I have a problem....

I'm addicted to my allotment!

There! I said it! Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery isn't it?

Except I don't want to recover. 

I love spending time on my plot. Yes it's hard work and a constant battle with Mother Nature and her plans. Yes I get all grubby and hot and sweaty, but it's just so calm and peaceful when you are there; somewhere to escape to when the endless demands and deadlines of working on a magazine get you down. Well that's how it is for me anyway. 

But it's more than that too. When I'm not on my plot, I have this need; an urge that I need to go and visit it. I feel guilty if I haven't been able to pop over for a day or two. I feel guilty if I sneak over to it during the working day which is silly as I'm freelance, I can work when I want to. It calls to me. 

Perhaps it's the fact that something always needs doing? A bed to clear; something to plant out; the endless weeding. There can't be any plot holder out there that doesn't get a bit of satisfaction when pulling a bindweed root gently out....and not hearing it snap! Maybe it's the creating something out of virtually nothing; from seed to plot to plate. 

Whatever it is, I can't get enough of it. 

Joanna 

A bit of progress..........on the allotment

I haven't done a huge amount of sewing this week, been a bit side-tracked in the evenings watching the Olympics on my laptop and stuff like that. I did start work on a new project for the magazine with some fabrics that EQS have given me and did a little bit more quilting on my Kaleidoscope quilt.

So today's post is about the allotment as it has finally stopped raining!

 

The over-wintering onions are doing well

 

 

We moved the redcurrant bush down to the perennial bed today so it is with the blackcurrant bush. We'll need to put some kind of cage over these though as the birds pinched all the berries last year.

 

 

So the perennial bed is ready and the rhubarb is growing nicely

 

 

Last weekend was Potato Weekend at the shed shop and we picked up our seed potatoes for this year together with some onion and shallot sets.
First up are Rocket, the first earlies

 

 

Second earlies, Kestrel

 

 

Two main crops, Picasso which we grew successfully last year, and Desiree

 

And finally Sturon onions and Golden Gourmet shallots, the latter are supposed to be good for pickling!

Let the chitting begin!

 

Yea Gads!

I have become a really crap blogger!

 

August?

 

I haven't blogged since August?!

 

In my defence I have been blogging, just not on this blog. There's the blog for my business, the occasional post on the magazine's blog and then the parallel blog I started to chart the journey of TK and me as we took on an allotment.

I think it might be best to merge the allotment with this one........as then at least I might say something every now and then!

 

So new year and all that, let's have a bit of veg growing as well as quilting on this blog.

 

First off, here's what the plot looked like when we took it over in May last year.

 

 

A tinsy bit overgrown!

The plot extends as far as the metal frame at the far end. Its quite a big plot. I love working on the allotment; it gives me the chance to get a bit of fresh air, a bit of a workout as well as a bit of time to think.

 

And here's what it looked like at the end of December

 

 

It actually looks like an allotment again!

 

We had a small harvest last year and are just gearing up for a new season.

 

In the meantime TK and I did a little bit of sewing today when we visited a quilt group. Block D1 of our Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt.

 

 

 

So this could work right? A bit of quilting with a bit of vegetable growing?