Back in the swing of things

Since breaking radio silence last week I seem to have been constantly in my garden, allotment or someone else's garden. 

My greenhouse is simply bursting with small shoots of hope and bigger seedlings ready to transfer to the allotment or larger pots. 

When I first got my allotment I resolved to dig it all by hand and not to spray and rotavate. But the path to hell is paved with good intentions and my resolve weakened in the face of half an allotment still undug.  (if couch grass was edible I would eat like a king.)

I saw a notice from a kind fellow allotmenteer offering to lead his rotavator, I buckled. But even more foolishly I didn't spray.  But like baldrick I had a cunning plan. 

The area that we rotorvated I cleared of big lumpy weeds and grass and then covered in weed suppressant. Next I  cut holes in the covering and planted my strawberry popcorn (in rectangles of 3x6 to aid pollination), sweet dumpling squash and Halloween pumpkins. These will benefit from the warmth the surpressant creates while the rest of the ground can sit dormant for a year or so. I'm hoping that the few slots of light in the surpressant won't activate too many weeds.  If this cunning plan doesn't work then I'll have to accept defeat and spray this area next Spring.

We didnt get all of it done so I'm now about 3/4 of the way through the allotment I've covered the rest in surpressant and will hand dig as an when.

strawberry popcorn and sweet dumpling squashes planted through the weed suppressent

My greatest joy at the allotment is the tiny purple sprouts bursting into frothy fronds of asparagus!  I've been waiting and waiting bursting with anticipation and also fear that they wouldn't arrive. I had just about given up hope until  the first one popped out like a tiny garden eel (I must confess to doing a little dance there and then at the allotment). I now have 9out of the 10 that I planted poking their little heads out if the ground.  And I hope I can keep them alive and beetle free til next year. 

garden eel

purple asparagus

My dear friend Sally, who I worked with over 15 years ago, moved to the US then found her way back to of all places Newbury, has just moved into a new house.  Her naked garden was soon calling me. So we planned a hot vibrant design with lots of plants for wildlife. 

The builders had done their usual trick of dumping all of the crappy earth (you could throw pots with the stuff) in the garden so Sally spent a hot bank holiday digging out the clay ready for the fancy designer (me) to come round when all the hard work had been done to plant. 

there were actually double the amount of bags going off to make clay pots!

I had even convinced her to paint her fence dark grey.  A bit of a scary colour at first thought but it really sets of the colours of the plants.  

Despite the threat of rain it was a lovely day spent planting and nattering. We got a little twisted while putting up the wire for the climbers but we managed to get the trachylospermum jasminoides tied in (using strips of old grey tights, gentler on the plants and cheap!) without to much bother before both of us had to dash off to pick up kids, take kids to swimming, gymnastics.

now we sit back and watch them grow

This flurry of activity seems to have spurred Bjorn and me on to get going with our garden.  While I had a glorious weekend with the girls in Wales at the beach with Ra Ra, Bjorn filled a whole 8 yard skip with concrete from the patio and garden. 

my weekend

I am now in the process of moving all my plants from the back garden to the front before the arrival of the mini digger!  I'm just hoping that Bjorn will let me have a go!

Bjorns weekend