My plot during National Allotment Week

It wasn't until we were back from the plot yesterday and catching up with Monty on Gardener's World that I realised it was National Allotment Week, I'd read about it a while back but the dates hadn't registered. We'd popped over there to check on the weeks, to see how the squashes were doing (still not great) and to take some of my ever improving tomato plants over to plant out.

I know they're late and unlike Monty my tomatoes aren't ripening as quick as I can eat them, but there is a tomato surprise further in this post so all is not lost.

Our beans are currently doing well; there's plenty more borlotti beans since our last visit - there is a benefit to all that rain, it seems - and MOH was once again all for picking them. It's an annual thing, and this year I've managed to persuade him not to. At least that means we stand a chance to harvest them at all once this year, assuming he buys into it that is. 

The late-planted potatoes (have you spotted a theme yet?) are doing well and are now flowering. We're done earthing them up, mainly because we don't have enough earth to do this with. Now we're waiting for them to grow and I know I'm looking forward to digging them up. The advantage of them being later, is that we'll be more likely to be eating more potatoes by the time we harvest them.

My sunflower is out too - and it's a beauty. 

It also has the sturdiest of stems. There's a few more to come yet too, but not as many flowers as the redder sort I grew last year. Maybe next year there'll be some of each.

Up until today I'd only had four tomato plants on the plot. They were from dad and he said they were a giant variety. They'd bushed out greatly and I'd missed the opportunity to do the traditional pinching out. This weekend though I was determined to sort them out, and thin them a bit too. And that's when I made my tomato discovery.

Some actual tomatoes.

Green of course, but actual tomatoes.  This year, that's a very welcome sight.

My runner beans have also started.. Nothing last week and this week a handful or two picked for dinner one night this week. Even for our temperamental supplies, it's always worth a visit to the plot before we head to the shops. Although to be fair runner beans are something we never buy, why would you when you can pop over to the plot and pick some like this:

The other thing I've no need to buy is rhubarb, I cut more stems today and that emergency crumble I made last week is all but gone.

So not a bad visit, add to that another trug full  of weeds and another of tomato plant leaves, the compost wasn't doing too badly either.

But I shouldn't rest of my laurels, there's still plenty more to do and plenty more to be sown too, and even more plants to go out. But before we get to that I'm just hoping the foxes don't take a liking to the new tomato plants I put out this weekend.  Because I won't be happy!

More soon...

Catching up with things on the plot

After a busy few weekends in Norfolk, Suffolk and West Sussex there hadn't been much allotment time recently, so it's been good news that we've had some (a lot of) rain in that respect. On Sunday though we took our hoe, the late developing courgette plant from the greenhouse and headed over to the plot to find out how it'd coped.

The short answer is relatively well; there were some successes and some disappointments, and of course there were plenty more weeds, many of which are now on the compost heap.  

I've had mixed success with my sunflowers this year, but some are huge with stems easily two inches round. No flowers yet, but I'm hopeful and I can't wait to see how it turns out.   

The giant tomatoes from dad have benefited from the rain, and as well as bushing out through lack of pinching out, finally have flowers. I'm not that hopeful for ripened fruits, but it would be nice to see some - maybe if we have a good autumn I'll be lucky...

Actually I'd be happy if it was a green tomato chutney kind of year. At least that would mean some fruits! 

Our tiny apple tree has got the right idea though, and is back on track for a plentiful harvest now that it's settled into its new spot. We've also done really well on raspberries this year too, picking more than we could eat and freezing about five takeaway tubs full. 

The rhubarb is having a resurgence, and I'm not complaining. 

The strawberries, which had fruited well a month or so ago are also doing well in their new spot, with plenty of visible runners. I've moved these alongside the edge of the new path which cuts across the end section of our plot. The plan is to have both sides of the path edged with strawberry plants, and as you can see it's off to a good start.

The borlotti beans are starting to redden, and if I'm honest I'd hoped to see more of them by now. 

There's plenty of runner bean flowers too:

The globe artichokes in the crab apple tree were looking scruffy so I took my knife to the leaves - and the compost heap benefitted. 

The rosemary bush which I grew from a cutting from my old and knackered bush in the garden is looking very healthy, and I'm hoping to propagate more free plants this way too.   

The crab apple tree is laden with fruit, so it looks as if there'll be plenty to pick and make jelly from.  

As I was photographing these final few shots I became increasingly aware of the colour of the sky - ominous looking isn't it? 

But I wanted to check on my lichen before we left, that was doing well too.

So mostly positive; the disappointments included losing my final cucumber plant, so no home-grown for me this year, and losing a couple of our squash plants too. The onions continue to be a disappointment, or rather that should be the foxes that have interfered with my onions, continue to do so and I've been left with very few onions, with most smaller than a ping pong ball. Maybe I'll give them a rest next year?

We also hatched a new plan to reward our raspberries, which currently grow amongst long grass, and plan to move them as we cut the canes down into a new spot in order to help us tame that part of the plot without damaging the raspberries long term. It's also a plan for more digging, so it's now a case of finding time to do that...

It's definitely still all go on the plot. Let me know your successes and disappointments this year, as I'm curious to know if they're similar to mine or not. 

A relaxing few days in a beautiful Suffolk cottage

Sometimes you just need some time away don't you to recharge your batteries don't you? We managed to book a few days off work and head to a beautiful cottage in picturesque Suffolk village last week, and we were relatively lucky with the weather too, so phew. As we were away for less than a week we chose somewhere that wouldn't take us too long to travel to, but somewhere that still felt "away" - our choices were Kent, Hampshire or Suffolk. Kent felt too close to home and more day-trippable and in the end it came down to the accommodation we could book. 

And we weren't disappointed. Despite it being so close to Norfolk, a county we're familiar with, it felt different and its landscape was different too with it's timbered cottages, often pink and yellow cropped fields. The fields weren't the only yellow thing though, this welcome bunch of flowers of dahlias and jasmine on the kitchen table was a nice touch, as was the carrier bag full of purple snake beans. And the bottle of fizz in the fridge.

The cottage is a former granary and the kitchen still has the original first floor doors, and the walls were full of character - most noticeable in the pretty ground floor bedroom.

THE CHARACTERFUL BEDROOM WALL

It wasn't just the bedroom that was full of character, the whole cottage was and unusually for a holiday cottage the kitchen was full of useful items, and some decorative ones too.

There's those doors I mentioned before. 

For me the kitchen was the best space in the cottage and the double height area meant those doors could really shine. The photo below is taken from the galleried upstairs and gives a good view of the kitchen (and all of our junk - I really should remember to take pictures before we empty the car!)

Upstairs there were a couple of comfy sofas, a church pew and a TV which we didn't even attempt to turn on, it was one of those restful holidays were our usual routine went out of the window.  From upstairs there were also great views of the front garden of the owner's house which we were welcomed to use, along with their vineyard - more on that another day.

I think you can tell a lot about a cottage from its bathroom, and this one didn't disappoint with it's lino-ed floor, duck boards and toiletries.

Throughout the cottage there was some great artwork, the first two below hanging in the bathroom.

The French theme continued with the artwork in the bedroom with this "Le Journal de Mickey" something I've not seen before.

Upstairs though the walls were adorned with plenty of modern art, my favourite is below.

Although it provoked some debate amongst MOH and I - was it a stack of records, or blueberries or just purple shapes. I guess that's what modern art at its best does, provokes reaction. But I still think it's blueberries...

I was glad I'd packed a colouring book and some coloured pencils as it was the perfect peaceful evening pastime.  I must remember to carry this on now I'm home!

Do you abandon your normal routines when you're away, especially when holidaying in the UK?