The results are in....

....and it's the FIG!!  Thank you all for voting. I've gone for the 'brown turkey', despite not liking the name (I prefer violetta or the rosetta) but I've read up on it and it seems to be suitable - hardy and good fruit (and cheaper!)  Here's a link to what it'll look like:
fig-tree-brown-turkey-

I look forward to it!

Lasagne part 2

One hour later.....

Lasagne

Part one of my lasagne. Now for the hard bit!

Be prepared to go "wow!"

A cup of tea after an afternoon's digging is WONDERFUL!! Well...we've got all the beds done and one of them is just about ready to be planted. Think one or two beds will get covered for a year to sort the weeds out but the plot is looking as it should be now and I'm feeling very achey but extremely....soothed. Gardening and digging does wonders for the soul :-)

So here's and update on planted things ... potatoes, beetroot, carrots and parsnips are in one bed. Radish, leeks, squash, swede, broccoli and sweetcorn are in the cold-frame. Onions and tomatoes are on the windowsill, garlic is in a bed too and broad beans are against the arch. Fruit-wise there's plum, cherry, braeburn apple, pear, rhubarb (and more from a neighbour!) raspberries, redcurrant, gooseberry and blueberry!!!! (just watching Hugh F-W making lovely stuff with fruit as I type :-D)
Needless to say, I can't wait for things to grow!
Being inspires by others who are planting Jerusalem artichokes...never had them before though. And mum wants celeriac and fennel too! Just need to work out where everything should go....

A cheeky planting

The wait for the weekend allotment trip was too long so I did a little planting this evening! Thought I'd better re-pot my chillis so they've got more room to let the roots grow (GRRRRR! as Richard Jackson would say) the sweetcorn seeds also got planted...got 6 pots so will that be enough??
Planning on a little visit to the plot straight after work...no hanging around THAT place longer than needed for me! Just hope my other allotment plantings are surviving!

Cherry tree buds

Arch and new bed

Alex's handiwork

Raspberries

And the winner is........

RASPBERRIES!!! 

Thank you to all who voted and the raspberries are now in.  I must confess that I'm not a huge fan of raspberries (it's a pip thing)  but hopefully there'll be enough to make jam! 
Also in are the potatoes, despite Monty saying it's too cold for them but they are chiited and they're in so there!  I sowed some swede and some squash and they're in the cold frame.  Just a bit of a failure to report...alas the caulis did not survive the week in the cold frame (*sigh*)  oh well, life goes on, we live and learn (etc etc!)
The beans looked strong and I planted them out - great root system!!
And finally today Alex put the first of the bed together and it's now in place!!!  Not a bad couple of hours work depite the bit of rain and mud!

Photos will be available soon - once I've worked out how to get them off my iphone!

And what a reward!

Sunset on the way home:

The results:

Good stuff for the bed

Hard graft

Finally a beautiful, sunny day and lots of jobs done! The garlic is in the ground and the caulis and beans are in the cold frame. Alex sorted the planks, mum planted sprouts, broccoli and radish (in a reclaimed baby bath!), dad wheelbarrowed compost for the bed and we all dug! Hope you're not aching too much - your help was much appreciated. Things are seeming a lot easier and I think the beds will be up and running soon!

March in your garden

March in your garden

This weekend

I'm so looking forward to spending some quality,restorative time at the allotment this weekend. Hopefully there will be some sun too!
I need to make a to-do list so I'll start here:
1. Plant the redcurrant - DONE!
2. Re-pot 1 blueberry and put all on fruit bed - next week
3. Get compost and fill up beds - 1 DONE!
4. Start prepping boards for new beds - DOING!
5. Plant potatoes?? - next week
6. Decide what else to plant! - sort of!
7. Drink tea - DONE!
8. Sow flower seeds: poppy and borage - DONE!
9. Take pots and arch from garden - arch: DONE!


More ideas to follow! Please comment if anyone has other suggestions!

PSB recipe! YUM!!!

http://bit.ly/h0ouJA

Sent from my iPhone

No dig weeding

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/26/alys-fowler-lasagne-gardening?cat=lifeandstyle&type=article

Here's an interesting article about the 'lasagne' method of weeding. Would like to try that sometime....sounds my kind of weeding!!

Spring is here!

It's officially springtime inmy book, and the weekend weather is looking great so definitely getting the wellies on! Time for making the beds, methinks, and will have to get forcing the rhubarb! Not only that but have got a redcurrant bush to plant (and do I dare to plant caulis out???)