I do not put ads on my blog but do have a counter that shows me how many visits the pages get. (The stats. count is just there so I can see if I am 'talking' to myself, luckily so far this has not happened.) By continuing your visit here you are consenting to the stats. counter tracking cookies. Cookies, that sounds like something nice to eat but not that exciting.

Growing Your Own Fruit and Vegetables

We grow our own fruit and vegetables for our meals for as much of the year as we can. Without a greenhouse we have to buy shop food in the winter months but in the spring, summer and autumn we often have enough to share with family and friends.

Read about growing your fruit and vegetables here on my growing your own food pages.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

First Visit to the Allotment ... since the snow..

What to wear on an allotment.
Taking care of the compost heap and tidying up.

Finally the weather has been good enough today for me to go to the allotment for a couple of hours. It did not seem that long; time has no meaning when I am there. The things you do like that were you cannot track time are supposed to be good for your well being.

I really enjoyed my couple of hours there, it was not cold although I  have to admit I had lots of layers on. What I wear is - loose clothes so that you can move as you dig... my cotton fleece top is big enough to fit over two jumpers or a sweater and a waistcoat/gilet. It is best to wear something that is long enough to keep your back warm when you are moving about on the allotment. Clothes that wash easily are also a good idea.

The soil was moist enough for the weeds to come out of the soil but dry enough for me to be able to shake the soil off the roots as I dug the weeds out. Most people use a spade but I find a garden fork easier to use.
If I need to use a spade I use a border spade ( smaller then an ordinary spade). A border spade is the size spade a lot of smaller ladies prefer to use when digging, it is also useful for using in the borders of gardens as its name suggests.

I also turned over the compost heap and made adjustments to it. As it was a bit too wet, I spread some dry layers in as I turned the compost heap from one place to another. Composting is a skill, the more you practice it the more you understand the process. You can make compost very easily... food and growing items decay naturally and that is what composting is it is using that process to our advantage ... simple, great for the environment too.

No sign of the rhubarb coming through yet but I will be watching the space where the rhubarb crowns are so that I can force some early sticks into that delicious first growth.

a healthy potato plant in flower

a healthy potato plant in flower
photo of potatoes in flower

home grown carrots.. grown from seed

home grown carrots.. grown from seed
photo of my first bunch of carrots 2009

Even a small batch of mixed fruit can be useful

Even a small batch of mixed fruit can be useful
Home Grown Fruit can be made into delicious compote