More wine made

Over the last few weeks and months I've made some more wine,all the wine if from bits from the allotment. 

2lb Rhubarb and 1lb gooseberry

2lb Rhubarb and 1lb bramble 

2lb brambles and 1lb rhubarb 

mint wine 

Not stopped raining

It's been raining for the last few days so couldn't do much on the plot,hoping the weather improves for the weekend then crack on again. We are never happy with the weather anyway, to hot / cold / wet / dry at least didn't have to water outside. I'm going to the plot straight from work tomorrow and can't wait,got a few more things to pot on and then start planting out. Will have to sow some more seeds and give some away,over did it in some and not enough on others. I picked my first strawberry the other day and had to share it with the slugs,it did taste nice and can't wait for some more. While weeding the onions last week I did notice quite a few ants around,will have to keep an eye on the little buggers. 

Wow 4 times.

Ggg Wow I've been to the plot 4 times this week and love it all,we had a little rain at the beginning of the week and it helped. It have everything a good watering and helped with the weeding. It took me nearly three attempts to weed the onion patch,it was just the right size to weed 3 rows in each section. 

I've noticed while weeding and pottering around i have a bit if bindweed,well have about 10 plants dotted around near the path. It's either been growing from the bark and wood chips,or the birds have dropped a few seeds. Looks like it's going to be a pain to remove .

Tripped

Managed to get to the plot yesterday after work whoop whoop,I got a couple of things planted and weeded even more whoop whoop. The middle section of the plots looks good just don't look either side. Planting and weeding was good due to the rain we had over the last few days,going to give it a good go today and try and win the allotment back. 

I lost a few seedlings yesterday not due to infection or not growing,but down to me being a silly bugger. I was that excited for weeding and planting,I went into the greenhouse and tripped over my own feet. So i ended up on the floor and dragging the shelf down with seeds on all over me,I said a few simple swear words and looked at the mess. I'd knocked over some trays with Kale / broccoli / beetroot / sprouts / swedes / rocket / lettuces / toms, so I wasn't a very  bunny at all for a little while. I've lost a few due to damaged stalks and being crushed,so the rest got put back into the trays and watered. Will have to check later on today to see if these have made it through the night. I will have to pot most of them on to save them I think,some will be ok but the rest I don't know about.  In other news I have a half red strawberry on my plot, so things did look up a little yesterday . 

Potted a bit more on.

Potted a few more bits on in the greenhouse seeing that it's to hot and hard to dig,got quite a bit reported and soon be ready to plant out. YEAH. What I've done with some of them that need hardening off l,I've left outside along the hedge out of the sun and wind. Only problem now is that it's been raining all night,so most of them are going to be flooded. WHOOPS. 

This year will be my first time growing herbs down on the plot,so what I'm going to do is plant them not boxes but tyres. I'm going to sink a few tyres and fill with soil,then put some herbs in them and see if the herbs grow. The tyres had been dumped on the site so I'd thought I'd recycle them ,don't know if these will work but it's worth a try. 

Need to get mojo back

Need to get my gardening mojo back think I've left it hiding in the shed,I've been to the plot not as much as I wanted. Either busy at work or dog sitting the two kids (dogs),also other shifts have changes at home. I've for a bit planted in trays in the greenhouse,just need to pot on a bit more before planting out. It seemed to be ages till we started sorting the seeds out,it felt that we was months behind and was never going to catch up.  I've sown a few things in the soil but that's not working,I planted out then it rained for 3days then we had baking sun. So now the plot is rock hard on top and nothing can get through the crust,I keep weeding and trying to loosen the soil but it's winning.  Saying that when i have had a look at some other plots mine doesn't seem that bad,I know we see our own plot as it's not taking shape but they are. Think I'll just have to crack on with it and it will sort itself out,sorry for waffling on.

Helping out and strawberries

Been a couple of times to the little plot to do a spot of weeding,I always go on about weeding sorry can't help it. I have to do a little at a time only because I keep getting blisters / back ache and knees hurting,I think I need shooting I think if I keep moaning about weeding.

Anyway while at the plot I found a little bee in the water butt,I find them every year and have to fish them out to safety. I don't know if this one made it to the end,I gave it some sugar water to help it along but wasn't to keen on it. 

Also my strawberries have started to grow so I'm looking forward to picking them later on,but in the greenhouse Keith has some strawberries in tubs and these have turned red not green like mine.

More seeds sorted

The weather has been a little hit and miss this week,on the last time I went I sat in the greenhouse sowing seeds. Sowing seeds while it's raining outside is a nice feeling,radio on and a flask of coffee what more do you want. So what I've sown was my herbs I got from www.vegetableseeds.net it's the culinary collection and you get about 12 herbs in the tin. It's the first time I've grown herbs so fingers crossed these grow, here's the list of herbs in the tin.

Dill

Cumin

Chives

Rosemary

Basil

Lavender

Oregano

Thyme

Parsley

Coriander

Tarragon

Safe

Greenhouse getting full

Oh it feels good that when pop down to the plot you can't get in the greenhouse,it's not that it's locked it because it's full of lovely trays with seeds in. After a few weeks of doing nothing in the greenhouse,I finally got a lot more sowed in trays. What I've got sowed over the last few days was 

Cabbage primo 

Turks turban 

Savoy best of all 

Swede Marian 

Squash big max 

Cabbage early Durham 

Butternut squash 

Rocket salad 

Spring onions 

Sweetcorn glory 

Sweetcorn Agnes

Spinach  

Baby leaf chard 

Turnip purple top 

Beetroot red beet.

I got given a couple of plants to plant near the pond,I've put them at the top end near a bird feeder I got given. I also put some solar lights around the pond from our garden at home, don't know if these will work will have to pop down on a night to check. Only problem if people can see them from the public path they might go missing,hoping the hedge will block the view and  the lights will be safe. 

I need to crack on again with the weeding before it gets out of control,we had some of that magic stuff from the sky RAIN and the weeds love it. All the parts that I weeded doesn't look like I've touched it at all, it's a never ending cycle dig one up and it's twin pops up in its place.

More wine done

I picked some more rhubarb last week and fill the freezer full of it,so decided again to make some more wine. I used 2lb of rhubarb and 1lb gooseberries,all from the plot well the rhubarb is from mine and the gooseberries from next plot. Once this one is bottled up I'll make some more,it's going to be bramble and rhubarb. The last batch was 2lb rhubarb and 1lb brambles,this time 2lb brambles and 1lb rhubarb. 

Odd bit done

I've been to the plot mainly to do a spot of watering in the greenhouse,but on one day I carried on with the endless task of weeding . No matter how quick you are the weeds some come back,I think it's going to rain tonight so I think that the weeds will love it. While pottering around down on the plot I picked some more rhubarb,I managed to pick another 8lb making this month 18lb.  It has been a good year for rhubarb,fingers crossed the rest of the plot does well. I've washed and cut up into chunks then frozen,I did 1 x 3lb bag and the rest 1lb bags. So plenty if crumbles and wine again.