Lottie Life

Evening all.

Bright Blessings to you. I trust that you have all had a relaxing Sunday doing stuff that makes you happy.

I thought I'd take you on a wander around the allotment today. This is a photo heavy post as I got a little snap happy - but I do hope you'll enjoy them.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this photo is of bunches of grapes.  The damsons are weighing down the boughs this year and are ready and ripe for picking a good few weeks earlier than usual.

Pretty poppies by the side of the shed

 Feverfew grows in wild abandon all over the allotment in little clumps like this one.  Pretty little flowers with very strongly scented leaves.

The last of our potato harvest.  We had some whoppers in this dig... the largest measures about 8" long and weighs nearly 1lb on it's own!  All these potatoes were grown from chitted shop bought potatoes and  not from seed potatoes.  Our yield has been considerably bigger both in potato size and amount than the ones my parents grew on their plot - all from proper seed potatoes... Go figure as our American friends would say!

The oak leaf salad is doing really well - trouble is as soon as you pick these leaves you need to use it immediately as it goes limp really quickly.  One for the kitchen garden I think, to pick as required, rather than mass grown on a lottie patch.

We weeded our terribly overgrown butternut squash patch.  It was great to see so many flowers on the plants and the runners are really growing away strongly now.  I can't wait to see the squashes start to form.  The sweetcorn is looking very sad for itself. I think we planted this far too late in the season and next year I will sow directly into the ground rather than in pots first of all.   The ubiquitous courgette is, of course, courgetting away prolifically!!

Lovely rainbow bright chard.  This is such a handsome plant and looks amazing when the sun shines on the leaves.   The 'ribbing' and stems just seem to glow.

Our little wildlife pond - would you believe that there are still tadpoles in here?!

Many of the allotment plots have now been arranged into raised beds by the lottie holders.  It really does make much lighter work of gardening.

The longest runner bean I have ever seen!! 

This very neat plot is very orderly and mulched over with shredded bark.  We get job lots for free from a local tree surgeon as well as the local council and use it for the pathways to keep the weeds down as far as we can

These 'cages' are definitely the way forward.  Wooden frames covered in a very fine mesh keeps away marauding pigeons which lay waste to soft fruit and brassicas, peas - well you name it and they'll have it away! It also prevents significant caterpillar damage as the holes in the mesh are too tiny for butterflies to get in.   Soft fruit in particular does brilliantly inside these cages.

This tiny tree is just a couple of years old but the Bramley apples it bears are HUGE!

The local brewery supplies used hops which are perfect as both a mulch and a fertiliser. 

A teeny tiny pumpkin begins it's journey towards Halloween!

And finally - pretty windmills... more decorative than practical I feel as the pigeons merely roll their eyes in disdain !!