First Time

Yesterday: It didn’t rain and it was Valentine’s Day so here’s a 7-spot ladybird sporting a love heart (not AI!).

After more than 3 months of hibernation we took advantage of a dry, albeit freezing, day and visited the plot. I was pleasantly surprised at how it looked - my expectations were low but it’s definitely looked worse.

I was so pleased to see the daffodils are almost ready to bloom in the raised bed. And around the budding fruit trees in ‘the orchard’.

The Apsley mulch has really helped with weed suppression; there are thistles, dandelion and cranesbill but not the grass which is such a pain to weed. We still have a bag of mulch to spread and to replenish other beds. 

One of the last plot visits I made before Christmas was to pull the leeks which had been decimated by leek moth larvae. I was over the moon to see that the garlic appears to have got away without damage, though I think the onions haven’t fared so well.

This is the raised bed where the shallots did well last year - there’s a few of those weeds I mentioned…

They were easily pulled and after an additional layer of mulch and compost this year’s Yellow Moon shallots have been planted and surrounded by a sprinkle of onion fertiliser. We’ve covered it with enviromesh to help protect from various pests. 

This plot with irises and bulbs hasn’t been mulched and is trickier to weed - look at that mess - ugh - but hopefully the flowers will put on a pretty show to distract the eye (the 2 crocuses haven’t quite achieved that) 🤭

This brick provided the brightest spot of colour in the sunshine - look at that lovely moss.

I need to study mosses a bit more, they’re so interesting en-masse or up-close. Looking at the moss world website I think this is probably a common variety Ceratodon Purpureus but don’t quote me!

The birds (robins, blackbirds, long-tailed tits, magpies) were out in number and a kite was circling overhead. There were also two hot air balloons in the clear blue sky - brrr, it must have been very cold up there. We found a couple of 7-spot ladybirds, including that one in the top photo with the heart, soaking up the rays and this wasp was snuggled in the polytunnel.

Aah, she’s holding her antennae down round her face (it can only be a Queen if it’s hibernating). I’ve updated the wasp entry on my Wildlife blog, if you’re interested.

There’s the Sun receding back into the gloom, but it was a lovely couple of hours and we felt revitalised as a result - though we were very pleased to go home for a coffee and a nap.

The title song is provided by Macy Gray recognising the first visit to the plot in 2026 - enjoy ☺️ 

Any Colour You Like

Finally something vaguely allotment-y to post about now that it’s February, though we haven’t actually made it to the plot yet mostly because of the incessant rain.

Having said that we did venture out to Marlborough to a plant-based market - it’s the first one they’ve held (I think) and our favourite Vegan Street Diner hot dog man was there so we couldn’t resist. We had a few snacks and bought some vegan soap as well as cakes to take home.

It was very cold and wet but we had a nice walk through the Priory Garden and enjoyed seeing the squirrels scurrying amongst the snow drops and watched (water?) rats in the river.

On Saturday we visited Pewsey for their Potato Day. There was a good turnout and loads of spuds to choose from - in the rubber buckets - as well as a large selection of seeds and herbs. 

It’s always tempting to buy too many seed potatoes as each tuber was 50p but we were quite restrained as we don’t need many and having done no prep (yet) I decided against buying any plants. These are the potatoes we selected.

Desiree and Orla we’ve grown before but Paris and Baby Lou are new to us. They’re all chitting under a grow light in the hall now so we have till April to prepare the ground, though some will be planted into bags - looking back it seems that Orla are a slug-favourite 😖

We also bought some Yellow Moon shallots to plant in the raised bed again - they did well last year (though that doesn’t mean much) and were good to use as spring onions as well as for cooking and pickling later in the year.

I received some treats from my Hastings cousins for my retirement. It’s always fun to get an unexpected delivery from the postman!

Some fabulous cosmic-styled gloves, fairies and lovely scatter seeds for the plot from Jen - if the flowers are as successful as last year’s hollyhocks I’ll be very happy!

I’ve been keeping myself busy in retirement by doing some clearing and I’m painting the bathroom door. The man in the shop thought I was nuts when I asked for a pink paint to be mixed then abruptly changed my mind to blue after he showed me the available shades of pink. It wasn’t till I started painting that I realised, from the whole selection, I’d unwittingly selected a perfect match for our car 🤭 

Stirring stick/car comparison

Talking of lovely colours - I filtered the sloe gin that we made using sloes from the allotment hedge in September last year - it’s so sweet and delicious! We have another jar to filter after this one.

We have another full day of rain expected so I’ll finish my painting and maybe will check on the plot at the weekend - there may be some parsnips to pick (she said hopefully).

Pink Floyd provide the title track - enjoy ☺️ 

Jigsaw

We still haven’t visited the plot yet this year. The weather has been so dire that we haven’t felt the least bit inclined. 

Hellebore

To be honest, I’m mostly thinking ‘Oh, I can sort that out once I’ve retired’ and ‘I’ll start after our holiday’ and ‘I must re-decorate the bathroom door now the shower is complete’. I really have mastered the art of procrastination. Today give me the benefit of the doubt, the ground will be sodden though, after such a damp Winter so far. So it’s fine that I’ve wasted hours on this on-line puzzle page and you can too 😃 - a little reminder of how beautiful Summer on the allotment can be and why a bit of preparation goes a long way!

99Echinacea Corner 

Anyway, just a tiny post to welcome in 2026 and I think you’ll be seeing more jigsaws this year - you have been warned 🤭

Song title provided by Ryan Sheridan - great song, I hadn’t heard it before.

Fairground

I love this section of canal in Hungerford - we cross the canal here on the back route to Tescos or to the train station. We’ve had a few trips out but I’m sorry to say the allotment hasn’t been visited for at least 3 weeks. I have my excuses ready … the weather has either been too wet or too cold and I’ve had 2 colds already this month. But none of those excuses stopped us going to the huge fireworks display in Abingdon.

It was amazing but the organisers got a lot of abuse because the massive bonfire (apparently) detracted from the show and then the poor souls wandering across dark fields trying to find where they’d parked (us included) caused more outrage on Social media, but not so much as the people who were stuck in traffic for 3hours and missed the fireworks completely 😖 They were the loudest fireworks we’d ever experienced and the display was in a 270° arc - really incredible!

Jamie was so tired at one point and needed a sit down - the only nearby seat was in the ghost train. Haha, it wasn’t that scary but getting back out of the little truck was more difficult than collapsing into it! Luckily we did have our allotment chairs in the back of the car so I retrieved them for the rest of the evening. The food stalls and fairground were a lot of fun too, but we didn’t go on any other rides!

We also had a trip out on what must have been the coldest day this year - to Longleat’s Festival of Light. We went on the boat safari and saw the sea lions but the other mammals (apart from humans) were hiding in their heated shelters - who could blame them?! 

And what a racket when the keeper threw fish to them! Amazing animals.

The only other animals we saw were the cute red pandas and the fabulous bats in the Bat Cave. Our friend, Linda, wouldn’t like it, as the bats swoop past your head at speed and they’re quite big, not like our little native ones. It was rather exciting and nice and warm but they were impossible to photograph. 

The light festival was good and the Christmas and food stalls were lovely along with the huge singing Christmas tree.

And last weekend we tracked down our favourite street food vendor ‘Vegan Street Diner’ so attended the Andover Christmas lights switch-on and also went to the Hungerford light switch-on event. Our lights are prettier but Andover’s event was more entertaining.

So we’re feeling very Christmassy now… with December almost here. The beautiful song title is brought to you by Simply Red - enjoy!

Hung Up

I finally used the macrame kit my sister gave me a while ago (sorry Carolyn, I think it’s been used as a monitor stand for a few years 🤦‍♀️). I must say it was rather fiddly and I did have to unravel the plant hangers a couple of times. I definitely didn’t follow the instructions properly but they look alright and no-one will look that closely 🙂 Anyway, they’re perfect for that little plant and a re-homed spider-baby plus I bought the white pot for 50p from the Antiques Arcade in Hungerford - bargain!

While I was getting into knots, I grew an affinity with this (not so) little lady Cross Orbweaver spider weaving her web on our window. (I could have done with some extra limbs for the macramé). Sorry for the blurry photo, taken through double-glazing - no way I’m getting close even if we did bond! I’m not a spider fan, but she is fascinating to watch. She sleeps under a leaf and waits for the day to warm up a bit before fixing her web and sitting waiting for anything to cause a vibration, then she’s up and on them. She spent a long time dealing with a leaf; I’m not sure if she ate it or tossed it aside but I did see her deal with a butterfly, which was rather disturbing.

Since my last post the weather has turned dry and cold - especially overnight. I picked all the outdoor melons as the foliage had died back and a frost was threatened - I’m hoping one or two of them will ripen at home. The melon in the trug was from the polytunnel and was so ripe you could smell the sweetness. And it was delicious.

And finally I’ve had some beetroot - so incredibly slow to bulb up this year. I’m trying to blame the weather but I know I should have thinned out the seedlings earlier - along with so many jobs that didn’t get done properly this year, but…. Plot7 did win third prize in the plot judging, I think maybe there wasn’t much competition!

On the last sunny day a week ago I planted 48 Snowball onions - lovely white ones. I put a net over them to deter birds/mice/squirrels from digging them out. The leeks and onions are going to be joined by garlic quite soon and the whole bed is going to be highlighted with salsify judging by the number of seedlings I found. Well, they have a pretty flower, so I don’t mind as long as they don’t get in the way and perhaps I’ll actually get to eat one next year.

I think plot neighbour, Neal’s, busy Lizzie’s are evidence that there was some frost on site, but it’s only hit a few susceptible plants so far.

Our flower plot avoided it and even got some nicotiana which has been attempting to put on a show for months. 

And I do love the Cerinthe Major and the sedum which the bees were enjoying today too.

Our scattered sunflowers have taken advantage of what little Sun they’ve seen over the last week but they didn’t know where to look for it today!

The sunshine and showers earlier in the month have encouraged everything to re-grow - this was a bare patch of earth 4 weeks ago, now it’s a whole bed of nigella, valerian, cranesbill geranium, bindweed and probably a few other things - some welcome, others less so… I’ve been hoeing quite a bit but I think that’s just helping the seedlings, until the weather gets really cold - which I don’t really want!

So from that green foliage to the lovely colourful chard - it seems to have enjoyed the raised bed after a dodgy start. It’s so pretty - I just wish Jamie liked the taste of it 😊

We’ve just passed the Autumn equinox now so the days are getting shorter. Pull those curtains and snuggle in, surely all the fruits and berries mean we’re in for a hard Winter…. Brrr, we’ll see…

Here’s Madonna, it’s a singalong- enjoy!

Beautiful Things

Before our weekend away I had to do a final water in the polytunnel - outside could look after itself for a few days, especially if this was the weather September was going to bring! Between torrential downpours I picked more tomatoes and left them on the Spares shelf, we'd already given some away to neighbours. I was tempted to take some away with us, but I think they have tomatoes in Bath 🤭 

The two redcurrant tomato plants are producing masses of tiny tomatoes - they’re a bit of a pain to pick, it would be considerably easier if whole trusses ripened at once, but they are so tasty and photogenic I’m glad I grew them.

I made the confit “con-fee” (apparently) with some of the redcurrant tomatoes as planned. I've mostly been having them as toppings for sandwiches and cheese biscuits. There are some left which we may have with halloumi tonight - they only keep for a fortnight in the fridge. They produce a delicious pop while eating them. The oil can be used for pasta, salads or cooking. I used some for frying aubergine this week.

Confit - redcurrant tomatoes and garlic

The aubergines have done well in the polytunnel this year - these were from the Graffiti plant.

They were used, along with tomatoes (obviously) for this tasty chilli.

And the radish pods were used in this concoction with non-chicken and an onion sauce - delicious. The pods didn’t last long, they’ve gone past their best now and rather stringy so the plants will be next in-line for the compost bin.

This is our latest trug which includes some Meatball aubergines. There are still quite a few small fruits on the plant, but that’s the last Graffiti for the year.

And this trug has more dried beans and our first melon, which I think is ripe. Plus a few tiny, tasty carrots -  not sure they appreciated being container-grown.

The flowers are really enjoying the sunshine and showers weather at the moment, even though the nights are getting a bit chilly for me.

We went early with making some sloe gin using sloes from the allotment hedge - they’re so abundant this year. The sloes were frozen before adding to the gin and the jars are shaken regularly so the colour is deepening for (hopefully) a tasty liqueur around Christmas.

And just to show how autumnal it is out there …. This large fungi emerged in the woodchip pile. Not sure of the variety so it didn’t get eaten!

And because this post contains some beautiful things, Benson Boone provides the title track - enjoy!