A Tale Of Two Raspberries

Today is the longest day and it's raining - again! Needless to say we've had a rum old time with the weather so far and nowhere is it more obvious than on the allotment.
As you know we have heavy clay soil which holds the water like it's going out of fashion and twice within the space of a few weeks we've been wading across our patch and have learned a few harsh lessons about dealing with claggy soil.
For example, we planted our raspberries in a trench to one side of the plot but didn't turn it into a raised be so the water has just pooled there and our older  plants (donated by my client at the House of Raspberries - left-hand pic) have died under the onslaught.  Our newer (and younger) plants however are surviving for now (as are the strawberries) and look quite green - although there's no sign of any fruit but as they're itty-bitty baby ones we've got our fingers crossed.
The plants at House of Raspberries on the other hand couldn't be more different (left photo).  Sat in a nice bed of warm, loamy soil they're flourishing and the first batch were harvested earlier this week.  Needless to say I have raspberry envy. Hummfff! Thankfully we had the foresight (or some such nonsense) to divide the plants - old and new - between the allotment and home and those at home are looking mighty fine.  However, they're due to ripen just as we leave for a our clamping jolly.  More Hummfff!
LxXx

Tea On The Towpath

As always when blogging I'm trying to catch up on myself - this time I'm only a week behind so yay!
Last weekend B, who is a volunteer towpath ranger for the Canal & River Trust (still British Waterways until next month), held her first towpath event which involved distributing maps/info of all the towpaths and canal walks within the Trust as well as the Braithwaites van.
Braithwaites,  The English Cream Tea Co. is run by the lovely Paul whose great grandfather originally started the company.  Paul's put a new twist on the theme by making the service mobile and his cream teas (Cornish style with jam first), homemade jams and scrummy scones (made fresh by Paul every morning) are absolutely delicious.

 The weather was a bit hit and miss in the morning but was gloriously sunny come afternoon and it was really lovely to see so many people (pedestrians, cyclists, dog walkers) using the towpath as either an alternative to the streets or as a meeting and lazing spot.  It was also good to see B doing her thing as she's very committed.  It was also a pleasure to see that the home made bunting went down a treat too - I got a hug from a very nice young man who was so chuffed to see it and Paul's been inspired to make his own for the van so keep an eye on his website for it!
LxXx

Jubilee Fancies

I have to admit that we didn't do much for the Jubilee this weekend unless you count watching the flotilla and gig on the telly. I did, however, attend a street party last weekend and had a little stall getting people to make paper pots and plant a seed to help advertise the Manor Park Community Garden, which was great fun in the sun.  I don't actually live in Manor Park but I work for a couple of people who do and so am involved with the garden in an advisory capacity.
I did one slightly patriotic thing this week though.  At B's request I made cakes with holes in! Well actually the holes weren't technically part of the original request and if I'm totally honest were completely unintentional, but anyone who knows my cooking style (a complete lack of respect when it comes to a recipe and having the right ingredients) will know that I kind of make it all up as I go along.  Sometimes it's good and other times you end up with holes.  The recipe required self-raising flour and half a teaspoon of baking powder but I decided (in my wisdom - please close your ears Mary Berry) to improvise with plain flour and three teaspoons of baking powder.  Et voila - holes - at the bottom of every cake caused presumably by an enormous air bubble from my hellish concoction and resulting in an empty fairy cake with a crunchy red, white and blue roof.
Oh well, you can't win them all. . .
LxXx

A Hard Days Night

I've just read an article in the RHS 'The Garden' mag discussing the relative merits of hardening off against putting seedlings straight out and dealing with the resulting pause in growth while the plants physiology adapts to the shock of a new and hostile environment. It would appear to be a matter of personal choice and I prefer not to harden off (unless there's a risk of frost) and sow outdoors. I've propagated seeds and nursed them vigilantly on my windowsill at home, hardened them off slowly and planted them out lovingly only to watch them sit and sulk for a while before settling down to growing, so I'm a little disillusioned with the whole process. I seem to have much more success with seeds sown direct - they're more robust from day one and take off much faster. This applies to seed I've collected from plants already in the garden as well as a multitude of re-packaged ones. I suppose it all depends how impatient you are and how pro-active you want want to be. Personally I'm a rather lazy gardener (unless you happen to be a weed or growing where I don't want you)and a great believer in following the natural order as in 'if it doesn't survive it wasn't supposed to'. Survival of the fittest. This year it's been particularly hard to wait it out for the good weather but my board beans haven't drowned in my claggy and waterlogged soil down at the allotment and the thousands of poppy seeds I merrily sprayed over one of my flower beds at home are fighting it out amongst themselves, so we're doing alright - maybe not as well as I could have if I'd propagated, but who knows?! LxXx

Pond You Like It

This week seems to be all about ponds.

Monday morning saw me working in a lovely garden where the plants are allowed to naturalise and seed themselves where they like it best and, considering it has a north facing aspect, has a rather lovely lawn which I've scarified and aerated over the last few weeks. The overall feel of the garden is a relaxed and slightly haphazard one - just the way I like them! The garden is the product of a perfect partnership - the plantswoman and her husband who "tidies up".

The unusual creation in the photo is the work of Mr Tidy Up following a morning spent digging up and dividing a mature formium (over 1.5m high and 2m wide). The unwanted pieces were potted up to donate to a local charitable concern but before they went to their new home they were arranged to simulate a pond. There was method to this particular piece of madness as the owners are thinking about installing an 'proper' pond and the gentleman of the house wanted to show his wife how it might look. I think it looks great and I'm particularly taken by the fish - although it does look as though it's trying to escape!

Right now I'm off to apply a liberal layer of sunblock before I trot off for a marathon of weeding, finishing the day with my second pond of the week. This time re-planting a pond at Wendel's the cat's house (no fish involved much to Wendel's disappointment I'm sure).

Enjoy the sun.

LxXx

Ooh, A Bit Of Summer Glamping - Lovely!

I am sooo excited as we've just booked our summer holiday - yay! We're fulfilling a little dream of mine and going glamping in the English countryside. Originally we were looking into another little ambition of mine, to visit the Scottish highlands but as we couldn't find anything that blew us away or that met both our criteria we really weren't making any headway.

However, when the Dandelion Hideaway came to my attention via the Dorset Cereals 'spin the bottle' competition I immediately fell in love with it. I love the vintage feel, the decor, the honesty shop, the concept and my especial favourite, the goats (I do love a nice goat). I also really like the fact that Obaston House Farm has been run by the Earp family for almost 100yrs. Luckily for me B 's also taken a shine to it so come June we'll be off to sunny Warwickshire to glamp our little hearts out.

Take a look for yourself - I dare you not to fall in love with it!

LxXx

From Snow To Sunblock

I feel a bit like the Karate Kid at the mo' - merino on, merino off, merino on. . . How naive I was to relax and get excited at the advent of an early spring! How foolish to think that all would be plain sailing from here on in! Ah well, such are the joys of gardening and of the British Weather having gone from surprisingly warm, to bugger me it's cold and back again. This week it's due to be a positively tropical 15 degrees. No wonder we Brits are obsessed with the weather as we literally never know what we'll get from one day to the next. Well at least the early spring bulbs haven't withered under the snow cover and the allotment did look lovely.

The snow came and went within days and this week I actually put factor 50 on my face for the first time - now this should have been purely wishful thinking on my part but

my Celtic skin refuses to be caught out and I was grateful for it for the 2hrs of sunshine on Monday, which felt almost like summer!

With the Met Office predicting sever drought in the south east this year (likening it to the summer of 1976 if you're old enough to remember that tarmac melting time) it looks as though we're in for a challenging year.

LxXx