Ripe for the picking.

The sweet strawberry aroma that greeted me as i went into the greenhouse was just too much. All thoughts of taking a photo of the big juicy red berries for my blog went entirely out of the window. I picked the best of the bunch for my tea, then went back with my camera, talk about doing stuff in reverse!

The variety is "Elsanta," i got them last year as a pack of six seedlings, which did fruit, though i wasn't that impressed with them.

They have just sat in the greenhouse and i haven't paid them much attention really, just the occasional watering when i remembered. I even thought about composting them to free up some room in the greenhouse but when i saw the flower buds i decided to give them another chance. Am i glad i did or what? They are so deliciously sweet, from now on i will be nurturing them all the way! Now where did i put that cream?

My Veg Plot.

After procrastinating for long enough, the bottom of the garden has been fenced off to keep the dog off what is to become my home allotment. I have already got a couple of raised beds down there which i grew stuff in last year.
The two guys that made it happen! Notice the supervisor overseeing the work from the chair, ha ha. The partners in crime are my DH and daughters boyfriend. They both worked really hard that day. No post auger just a spade and a lot of sweat. They hit bricks and coal while digging out for the posts but tenacity won the day.
Finally posts in and boards on.
now the work is down to me on this side of the fence!

Not a bad size to grow some veg's, i feel like i got my own allotment. After years of gardening in a small courtyard with containers and grow bags this area seems huge!

In the far corner of my plot I had an area that had been neglected and used last year as a bit of a dumping ground for lawn clippings, pruning's and leaves, after i had gotten out the old branches that hadn't rotted down i was left with the most workable dark rich soil, in fact the best bit of soil in the garden. I decided to use this as my potato patch and 10 days ago, in went 20 well chitted Kestrel seed potatoes.


Because i am working on a heavy clay soil with crap drainage, in wet weather its waterlogged in dry weather it bakes hard and deep cracks appear on the surface. My long term plan is to grow most stuff in raised beds, but there's still loads to do and i reckon it will be a bit hit and miss this year as to how successful my growing efforts will be as i am having to put anything else i want to grow straight in the ground, with some exceptions such as the cucumbers going into grow bags

This year I've got white and red onion sets and garlic occupying about a quarter of the space of one bed in the other half of the bed i am going to transplant my leeks that i grew from seed and squeeze in some peas at the end.
I have got butternut squash and french beans ready to go into the other raised bed. i'm lucky to have a friendly neighbour that has supplied me with well rotted manure which i have already dug in a couple of weeks ago in anticipation for the massive squash and bean harvest! I hope :)