Merry Meet Again

Well its a few days before Christmas and i am updating my blog. I have found my list of spuds that i wanted to grow next year and i still have to put my order for Jan, Feb, March to Defland nurseries too. Still not sure completely what i want to grow :S. Need to re-read my veg book! Looking forward to next year, lots of learning, lots of growing and lots of fun. I hope that i grow, mentally, and spiritually and I really hope we fall pregnant.

So to all Have a Merry Christmas and a Fabulous New Year, hope that 2009 brings you all that you wish for xx

Not very much progress! :-(

Its been raining, its been windy, its been ice cold and we have now been smoked out!!! I had the compost bags delivered to the site almost 3 weeks ago and Jamie has been trying to make the beds up, but its just not happening for one reason or another - usually the weather. Jamie was half way through making a bed yesterday when someone started a bonfire and smoked him out! Today i am poorly so haven't been over there. I need to get the beds made the compost bags on and the permeable plastic on. So when it comes to January next year I can just get on with it. Quite depressing really!!!

It rained all day yesterday so i didn't go up the allotment. I went up there today after going to B&Q to buy a sieve. I raked over the plot again and put all the weed roots into a black bag with holes, I will burn all of that as soon as i can. I deliberated with buying an incinerator again, still not sure if i can justify buying one. I do need some black plastic though for the big compost heaps i seem to have made!

I ordered my onions and garlic from Defland nurseries a week a go and chased them up today, they should be here by Wednesday, so i should have them planted by Thursday afternoon. I ordered the 10 bags of compost and they should be delivered by early next week. Jamie should of made the other 3 beds by then too. I just need to order the permeable black weed suppressant to cover the beds until spring, and the paths in between. I am thinking of laying cardboard or newspaper down on the paths in the meantime.

I also joined Abel & Cole again so i get used to the seasons again and i am going to try new veg like Salsify and Kale and globe artichoke so i know whether to grow them or not.

Took pics today but want the next pics I put up to be the finished beds!

Progress at last

Last weekend Jamie helped me finish taking off the turf and i started to dig it over using my shiny new auto-spade which was fab. We got loads done, Rose was getting pretty bored so i decided to take her home after lunch, and Jamie finished the turfing.

On the Sunday we went over there and finished digging it over, weeding as we went along, and then i finished the digging completely on the Monday. I have been waiting all week for my Dad to drop off the wood for my raised beds as the wood was too big to fit in our car. We got it Friday evening and started to put some beds together yesterday. We only completed one bed sadly and I still have to sieve the soil as there are loads of couch grass roots still in the beds, because hubby didn't realise you had to take them all out - he's not that into gardening and is really only there to be my muscle :)

We were going to finish the beds today but it is pouring with rain so have had to skip today :( I just want it all finished and in place.

I decided not rotovate my plot because of all the roots we kept finding. I am going to sieve lightly get all the weeds out then just cover in compost and cover over with weed suppressant until January/February. I feel that next year is going to be a very good gardening year.

What my plot looked like after last weekend

WW, Allotment & Progress

It has been a busy week. I went to WW in banstead and weighed in - Lost 2lb was really chuffed. I have now become a helper and in 4 weeks will stop paying for weigh in because i will then get it free. I also got asked to be a leader. Just need to get down to 10st 8lb before i can apply!

Rose has been going to honeybees in the afternoon for a few weeks now, she has settled into school in the morning and the 2 afternoons a week in the honeybees class seems to be going OK. The only snag is she is very tired when she comes out and is usually throwing a tantrum before we get out of the school gate. In fact as I type she has fallen asleep on the sofa - hard work being 3 years old!

I have designed the new allotment plot and all i need to do now is put the plan into action. I have started taking the top off the grass this morning took me 2 hours to get a small strip done, i was very disappointed in myself. Jamie is helping me tomorrow to get some done and hopefully i will be able to rotovate it Sunday morning. With that in mind I can possibly go and buy the wood i need on the Monday - if not i will buy it next weekend and just pile up the beds during the week. I have also got to buy some thick weed suppressant to stop any weeds growing whilst the beds are overwintering!

This is my plan:

This is what the allotment looked like before we started:

I shall take more tomorrow to show what progress we have made.

I am going to grow my garlic in tubs this year, next year we are buying plug plants instead of doing seeds because we canot go through all that waste again!

I have a shed

Whoop whoop, Dad came over today and put up my shed for me with my darling hubby. I haven't been over to the plot yet to appreciate it yet but I shall tomorrow. I haven't done anything with plot since last weekend, next weekend we will be away, and weekend we get back I'm not going to be in the mood. So i shall crack weekend after that! I'm going to the local environmental fair tomorrow, going to see if i can pick up some contacts. I'm starting a business with my friend from college, we're going to do pamper parties to start with, then move onto some premises. Who knows what the future may hold.

Update.....

Well weight wise I am still at 13st 1lb. So i lost my stone and wanted to lose some more but motivation is lost to me!

My Dad gave me some money to do up the house with. So me & Jamie have been busy stripping walls, buying paint etc.

I gave up my allotment at Duke street as it was too much. I was doing really well with it at the beginning of the year but then college got a grip on me and it went to pot. I took on a new plot on the Benhill site, which is better because it is literally across the road and I can hire tools to use on that site. The thing is the new site is the same size as the old site, just this site is square. My Dad bought me a 7 x 5 shed, and Shane built a shed base for it today. Just have to call Dad to put up the shed for me once the base has set properly. Will take some pictures as soon as i can.

I have a plan for the plot, like where i want beds to go etc. Not sure what i am going to put where yet :-S I think i am just going to write out a list of veg i would like to grow then work out which bed it should go in then work out which beds are which. I've got my water butt thats going by the shed as soon as the shed is up. Also going to take some of Rosie's toys over so she can play whilst we are over there. My mind is racing!!!!!