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I know the things that excite me are not to everyone’s taste but this week I have been excited by new greenhouse shelves.

They arrived on Wednesday and I held out until Saturday before installing them in my allotment greenhouse.  I am particularly excited by these as they are the same design as the shelves which I had in my old greenhouse in my much missed previous garden. They fold down so that you can grow tomatoes or whatever and use the shelves as supports. I couldn’t find any photographs of the old greenhouse, apart from this one of our old cat Roxy sunning herself on a table and the shelves not in the picture, so you’ll just have to imagine them.

Anyway, we can’t turn back time so I have to look to the future instead – here are some of this summer’s tomatoes waiting to fill the shelves once the nights get a little warmer before they move out of the house – it was down to 2 degrees overnight in the last week.

They are all getting a little leggy. I created a little more space on the windowsill by passing on a couple of tomatoes, chillies and a cucumber to my son and daughter in law for their sunny balcony. A much better use of my time than wandering down nostalgic tunnels trying to find old photos of an old house and garden.

The veg growing season is getting going at last.

.. have been eating my broad bean seeds down at the allotment. I did an autumn sowing that produced one plant. So I planted some seedlings which I’d started in pots, protecting them, I thought, from slugs with copper rings.

But something got in, over the rings and nibbled off the shoots. A conversation with a neighbouring plotter revealed that it was mice, not slugs, which were demolishing my beans so the copper rings were useless. Different protections would be needed. Here are some of my attempts:

Plastic bottles and a mini cloche over newly sown seeds and some more mature seedlings planted out. We’ll have to see what works. Meanwhile the onions seem to be doing ok.

As do the potatoes.

In other allotment news, I have finally made a decision, and acted on it, about what do with what we have called plum henge. Here it is in April surrounded by daffodils.

This is basically the pollarded remains of an ancient and unproductive plum tree. Despite it looking quaintly artistic, I really wanted to get rid of it, thinking it would need some kind of specialist tree surgeon or something. However, between us, my husband and I have managed to hack it out, with the help of loppers and a saw, hacking through its brutish roots.

Now to decide what to do with the space …. maybe just more daffodils.

Back in the garden, the mouse plant (arisarum proboscideum) has started producing its weird mouse like flowers, the kind of mice I don’t mind having in the garden. For more on the origins of the mouse plant, see here

Otherwise the selfseeded spring flowers are appearing all over the front garden, bringing us joy and ladybirds are all over the roses, chomping the greenfly. Some garden wildlife have their uses.

Joining in #SixOnSaturday for a change and celebrating all the tiny spring flowers that have appeared in my garden in the last week or two, selfseeded. Weeds really but joyful.

1. Purple honesty flowers

2. Tiny selfseeded violas in all sorts of colours

3. Violets – monstrous weeds actually but so tiny and delicate

4. The first of the Welsh poppies which will last all summer

5. Forgetmenots- self seeded in every available space but rather lovely

6. Dandelion clock – preparing the next generation of dandelions

These tiny joys appear all over my garden with no effort from me, other than my feeble attempts to keep them under control. It would be much easier to just let all this stuff grow, rather trying to sow seeds and struggle with weather and pests.

.. down at the allotment, something, probably slugs, has shorn off all my broad bean seedlings, despite the copper rings allegedly protecting them

Ever optimistic, I will sow more or may attempt to survive on edible flowers for a bit ….

It’s been a year since I took on my own  allotment, after 14 years on a waiting list. There’s still a lot to do but I feel I’ve made some progress since I took over this overgrown neglected patch, with its roofless shed and broken down greenhouse. View from the north end where you can see the missing shed roof and door:

And today, shed roof in place, greenhouse intact and some beds dug over, with potatoes lurking in the soil.

View from the south end a year ago, everything overgrown:

And today, beds dug out, giant overgrown plum cut back, daffodils flowering, a tiny apple tree planted by the fence, everything just a little bit tidier, and, more to the point, productive.

Last year I had fantastic crops of potatoes, broad beans, marrows and tomatoes,

along with the pre-existing blackcurrants, brambles, blueberries, raspberries and artichokes.

These may all be a little more controlled this year but should still be plentiful. This year’s crops are just starting. I planted potatoes last week,

There are a few broad beans, here with copper rings to keep the slugs off:

The overwintered onions are looking promising

And there are tiny seedlings where I sowed radishes, beetroot and turnips.

I write this, sitting on a folding chair in my shed while the wind howls around me, threatening to dismantle the greenhouse again, but holding up so far. I’ll go back out shortly to do some more weeding g and tidying and relay some paving in  front of the greenhouse.

I am toasting the allotment’s birthday with a flask of coffee, while keeping notes in my, now muddy, allotment notebook.

Happy birthday allotment!

I’ve been away for a week or so and delighted, despite this weekend’s foul weather, to find my snakeshead frittilaries all blooming. Here with some still flowering mini daffodils.

Self-seeding all round the pond

Mostly they have beautiful purple chequered patterns but a few are pure white.

Also a broad bean has survived the winter and has some promising flowers.

I got along to the allotment in the hail at the weekend and planted my potatoes. There was a rainbow ( A bit faint but definitely there) showing that there will be gold there in the summer.

Preview of the gold to come (from last year):

  I spotted these tiny selfseeded violas peeking out of a pot, on my way to work this morning (no Monday holidays for me ).

Anyway, we may have had rain and snow and hailstones all weekend but spring is here.

In the interests of honesty and the reality that is gardening, I would like to show you my total brassica crop:

The ‘larger’ sprouts are about the size of marbles. They have battled the challenges of a dry summer, a degraded plot, slugs and birds and this is what has emerged from an entire bed at the allotment. Here’s what they looked like a few months ago, after the pigeons had got at them and before I covered them with fleece.

The onions have survived the winter at the allotment, along with one broad bean plant. However, a new season has started. I’ve sowed some more broad beans and some brassica seeds, ever optimistic that they will flourish this year. I’ve dug up last year’s brassica bed and covered it with manure, ready for potatoes in a couple of weeks. We’ll have this enormous sprout glut for tea tonight.

Back in the garden spring is springing, with daffodils and wallflowers at their most glorious

An extra special treat yesterday was this peacock butterfly which landed on the wallflowers.

It’s been a glorious weekend – onwards with spring!

Marking what would have been my Dad’s 92nd birthday with my garden’s usual show of March daffodils

All yellow and glorious in the sunshine between showers.

Have made a tiny start on some seed sowing (in pots, under cover)  Hoping to get more done later.

Happy birthday Dad. Still missing you after all these years.

It has been such a longer winter but today really feels like spring. For the first time in months I did some pottering in the garden this morning. The friendly garden Robin was sitting in the oak tree, waiting for me to dig up some grubs or something. I forgot to get a photo before it moved off but the flowers mainly stayed still. Wallflowers are coming to life all along the back hedge.

The crocuses were enjoying the sunshine

A bumblebee was buzzing around them. I heard it before I saw it

The snakeshead frittilaries are appearing, self-seeding all round the pond.

I moved a great clump of dianthus from last year’s wedding flower bed – which will be needed for vegetables this year- to the front garden.

They were such a joy last year though the seed catalogue said to treat them as annuals. I do hope they bloom again in their new home.

The allotment has also been rather neglected lately but yesterday I passed through on my way home from work. I was excited to see frogspawn in the little pond.

I’ve had a pond in my garden for 15 years, with lots of frogs but never spawn. I do have newts though. Anyway these babies down at the allotment may be very vulnerable, what with predators and cold – there was ice last night – but I’ll be watching carefully for signs of baby frogs to come.

Spring is on its way.

February has arrived at last and with a lovely day. In the garden the snowdrops are popping up everywhere,bringing us joy.

Crocuses are beginning to appear and the hammamelis is still in full flower

The daffodils are appearing though not flowering yet. Their time will come. I wanted to take some flowers to my mother yesterday and popped into a shop which had a bucket full of rather sad, half price daffodils. I picked up several bunches and added some full price tulips. At the till the man said ‘I can’t sell you those. They’re past their sell by date’. ‘I’m not planning to eat them’, I reassured him.  ‘Oh just have them for free’ he said. I pondered going back for the rest of the bucket but didn’t. The daffodils began to open up as soon as they were in water. A real bargain and at least I’d paid for the tulips.

In other garden news, we shared the penultimate Howgate Wonder apple between four of us yesterday.

There’s one left so I am pleased to be able to say that they lasted into February.

As have I. Spring is on its way.

.. keeps the birds away. That would be because it is #BigGardenBirdWatch weekend. The weekend in the year when all the birds that usually visit your garden, go off somewhere else. The apple, though, had nothing to do with the birds and everything to do with the allotment. Despite having quite sufficient apple trees in the garden, I ordered a new apple tree for the allotment, because you really can’t have too many apples. I ordered it a while ago and it arrived in a promising looking box on Friday evening – causing great excitement for both me and the cat and cheering me up after a rather long and depressing day at work.

This morning, the weather was looking most unpromising: rain and cold and a bit of wind but I hadn’t been at the allotment for three weeks and the baby tree needed to be planted out sooner rather than later. I wrapped up as warmly as I could and trudged along to the plot, carrying the tree like a standard, going into battle. My husband came too, promising to ‘do some digging’. He valiantly dug out more of the newest vegetable plot while I grubbed out some brambles, making space for the new tree. The plan is to grow it along the post and wire system that is already there and train it into a fan or an espalier or something. Here it is in its freshly dug soil and you can probably spot the wire. Please ignore the terrible mess behind it which consists of frosted phacelia and the very overgrown blackcurrants and honey berries.

Everything is in need of a good tidy up but otherwise the plot was looking ok, the only effect of three weeks’ neglect being that the pigeons had pulled the netting off the brassicas again, causing more pigeon art effects on the sprout leaves. It could have been worse. I’ll be back when I can feel my feet.

We warmed ourselves up in a nearby coffee shop and discussed my allotment plans for the coming season. Back in the garden I had a wee wander round looking for moments of joy for #SixOnSaturday which mainly involved the many snowdrops coming up, along with some rather early daffodils showing yellow tips and the friendly garden robin posing in a tree.

The robin reminded me to count the birds for the #BigGardenBirdWatch. As I’ve noted, they all usually disappear at this point and so my total count was rather disappointing: one robin, one blackbird, two magpies and only one woodpigeon. Despite the weather forecast promising sunset at 4.30pm, it was practically dark at 3.30pm. No wonder the birds were hiding somewhere.

However, my little trip to the allotment, planting the tree, the robin, the snowdrops and the promise of garden and allotment joys to come has cheered me up no end, even on a cold and dark day in January.