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Katrina’s Allotment Diary

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Hello from Nottingham, UK

Recent Posts

  • Mini Apple Turnovers
  • Sensei Secateurs – Garden Tool Review
  • Minted Pea & Ham Soup
  • Volunteering at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show
  • April Allotment Tour Video
  • TOP 10 Seed Choices with Suttons

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Can we rewind a few months and take a moment to talk about planting garlic? 🌱 I have two rows in the ground already and they’re just about to poke through the soil...but I don’t have enough. I mean, can you ever have enough garlic?! 🤷🏻‍♀️ I face a dilemma because it’s difficult to find in the garden centres now, and I can’t really afford to buy more online just before Christmas 😩 SO, I’m thinking.. what about that supermarket stuff? I might try planting three new rows (all be it a little late) as an experiment. One from the garlic I grew last year even though I didn’t really want to use my precious cooking reserves, but it did grow well for me. The second from this rather plump non-organic supermarket bought garlic. The third from an organic garlic from the supermarket. What do you reckon? Is it going to be worth the trial? Or will the shop bought fail to crop? I would love to know your experience!
“What’s your favourite Christmas veg?” my Bristol-based buddy asked me today. Well, @younggroundgrows that would be the parsnip! This sweet flavoured root vegetable can be difficult to germinate and grow the flavour of a homegrown parsnip is like nothing you can buy in the shops! Smooth, sweet and is a delicious vegetable to add to winter soups, casseroles or roasted on Christmas day with a little drizzle of local honey. 🍯 What would yours be? 🎄👩🏻‍🌾 . #growyourown #parsnips #homegrown #allotment #vegetablegarden #grownfromseed #growyourownfood #gardener #allotmentlife #dowhatyoulove #eatseasonally #growwhatyoueat #urbanorganicgardener #winterveggies #organicgardening #greenthumb
We discussed a very important subject at college last night. A guest speaker came to my horticulture class and we learnt about the importance of wildlife in our gardens. I’ve always loved wildlife and I always had the intention of creating my allotment to coexist with the creatures that rely on it as a green space. I came home from class feeling, well... many feelings! Fear for the future of our native species, inspired to teach others what I learnt and an eagerness to get back to the allotment to see what animals I could find and how I could improve on what I already do for them. . Why is it so important? Well, our gardens and allotments form a network of green corridors and habitats that are vital for their survival. It takes very little money or effort to create little spots for them to take refuge. Having a range of habitats = a more diverse range of predators that prey on garden pests. . I hope to make my allotment even more inviting for our amphibians, mammals, birds and insects next year. I would love for you to join me and maybe even do the same to give them a fighting chance of a future! 🌎🐛🐝🦋🐞🕷 . #newt #smoothnewt #allotment #wildlifegarden #rhsstudent #horticulture #nature #conservation #nativespecies #habitat #gardener #amphibiansofinstagram #allotmentlife #gardening #sustainability #ecofriendly #organicgardening
🎄 Christmas is coming to the estate! This project has taken my wreath making craze to a new level. I seriously enjoyed creating and decorating this enormous 9ft archway that stands above the entrance to the little chapel, where a carol service will be taking place next weekend. A row of huge conifer trees are being trimmed on site at the moment so I used the cuttings to create the canvas for the archway and to make pew decorations, wall hangings, garlands and a wreath inside the chapel. All finished off with holly, berries and flowers from the gardens. I’m so lucky to have such an awesome job where I’m not just a gardener but a florist and decorator too! 🎄😃
When it’s too wet to garden outside I take refuge in my polytunnel to potter and play with plants. 🌧🌿You may remember that I wasn’t sure what to plant in this pot. Well, my lovely new grey ceramic planter is now home to the bargain cyclamen I picked up a few weeks ago as well as some crocus and miniature daffodils for spring! I just love the silvery sheen to the cyclamen leaves and brilliant white of the delicate flowers. Instead of choosing the lasagne style planting, I crammed the bulbs around and in between the cyclamen fearing that they could be pushed out of the pot come spring by those eager flowers! Fingers crossed it works and they’ll all be happy in here together with no fighting 🤞🏻🌼 . . #allotment #polytunnel #cyclamen #ceramicpot #growyourownflowers #allotmentlife #dowhatyouloveevenifitsraining #gardener #nottingham #gardenersofinstagram
So far this season we’ve got off pretty lightly with just a handful of frosts but it’s going to get a lot colder by the end of the week! 🥶 I’m getting back in the habit of leaving out mealworms, fatballs, seeds and peanuts for my feathered friends. I love my flower-shaped feeder and it’s suitable for my inquisitive robin friend who prefers not to eat from a hanging bird feeder. Is is because robins are too round I wonder? 😄 Remember to include lots of different food in your feeders to attract a more diverse range of birds to your garden this winter! ❄️🐥
I have a pretty mammoth job ahead of me. I really should have labelled all of my preserve jars as I made them, but I didn’t and now I have a huge stack of them to identify and label 🙈This sweet chilli sauce made using my homegrown cayenne chillies is top notch 👌🏻 Just the right level of sweetness and heat so it’ll make perfect Christmas gifts for my foodie friends! A lot of nurture and love has gone into my produce and it feels so good to be able to share it with others.🎄🎁 . Can you have a guess at how many jars and bottle I have to label? 🏷 I’ll reveal the answer later this week! I’m actually a bit scared to count them 😳 . #preserved #sweetchillisauce #homegrown #homemade #preserveyourfood #allotmentlife #growyourownfood #preserved @kilneruk #jars #ediblegifts #dowhatyoulove #chillies #chillijam #cayennepepper
🎄I may not have got any jobs done on the allotment today, but I made my first wreath! We had a little workshop on the allotment site today and it was so nice to catch up with some of the other plot holders over tea and cakes (I don’t eat mince pies!🤭). I made the base using willow and wove in lots of ivy, yew and holly for the foliage. To give it some colour I finished it all off with snowberries, rosehips, catkins and ivy berries from my allotment. I’m certainly feeling festive now! 🤶🏻 See my story for the close up 👀🔎🌿👌🏻 . #handmadewreath #naturalwreath #zeroplastic #homegrown #sustainablymade #christmaswreath #allotment #allotmentlife #gardengate #ivy #handmade #makeitdontbuyit #nottingham #biodegradable #stannsallotments #homegrownchristmas
Holding on to the promise of sunshine, longer days and the colourful blooms of spring. 🌷 I’ll be extending a flower bed on the side of my allotment tomorrow and planting in it the last of the ‘Flaming Flag’ tulip bulbs. Will you be gardening this weekend? 👩🏻‍🌾
Did you know that today is World Soil Day? I didn’t until my friend @wormologist enlightened me! Whilst I may not have a back garden of my own, I am so grateful to have my allotment with rich, black soil to grow flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables. My soil is dark, crumbly, hummusy black gold because it has been manured and well looked after for over 100 years. It is worth so much more to me than any precious metal. 🖤 I love caring for my soil just as much as I love growing things in it and you too can do this by mulching, adding organic matter, creating your own compost, growing green manure, trying a no-dig approach and leaving the all those chemical pesticides at the shops! My soil is so much cleaner than it use to be with all the plastic, rubbish and glass that once polluted my plot and I am reaping the rewards with bountiful harvests each year. 👩🏻‍🌾🍓🍏🍅🥕Happy World Soil Day! Check out @wormologist to see the lovely poem she posted for today’s celebration! 🖤🌍🐛 . #worldsoilday #feedyoursoil #greenmanure #allotment #allotmentlife #growsomething #gardener #urbangarden #stannsallotments #growyourown #chemicalfree #organicgardening #soil #gardener #sustainablesprout #soilhealth #healthysoilhealthyplanet
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© Katrina Harrison aka Homegrown.Garden, 2014. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without written permission is strictly prohibited. Excepts and links may be used, provided that full an clear credit is given to Katrina Harrison, aka Homegrown.Garden with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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