That's Better...well, it should be soon!

Just another excuse as to why our allotment must be feeling neglected! Yep, I'm playing the kidney card.

Photographed on Tuesday

Some of you will know that we missed our holiday last year because my AV fistula failed.

If I hadn't received my transplant and still needed dialysis the hospital would have worked on the fistula to get it working again - some kidney patients have enormous problems with their fistulas but I was lucky with mine all the while I needed it.

Last November it swelled up and hurt a lot but within a few months the swelling, lumps and bumps just dissolved back into my arm - amazing really, I thought I'd have a lumpy arm for the rest of my days!
Actually, one lump didn't go... This aneurysm clearly wasn't going to disappear of its own accord.

Photographed on Sunday

It's not been that painful; just the occasional twinge but sore if it got knocked so it always felt vulnerable. So the Churchill Hospital said it should be removed and that was done on Monday.

In a couple of weeks I think I'll have no excuse for getting up the plot and dealing with that manure!!

Pumpkins are not just for Halloween...

The Jack-be-Little pumpkins produced lots of fruits for carving and we've got plenty left to eat. I just have to get round to making it!

Colds and cold weather have kept me away from the blog for a bit, but it'll be back in action soon...

Manure and Squashes

First visit to the plot today following our lovely two weeks away in beautiful Tenerife - now, I love the allotment, but I'd rather be in Tenerife again right now!

I only went to see how things were doing and to pull a potato but ended up spending a couple of hours on the site.
There hasn't been a frost while we were away and the weather has apparently stayed quite warm, though there had been a lot of rain at some point - the gauge was full.
Looks like I'm going to be eating squashes for a few months - Jamie's refusing at this point :-)


Cornells Bush Delicata

Jack-be-Little

Uchiki Kuri

It was such a warm day and there were quite a few of us there because the manure was being delivered - we can buy a barrow-load from HAHA for £1 (HAHA buy it from a local farmer). We were pleased to see how well-rotted it is and I moved 8 barrow-loads to our plot - Jamie may get some more next week.

I went home with a very heavy bag of potatoes, one squash and a sweetcorn - most of the sweetcorn have gone over now but the one I took home was still sweet and tasty, though the kernels were a little harder than you'd really want.

HAHA at the Hungerford Food Festival

Another busy Sunday as we will be helping to man the HAHA stall at the Food Festival tomorrow.
We've picked some produce from the HAHA plot - a lovely colourful haul!

That is: Golden Hubbard squash, ridge cucumbers, kohl rabi, mooli, jack-o-lantern pumpkins, courgettes (floridor yellow & normal), uchiki kuri squash and purple haze carrots.

We like  to highlight the benefits of growing your own. Of course, we'll also take advantage of the platform to highlight the plight of the allotment sites in Hungerford and how we really need a permanent site for the town.
Here's a lesson on why you should pick your courgettes regularly :-) Hmm, wonder if anyone will want to take that home with them...

Open Afternoon - Success!

We had fabulous weather for the Open Afternoon - we were so lucky! It was warm (probably about 23°) and the sun even showed itself at times.

We were pleased it was so well attended - there were about 80 visitors that I'm aware of.
We even had a group of people from Swindon join us, they just happened to be visiting Hungerford and followed the carrot arrows that we'd posted along the route from the High Street!
I was really pleased to see Bill Acworth again - he was on the council when the allotment site was first set up. Without him we'd never have our lovely site. He was impressed with the changes over the last couple of years and understands what an asset the site is to Hungerford. 

The burgers went down so well that we had to send out for more stock half way through the afternoon. Even all the veggie burgers were all sold!

The cream teas were also a great success; people had made cakes and scones for HAHA to sell and, of course, there was lovely home-made jam too.

Children were entertained with paper flower making and a questionnaire which meant they walked round the plots spotting certain veg and water butts, etc.

Some visitors spent a lot of time wandering through the site looking at the various methods we use for protecting our veggies and our growing techniques - that's why we always like to see what's going on on other plots too.

I was looking after the tombola and really enjoyed it. We had over 40 prizes, mostly donated, and with a 1-in-5 chance of winning all the tickets were gone by 3pm! (Next time we'll need more prizes). It was such good fun and when I did have a couple of breaks my sister stepped in to deal with customers - thanks Joanne!

The produce stall was well stocked and visitors went off with bagfuls of fresh veg and home-made pickles, jams and chutneys. A bit of a shame that Joanne bought the cabbage that we'd put on the stall - I would have given her a freebie :-)

Jamie was on standby to provide me with food and drinks and enjoyed chatting with other plotholders and visitors.

Now we are looking forward to holding more events like this in the future!