Tag: gardening

Allotment Diary: A new adventure!

'Allotment Diary' blog post banner

our new, overgrown allotment

As of this week, we have a new allotment – and a new adventure!

our new, overgrown allotment with other allotments beyond

There’s plenty of work ahead. The perimeter fencing is in a bad state and the plot is a bit overgrown in places. It’s full of potential though, with plenty of space and good-quality soil. And we’ll be inheriting some well-established shrubs & fruit bushes.

our new, overgrown allotment with its broken fence

We’re full of ideas – what we want to grow and how we’d like it to look (we love that allotment chic!!). It’s already got a nice feel to it – quite enclosed with an almost secret garden quality. We hope to develop this a bit further – natural, pretty, and yet productive – that sums it up really.

our new, overgrown allotment with tumble-down lean to and plastic garden chair

In this series of posts, we’ll share the journey – the new projects, successes, failures, the produce grown and what we do with it. Along with a spade, we’ll always be sure to pack our camera! Feel free to share your own comments, ideas & tips as we travel along the allotment road.

Gimme Five! Windowsill greenhouses

"Gimme Five!" blog post banner

selection of 5 windowsill greenhouses

I bought some magnolia vine seeds off the internet way back in January. After soaking them overnight, potting them up and leaving them somewhere cool until now, I’m going to put them on a warm, sunny windowsill in the kitchen so they can germinate. I’m fed up of the ugly, plastic windowsill greenhouses that are so ubiquitous. I want something a bit more… pleasing on the eye.

There are a few of them out there that aren’t boring green or black, cheap-looking, moulded plastic; but you have to search long & hard. We’ve helped make that process a little bit easier with these that we’ve found.

  1. Plantini mini model planthouse kit by Another Studio: £24.95, Notonthehighstreet
  2. SOCKER Greenhouse, white: £12, IKEA
  3. Vintage glass house / terrarium: £26.03, Etsy
  4. Vintage handmade lead & glass terrarium: £68, eBay
  5. Little Gardeners – My First Mini Greenhouse: £11.99, Amazon

Gimme Five: Spring bulbs

'Gimme Five!' blog post banner

selection of 5 spring bulbs

Hasn’t this past week been lovely? After a long, grey, damp squib of a winter we’ve been enjoying the ever-lengthening, brighter, warmer days.

We’ve just spent quite a lot of time in the garden, sweeping away the rotting leaves and moss. We plan on making a trip to Gordon Rigg’s just down the road and investing in a few different types of spring bulbs.

Our garden is fairly small, mainly set with cobblestones that we’ve filled with plants in a mix of terracotta pots and galvanised metal containers. We have a few raised beds that we’d like to plant up with bulbs, with the promise of orange and white late-summer/autumn flowers appearing year after year.

Our soil is acidic and the beds are short on sunlight so we’ve had to research our floral options very carefully. Here’s what’s made our short-list…

  1. Eucomis autumnalis: £6.99 for 2 bulbs, Suttons Seeds and Plants
  2. Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’: £3.99 for 10 corms, Crocus
  3. Large-flowered Gladiolus ‘Peter Pears’: £5.75 for pack of 25, Spalding Bulbs
  4. Spider lily ‘Zwanenburg’: £12.99 for 10 bulbs, Thompson & Morgan
  5. Japanese Anemone ‘Blanda’ white: £9.99 for a 1 litre pot, Jersey Plants Direct

Tuesday Huesday: Our cherry blossom

"Tuesday Huesday" blog post banner

view up into the cherry tree in blossom in our garden

We mentioned in our Tuesday Huesday post last week that our cherry blossom was due at any time – well here it is! We took this picture on the Sunday before the bank holiday this week when we had that lovely albeit short warm & sunny spell. We spent two glorious days pottering in the garden generally tidying up and replanting red currant, white currant and raspberry bushes that we “emancipated” from Justin’s parents’ old allotment.

green dotted horizontal line