Up they go!!!!!!

Once again, thanks to the Mulligan boys, up the shed goes!

Piecing it together


And HEY PRESTO

The final inspection by Nigel......

.....whilst Joe & Chris (plot 94a) gets on with the greenhouse

MMMMMMmmm I think that that bit goes there and this bit goes......

Mmmmm is that bit right?

Yes of course it is - silly me.....

And there they stand side by side.......

Me and the lovely Mulligan boys who helped me again, along with their Dad.

Work started at 8am. Joe and I tirelessly worked through the day, me only stopping for the Mayors arrival at 2pm (see http://www.srags.blogspot.com/)

Ian popped in here and there and went to Reigate to collect further workers aka the Mulligan boys!

The shed went up relatively easy, well it was compared to the Greenhouse which was a Krypton Factor special. Thanks to Chris & Joe's heads together the base was quickly put together and even "trenched" in - again with Chris's refined digging skills.

We eventually got the whole frame up and all the little rubber window bits fitted, but we gave up due to sheer exhaustion, before the polycarbonate glazing went on.

We have decided to leave that for another day.

All the galzing is now in my garage and I am slowly tackling the mensa style instructions. 2 days later and after numerous cups of tea and loads of head scratching I have finally solved it - it was the same feeling you get when you solve a rubiks cube - yes it was that thrilling. The end decision is that it all needs to get taken back to site and put together there and then. I have also read on the www that it's best to silicone all the panels in once in place as they can take take flight in a high wind.

That wouldn't do now would it!!

Progress!

This is Chris from plot 94a. Chris is also my neighbour and is the lucky winner of

half my shed!

Here he is relocating some stones / hardcore for his shed base

And here is the shed base of 94a - well the start of it anyway!

Ah! The sand and cement has arrived. Nice and early - phew!

And is being off loaded - what good timing

Meet the Mulligans!

Here we have (from left to right) Joseph, Reuben & Joe

They arrived in the nick of time with their cement mixer, buckets and a spade!

Good thinking guys, and here they are in action!

This is the start of my base......

Nigel and Chris are making the necessary measurments & Derek dug the framework trench.

They were all helping out, whilst I covered the shop and made tea! I couldn't have done it without them all.

The cement mixer is churning away

The Framework gets filled up and .....

Abaracadabara we have a shed base!
Oh great going boys.....


The Mulligans working on Chris's base

I finally got home at around 4pm after our chip shop lunch (yummy) and immediately started to bake the fairy cakes that I had promised Mavis our Chairwoman that I would bake some for the mayors visit. By this time I was knackered and alot of them look like they have been in a road traffic accident, but after borrowing some more icing sugar from Karen (allotment widow of plot 94a) they looked alot better!

So, an early start for me on the morning of Sunday the 15th as Joe said he will be there at 8am. Who am I to complain? I have been up since 6am anyway.

He said that he is determined to get the shed and the greenhouse up today - and with the mayor arriving at 2pm that could be quite an achievement!!!

The end

A Rainy October day.

With all the wet weather predicited for the next few days / weeks, I decided to go and rescue my pumpkins
As you can see, they are not a bad size - in fact one of them weighed in at over 7lbs!

I was going to cut them into Halloween faces for the local kiddies trick or treat, but I have now decided to use them for culinary purposes. I will let you know what I make out of them. Will have to look up a few recipes.

Now this is a sight for sore eyes - Brian next door on 143 - you may remember him from

ONE MAN AND HIS STUMP

Well he has started to build this most magnificent shed - rather splendid if you ask me!

I can't wait to see it all finished. I hope he puts a stash of booze in there - brandy for the winter and white wine in the summer - lovely !!

Anyone for CHUTNEY??

With an abundance of Beetroot on the plot, I decided to make some more chutney.

This one is Beetroot and Apple

It has onions (home grown of course) raisins (from a packet) sugar (whatever was in the cupboard) and white wine vinegar (because I can't have Malt Vinegar) in it also.

I must say that it tasted YUMMY, although a little sweet, but that could calm down??

This is my current "STASH" of chutneys that are maturing in the garage - there's Black Pepper & courgette, Glutony Chutney, Picalilli, and Beetroot & Apple.

Some of them have been given away to friends and neighbours and some even posted as far as Nottingham & Malta!!

NEWS FLASH

I have now been lucky enough to get some FREE concrete slabs for my shed base from a very kind FREECYCLE member from Mitcham. OK, so it has meant several trips to Mitcham and back to save my car's suspension, and although the very kind pre owner of these slabs helped me to load them with his wheelbarrow, I had no help at the Lotty end! Pure determination and hard work!

So thank you John Murphy - fellow Freecycler - your slabs will be put to good use - very good use!

Looking out for some shed roof felt / liner now!! You never know.

Read all about it! My 1st Radishes

How exciting - not only did I get my 1st radishes yesterday but also my new book arrived.

It's really "down to earth" and non of this flowery stuff, so its an easy read.

It's called Vegetable Growing Month by Month Take a look at the link - you can easily order it online and it arrive pretty much the next day. I ordered one for Susan next door (my fellow lotty person).

It's by this chap called John Harrison who has been growing veg for 30 years! It's only got a few pictures, so the rest is great information and covers all your niggly little questions from Pests to gardening jargon! Well don John. My book looks like I have had it 30 years already although I have only had it the one night!

My radishes have finally made it and looked ready to be picked. I knew this because it was in "the book"

Don't they look yummy! Boy are the HOT!

The poly tunnel gets it - I had to cut this one in half so that each half sat nicely across my newly planted tomatoes - I planted Marmande & Cerise, so one extreme to the other size wise. All the plants were raised from seed.

A picture especially for my lovely Mother in Law - aka - the armchair gardener. These are the "Vivaldi" potato plants so far.

Now that the radishes have gone, I have put some cos lettuces down each side of the parsnips and I have put some more radish seed in the middle of the parsnips to see if they will come up again. fingers crossed.

And finally (for plot 142......)

George one of the laughing Jamaicans gave me some runner bean's to plant out on 144! He said that all I need to do is pot them on at home, bring them on, and by the time they are big enough I would have cleared a suitable space on 144 to put them in - that is after building a wigwam using 8ft canes ( he made it sound so easy ) so I will have to go and see Nigel in the shop for some canes and probably a heap load of advice.

This is Nigel - another Lotty Hero / Mr. Chainsaw / shop entrepreneur

Plot 144 - UPDATE

Progress on 144 - You have seen the top picture before on a previous post. With a little more digging, swearing, numerous cups of tea & stopping for breaks, this is the progress so far.....

Can you just make out the string to the right of the picture? I realised that I had to mark out my plot end as I was straying onto Paul's plot (which I must say is as overgrown as 144 so he has his work cut out too!) I don't mind straying you understand, but when I have 125 sq.ft. to tackle, and I have only done about 2.5 sq.ft. so far, I would rather not stray at this stage.

Now talking of Paul, he kindly mentioned to me that he will be putting his shed on the end of his plot that ends on to mine, and as it was decided that the shed of character was going to meet it's maker on the bonfire that Kermit nearly jumped into (sorry if you are losing the plot at this stage read my early post - Kermit is rescued and Rain Rain go away) I am going to have to get a new shed (probably the more sensible option really) and he said that whilst he is putting down his base (he is getting an 8' x 4') he will put a base down for me at the same time! How thoughtful is that!!! So we are going to have back to back sheds (mine might not be an 8' x 4') which is why I am clearing my plot where I am. There is a method to my madness you know!

SCARECROW NEWS

Unnamed lady scarecrow is in the making, but I cannot reveal anything about her apart from the fact that she is going to look fab.

I have had a few name suggestions so far, but keep them coming in via the comments please. All will be seriously considered.

p.s. our local council is organising a Sutton in Bloom competition - and the catagories are

• best front garden
• best allotment garden
• best community garden
• best business frontage
• best wildlife garden
• best school garden

What about best SCARECROW - poor Tatty Boggie Gump

Anyways if you would like to enter - click HERE for an online applcation form & Good Luck

Today is Thursday 22nd May, the sun is shining and I will be off down the lotty for the afternoon - all afternoon in fact!

Rain, Rain Go AWAY Come again in another 6 months!

I don't believe it! (Say it like Victor Meldrew w0uld - go on - you know you want too!)

There I am, all prepared - wax jacket on - check, boots on - check, gardening jeans with yesterdays mud on - check, fully equiped bag on arm - check, barbour base ball cap (kindly bought for me by my Armchair Gardener aka mother in law for my birthday) on head - check, kissed husband good bye and off out the door when the heavens opened! I carried on walking - allotment bound and got there - still raining. I stood in the rain & ate a gluten free chocolate chip cookie to cheer myself up - still raining. I thought "sod it!" and got on with putting in my final batch of Main Crop potatoes - Mayan Gold (the 2nd lot I put in yesterday by the way, are called Swift - the 1st lot are Vivaldi's) OK so I only had 5 tubers to plant, but I got there in the end.

I also watered my courgettes/zucchini's & pumpkins as they are under bell cloches and would not be benefitting from the downpour, that was still going on!

I noticed that the shop door was open, so I abandoned the plot (probably quite literally at this stage as I was soaking wet) and went for shelter. Nigel was just packing up, but stayed the extra 5 minutes - well long enough to let me stop dripping! Thank you Nigel. He told me that the shop took a good amount over the weekend and that we had 5 new members for the Garden / Allotment Society too - maybe one of those leaflets that I posted through someones door yesterday worked??

Now - this could be the shed I was telling you about. I did say it was a bit wonky didn't I? Well, I, along with Hubby Ian and the current sheds' owner Paul, all think that it will be ok with a bit of TLC, some bits of wood and about 10,000 nails! I think it will look GRAND - all old and full of character on Plot 142.

What do you think?