A productive day out of the office.

Today I treated myself to a day on the allotment by myself, instead of going to work. I wasn’t skiving and definitely didn’t take it easy! I actually worked SO HARD today that I wore out my boots.

This was my day....

By 9am I had hung out the wet washing, mown the lawn and shaded the greenhouse.
By 10am the plot perimeter was strimmed and looking very neat. By 11am I’d filled 3 water butts, watered the plants and planted out the big broccoli & remaining sprouts 2 courgette, 12 sweetcorn, (6 ‘Incredible’ the rest an unknown £1 bargain from a roadside stall.)

By then it was getting seriously hot so I refuelled with a cold beverage and quick sit down under the parasol.

After lunch I soldiered on and planted 12 climbing French beans, sowed dwarf ones & mange tout peas (A bit late, but never mind) Next to be planted were 9 Gardeners Delight & 3 Beefsteak tomatoes, 2 pumpkins, 7 small broccoli & 2 small Brussels sprouts (Bedford)

Keeping to my New Years resolution I’ve finally emptied the 6 sacks of 2 year old oak leaf mould from my sister Wendy. They have been slowly turning into wonderfully crumbly compost, as the sacks degraded in the sun and split at the slightest touch!

While mulching, I discovered these hungry munchers:

This cabbage wasn’t grown by me, but I lovingly transported to my plot from the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show where I bought it for £1 in the 4pm sell off on the final Saturday. I thought I’d squashed all the eggs I’d spotted last week, but had obviously missed a few.

My trip to Chelsea, (my first and not my last!) was hugely enjoyable and was topped off with a full 48 hours of ‘child-free’ indulgence, a trip around IKEA, shopping in Croydon and two nights away on my own. My in-laws kindly let me stay in their house, even though they were out of the country on holiday at the time.

My other purchases from Chelsea were:

An Allium shubertii and a lettuce Lollo rosso, both of which are in the back garden.

A pink Hawes metal watering can- a free gift with 3 months subscription to Amateur Gardener magazine. (1/2 the price of buying a can in the garden centre – I’d done my research just have to remember to cancel the direct debit in 3 months!!)
And finally 2 shallow tub trugs which BD has had fun playing with in the garden. I came home inspired, happy, tired, with aching arms and an empty purse!!

Here my favourite pictures from the many I took that day.

No, it's not real but made from Plasticine and won a RHS plasticine gold meadal.

The very expensive bronze snail was big enough to sit on!