So here I am again, squirrelled up in my little study, watching a very grey day amuse itself outside the window. I spent hours clearing up leaves a few weeks ago and somehow, just to spite me, they have all come back. Our patio area once again looks like it has a brown bristly carpet and every time we open the kitchen door, we are attacked by overexcited leaves trying to make a bid for warmth.
The garden is looking pretty much exactly the same as it did when I last blogged. The giant cat toilet remains, although I think the cat is being a little more respectful after we had a 'little word' and the shed still looks like it was built by drunk people with no arms. There is one section of the garden that has a lot of green stuff in it. I say green stuff, but what I basically mean is 'a selection of unidentifiable plants that we don't understand and lots and lots of weeds.' The problem we have is telling what is weed and what is plant. It's a section of the garden we don't spend much time on- the vegetable area tends to get the most focus as, well, let's face it, I'm much more excited about things you can put in an omelette. My instinct with this section of the garden is to dig everything up and start again. I'd like to know what's there, and treat it all well and appropriately. I do feel a little guilty about this, however. It feels oddly like the gardening equivalent of ethnic cleansing. The previous tenants of this house obviously went to a lot of trouble planting all that, and I feel it would be wrong to tear everything out just so I have the satisfaction of being able to say 'LOOK- Look at THAT PLANT. That plant is definitely a HOSTA. And I know that because I PUT IT THERE.'
The BIG NEWS this time is pretty big, actually. It will mean more blogs, it will mean more anecdotes about how we did something wrong and ended up with a selection of freak like vegetables, it will mean more time outside.
That's right my friends, after 3 years on the waiting list, we have got our ALLOTMENT. If you were all here in my house I would now be enthusiastically high fiving you and wooping like a deranged teenage girl, but as you are not (and that's probably a good thing) I will sit quietly here with the lovely knowledge that there is a little patch of land 5 minutes away from our house that is just waiting for us. It's a little patch of stillness in crazy London- backing onto a reservoir and a cemetery (two areas not known for their noise disturbance) and I feel so lucky to have somewhere to head to when everything else all gets a bit much. Like Arthur from Eastenders, I have plans for a little shed where I can read, drink a beer in the summer and put photos up of impressive vegetables we have grown. We are sharing the plot with some friends of ours as life is busy, and our first 'meeting' yesterday was a joy- it involved a trip to the patch to go 'LOOK! Isn't this AWESOME' and a 'Vegetable Planning Meeting' (hereafter referred to as a VPM) which involved a big piece of paper and some massive pens. We have plans for a Fruit Corner, an Underground Corner, an Overground Corner and a 'Nearly Courgette' corner. I have managed to get over my disappointment that only one of those corners is named after a yoghurt.
The allotment was very quiet yesterday and we were the only people there, overexcitedly dividing our sections with green string and proudly placing the miniature scarecrow that I got from my mum in the post. If our patch is attacked by any miniature birds, they are going to freak OUT.
I'm looking forward to meeting more members of the allotment's community. The only person I've met so far was three years ago, when we initially put our names down on the waiting list. He was a lovely elderly man who was covered in bugs and smelled intensely of mint. He also turned out to be a local DJ and did us a rather terrifying Kenneth Williams impression for no apparent reason. If everyone is as lovely as he was, we are in for a treat.
I have a bit of time to myself this week so I plan on heading down there with a big fork (I love holding those as I like to pretend I'm a Borrower) to turn over the ground and get it ready for the new seeds. We haven't got a shed yet so if it rains, I am just going to carry on. Or, sit in the toilet block with a book and a flask.
It doesn't get more exciting than this.
Monday 28 February 2011
Wednesday 16 February 2011
The Lab Coats, The Jungle and the First Adventure of the Year.
Well, whether it's actually the time for it, or whether massive global warming is beginning to have a horrific effect on the weather, Spring seems to be ever so slightly sprung. I have been waiting patiently and excitedly for daffodils to appear in the garden, and then, realising that we didn't actually plant any, have made a mental note to do that next year, to avoid disappointment.
In other garden news, we have cleared the vegetable patch in preparation for the new seeds for 2011. We have dug up the dried up, frozen remains of the vegetables from last year and left a beautiful, clear space for new life, accidentally creating what can only be described as a 'Massive Cat Toilet.' As I am not physically capable of being in the garden all day and all night, discouraging the cat from totally ruining all our hard work, I have had a stern word with her, and vowed to get the new seeds in soon. It's been exciting to think about what we might grow this year. Last year we went a bit planting-mental, saying 'AH HAHA HA gardening magazines, you don't know WHAT you're talking about- leaving space for things to grow? Oh no no no no..
After watching our garden turn into an overgrown vegetable jungle, with runner beans fighting with beetroot for survival, and a pumpkin that was so desperate for some space it grew half way across the lawn, we have learned our lesson. This year, my friends, we are going for quality. Last year we followed the 'get as many seeds into the ground as we can physically manage' tactic. This year we will be much more selective.
In camping news, Joni the beautiful orange campervan had her first adventure of 2011 yesterday. She has spent the winter months snuggled up in her winter anorak and now her sunshine orange glow is once more beaming onto the patch of road outside our house. She took a few goes to start (wouldn't you if you'd been standing still with an anorak on for 3 months?) then ran like a dream on her first trip out
I would like to tell you that her first adventure was to a leafy glade somewhere wonderfully peaceful, where we parked next to a mountain stream and waited for wildlife to dance for us and flowers to grow up her sides.
It wasn't. It was to pick up 15 labcoats from Surrey Quays.
Don't ask.
I have not yet broken to her that she is going on a UK tour from the 30th April onwards but if she is half as excited as I am, she will be tooting her horn with glee. I sat in her outside the house yesterday as it went dark, feeling a rush of anticipation for the months to come- we will be travelling as far north as Glasgow, as far south as Plymouth, and I can't wait to meet the many people who will be climbing through her doors.
Look out Britain- Joni's going on the road..
In other garden news, we have cleared the vegetable patch in preparation for the new seeds for 2011. We have dug up the dried up, frozen remains of the vegetables from last year and left a beautiful, clear space for new life, accidentally creating what can only be described as a 'Massive Cat Toilet.' As I am not physically capable of being in the garden all day and all night, discouraging the cat from totally ruining all our hard work, I have had a stern word with her, and vowed to get the new seeds in soon. It's been exciting to think about what we might grow this year. Last year we went a bit planting-mental, saying 'AH HAHA HA gardening magazines, you don't know WHAT you're talking about- leaving space for things to grow? Oh no no no no..
After watching our garden turn into an overgrown vegetable jungle, with runner beans fighting with beetroot for survival, and a pumpkin that was so desperate for some space it grew half way across the lawn, we have learned our lesson. This year, my friends, we are going for quality. Last year we followed the 'get as many seeds into the ground as we can physically manage' tactic. This year we will be much more selective.
In camping news, Joni the beautiful orange campervan had her first adventure of 2011 yesterday. She has spent the winter months snuggled up in her winter anorak and now her sunshine orange glow is once more beaming onto the patch of road outside our house. She took a few goes to start (wouldn't you if you'd been standing still with an anorak on for 3 months?) then ran like a dream on her first trip out
I would like to tell you that her first adventure was to a leafy glade somewhere wonderfully peaceful, where we parked next to a mountain stream and waited for wildlife to dance for us and flowers to grow up her sides.
It wasn't. It was to pick up 15 labcoats from Surrey Quays.
Don't ask.
I have not yet broken to her that she is going on a UK tour from the 30th April onwards but if she is half as excited as I am, she will be tooting her horn with glee. I sat in her outside the house yesterday as it went dark, feeling a rush of anticipation for the months to come- we will be travelling as far north as Glasgow, as far south as Plymouth, and I can't wait to meet the many people who will be climbing through her doors.
Look out Britain- Joni's going on the road..
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