Friday, August 03, 2007

View from my new office.... and catch up.

Things have been rather busy recently, so apologies for not blogging much. I’ve started a new job- an internal secondment for a year and now that I’m based in the town centre I tend to leave my desk for fresh air (a beach walk or retail therapy!) at lunchtime instead of staying at my desk and blogging.

We've also celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary with a trip to Brussels on the Eurostar:
I have to cut myself a bit of slack, as it is only my first full year with an allotment. Will next year be easier?? At least I know what grows well (onions, leeks & garlic) and what doesn’t or is too labour intensive. (Peas & beans)





I have had very encouraging comments from fellow plot holders, who have admired my raised wooden beds and weed controlling pathways. It was worth all the effort last year, but I still find it a chore to strim round the edges!





Here are a few photos of how it’s all looking:







The onions have now all been lifted and are drying up side down on the slats of the staging in the greenhouse at home. They were being devoured by slugs & snails and beginning to get waterlogged stems, but are all a good size and I haven't lost many.



This snail had managed to get right inside the onion leaf!!


The leeks are in and covered with netting to stop the birds pulling them out. I used a broom handle to make holes 8 inches deep to plant them in- both tips suggested by my experienced plot neighbour.
The sprouts have little buds forming, we've started eating the tender leaves of the curly kale, but the peas have struggled against bird & slug attack.


Sadly the lettuces were devoured completely during 5 days of rain when I wasn't able to get to the plot. I think I'll stick to growing them in the garden next year, where they will be closer to hand and easier to keep an eye on.



At least it's looking like the sweetcorn have benefitted from all the rain we've had and have grown massively in a month!

My favourite flowers in bloom in the garden at the moment are:




Calla Lilly (Zantedeschia)

Lilly unknown (from B&Q which has overcome relentless slug attack!)

A special hello to Martin & Marion, fellow plot holders, who stumbled across my blog while searching the web for ladybird houses. (see my post from Sept 2006)

7 comments:

Lynn said...

Happy Anniversary Sarah and He Who Doesn't Dig ;)

Your view is too good to be true! Your garden is looing good and it appears you'll have sweet corn soon! Yum!

Candybrain said...

ohhh Your plot is SO beautiful! what a perfect size! the sweetcorn looks lush! x

Lynn said...

I've tagged you for a garden thingy, and the rules are on my blogspot website. I hope you have time to do it!

She Who Digs said...

Thank you Grow Girls! It's good to stand back and veiw the whole plot now & again- as the weeds tend to blend in with the crops from a distance!
Primrozie- I'll take a look into your tag, thanks for stopping by.
SWD

little me said...

hi ya sarah
i hope i can get my plot looking like your's when i get one lol,i too will have one in sunny hastings,yes its raining today ha ha... well done haven't you done well.... little me

this is my patch said...

Your sprouts look good, the cabbage whites have been enjoying the ones in my garden. I have grown curly kale for the first time this year and the plants are great, slugs and bugs seem to leave them alone. My leeks are settling in, I find if I leave the seedlings to become quite large before planting the birds seem to leave them alone, have you ever let your leeks go to seed, they have great decorative seedheads.

Anonymous said...

I like the view from the office! We had a lily from B&Q 3 years ago- which gets bigger & better every year. Congrats on the veg - looking good
TopVeg