Katrina’s Allotment Diary
After a few months deliberating which one to buy, another month of waiting for it to arrive and weeks of clearing the un-touched ground, my polytunnel finally stands proud at the highest point of the plot. [Erected on 31/05/2016]
The small greenhouse is becoming very crowded! Only thing is, I still have even more (yes, I probably over did it a little..) pepper and tomato plants growing at home, eager to be moved into the new polytunnel. Fingers crossed it will *finally* go up this weekend – that is IF the weather holds out.
Despite the topsy-turvy weather we had over April a lot has been happening in the last few weeks! In between the hail storms, rain showers and sudden heat waves, I’ve spent a lot of time at the allotment, making the most of the longer days – so much so that I’ve hardly had time to write about it! Continue reading “A brief May update”
I had a little tidy on the plot at the weekend in attempt to keep the weeds at bay that are beginning to take hold of the plot. As I gathered up the nettles I thought I might as well put them to use by making my own liquid nettle fertiliser. Continue reading “Nettle Fertiliser”
It’s World Earth Day today which makes me stop and appreciate the things even more than usual. Especially at this time of year when everything is coming to life I’m reminded of how beautiful this place really is. The greens are suddenly so vibrant and the cherry blossom just punches through it. The narcissi have also been in flower for the past few weeks and the tulips are ready to bloom any day now. I remember planting these bulbs on one of the coldest and windiest November days, which makes their blooms that little bit more rewarding and so welcoming as I step into the plot.
Continue reading “Appreciation”
I’m so relieved to finally get the potatoes in the ground! It was a really nice day to do it and even though we had quite a sharp frost last night the ground was soft enough to dig. More cold nights are forecasted so I’ll need to get hold of some garden fleece in the week to protect the potato bed from frost damage. Continue reading “They’re In!”
It’s a bit of an experiment but I started to chit my parsnip seeds last week since they take a long time to germinate. It’s been almost a week now and they’re no signs of them showing any signs of life yet!
I have two large half drums from a water butt to use for growing my carrot and parsnips this year so we’ll see how that goes! I had limited success with them last year as I started too late and didn’t prepare the soil well enough. By growing in big containers I plan to sieve all the compost and add a load of sand to give it the right conditions it needs to hopefully give me some Gladiator parsnips!
I treated myself to some new wellies yesterday..just look at them – they’re so gorgeous. I was on my lunch break and on my way into Loughborough town centre and I just spotted all the little foxes and could not resist! They were on sale too – PERFECT!
I’m a big lover of foxes, and they passed through my allotment from time to time last year. One memory will always stay with me and will probably become the closest encounter with a wild fox I’ll ever have. Continue reading “Feelin’ Foxy!”
Weekend Jobs Completed
Last Friday – Good Friday in fact was such a gorgeous day to be on the allotment. The first day of the year to be comfortably wearing shorts (YES i know!) and the perfect day to put up my mini greenhouse..or so I thought. Over the Easter weekend rather windy storm – ‘Katie’ they called it paid a visit to the UK… Continue reading “Undercover”
Homegrown Garden 