Checking back in with the garden & the allotment

June 23, 2015

One of the first things I do when I get back from holiday, after I've wandered through every room of the house is to check to see what's been going on in the garden. I like to see what's flowering, what's finished and to check on my veg to see if they've survived.

This year was no different and before the kettle went on for that oh so important first cup of tea I was out in the garden armed with my iPhone to find out how the garden had coped without me.

It'd actually done quite well, but there were a few surprises for me too...

The sweet peas had doubled their height, which is what I expected them to do - and it was good to see the flowers are starting to form. Then I spotted something exciting - the agapanthus has a flower too, it's not out yet but it's the closest we've got to a flower from these year-old plants. So it's very exciting, in a plant kind of way.

The new clematis I bought earlier in the year has also started to flower, and it does have rather shy deep purple flowers.

The alliums that flowered the day I went to Bristol have now finished, but are still looking elegant and add some height to the small bed that runs alongside the patio.

The schizanthus from Annie's seed swap were flowering - aren't they pretty? And you can see why they're often known as angel's wings or butterfly plants - they're on the shadier side of the garden, but that makes them look even more dramatic.

And then even more excitement.

My long wait for a red hot poker could be almost over, and it's been a long time coming! This plant is a couple of years old now and last year it was disappointing, I think the snails and slugs got to the flowers before I even spotted them. But this one looks strong and it may just make it. I'm putting that down to the mulch I gave it earlier this year after I saw the series on South African plants on Gardeners World.

Further up the garden there was a blast of blue - and a rather unkempt one at that. I'd clearly not tied these Canterbury Bells tightly enough. They're back under control now though.

Another first. The peony was flowering - it was flopping too, not surprisingly as it is a bit of a whopper.

And the mock orange is out too, we'd seen - and smelt - some in Munich's green spaces and wondered if ours was out. It is and it definitely fills the end of the garden with scent.

The black elder is also flowering, the more usual one is as well but that's taller than the fence and rather unsportingly the flowers all face away from our garden!

In the greenhouse the relative of the ginormous Norfolk geranium was doing its best to rival its predecessor, but it was outdone by the amaryllis which shares the same pot. Why have all these plants decided to flower while I've been away?

My tomato farm - that's my pet name for my many tomato plants - had also done well. As they were still quite small I'd dug the pots into the raised beds under the cherry tree and hoped they'd be ok. They were looking a little thirsty, but nothing a good soaking wouldn't fix. It's really not on for the weather to be good when I'm away!

Although I guess if it hadn't been so nice then I wouldn't have had these strawberries...

As well as checking out the garden, this year I also wanted to pop over to the allotment to see how the plants there had coped. We'd spent a day there digging just before we went away and I'd planted tomatoes, dill, sweet peas, lavender cuttings, a pumpkin, some more schizanthus and sown some runner and broad beans.

So I wasn't quite expecting to discover an artichoke, but it seems I've inherited one amongst the grass.

As I was checking the plants, which were fine - MOH called over and asked where our hose was. And he was right it wasn't there, I'm hopeful it'll turn up but I expect it may not and I'll be sourcing another one before too long. That's increased my resolve to get some lockable storage on the plot sooner rather than later as it's not much fun carrying everything we need each time we visit.

So with everything in the garden and on the allotment watered and recovering and I like to think pleased we were back, it was time to get some more of the allotment cleared and ready for the brassicas I'd ordered. It's completely normal to order plants while you're away isn't it?

We cleared a section approximately 10ft x 5ft - measured by me laying down (seriously), forked in some compost and set about planting the five cabbages and five purple sprouting broccoli plants that arrived in the post the day we arrived home. That's planning hey!?

I already had a couple of lengths of white tubing and an old hula hoop was cut in half and put to good use alongside these to give my tunnel more support. Then with some new netting thrown over the top my brassicas were ready to do their thing... I was quite pleased with my engineering prowess, let's hope the foxes aren't too intrigued by it.

So everything in the garden - and the allotment - coped perfectly well without us which is great, but it did mean that the next job on my list was to tackle the holiday washing. And that's never so great, is it?

A great time, in great places

June 21, 2015

The last fortnight has absolutely flown by, and we've had a blast in Bavaria. It's gone quickly but not so fast that we didn't enjoy every minute of it. There's been new experiences, lots of sights and scenery, quite a bit of food, more beer than wine and I'm now a big fan of dunkel (dark) beer, four hotels, six bike rides covering 260km, a couple of well, let's call them "detours" (rather than getting lost) and many, many photos. And either side of our time in Bavaria we've spent some time on the allotment, so it really has been jam packed!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this holiday though. When I saw the pictures of the Bavarian castles in the brochure back in January I knew how pretty it looked, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so breathtakingly beautiful. Nor was I expecting to fall a little bit in love with Bavaria and its "living simply, but living well" ethos, as well as their bread. Oh the bread... And the pretzels...

The amount of cycling was an unknown; beforehand 224km sounded like a long way, and it is. Even though I was pretty certain I could cover the daily distances I wasn't looking forward to the 49km day. Although in the end that turned out to be shorter somehow at just 43km, we don't know how but I was pleased even though MOH was disappointed. But on the last ride we notched up a 52km ride through choice and ended with the last few kilometres up hill, again through choice and I was more than ok with this. So with all our "detours" we cycled much further than the brochured amount.

Our hire bikes were good and for the first time in a long while I had 27 gears at my disposal (my own bike has just seven) and I made good use of 18 of those with the rare foray into the highest gears. I didn't need the precautionary gel saddle cover I'd taken with me and my new cycling-ish sports tops worked a treat too. I've come home with a shopping list of bike-related items including a waxed Ortlieb pannier for both my bike and (two) for MOH's, a new waterproof jacket and another cycling holiday in the Loire Valley!

NOT MY HIRE BIKE BUT A YARN-BOMBED BIKE IN MUNICH — NOT MY HIRE BIKE BUT A YARN-BOMBED BIKE IN MUNICH

Knowing some German was handy too although I wasn't quite prepared for the speed and volume of the spoken language, but we adapted. While our efforts weren't perfect we were understood and found ourselves doing that strange thing you do on holiday when you speak in the language of the country you're visiting and they reply in English!

Germany was a friendly country and its people pretty relaxed and easy-going and I was impressed with the amount of beer they could drink and still stay upright. The rail network was easy to use both in and around Munich and going further out on the regional services to Füssen. We quickly mastered our way around the busy Munich Hauptbahnhof (the central station) after missing our train by a matter of minutes following a lengthy delay leaving Gatwick.

The weather was mixed, there was some rain most notably on the day we visited the castles in Schwangau but the mist that came with it added to their allure. We had some sun and warm days and thankfully the large thunderstorm happened overnight rather than during any of our bike rides. The following day though the instructions to "cross two dry river beds" on our ride weren't quite so accurate!

Over the next few weeks I'll share more from our trip to Bavaria including our bike rides around the beautiful countryside, our days in Munich as well as some of the smaller towns we visited too. There'll be some photos of the architecture and of Bavaria's well known attractions including the Neuschwanstien and Hohenschwangau castles, the Weisskirche - all of which were stunning, and from our trip to BMW World and Museum, which was a totally captivating day out.

I'M STILL TRYING TO CONVINCE MOH THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD... A BIKE-POWERED MINI!

So what’s happened while I've been away?

Day 1 at the allotment

June 11, 2015

After a few short visits to the allotment to check the key worked, measure the plot and have a feeble attempt at cutting some of the grass last Saturday was pencilled in as the first day of real action. The plan was to clear some of the plot and get some plants in. As the allotment is close to home we decided to walk over there, armed with trugs of plants, all the tools we thought we'd need, some water and some much needed sun cream.

Although we might have looked like the local loons as we walked up the road in our wellies and shorts, I'd prefer to think we were looking more Tom and Barbara from The Good Life.

This was the section we planned to tackle. The previous owners (we presume) had already covered it in black plastic so we were keen to see what was underneath. As it turned out there was a lot of dry grass, some bindweed and some other random plants that we removed relatively easily. But it was hard going.

We found some old carpet and lino too and now need to find a way to dispose of this. We made good progress and MOH was clearly relishing his new promotion to Head of Digging and Chief Weeder. Our problem quickly became where to put everything we'd pulled up as both compost bins were already full - I'm not sure we have the answer to this right now, but we're working on it.

One of the compost bins looked more mature than the other, but that's the one the foxes had taken a shine to. Unsure if they were still in residence we took precautions...

Thankfully though we didn't see any foxes, there could have been some scurrying at which point we stopped digging and decided to go and do something else instead, over on the other side of the plot just to be safe!

We were regularly visited by bees - well this unknown plant was anyway, and I saw a toad hop out of the raspberry canes too. I'm hoping we won't have to share any fruit with him...

Oh yes, and we have a bench...

Yes I don't think it's long for this world either.

After lunch in an attempt to hurry me along MOH suggested I lay out the plants; well actually he wanted to know how much more digging was needed but it helped to see how much we'd done. There was quite a difference in levels from the back to the front of the plot, so those bricks were put in place to help keep the water on the higher level. It's a temporary solution which I hope works.

By now planting was underway and I've just realised the majority of the plants have been donated. Tomatoes from my dad and from my FIL, a pumpkin from my aunt and uncle, sweet peas from dad (well the seeds anyway) along with some runner bean and broad bean seeds from him too. Some angel wings schizanthus seeds from the seed swap - they all grew - I've planted six pots at home in the garden, and another six pots here in the allotment. Then there was some dill from my greenhouse sowing and some lavender cuttings which survived the winter.

With those planted and watered we laid down some plastic sheeting on the section we plan to tackle next. Hopefully it will at least stop the grass growing and make it (slightly) easier to clear. I've plans for some brassicas here and hopefully my climbing and borlotti beans will also germinate and be ready to move in at some point soon. And I've got a small farm of tomato plants that'll be looking for a new home...

Before heading home for a long soak in the bath with a G&T in my hand we noticed some of the strawberries were ripe - so we left our first big allotment day with a handful of produce too. How fab is that?