2012 - Greenhouse Damage

The Back roof Panel 

And the front Corner panels too!

I went to look for all 3 panels and came back with 5!!

Poor Hilda isn't looking her best - she reminds me of Amy Winehouse now!

And Tatty's brains are falling out.

I will have to make them over this year!

A busy week at plot 144

The Sweet potato slips (Georgia) arrived yesterday morning. I was amazed that they looked half dead., so I followed the instructions and put them in water to "revive" them overnight

However the next morning they looked no better, so I phoned Thompson Morgan and emailed them a couple of photos. I got a very nice email back with a comparison photo and all looked well, so also as instructed I potted them on in deep root trainers and within 3 weeks they should be fit for the purpose they were intended for!

To Other News from plot 144

The cauliflower plants were looking a little sad - maybe they were getting pot bound or maybe they were too warm in the heated greenhouse?  I may never know, all I do know is that they were about to die, so dispite the weather, I put them outside ..

.....Under cloches and fingers are crossed. 

The Tomatoes, Chillies and Leeks are all enjoying the freezing cold weather, as that means I put the paraffin heater on overnight....

Arthurs Lettuces really want to be outside now, and the pak choi (2nd attempt) are just starting to show too!

 More Tomatoes (cherry) some ridge cucumbers (to the left) and even the aubergines are making progress

As you can see the heater is in position and ready to go

Now this was a surprise find - a pink watering can - and I say surprise because I found it in my Greenhouse!  After scratching my head and asking Derek, who denied all knowledge, I came across Arthur who admitted it was him. He said he was in Wilkinsons, saw it and thought of me!

Back to the heater, and as you can see it's fired up and heating the place up!  I went every evening to turn it on and every morning to turn it off!  It got down to -4degrees one night!!

Now this is my flower seed experiment.  I put a mixture of all my flower seeds into the tub and scattered them on the barren area against the fencing.  Hopefully something amazing will happen and I will have created a flower border.

And finally - the weather warmed up enough yesterday to warrant taking a few Greenhouse residents out to the sunshine for the day.  I put them back inside at night last night, but no heater for the 1st time as it was only down to 4 degrees not -4 last night.!

Potato Day

I had arranged to meet Derek at 9.30am yesterday - how's that for good timing??

Derek and Laddie arrived shortly after

So I borrowed Ron's wheelbarrow and collected my potatoes, which I had moved to the Greenhouse from the bath yesterday

And of we went to plot 121 to begin the planting frenzy!

We had to dig / fork the ground a little first, so that the potato ridger would go in a lot easier

And in went the Cara's, Desiree & Roosters

I made sure they were all labeled up as I would easily forget what went in where! 5 rows later on plot 121 and a row of Cara's / Desiree on plot 144 for the overflow, and we all done.

I then went to work on 144 and spent the next hour and a half weeding and tidying up as it was needed after all the time of I have had!

And I made sure that all was well in the Greenhouse too.  3 hours and two cups of tea later and I was pooped, so home I went for lunch.

Surprise at the Allotment today....

 I hobbled down to Plot 122 today, and to my surprise I noticed that my asparagus, planted last year, has suddenly sprouted.  These two look a little "bendy" because someone had put a piece of  glass over half of the raised bed that is the asparagus's home!! I will have to find out whose it is and have words with them tomorrow!!

These two were a bit further along and have grown up nice and straight!

I spent a couple of hours there today, mainly drinking tea and chatting, but I did pot up some peas in the Greenhouse.  When I entered the GH it was 32 degrees in there - heatwave!!

I will hobble down there again tomorrow as the sun will be shining - hooray.

A sneaky visit to the Allotment....

Hubby went to get his car cleaned, so I asked him to drop me off on the way and pick me up on the way back - this meant I got half an hour at the allotment and able to take in what's been happening in the last 10 days.  The most exhausting thing I did was to open up the shed, get the slut pellets out and scatter them around the greenhouse benches and then hunt for snails (I found 11 inside!!)
The pictures will speak for themselves, but I also have to say thanks to the boys, Derek, Arthur, Ron & Nigel who have all been taking turns to either water the greenhouse plants or put the heater on if a frost is predicted........

 Spinach & Sweetcorn

Courgettes & Chilli's

Dwarf French Beans & Broad Beans

Cos LettuceLeeks
                                                                                     

Peas

My lovely greenhouse!

As you can see, I was shocked on my arrival at the allotement for shop duty today!  My Greenhouse got attacked by the winds over the weekend.  6 panels in all were missing.  All found bar one - that was until Arthur the Deliver Boy (who celebrated his 74th Birthday this week) spotted it on a small grass verge outside the allotment fencing.

The mess inside as awful, but the main job was to get the panels back on and to find all the "W" clips that had obviously NOT done their job!!

Luckily Nigel was on hand to help with the roof panels as I would never have reached up there.  I coped with the lower panels, however my nails didn't!!

So after a good hour, my lovely greenhouse, with the help of Nigel, Derek, his dog Laddy & Arthur (Derek, Laddy & Arthur formed the search party for panels) is now back to a more secure one.  I have been to the local Garden Centre and purchased a pack of 25 "W's" which I will go and distribute around the greenhouse panels later.

This is the shed on plot 119.  We called them to let them know that it would need their attention!

Lucky my Broad Beans have flourished under the protection of the mini poly tunnel, which the wind removed, and I found a few raised beds down! I have now removed the other poly tunnel, so as to harden them off before the frost well and truly come along.

The onions and garlic on 121 are both doing really well as you can see from these photo's!!

Snail Trails, the Greenhouse & lotty folk....

A few pictures taken over the last week - snail trails (they travel far!) the greenhouse (getting smaller everyday) and allotment folk enjoying the good weather

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

Pottering in the Greenhouse in the RAIN!

It is a very grey and drearily dismal day with lots of drizzle and sulky faces around, so I thought "I know, I can pop to my Greenhouse and keep nice and dry and warm, whilst getting some seedlings planted," so off I went as fast as my little legs could carry me....

I had to start my task with a good strong cup of tea and with the radio set to Heart 106.2 I was raring to go - all energised and buzzing.....

But first some pictures - these are my sweetcorn plants......

And my Tomatoes (but can't remember which type !!)

Sweet Peas.......

And this was my task of the day - planting 3 types of courgettes & some marrows

You can see the massive sunflower plants to the back (these are 4inches already)


And the Aubergine seedlings that were in my utility but are now in their new home.

Is it the Loch Ness Monster? No - its a pea seedling, just freshly escaped from it's pod...

My onions (bedforshire) which did very well from seed last year so fingers crossed its the same this year.....

And another picture of neat and tidiness!

All in all I planted 27 new seeds today - 3 varieties of Courgettes (two yellow varieties) and some Marrows - I love marrows as I cook them to a traditional Maltese recipe that goes down very well in this household - if you want the recipe, just ask!

And finally - this is Brian and Elena - on the left - my neighbours on plot 143 and Doug, who has a plot down the bottom. They braved the elements and planted potatoes using Dougs Potato Planting pogo stick, which sadly isn't shown in this picture but looked like a great big club with small sticks sticking out of it - lethal looking thing!