In case you hadn't picked up on my subtle hint in the last post, I feel that this news requires a special post all of its own...
We're having a baby!!!
It's early days yet, but we're very excited (alternating with periods of terror). Estimated time of arrival is 3rd February, which is good planning as there won't be much to do on the plot then... ("For Shame!" I hear you all cry!).
The new mum-to-be is currently suffering from morning (and afternoon, and evening) sickness, but hopefully that will pass before long. Anne's tried just about every remedy suggested (everyone does seem to have a suggestion!), and some of them have been helping a bit. She's coping much better than I would, I am sure.
Whilst not allotment related, you'll probably be getting frequent updates whether you want them or not!!
Quite a changeable weekend, weather-wise, but that didn't stop me from spending quite a lot of time on the plot on Saturday. We were glad to see that the sweet peas continue to give a fabulous display of colour, and the marigolds and nasturtiums that we planted before our honeymoon have started to flower as well.
I finished installing the guttering on my shed (which took longer than expected - it's important to ensure that rainwater travels along the guttering towards the down-pipe, I feel). I was impressed to see that even with only one length of guttering up, Friday's short thunderstorm had left me with about six inches of water in the bottom of the water butt. Don't know why I didn't do this earlier.
I also lifted all my garlic, which is currently drying in the shed (definitely a vampire free zone judging by the smell!). As the spinach and rocket had gone badly to seed I dug it up and put it on the compost heap. I sowed some more lettuces in place of the rocket (in my cold frame) and some American Land Cress in place of the spinach. I have never tried that before, but it is supposed to be nice, and pretty quick growing.
Anne spent some time weeding around some of the beds, but couldn't stay long as she was feeling a bit off colour, which is understandable for someone in her condition.
Apologies for the lack of photos at the moment. I've either forgotten to take a camera with me to the plot each time, or the weeds have been embarrassingly high! Normal service will be resumed shortly, no doubt.
We're back from honeymoon. What a fantastic time. The weather was good for most of the time (the odd rain shower, being the tropics) and the hotel was just amazing. We had a sea view (about 20 yards from our room!) and the hotel gardens were full of palm trees and fragrant flowers. The food was excellent - the local fruit and veg was very tasty! After ten days of being pampered it's quite hard coming back to work!
The plot survived without us, it seems. Although the weeds seem to have shown the best growth in our absence, as predicted we have a bumper harvest of broad beans. I picked some as soon as we arrived back home, a second carrier bag full (picked last night) awaits shelling and freezing at this moment, and there are still more left on the plants! My courgettes have started cropping (only two so far, many more on the way) and it looks like my garlic is just about ready for lifting - I dug up one bulb and it looks grand. I'm not sure where we will store it all! We have quite a lot of lettuce as well, and the spinach has gone mad!
With the current hot and dry spell it seems that water levels on the plot are dropping - it is sometimes quite hard to get even a watering can full from the hand pumps. I am considering installing a water butt to collect rainwater from my shed roof. Obviously I should have done this while we were having rain! Still, even a short downpour should yield enough water to give some of the plants a drink during dry spells. I shall investigate the local garden centres and see what I can come up with.
There won't be much action on this blog (or indeed our plot) for the next few weeks, as we're off on honeymoon!
We've got the small matter of our wedding first, of course! It's tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, followed by a big party for our family and friends - we've taken over an entire pub for the evening, so it should be great fun!
Then on Tuesday we're off to Mauritius, for ten days of lying on a beach. I can't wait!
Before then we will hopefully be able to spend some time on the plot planting the last few things that are still in pots in our flat (pumpkins and marigolds mainly), and making sure everything's well watered/protected. I hope to return to a bumper harvest of broad beans, as the plants are looking good, and hopefully everything else will survive without us while we're gone.
