COLD... but oh so sunny!

28 December 2010



Keen to burn off some of the Christmas calories and get some fresh air we spent a lovely couple of afternoons on the allotment doing some general tidying and digging over. It was very cold but beautifully sunny and when we weren't digging we were able to keep warm with some hot tea and Christmas cake. Mmmmmmm!

- We pulled up all the mooli and have decided that we aren't overly enamoured with this veggie so will probably not grow it again.



- We dug over the 'old' plot and fed the ground with some manure from a local farm.

- The fruit cage was given a long pampering session. Unwieldy raspberry canes were trimmed and manicured and the other fruit bushes were rigorously pruned.



We made a start on the 'new' plot and what is going to be a long and arduous task of removing the stones and glass from the ground. We really need to level the ground first before we start the sieving process proper...once we have a coarse sieve. We noticed the other day that a supermarket basket would do just the trick... just need to get our hands on one of those without being arrested :)

Brrrr...more snow!

9 January 2010



It was definitely too cold to be doing any digging on the plots!

17 January 2010

But just over a week later it was a completely different story. The snow had disappeared and we were able to get back to work on tidying up the new plot and harvesting some leeks and cavalo nero - perfect for a warming winter soup. Next year we plan to grow borlotti beans... these would have been/bean (!!) perfect in the soup too. We also managed to collect some of the logs we had chopped in November from the holly tree on the new plot) and take these home for the fire.

Christmas has been and gone!... as has the snow...

Sadly with the weather and other commitments in the run-up to Christmas, there wasn't a lot of activity on our 2 plots. Although it was pretty mild in November it was rather wet until the week before Christmas when the snows came and went, and came back twice in January!

Christmas Day 2009

We did however manage to take a break from festivities on Christmas Day (well, we wandered down with a warm glow thanks to our bucks fizz!) and dig up some parsnips and celeriac for our Christmas lunch.



It was good to see that the leeks, garlic, onions and broad beans were all doing well, giving us something to look forward to already in 2010.