Sorry...

Hello all and so sorry it has been so long but I really have been busy!

What with all the snow down here it has been quite frustrating really. But on to good news I was able to dig over most of the beds before Christmas and covered them with manure then carpets which has really helped to improve the condition of the soil. I tried to get some cow manure but lack of has resulted in me returning to some horse muck instead which I have to collect next week. It's free so that is even better if you ask me (as long as you don't mind being knee deep in ...).

To my shock I have been receiving some much appreciated comments from the 'lotment folk about how well I am doing :) i think its time! I seem to be ahead of most of them ! Yeah me (pats self on back).

I entered a competition this week in London for my cake. I didn't place but to be honest I didn't think I would just wanted the experience and don't think I will be in a rush again it was very stressful. So stressful infact that I have used e rest of this week and my energy up the allotment. It has been wonderful I must admit as I am beginning to see all my hard work pay off. All the digging over and removing the weeds and couch grass, feeding the soil and being patient has all been worth it I think this next season is going to be a good one!

On top of the digging I have actually been able to plant some things too!*very happy face*. I popped into Aldi a few weeks ago to the surprise of fruit trees on sale for £3.99! Well why not I thought to myself? I have always wanted to grow cherries and thought at that price I couldn't miss out. So Friday off I went two trees in arms and lovingly planted them one other side of my apple tree. I now have 7 trees on the plot, yes I know it sounds like a lot but there is method to my madness. It would seem I have my eye on the plot next door so am biding my time until half of it comes available.

I have also started on my flower garden section as I am hoping to attract some beneficial insects and bees. Van Meuwen have had a great offer on where you get £100 worth of bulbs for £9.99 and with only £3 delivery well I would be crazy to turn down that offer. On to more bargains I have also

managed to bag myself some scaffolding planks for a very good price thanks to some local lads and they are coming next week. It would seem that finally after 3 years the plot is starting to resemble something that I have been planning it to. With thanks to the 99p store :) the roses are in and coming along, I have also managed to get some beautiful climbers and red hot pokers, I have my eye on a few others too but I shall take my time!

It really is a great feeling of achievement when I look at the plot and how it has progressed can't wait to get a house with a garden so I can get my huge greenhouse or polytunnel ( not that I have told hubby of my plan) and some chookes although I am a little apprehensive about them still need to do some more research but I shall leave that for another blog....

Sorry!

Well it has been a while, hasn't it? So sorry for that but what with Christmas and the new year out the way I can try and concentrate a little more! I wish, with the kids and Hubby and working on a competition piece it's non stop for me.

Anyways enough of that and on to other things...

Yes gardening, well we have had snow in good ole' Northampton and before that the ground was too hard to work. Thank goodness I managed to get it dug over before hand I feel as though I have managed to accomplish something finally. I have all my seeds prepared and separated by months to sow, it makes it easier to know where I am and what to do next. I am very excited about the new season and am itching to get the heated propagator out am going to stagger sow in pots of what I need so am thinking 3 plants per pot this week then next week another and so on and so on.

This week is all about tomatoes and leeks, I managed to download the RHS app on the IPad which is great fun to use I have had lots of reminders of what to sow and when although it has really left me with no excuse, maybe I have shot myself in the foot?

Aside from the planned gardening in my kitchen I have also been busy planning lessons, writing some new recipes and updating my website and Facebook page. Such a busy busy time. I am a very happy bunny (on one hand anyway) as I have managed to bake some beautiful macaroons! Pistachio nonetheless. Ooooohhhhhh I hear you say? Yes indeed I think I may have The Bug now so have set myself the challenge of a new flavour every week as well as a new pastry. We shall see how long that lasts until I burn myself out I suppose.

Back to the gardening.. I have just invested in a petrol lawn mower! Very very excited about this but am waiting for it to be delivered, apparently it's in a back up order, which, in my opinion is not good enough as when I ordered it they said I would have to wait 5 weeks which I have and then some. To make myself feel better I ordered a new book, it's the RHS Grow your own journal to compliment the books in the series ( which , yes, I do also own). It's fabulous, informative direct and informal with great ideas for using your produce in season and how to store it out of season. Beautiful pictures included too, so that I can dream of what a great plot full of luscious goodness looks like looks like and then compare mine. Each year I convince myself there is always next season and that most of neighbours plots have been cultivated for years although I am not sure that they are as forgiving...

But this year is going to be different I am sure...

And so it all ends!

Well here we are four days after Christmas and I have managed to bake 160 cupcakes for a beautiful wedding all finished off with a handcrafted rose. I am not going to lie it was tough especially with the kiddies running around high off life and Christmas chocolates. But thank God I did it and the wedding couple were very pleased. I will defo be posting some photos soon, it's just that I tend to post mostly off my fantastic spangdoodili flashy IPad. It was my birthday gift and I must say it is never too far from my side. It was funny actually, I was using it when I went shopping once and ended up giving a lady a demo in Tescos. It did draw quiet a crowd.

But back onto gardening and the likes. I have finally got round to planting my fruit bushes, me and my little clone ( pretty little daughter) popped upto the plot on Monday (yes boxing day!) and popped them in. I had to mentally prepare myself for the task of doing the cupcakes so I needed some outdoorsy time although it wasn't as peaceful as I would have hoped. Don't get me wrong I love having the kids up the plot teaching them about the plants and soil and nature but sometimes its the only me time I have and I do value it. I went up again today as I had some ponging composting to take up and we also put up a bird feeder, I have decided that I am going to really get the environment working in harmony on the plot this year ( not that I know how!), but I am going to put the bit between my teeth so to speak.

Now let's talk planting! I know that most books, web pages and the likes say that there is not much to plant this time of year and it's true, however I have decided to plant another crop of garlic and onions this month and after watching Clair's allotment I shall be popping some into toilet roll middles in the greenhouse. I am also excited about growing some mushrooms, like I said before I am no expert and each season I try out new things and so this new season I have opted for mushrooms and sweet potatoes. I currently have a sweet potato sprouting on my windowsill and I am very surprised in how quickly it has come up there has to be at least ten sprouts already! I am expecting it to go crazy on there. So after reading up on the 'sweet potato', it turns out its not actually a potato after all in fact it belongs to the bindweed family. Imagine that the dreaded weed we all spend days and even months digging of our plot (yes that one!), well we are now encouraged to plant it out there! So after much deliberation I have decided to plant one anyway, but there is method to my madness.

It turns out that although we can grow sweet potatoes here in this climate they still need a good amount of sunshine and warmth after trailing through YouTube (as I am a visual learner I have discovered) I noticed the small crops of other growers, and so here's what I am going to do....

I have learnt that you need to grow them under plastic and that they need warmth, they are also very invasive so I will be planting them in a large black bin with a black plastic lining, before I plant them I will also try to warm the soil by covering with plastic too. A great fertiliser and plenty of horse or cow muck should do it and a wire support system because the vines like to travel and hopefully all that hard work will pay off with some tasty sweet potatoes.

So musing this is and my attention turns to the kids going back to school and oh I can't wait, to be honest I don't think the kids can either....

What a busy bee!

So here I am at five to three in the morning sitting watching Masterchef the Professionals, my treat to myself for staying up very late making sugar roses for a cupcake tower wedding cake due next week. Yes I am very tired but sometimes it's these late hours where I get my chance to sit in the quiet, something I actually love to do. I can hear the family sleeping upstairs and the washing machine on cycle but I can also hear my own thoughts something I treasure too.

As I sit here dreaming of my lovely house with some nice land making jams on my aga I do have to laugh. God has such a sense of humour as me and hubby couldn't be more different. Here I am dreaming of my country life with a farm type lifestyle and yet hubby is a city man dreaming of modern houses with everything black glass and chrome! I shudder at the thought. Thank God for the brood of children we have it's always my excuse for why we can't have all that spanky furniture give me floral chinzt any day! So I have been back on eBay (oh ladies and gents I am an eBay freak) and have found some beautiful vintage wooden crates for sale, stackable as well, comes complete with rusty nails, cobwebs and a bit of dirt the listing says so I was sucked in straight away and for a bargain price of £4 each I thought I would grab some of those. Just have to travel to the other side of the world for them. No not really just down the road infact but I have been know to travel the breadth of this fine country for some ite,s from eBay and been up to Market Harbourgh a few times thanks to free cycle. I have a few trusted travel companions which would be my youngest son Cody and one of my best buddies Paul. We have been everywhere from Portsmouth to Peterborough, Rugby and Reading collecting everything from greehouses and vax hoovers

Really

I think there might be something wrong with me!

I have just manged to get my plot manageable when I began dreaming of a larger plot flourishing with fruit and vines. Dreaming of a beautiful fruit cage with ripe berries hidden away from the birds. With rows of soft fruit happily ripening in the sun! After all if I had another plot just for my fruit then that would open up more space for the veg that I want to grow on 151. So I am currently deliberating the crazy possibility of taking on another half a plot.

After discussing with Hubby his first response was how much will it cost? Then he smiled and agreed that I was crazy but he gave me the look of approval after I said £15 a year. It all depends wether I will actually be allowed one as if I am honest my plot isn't the best cultivated but I am getting there hopefully I will be ready by next year. We shall see. I like the idea of having some grapes growing. Also a peach tree and nectarine I think fans and espaliers would be best so I can utilise the space better. I have heard though that maybe the latter are difficult to grow in this climate.

Well it has been known that I like a challenge or two and after a while you will get to know me and realise I like nothing better then to test my self so why not add a little orchard. The only problem with inheriting fruit trees is that you may not know their name at least with buying them I can choose what ones I want. I have my eye on a variety called "Red Love" beautiful red apples which have red flesh and apparently the colour remains even after cooking!

http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Fruit/Fruit+Trees/Apple+Redlovereg;+Sirena

OOOOoOh my favourite time of year!,

So here we are December a few day before Christmas and I have trawled through the seeds catalogues, online specialists and of course EBay and have decided to grow some unusual items this coming season. I have started off some sweet potatoes on my windowsill. Just popped it three quarters into some water and in five days the roots have really come out. I can see some sprouts on the top also it's oh so exciting!!!

As well as the sweet pots I am going to grow some purple, yellow and white carrots and I have some beautiful Heirloom purple podded peas saved from last years crops. That is something I am really looking into now growing heirloom varieties as well as learning to save my seeds from previous crops.

It's funny really that as growers we buy F1 types hybrids but actually there are some great true seeds with the same or even better growing qualities and saves you money in the long run and I think that should play a big part in our seed choosing. I have found a great website that specialise in true types I shall add the link at the bottom of this post.

Anyway back to the topic. This is also the time to plant fruit bushes and trees. I was quiet lucky when I got my plot as it came with a great selection of trees although I would really love some cherries and a vine but that will come in time.

I found a great deal on eBay and received my nine currant bushes three white, three red and three black today. Am planning to plant them out tomorrow. Depending on the weather. I love red currants and last year found a beautiful red currant and strawberry jam recipe that was really tasty. I got the currants from free cycle actually and one day last year me and the kids went and picked some from a ladies garden. Once the jam was made I took a jar back to the lady which was fun to do. But that's what life is about I think a community of people sharing and swapping stuff. Crazy right?

Oh here's the link enjoy.

http://realseeds.co.uk/

What happened?!?

So I have decided to back track a little and give you a back story. In August me, hubby and kids packed up our car for a week camping in Cornwall. After spending the last three months getting on top of the plot I was finally there! That state of perfect gardening euphoria. The plot was productive greenhouse full of little baby seedlings and I finally felt like I had achieved something, so a little trip away for a week wouldn't harm!

Oh how wrong was I! I came back to a dried up greenhouse and the loss of stuff was quiet distressing. So much so that I gave up really I didn't go back to the plot until October when it was safe and most of the weeds (and produce!) had died back. So it all began again after much deliberation I decided to stick out the plot and give it my all this year. And so I have dug it all over well the raised beds anyway. Got some great manure and am really looking forward to next year. As my Father once told me "There is always next season".