The pictures on these pages represent the years from October 2000 when I first got my little ‘half’ plot through to the end of summer 2003 by which time I had also acquired the other half of the plot……….

 

1.       A snowy day. October 2000.

This was just shortly after I had taken over my first half plot. I had only divided it into two beds and Chris was helping install the new compost bins. At the time I thought they were huge but I have since learned that you can never make compost bins too big. I now have six bins!

2.   Late May 2001: The lettuces

I had grown things in patches all over the plot and here was my first crop of lettuces. A pretty pattern of dark and light. Trouble is that I hated cutting them as it spoiled the pattern!

3.   The Shed. June 2001

Until the shed was erected I had to cart my tolls and stuff to and from the plot each day. Chris finally took pity in the June and we put the shed up. I painted it and later installed a lockable metal cupboard for my tools. I now have a couple of old garden chairs, a wee stove and a kettle…luxury. Somewhere to hide when it rains too.

4.    Late June 2001. Over the cabbages.

Not only did I plant the veggies and herbs but there are lots of nasturtiums, marigolds and tagetes too. These are there to ward off carrot fly and attract hover flies and bees…..over the years they have self sown and I just leave them be….my plot is always colourful.

 

5. Nasturtiums and the first sweetcorn. June 2001   This was the first time I had grown sweetcorn and it did well…I had to learn very quickly that the fox and magpies like it too and now I take more precaution against theft! It si like warfare up at my plot sometimes. Good thing I am vegetarian or I may have invested in a blunderbus by now. Each year I seem to grow more sweetcorn…..

6. Mid July 2001.

The gladioli and beans. That first year I planted so many runner beans we were snowed under. Chris had to eat his body weight in beans per week to keep up. I have since learned that just because there are 40 beans in a packet it does not mean that you have to plant them all! The gladioli are for cutting for the house. Since that first year they have moved to their own permanent bed and we get huge bunches of them each week….

 

7. Chris watering. Mid July 2001

Chris is not a natural gardener …he is most happy with things that come with a plug and that can be programmed. He hates weeding with a passion but can be coaxed into watering with me on nice summer evenings.…but he hates it really!

8. Poppies from the shed door.

I love poppies and always have a row somewhere on the plot. They self    seed every where but I leave them be….

9. February 2003.

     In the previous autumn the gentleman who had the other half plot adjacent to mine asked if I would like to take over the whole plot and I spent the winter digging the whole plot and turning it into four foot wide beds….Chris thought at one point I was preparing for trench warfare..and he kept well away as he does not do digging. I put down black membrane on the paths and then laid woodchip on the paths. It looks great when new but weathers very quickly.

10.The paths are down.It looks quite splendid like this. The red bags are more woodchip waiting to go down.

11.The plot looking from the other end!.

That is about 18 foot of rhubarb growing there and the surprising thing is that we ate it all last year! Some became jam but most of it was stewed and eaten!

12. Late April..looking neat and tidy

Just to show that I do keep it tidy sometimes….

13. Foxgloves and Lovage.

The foxgloves came by themselves and were allowed to stay…the lovage I planted but I did not know that it grew so tall. About 12 feet last year. I only use a tiny bit in cooking on rare occasions. It can be used in salad but I think it tastes nasty!

14. May 2003. The next crop of sweetcorn goes in.

This time well protected and there are two different varieties in separate beds on the plot.

  

15. Mid June 2003. Its all growing!The plot starts to look really good now…despite the drought everything is growing well.

16. I grew these lovely ranuculas on the lottie for the first time inn 2003 and was amazed at their beautiful colours.

17. Some of the early summer pickings…..

18. Mid July 2003 Its all growing like mad and I am having to water, water,water because of the drought.

19. Penstemons and sunflowers all grown for cutting for the house.

 

20. Indian Summer sweet corn..they look lovely and they taste wonderful too

21. In 2003 I made part of the allotment into a cutting garden to provide me with flowers for the house/and friends/and anyone foolish enough to be nearby. I would get about two or three baskets of flowers like this per week. I love the scent of sweetpeas and grow about twelve plants of different colours but all are highly scented.

22. The cutting garden provided endless flowers over the summer. I grew both green leaved and red leaved amaranthus, little did I know the self seeding ability of amaranthus ..and its everywhere!

and the radio too...