Allotment in winter

I made my first trip for ages to the allotment on Sunday (the allotment, aka lottie, has, like everything else in my life, been somewhat neglected of late - I blame the builders!)  I swear there's some sort of witchcraft going on there - it's the most Zen place in the entire universe - I can feel myself relax the second I walk through the gates.  My trusty assistant was with me, helpfully available to lean on me every time I tried to take a photo or to tell me, with a look of desperation in her eyes, as I tried to hold her, naked bottom pointing to the ground, legs in the air, that she didn't, in fact, only need a wee...

'What's this, mummy?  What's this?' 'Why, that's perpetual spinach, darling' (pause for proud moment - yes, I can identify that mystery green leaf, even though I haven't been here for an eternity)

I was absolutely amazed at how much is still growing away there:

I think this is broccoli of some sort. Or it could be a cabbage.  I'm not so proud of myself now.  It's definitely a brassica of some sort

('Look at may waife's brassicas'... Name that film.  Extra points for this one, it's tricky)

 

Okay, this one's another brassica.  Cavolo nero?  Anyone?

 

I know this one!  Yay.  This is definitely blackcurrants.

Right, this isn't a brassica and it isn't a currant, I can say that with certainty.  It's a leek.  Or it may be garlic.  It's oniony, whatever.

And obviously the trusty old rhubarb is sprouting away already:

Crikey, we still haven't eaten our way through all of last year's rhubarb crop - I'd better get on with it or we'll be disappearing under some sort of pink-stalked mountain.  

Crumble, anyone? x

PS - thank you, you lovely lot, for your comments on my last post - it's so great to know you're all still out there - I really do appreciate your words and have been quietly reading all your blogs in my absence, even though I'm not always very good at commenting x

Fruits of my labour

Life in the nut house (pppfff.  Can't believe that's the first time I've written that) has been pretty frenzied lately.  Big N had a great birthday - cake, Pizza Express, Kung Fu Panda II, over-excited friends, Lego - what more could an eight-year-old boy want in life?  My mum paid a visit for a couple of days; our time-share dog paid a visit for a couple of days (at the same time as my mum, conveniently); we had lunch dates with friends, nights out with other friends, birthday parties...  Madness.  In amongst all the social-butterfly-ery, there have been the usual not-so-thrilling domestic duties chomping at my heels and I am proud to confirm that I have, indeed, finally cleaned the bathroom.  Great.  That'll keep us going for the next six months, then.  I've also managed to spend a bit of time in the garden - middle N and I were surprised and thrilled in equal measure to find these two beauteous strawbs on the plants by our front door.  I say surprised, because despite daily checks on the ripeness of said strawberries, the bloomin birds always seem to be one step ahead of us when it comes to eating them at just the right moment.  We were at home on our own when we discovered them, so we ate them quickly before the others got back.  (Ignorance is bliss, and all that...)
And as for the blackcurrants:

After four years, I finally got a large enough crop to make a crumble.  

I'm aiming for two next year...

And my lovely sweetpeas are starting to flower - hurrah.

I've got about a squillion WIPs on the go at the moment - so many, in fact, that my head's getting in a bit of a muddle thinking about what I'm going to finish first.  Which reminds me - I have a pressing need for Mollie Makes' lavender-filled strawberries as I seem to have a bit of an issue with moths eating holes in my clothes. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of the blighters?  I always thought they lived in old people's houses and ate fur coats, but it seems they live in middle-aged people's houses and eat John Lewis cardigans too.  Must dash - I need to Google 'how to rid your home of clothes-eating moths' x

Easy like Sunday morning...

Today I had one of those blissfully calm mornings that, frankly, don't happen often round here.  I was out the house before half seven to let my friend's chickens out for the day.

And what a momentous day it was - all four of those lovely birds had laid an egg.  At under 20 weeks old, this is pretty good going.  Well done girls!
My friend with the chickens (let's call her Mrs Hen) has got one of those beautiful gardens that you can just gaze at and marvel at how everything looks so vigorous and alive and healthy.  I would dearly love a garden like hers, but I'm just not sure how compatible it would be with the football pitch element of my garden.  One day, maybe...

Back at home, I enjoyed the early morning quiet while I hung out a lot of washing.  There was so much washing that I ran out of pegs.  That doesn't often happen - I have a lot of pegs.

It was just so lovely to be out in the garden on my own, enjoying the sun, while Mr Nut was inside making pancakes for breakfast and containing the mayhem as best he could. 
Everywhere I turned, I saw things bursting into life:

This lovely little bay tree had been sitting by the door, waiting to be potted up, for several weeks and I finally got around to giving it a new home:

The smell from the leaves as I rubbed against them was just lovely, as it was from my four little blackcurrant bushes when I spread some lovely compost around them.  I have high hopes for a good crop this year - I was amazed to see teeny blackcurrants already forming among the leaves (if you look carefully, you can just see them right in the middle of the top photo, at the base of the leaves):

I almost had to do a little happy dance when I saw these, but as they're in the front garden and I was therefore visible to all my neighbours, I thought I better hadn't.  I think they already suspect I'm completely bonkers though - who in their right mind would get down on their knees in the flowerbed to take photos??
These little beauties have yet to receive any attention from me, however:

Can you just see the tiny new berry in the middle of this photo?  I bought these little alpine strawberries at the local farmer's market this morning - the lady selling them told me they're especially good in jam.  And who am I to argue with that idea? x