Allotment Virgin !

Don’t touch my brew cup !

Now this is a touchy subject for me, as brews are life …

I had a very emotional time a few months ago when I actually dropped my brew cup ! I know you can all feel me on this one …..

This cup was not to small not to big . Just that perfect size where , you had time to enjoy it while it was still that delicious heat .

Too big and it becomes a chore meaning the end bit is lukewarm ewwww

Too small and it finishes just as your starting to enjoy it.

But when you find that perfect size you just find it so hard to replace, two sugars just taste so exquisite in the right size cup..

Too big the taste is dampened trying to spread itself out over the ocean of the cup.

Too small and you have to suck your cheeks and lips together to just be about able handle the sugar overload.

So perfect size is a must …..

As I mentioned above disaster happened a few months ago.. sadly my perfect brew cup was in a traumatic accident and sadly I had to lay it to rest. I searched the internet for grieving counselling and to my surprise no organisation catered to brew cup bereavement.

For anyone looking for a business opportunity … brew cup bereavement 👌🏻 wink wink nudge nudge

After coming to terms with the fact she ( my brew cup ) yes I actually gave it a female gender, isn’t coming back I had to start the interview auditions for my number one main role in my life.

Qualifications a must

Not to big not to small
Outgoing nature as cannot be shy when company is around
Willing to perform at a moment’s notice

Desired but not essential skills

Pink
Red
Black

After many interviews I got it down to 3, at this stage i was still not willing to commit to one just yet.

I’m going to be honest with you here, I brought all three because you can’t make a total commitment until you do the tasting test. So I put these cups through intense training, something like sas training but involving brews ! It’s hardcore and only the strong and best survive this last stage.

I found it !!!!

Now let me just make this clear to anyone that feels the need to touch my brew cup ….

Hello beautiful sunshine allotment

How fantastic to wake up to such a beautiful day, especially as we have had nothing but wind and rain.

This morning I had a hop skip and a jump spring in my step , knowing today I can actually go down to my allotment and get some jobs done. I was so in need of sorting my shed out as the owners before me had left it in a pretty rubbish state.

So today was, sort out shed day and nothing was getting in my way of doing that.

So much rubbish to take down to the tip.

After a few tip runs later … in total delight, I could actually see that it was a shed and not a bomb site.

Oh happy day (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
When Jesus washed (when Jesus washed)
He washed my sins away (oh happy day)
Oh happy day (oh happy day)

Ok maybe a little OTT with the gospel bust out, but it was exactly how I felt inside knowing that I now have a potter place. Yes I’m at that age when pottering is now in my vocabulary and I bloody love and embrace it.

One thing I am going to have to get used to is the huge amount of insects down on the allotment life, and insects I didn’t even know existed. Some with so many legs it doesn’t seem possible, and gee wizz they can move like a rocket, with no warning of what direction they are heading. And let me just tell you this advice for free , that can also mean right up your leg ….. pretty sure my friend thought I was trying to bust some break dancing moves when in reality I was trying to get this million leg creature from not entering the bottom of my trousers.

Note to self … wear cycle clips next time or if that isn’t a option then a roll of sellotape tied tightly around the bottom of trousers should do the trick.

And if by magic I have a shed, not really magic ! More like sweat blood and break dance moves …

Just to put some nails up tomorrow to hang my tools

And slowly but surely making my pottering kingdom

What a huge sense of achievement I feel seeing what a little hard work can do.

I’m still buzzing from the sunshine being out and my pottering kingdom almost complete, I pack up all my bits, take off my muddy caked boots, jump in the car and head home to sow some indoor seeds.

I decided to make some little indoor green houses out of my MANY jars of coffee I have ( don’t judge ) for my pepper seeds to keep them all nice, warm and snug as a bug.

Incredibly easy to make and I love getting another use out of jars like these, can’t stand to just throw them away

Well it’s time for me to hit the sack , well needed after such a busy day …

Tomorrow it’s clear the greenhouse day … wish me luck

Much love as always leanne – allotmentvirgin101

January, February, March .. which is which !?

Now did you know that certain fruit and veg have to be sowed and harvested in a certain month, now please don’t be ashamed of this because I didn’t either. I have recently found this out myself , I naively thought you just put your seeds in the ground, bit of water , bobs your uncle fannys your aunt and hey presto veg for the family…

But oh no no nooooo, there is a lot more to it then that .. so over this last week I have been like some crazed veg women searching eBay for some informative reads on it .

I have come across this one which I have found really interesting and good for the total beginner like myself ….

It’s called Practical Allotment Gardening.

A guide to growing fruit, vegetables and herbs on your plot.

Written by Caroline Foley.

I would highly recommend this book, especially if you are a complete beginner like myself, as there are so many helpful tips starting right from your new plot, initial planning of the beds, paths, soil, compost, all the way to planting and harvesting. It is such a easy read to, as it’s very simple to understand and literally takes you step by step through the whole allotment process.

In other news…..

I have been getting stuck in to clearing my land ( allotment plot ) and I’m not going to lie to you, it’s bloody exhausting work. So many people tell you to go to the gym to improve your fitness and health, I say get a allotment plot from scratch and by the end of it you will have biceps Mcgregor would be envying.

We’ve had so many storms battering us here in the UK it’s been impossible to get down as much as I would have liked to, but we have made a real good start on the front of the plot clearing, and I actually have some beds and paths coming together.

It’s starting to actually look like a allotment plot.. yay

Fingers crossed the weather holds out so I can get down Monday to clear some more and also make a start on the shed.

Much love as always

Leanne .. allotmentvirgin101

Heigh – ho heigh – ho its off to work i go …..

With a flask of coffee and a scarf wrapped tight .. heigh-ho heigh-ho heigh-ho-heigh-hoooo

Its a cold brisk morning and i am wearing so many layers i resemble the stay puft marshmallow man from the ghost busters, how i actually got in my car without using Vaseline i do not know. I am a summer bunny, winter is something I just survive through to get to the summer season, and here i am on my way down to a mud fest jungle ….

I have loaded my boot up with every garden utensil you could own, half i do not actually know what the use for them is, but the lady in homebase guaranteed i would need them ( i think she saw me coming ) .

Can you call it a garden utensil or is that just for kitchen utensils !? 🤔

I pull up to my land ( allotment plot ) but my land in my head … and i see the amount of work that lays ahead of me, I have brought my good friend with me to help with the task ahead, clearing of the grass and earth ready to plant.

I probably should have thought about my choice of friend at this point, because this friend believes any manual work that you need to do should be done by someone else, even if you have to pay them.

Well at least i have a brew maker anyway ( yes in my sale shop of garden equipment one of my purchases was a small barbecue and a kettle ) if im going to be working in this cold im going to need a brew … im pretty sure somewhere in the bible there is a rule about this …. I will check and get back to you on that one …

My land …….. now that is a sobering view

I dump all my tools down outside my shed , they can’t go in it at the moment as the shed needs some huge clearing . I will show you this in another post.

Anyway back to today .. I dump my tools down ready to start work. I have gone for the clear grass method of cutting it down low and removing the turf by cutting squares with my spade and rolling the turf to remove. A good amount of the cut grass will go in my compost heap which was left by the person who owned the plot before me.

Fantastic post down below on this method

Cutting turf made easy

My compost heap, and in the background my little greenhouse. This was actually a huge excitement for me when I realized I had one on my plot .. don’t ask me why it just was . Small things ay ….

I start cutting and realised some wonderful goodies under all this jungle .. thank god it wasn’t the lion I first thought I saw when I first surveyed my land, it was some beautiful wooden beds that had been placed by the previous owner.

The more I dig the more beds I begin to see … I now have the buzz back.

Me and my son working hard to clear our plot, at this point we had been working for a couple of hours so I look less like the marshmallow man and more of a sweaty mess

I’m excited and ready to come back and do some more work.. and who knows what I might find then ….

All or nothing …..

Contract sighed and keys given, it is now time to visit home base for our allotment goodies.

And by goodies i mean absolutely everything , like i have mentioned i am a total virgin to this allotment game. So can you imagine my excitement when i arrive at homebase and they are having a huge garden equipment sale !

I am pretty sure i heard my bank balance have a huge sigh of relief too.

Right, lets get back to the exciting bit SHOPPING one of my favorite pastimes ( shame my bank balance doesn’t enjoy or support my views) .

I am now flying up and down each isle grabbing at everything in sight , loading my trolley and in complete excitement of the sale price, I have blocked out of my mind the fact I am buying all this equipment for the mammoth project i have ahead of me …

Taking another look at it, I’m wondering if I should be buying a tent and a survival kit, well maybe just a long rope so I can find my way back out again….

My next blog post will be the getting down and dirty clearing the allotment space or failing that a SOS from me as I’ve got lost and can’t find my way back out …

Can you imagine my excitement when the letter arrived…..

Just a normal day and then the post arrives.. no rush to open it as it’s generally a bill.

But not this time .. it was a letter from the council offering me my allotment.

Eekkkkkkk as I run into my friend and tell him that I have 5 rods of allotment.

I literally have no bloody idea what 5 rods means but I’m still excited never the less, I hurried to ring and tell them I except their offer and arrange a date and time to view it .

Date and time booked … so i am ready to go.

As the date and time arrives i am excited like a little kid, i have thrown on my wellies , scarf and gloves … i am ready to survey over my land where i am going to provide my whole family with fresh goodness to fuel us for the rest of our life ( slightly getting ahead of myself here ) …

So as i walk past all these beautiful allotments with their produce in such uniformed lines, vegetables with incredible color the excitment is bubbling up inside me ….

eeekkkkkk i am literally ready to burst now as the lady says to me this is your plot …..

ermmmm .. where are the vegetables all neatly lined up in a row !? Why does mine look like it could be hiding wild animals .. I am pretty sure that over the back i saw a wild lion make eye contact with me wondering why i am entering his territory.

If you hadn’t noticed slight panic had started to raise its ugly head within me then and my plans for sowing my seeds next week flew by me, as the sudden realization of the true hard work that faced me became real.

But, i have never been one to shy away from hard work.

I push the overwhelming urge to run away real fast ( probably more due to the fact i am in wellies ) have you ever run really fast in wellies !? I have ! its not a pretty sight, you hardly move anywhere but end up absolutely exhausted due to the fact you have to bring your knees up to your chin for any fast movement forward.

My advice … just avoid !

And as i mentioned earlier i am pretty sure there are wild animals in all that long grass, and as we all know , you never turn your back on one and run ( and so inappropriate footwear )

So i put my big girl pants on and except the offer and sign my free time away to the jungle …

Self confessed house plant killer !

OK … So you have probably fallen onto my blog because of your love of all things green !?

You are either a expert or like me a absolute virgin to this growing all things edible ..

Let me tell you a little about me .. I am a single mum of 2 human boys and a doggy mum to a beautiful loving but somewhat dopey mastiff girl of 3 years of age.

I work as a jeweler and have recently turned to vegan … Now mentioning that word VEGAN you’re either still reading this or have ran a mile ..

Vegan really does have that impact on people 🤷🏻‍♀️ … I chose to turn vegan just down to my own feelings on it , I’m not going to preach or push my opinions on to anyone else .. I’m just vegan and that is it !

So.. Lets get to the actual reason for me starting this blog ….

Well ………

About a year back I decided to do a little gardening in my shared garden, I live in a flat so this garden was just a block of concrete with washing lines on it , you know the sort I mean, I’m sure you are picturing it right now… Not the nicest of places to sit in but all the same it was a ” space ” .

I decided to get some wooden planters and see what I could grow, I thought to myself , even if it just adds a little color it would be such a nicer place to sit and just enjoy a little of mother nature, because as we all know there is nothing better for the mind and soul then a bit of mother nature therapy .

Wow … I actually done it !!

And here it is my lovelies !! I actually done it ! I actually grew my own strawberries and peppers and YES we ate them too !

What a buzz ..

i have killed every house plant i have ever owned and here i am not only growing plants but i am also growing fruits and veggies which we can totally eat.

Noone was now killing this buzz for me .. so this is where my idea to apply to the council for a allotment space came from ..now do you remember my statement…

I have killed every house plant I have ever owned
Now i am applying for a allotment ( and I got it )

3 peppers
a handful of strawberries

And now I think I am a expert…. ooooo how wrong I was …., turns out it takes a lot more hard work and research to actually own a allotment, the highs and lows you will see over the progress of my blog ……..

Welcome to my Allotment Virgin Blog — Allotment Virgin !

Follow my highs and lows as i take on the all things green path …. I am a total beginner to the whole allotment world, so it will all be a learnng experiance for me and for you … Or maybe you are experienced and have some useful knowledge to share with myself and allContinue reading “Welcome to my Allotment Virgin Blog”
365 days of beginner to full blown business grower ( well that is the plan )
Welcome to my Allotment Virgin Blog — Allotment Virgin !