soon realised that although they looked nice they were by no means practical for actually doing any work so I purchased myself some red town and country ones, they feel completely different to how I remember wellies being and are really comfy, the first time I wore them on the plot was brilliant and they will be a permanent feature for me certainly in the winter months. I am amazed at how much my attitudes have changed since having a child, 2 years ago I would not have gone on an allotment site or wore a pair of wellies but then I also thought that I didn't want to breastfeed or use real nappies yet when the time came those things just seemed right, the allotment is already doing us good, we are outside enjoying the open air even in winter and we have a family project where we can achieve something together which will improve our diets, be of educational value to our daughter and make us spend quality together. There are loads of other reasons why it will be a good thing too, I just hope we have some success with our growing in the first year.
Saturday came and the weather was excellent, it was more like a good spring day than the middle of January, so after nipping to the DIY store to get some roofing felt we went straight down to the plot with sandwiches packed for lunch, we togged Mini up in her waterproofs and wellies which was a very good job as she quickly found the mud and the puddles and within twenty minutes had fallen head first into some very cold water, she was fine I was closely supervising her but it was one of those moments that go in slow motion, I couldn't reach her quite quickly enough to save her from falling I lifted her up and she continued playing with a mud streaked face and messy hair. It did highlight the dangers for a small child on an allotment, especially an unprepared site such as ours at present, water has pooled and collected in a few spots and it is vital that we watch her at all times, this also means that although there are two of us there we are not both working 100% as we always have to watch a young toddler.
Our colony has a members shed and shop where you can get hold of essentials at very reasonable prices, they also have a seed swap tray and other useful bits and bobs, it is only open at weekends and for 2 hrs on a Wednesday and is staffed by volunteers. We went in to introduce ourselves and enquire about membership of the allotment association which is a very bargainous £2.50, apparently the cost of membership is going to be reviewed at the AGM in February so until then we can't join. I found this slightly frustrating as it blocks our ability to purchase from the shop at a time when we are clearing our plot and this facility could be particularly useful.
The site was very busy on Saturday and whilst making enquiries about membership we learned that halfway up the site there is a bay where wood chip and straw mulch is dumped every now and then for any plot holder to use. We had already spied the collection on an earlier visit and discussed how useful it would be for our main path so we made the most of the free resource and gathered some to use. It was quite a trek from our plot and 14 barrows later we still hadn't quite finished the path. A friendly neighbour offered his larger sized wheelbarrow on loan so that we could transport more in one go, I thought that was really kind, there seems to be quite a sense of community and that excites me because living in a city that is hard to find.
Later in the afternoon my Mother and her husband came over to take a look at our plot, my Mum is not an outdoors type by any stretch of the imagination but it was good that they took an interest. She was quite concerned at how dirty her Grandaughter was which quite amused me. I took her for a run out to the garden centre because I needed to get some supplies whilst Barry helped Peter to strip the old felt off the shed and re-roof it with new felt. They also did some more work on the path and took down the plastic greenhouse which was getting into a bit of a state, they used the shelving in it to make shelves in the shed and re-organised all the stuff in there so there is now a lot more room. When we came back I started to build a fence with some wood offcuts and chicken wire to the boundary line to the west of our plot, my Mum is quite old fashioned about things women should and shouldn't do and I think it unnerved her to see me saw in hand chopping wood and building a fence, eventually we allowed her and Barry to go back to our house with Mini then Peter and I stayed on for another hour until the light went on us.
On Sunday we went to church so it was afternoon when we got to the plot, Peter's main task was to start digging the legumes bed that I had marked out using stakes and garden twine. It was very cold with a bitter wind and raining on and off so Mini and I dropped him off for a while and came back later to join in, I don't want her to be put off if she gets too wet and cold so we aren't overdoing it just now. When I got back our neighbours were on their plot, the couple who we had met last week who had told us about their Grandaughters. The woman and her son and grandaughter were there and amazingly we already know the son and his wife and their daughter was at our daughters birthday and vice versa because Jenna and I met each other at a postnatal group after our babies were born. We couldn't believe the conincidence and with just 5 days between them in age the girls will be able to enjoy playing together as the weather gets nicer. Everything that has happened with this allotment makes it feel like it's just meant to be and after my initial reluctance I am really enjoying it. While I was there Mini was in her buggy as it was afternoon sleep time and we popped her into the shed with the door propped open so she was sheltered but we could still keep an eye on her, this gave me the opportunity to prune the tree on the plot and take off some of the very low branches that would be dangerous to a small child, it looks loads better. Peter dug out the legumes bed as we are trying to prepare it to put in some Aquadulce Claudia broad beans by the end of this month. Things that I think in my mind will only be a quick job invariably turn into a much longer job, either because I have been unrealistic about the pace of work or because we have to rely on the weather and the land itself to co-operate but I am alreadys starting to see big changes in how the plot looks and I just want to be there all the time.
The other momentous event this weekend was the purchase of a pair of wellies for me, I haven't had wellies since I was a young child but I soon came to realise they were a necessity. At first I thought I would have some lovely fashion wellies with pink spots or something but on closer inspection I soon realised that although they looked nice they were by no means practical for actually doing any work so I purchased myself some red town and country ones, they feel completely different to how I remember wellies being and are really comfy, the first time I wore them on the plot was brilliant and they will be a permanent feature for me certainly in the winter months. I am amazed at how much my attitudes have changed since having a child, 2 years ago I would not have gone on an allotment site or wore a pair of wellies but then I also thought that I didn't want to breastfeed or use real nappies yet when the time came those things just seemed right, the allotment is already doing us good, we are outside enjoying the open air even in winter and we have a family project where we can achieve something together which will improve our diets, be of educational value to our daughter and make us spend quality together. There are loads of other reasons why it will be a good thing too, I just hope we have some success with our growing in the first year.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Obsessed?
Last night I was in bed reading seed catalogues at 11pm!!! My husband is concerned I have gone mad, six months ago I would have had a lot to say had he been reading a seed catalogue and trying to discuss varieties with me at that time of night but I have really got the bug. I felt quite cross that it was so dark tonight when I came home from work because I drive past the end of the road where our plot is and I would have liked to call in, roll on spring when the nights are longer.
It was the first day back at work for me today after Christmas and an opportunity to tell my colleagues about our new alloment, they were all surprisingly positive and one has even offered to help me scrounge a few pallets from somewhere she knows. She also told me that Wilkinsons and Poundland do some good gardening stuff at times so there may be a bargain to be had if you go at the right time.
Mini now has her own little toddler size spade, a metal one which is really cute, I haven't bought her all the other tools yet as she is only 16 months but she does need a few bits to keep her occupied and she loves to copy what we are doing at the moment so just walking around with her little spade will keep her happy, that's the plan anyway.
Our family have also been very positive about the new allotment, I don't know why I expected they wouldn't be really and they have been encouraging and quite helpful. My Dad and his wife have bought us a great allotment book and are very positive about Mini being involved, my Mum and her husband are coming to visit the plot at the weekend, that one really was a shocker when she said that because she doesn't like to get dirty but at least she is showing an interest and my husbands parents have also bought us a book that we haven't got yet and they've also offered us some stuff from their garage and shed. They're probably all keeping us sweet just in case we pull it off and actually manage to grow some delicious fruit and veg ha ha.
My plan for the allotment has developed some more after looking at the plot again and marking out with garden twine some 4 foot wide beds for the four main rotation beds. I also wanted to have an asparagus bed but I need to find out more about this and the difference between growing from seed or growing from 1/2yr old crowns, I sometimes feel I am making this up as I go along but I have sometimes felt that about my parenting since Mini came along and she's doing ok, so hopefully the plot will be the same.
It was the first day back at work for me today after Christmas and an opportunity to tell my colleagues about our new alloment, they were all surprisingly positive and one has even offered to help me scrounge a few pallets from somewhere she knows. She also told me that Wilkinsons and Poundland do some good gardening stuff at times so there may be a bargain to be had if you go at the right time.
Mini now has her own little toddler size spade, a metal one which is really cute, I haven't bought her all the other tools yet as she is only 16 months but she does need a few bits to keep her occupied and she loves to copy what we are doing at the moment so just walking around with her little spade will keep her happy, that's the plan anyway.
Our family have also been very positive about the new allotment, I don't know why I expected they wouldn't be really and they have been encouraging and quite helpful. My Dad and his wife have bought us a great allotment book and are very positive about Mini being involved, my Mum and her husband are coming to visit the plot at the weekend, that one really was a shocker when she said that because she doesn't like to get dirty but at least she is showing an interest and my husbands parents have also bought us a book that we haven't got yet and they've also offered us some stuff from their garage and shed. They're probably all keeping us sweet just in case we pull it off and actually manage to grow some delicious fruit and veg ha ha.
My plan for the allotment has developed some more after looking at the plot again and marking out with garden twine some 4 foot wide beds for the four main rotation beds. I also wanted to have an asparagus bed but I need to find out more about this and the difference between growing from seed or growing from 1/2yr old crowns, I sometimes feel I am making this up as I go along but I have sometimes felt that about my parenting since Mini came along and she's doing ok, so hopefully the plot will be the same.
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Kitted out
We haven't been to the allotment today, Peter is working and the weather is poor so I haven't braved it on my own with Mini, but we did do something that will be very useful, we braved the winter sales. Arghhh I hate sales and today was no exception it was heaving. Well what does that have to do with an allotment we wonder but actually we went to get some waterproofs for Mini and I got a great bargain, I got her two Togz suits which are waterproof, windproof, tear resistant, stain resistant and the best bit of all they are usually 22.99 each and I got them for 6.99 each. One aged 2 and 1 aged 3 for her to grow into. I was most pleased and now she will be warm and dry while she is playing about in the mud and I won't be worrying about her clothes getting wrecked and my ever increasing washing mound because they will just go over anything she is wearing and with little wellies too she is sorted. Just need a child size set of tools now and she will be fully kitted out.
Forgot to mention yesterday that while we were there we met the people from a plot neighbouring ours, they seemed really friendly, introduced themselves, thought it was great we had Mini with us and said they have Grandaughters who are 16months and 18 months who sometimes go with them so she might have some little playmates. This is definitely working out better than I first imagined.
Forgot to mention yesterday that while we were there we met the people from a plot neighbouring ours, they seemed really friendly, introduced themselves, thought it was great we had Mini with us and said they have Grandaughters who are 16months and 18 months who sometimes go with them so she might have some little playmates. This is definitely working out better than I first imagined.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Just had good news!
After being on the waiting list almost 12 months we have just had the news that we have been successful in getting an allotment. It's on a colony in Chester and we are lucky as there is already a shed on the site and it's not too badly overgrown. There are mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation as we consider where this will take us in the future. My major concern at the moment is our 16 month old daughter and making the site safe and enjoyable for her but I'm also excited at the prosepect of the many educational benefits of gardening and the eventual prospect of serving up healthy home grown fruit and veg to her. We had the news confirmed on New Year's Eve which is rather ironic as we embark on this new project for the New Year, tomorrow my husband will go at 9am to the council offices to sign the tenancy agreement and then it's all ours.
We are relative beginners to all this but we have made some plans and I suppose that the test year will always be a trying one, in fact we don't hope to have the plot fully furnished for at least 5 years and it will always be a work in progress I suspose. We have read around on the subject and I can highly recommend the book, 'How to Plant your Allotment' by Caroline Foley, it is a great introduction and has many ideas to mix and match. We have an ambitious range of fruit and veg we are hoping to grow but we don't expect to do it all at once. In the first year we are hoping to get four 4ft raised beds going to contain the families potatoes, legumes, brassicas and roots, these will then be rotated around to help confuse pests and reduce soil bourne disease. Sounds good in theory doesn't it? I just hope it translates ok when we actually get on the ground. I'm also quite keen to grow some asparagus as I just love the taste of it and it can be expensive to shop for.
I have practically no experience of gardening, 2 out of the 3 houses I have lived in since being married including the present one have had no garden only a small yard, the middle house had a large garden but we were renting and it was fully laid to lawn so all my husband did was cut the grass in the summer months. Having said that I have happy memories of a time when my brother and I as children had a small section of my Grandfather's veg plot which took up most of his large back garden and we spent many happy times there planting seeds, watering and eating delicious fresh peas straight out of the pods. If we were having a salad when visiting he would go and pick the produce fresh and within an hour it would be served up usually with some fresh salmon or some sandwiches on hearty bread and followed by tinned peaches and evaporated milk, that was the life eh? Alright so perhaps this is a fairly romanticised view but I loved that garden the rich smell of tomatoes in his greenhouse and the onions strung up and drying in the shed it was an important and unforgettable part of my childhood. My husband has slightly more experience of gardening and has grown veg before, we have even tried growing veg in pots in our small back yard in the middle of a city whilst waiting for an allotment site to become vacant. This year we have successfully grown, all in pots, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce leaves and the herb chives, utilising a small cold frame in the back yard and our sunny windowsill, before allowing them to be exposed to the elements and grow outside in the weather but in the shelter of a walled back yard. Thinking about this seems so simple now compared with taking on an allotment which as I think now I recall being rather huge. It seems a rather overbearing task.
This blog is a way for me to chart our progress, we are growing for the future in so many ways with our family and friends in our jobs and our community and now with our fruit and vegetable on our new allotment site. Tomorrow we'll visit for the first time as official tenants of Plot 3, our only plan is to mark our boundries with short stakes and garden twine and to padlock the shed and re-attach the perspex windows, we can then assess fully what work needs to be done as we go forward.
We are relative beginners to all this but we have made some plans and I suppose that the test year will always be a trying one, in fact we don't hope to have the plot fully furnished for at least 5 years and it will always be a work in progress I suspose. We have read around on the subject and I can highly recommend the book, 'How to Plant your Allotment' by Caroline Foley, it is a great introduction and has many ideas to mix and match. We have an ambitious range of fruit and veg we are hoping to grow but we don't expect to do it all at once. In the first year we are hoping to get four 4ft raised beds going to contain the families potatoes, legumes, brassicas and roots, these will then be rotated around to help confuse pests and reduce soil bourne disease. Sounds good in theory doesn't it? I just hope it translates ok when we actually get on the ground. I'm also quite keen to grow some asparagus as I just love the taste of it and it can be expensive to shop for.
I have practically no experience of gardening, 2 out of the 3 houses I have lived in since being married including the present one have had no garden only a small yard, the middle house had a large garden but we were renting and it was fully laid to lawn so all my husband did was cut the grass in the summer months. Having said that I have happy memories of a time when my brother and I as children had a small section of my Grandfather's veg plot which took up most of his large back garden and we spent many happy times there planting seeds, watering and eating delicious fresh peas straight out of the pods. If we were having a salad when visiting he would go and pick the produce fresh and within an hour it would be served up usually with some fresh salmon or some sandwiches on hearty bread and followed by tinned peaches and evaporated milk, that was the life eh? Alright so perhaps this is a fairly romanticised view but I loved that garden the rich smell of tomatoes in his greenhouse and the onions strung up and drying in the shed it was an important and unforgettable part of my childhood. My husband has slightly more experience of gardening and has grown veg before, we have even tried growing veg in pots in our small back yard in the middle of a city whilst waiting for an allotment site to become vacant. This year we have successfully grown, all in pots, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce leaves and the herb chives, utilising a small cold frame in the back yard and our sunny windowsill, before allowing them to be exposed to the elements and grow outside in the weather but in the shelter of a walled back yard. Thinking about this seems so simple now compared with taking on an allotment which as I think now I recall being rather huge. It seems a rather overbearing task.
This blog is a way for me to chart our progress, we are growing for the future in so many ways with our family and friends in our jobs and our community and now with our fruit and vegetable on our new allotment site. Tomorrow we'll visit for the first time as official tenants of Plot 3, our only plan is to mark our boundries with short stakes and garden twine and to padlock the shed and re-attach the perspex windows, we can then assess fully what work needs to be done as we go forward.
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