Showing posts with label Allotment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allotment. Show all posts

Thursday, 31 March 2016

Wendy's Week - Airfix & Allotmenteering

Hello! I hope you all had a fabulous Easter if you celebrate it or a lovely rest if you don't!

I have been having a few technical issues with my website lately, so this is a little late but after much faffing here is what I got up to last week!
~ Airfix & Allotmenteering ~
-21st - 27th March -
The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Instagram Header Airfix & Alotmenteering
Daffodils // Grumpy looking extras // Sewing Clips // Beau watching the birdies // Hair Bow Tutorial // Digging

- Filmed a video tutorial. I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking about making more use of the film mode on my camera and so I had a go this weekend at a little tutorial on how to make a hair bow just like the one I am wearing in this post, it's very simple and once edited I'll hopefully be brave enough to post it here, so you can see and hear what I am really like! I did actually film a little video just after Christmas as bit of an introduction to my blog and me but so far I have been far too shy to post it or properly edit it as, well it's a bit cringey, you can really tell how very nervous I was filming it (I was honestly shaking, despite being completely on my own at the time) but I am working on my confidence little by little and so perhaps I will get over myself very soon and be brave enough to publish it...perhaps!

The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Airfix & Allotmenteering - Daffodils
- Went out for Lunch On Good Friday, I went for a lovely pub lunch with my good friend Alan so that we could exchange Easter eggs, you're never too old for chocolate! We discussed our plans for our upcoming outing to see the Syd Lawrence Orchestra in a couple of weeks. Despite eating my body weight in Vegetable Linguini and Manchester Tart (I had no idea this was even a thing, it was mighty tasty though! It did make me giggle no end to have to ask for two Manchester Tarts at the bar, but then I'm a child!). I must confess to getting a little tipsy and so on returning home nodded off on the sofa and achieved nothing much else for the rest of the day, whoops!

The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Airfix & Allotmenteering - Daffodils

- Bought some fabric clips. I saw these Plastic Clip Clamps a few weeks ago and thought they looked like something that might be useful to add to my sewing kit, to hold together fabrics that are too delicate to pin and for adding on bindings to edgings. I had previously looked at getting some Clover Wonder Clips which retail at about £18 for 50, but I was put off by the price and so when I saw that these were very cheap at £3.38 for 80 and had great reviews, I decided it was worth the risk and gave them a go. I did have to wait about a month for them to arrive, which meant I had totally forgotten about them when they did, but now they are here I can honestly say they are very well made and totally worth the price and long delivery time. I will be putting them to good use very soon!

The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Airfix & Allotmenteering - Digging on the allotment

- Spent Saturday on the Allotment. That photo doesn't look staged at all, ha ha! My camera was precariously positioned on the water tank to take this! Finally, this Saturday I dragged my lazy behind over to my much-neglected allotment to begin the digging and weeding. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as I'd been fearing, the soil is lovely and soft and so digs over really well, plus I've downloaded a new calorie tracker app on my phone, in an effort to loose some weight and have found that one hours heavy digging is supposed to burn about 700 calories, which is a huge amount, though I must confess I'm not sure my style of digging can be considered 'heavy', but even half those calories burnt is a good start and goes a long way to balancing out all the chocolate I consumed over the weekend!


The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Airfix & Allotmenteering - Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary Airfix Kit

- I Bought an Airfix Kit. Which made me feel a lot like a teenage boy, but you know what I don't care!  For years now I have fancied having a go an Airfix model but have resisted, I have bought kits for all the men in my life at some point, but to my knowledge not one of them has ever made them up and so they all sit waiting patiently in their boxes. So this weekend I used up some Amazon vouchers and took advantage of same day delivery (blows my mind) and bought myself a Battle of Britain kit! As well as being something I have wanted to have a go at for years, it will also hopefully help me to keep to my new resolution of watching less TV. I've realised that despite my best intentions I have become a bit of couch potato, which is really limiting how much I get done of an evening, so I have decided to restrict myself to an hour or so a day, which has so far been hard, very hard.  I can certainly knit and just about sew whilst watching TV, but having something that's a bit fiddly and needs utter concentration might actually help break me of the habit and hopefully, in the end, I'll have a little more to show for my time other than square eyes!

The Butterfly Balcony: Wendy's Week Airfix & Allotmenteering - Mr Holmes
{ Image Source}
- All that said I did make time for some TV. Mr. Holmes is currently streaming on Amazon prime (I promise I am not sponsored by Amazon, I just seem to use them a lot!) and so I decided to give it a watch as I utterly adore Sir Ian McKellan, I want him to be my grandad! Mr. Holmes is a completely different take on the Sherlockian story. Set in 1947 the 93year old Holmes has retired to the Sussex coast to live the simple life tending to his bees, with the help of his housekeeper Mrs. Munro and her young son Roger. It's becoming clear to Holmes that he is losing his memory and so in a last effort to correct some of the misconceptions created by Watson's stories he is attempting to rewrite his last case, the case that broke him if he can remember the facts that is. For me it's not the unfolding case that is the best part of the film, it is the growing relationship between Holmes and young Roger, it really is so touchingly sweet and shows that Holmes has a not just an analytical but also a caring side, it's all rather lovely!
Wendy x

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Things To Do 2015

Hello! How is 2015 been treating you? 
My year so far has been very busy, mostly due to being given extra responsibilities at work, which is great, but a bit more time consuming, but means I haven't had much energy for much else!

So I know it's very late to do a resolutions type post, unless you factor in Chinese New Year "Happy Year of The Goat Everyone!" (which I do as my day job revolves around scheduling for China) but this is, well at least I think it is, a little different. This post is essentially a list of my goals and plans for 2015 things I want to and in some cases have to do. I thought posting them here would help me to clear a bit more head space as my mind is swimming with stuff to do at the moment and it's become quite overwhelming, so I hope blurting it all out here will calm me down and combat the constantly creeping anxiety! Right here's what I have planned...

~ Plan out my new Allotment ~
Late last year I finally got the keys to a new allotment I was really sad to leave the old one but it was certainly time for a fresh start and I hope  some fresh enthusiasm. 
New allotment, I've got it covered

The new plot is a ten minute walk away from where I currently live and is much smaller than my old one in Walthamstow, which should make it more manageable. It will need quite a bit of work to get it in good order as it's covered with grass and brambles, but I am confident that it will be harbouring a luscious victory garden very soon!

~ Leaner and Greener ~ 
As I mentioned above I have been feeling a bit anxious of late, it's nothing new, anxiety is something that's been part of my life for as long as I can remember as I'm prone to panic attacks. This year I have decided to try and address this issue in a different way than I have before by looking at my diet. I have always found that caffeine and sugar play a major role in aiding my anxiety so I want to cut them out as much as I can. I have also decided to eat more veggies and the easiest and supposedly healthiest way to up your veg intake is to drink fresh pressed juices.

Red wine at work!? Ok, it's actually Apple and Beetroot juice

After watching Jason Vale's Super Juice Me, an amazing documentary about how eating right can radically change your life, I was inspired to get out my juicer and recipe books and start juicing again. I did Jason's seven day detox about six years ago when I first bought my juicer, and it worked wonders on shifting the pounds, but it was the hardest thing I have ever done! I think the reason I lost so much weight was as soon as I could eat again I ate super healthy from fear of ever having to do it again! Six years on I decided to do a three day detox (which was more manageable but no more fun) to help kick start my healthy eating plan, and seeing as I have made it to the end of February and am still eating healthily, I guess it's worked! I can't say I am bursting with energy but I certainly feel calmer and a bit healthier than I did, so that's progress!

~ Zen Yoga~
I was very lucky to win the giveaway hosted by the gorgeous May over Christmas and so I am hoping very very soon to pop along one of May's fabulous Cat Pose Zen Yoga classes, as they sound like just the tonic I need to recover from the last few months and reaffirm my resolve for positive mind in the future. I have already been practising her 3 minute Yogic breathing technique which you can watch on May's youtube Channel, and it has really helped to calm me down when I am feeling the stress about to kick in!

~ Bicycle Bicycle ~
The last few months travelling to work as I do by bus (is it weird that I go to work on the bus and then spend all day designing mini ones? If only the big ones were as reliable as the small!) has reminded me of one thing; you really can't rely on buses, especially when they keep going on strike. After multiple six mile walks each way to work and back I decided it was time to seek alternative arrangements, so I have bought myself a folding bike, which will either get me fit, or get me killed!
My new steed
Theoretically it should get me to work in the same time as taking the bus, but without the cold long waits at the bus stop. I have opted for a fold-up bike in the hopes that if it all gets too much, or is raining too hard I can nip on the bus with my folded, yet still very cumbersome bike, I envisage many bruises on my far too sensitive shins!  I have already purchased my bike but now just need to pluck up the courage to tackle London's roads! Meep!

~ Get on an Aeroplane  ~
I am terrified of getting on an aeroplane, just typing this is making me feel queasy. While I am attempting to address my anxiety I feel it's time to be brave and face my biggest demon and get myself on a plane. I have three flights booked for this year, the first is be in May coming back from Rome on a family trip (never been abroad with my family before, exciting) and the other two will be in September when we are all are going for a long weekend to Germany, to see my brother take part in the Berlin Marathon. Deep breath!

~ Parlez Vous Francais? ~
The holiday that my family are taking will involve a few day in Paris (my favourite city, le sigh) so I want to attempt to impress my parents with a bit of French vocabulaire.

Last time I was in France, I used my school girl French to order a meal from a lovely restaurant only to have the waiter laugh in my face, and tell me to speak in English, it was really off putting (I promise my French is not that bad) and lets face it rather rude! Needless to say this knocked my confidence, so once I returned home I decided to invest in some help in the form of some audio CD's by Michel Thomas, it's now finally time to give them a go!

~ Project Audrey ~
I was sent a Boden catalogue a few weeks ago, the moment I opened it I was lusting after their gorgeous French 60's inspired dresses, classic Capri pants and striking Breton tops, all which are stunning but waaaay out of my price range!


Seeing so many lovely outfits re-inspired me to get cracking on my Audrey inspired wardrobe plans. so watch this space!

~ The Vintage Pattern Pledge ~ 
As much as I hate deadlines, I've come to realise over the years, that I am powered by them! More often than not, the only way I will finish something is to have a set date to finish it by, so signing up to the pledge will give me albeit a loose deadline, but one to which I'm more likely to stick to and it should help keep me on track with my Audrey plans!

~ Organise My Sewing Space ~ 
This mission has after years of deliberating actually been achieved! I have finally settled on my perfect space, post soon to follow!


~ Bust Those UFO's ~
I blogged a while back about all the unfinished projects I had found lurking around my home, and to date, I have made little impact on banishing them, so a new year and a new start on getting them out of my way and into my wardrobe!




I am planning to attack one project a month, either finishing it off, calling it quits and re-purposing the fabric or in some cases where they don't fit me, finish them and sell them on Etsy or eBay for someone else to enjoy, which will hopefully give me a few pennies for mooare fabrics!!

So they are my plans, some are exciting others are terrifying, but hopefully, they should make my year an interesting one!

Wendy x

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

The Victory Garden 2014

Hello, hello, it's been an absolute age since I last wrote about my allotment, and quite a bit has happened since then. Lots of yummy veggies have been picked and eaten, a ton of hard work has been put in and a disturbing amount of weed growth has occurred!  

Last year's harvest was pretty amazing! I grew a grand total of 25 marrows, yes 25 marrows! I devoured more runner beans than one human should ever eat. Mashed, roasted and boiled my own body weight in potatoes and parsnips (well not quite, I am rather heavy, probably from all those potatoes!) Bottled up about 12 Jars of Damson, and Greengage Jam (totally my new favorite jam)...


...Boiled up enough batches of onion soup to keep most of France happy. Pickled a massive jar of beetroot (still working my way through that) and a fair few smaller jars of onions and as if all that wasn't enough I've munched 'n' crunched my way through lots of sun-ripened cherry tomatoes, radishes and little gem lettuces...yum, yum, yum!



All in all it was rather wonderful, especially to see such a bountiful reward for all my efforts and worth every second of the time I put in! It has to be said though it was the hardest work I have ever done, every weekend without fail I was at the allotment, which was hard going and sadly has lead me to the realisation that this endeavor is not very sustainable in the long term. Meaning, that after much deliberation I have decided to say goodbye to my allotment and at the end of this year I will be handing back the keys to let someone with more time (or more friends able to help) take over and give this patch of weeds all the love and hard work it deserves!

As of last week, very weedy indeed!
It has not been an easy decision to make, I have cried many tears over this, as I hate giving  up on anything (massive character flaw right there, I don't tend to know when I'm beat), but I know in my heart that I gave this allotment absolutely everything I had and it still was not quite enough, so I am happy to say I have done my best,  this plot is jut too big for me to manage on my own, so it's now time to move on.

As much as I am a bad plot holder for not weeding as much as I should, I must confess the sight of these beautiful poppies and wildflowers make me very happy. The bees in the nearby hive don't seem to mind, so I am at least doing my bit for bee cultivation if not for veg!
I will still have a little space in my rented back garden to grow in, and many a container just waiting to fill with salads and the like so I'll still be munching my way through as much home grown veg as one woman can handle!
'Scuse the washing line, I forgot to take it down.
Plus I've put my name down for a plot in my new borough (though it's not really new as I've been here for nearly 3 years!! Time flies) so if I am lucky I might be able to arrange a place on the site right at the top of my road, which would mean much less traveling to and fro, and from the over the fence nosing I have been doing at the site, the possibility of a much smaller sized plot which would be a much more realistic proposition for one woman and her trusty shovel!! Fingers crossed!

This decision does not mean that I have given up yet, there are a fair few months of growing left before my contract ends, which means I have been just as busy, if not quite as diligent as I was last year.

Desiree Seed Potato from Wilkinsons
Apparently, they're TV Chef's favourite Red potato variety so who am I to argue!
I have still been planting, though I have just had to accept the weeds will grow where they may amongst my crops. I have rows and rows of potatoes and onions which I planted in late March, sweetcorn seedlings have been planted along with some beetroot and parsnips.

Butternut Squash, Pumpkin and Chilly Peppers all from Wilkinsons

Waiting in the wings are some pumpkin, squash and marrow seedlings, which though the slugs have had a right old munch on, I still have a few ready to be transplanted very soon. Also, I attempted to grow some chilli peppers but the slugs were more successful this time and had their wicked way with them, so I am left with nothing, I have plenty of seeds left so I will have another go next year!

Leeks from last year's seed, and my marrow plants again from Green Bush variety from Premier Seed Direct

The 'Aqua Dulce' Broad beans I planted last Autumn have been growing frantically all winter and spring and have now produced quite a decent little crop, thankfully though they are looking a little worse for wear now, they survived/missed the black fly that destroyed my crop last year so I shall be feasting on a broad bean...something or another again for tea tonight!




I am still very much looking forward to my Greengage and Damson Harvest this year, got to love a crop that looks after itself! I will certainly miss these wonderful old trees and their abundance of fruit, but I plan to bottle up as much jam as I can and enjoy it for the next few years at least!





So, there is still plenty to do and look forward to over the next few months, I am certainly not ready to turn in my trowel just yet!

Wendy x

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Things To Make & Do – Wild West Terrarium

A few months back I needed to make a quick birthday present for my friend Alan, you know the drill you think 'Ooh I must get something really nice for their birthday in a few weeks' then promptly forget until a few days before. After I calmed down from the panic, I realised there was something I could make that would be really quick, would incorporate something of Alan's past into his present (boom, boom!) and be, fingers crossed, something that he would love!

I worked with Alan for many years before he retired. We spent many a pleasant afternoon listening to his stories and old radio plays such as Round The Horn and The Goon Show whilst sipping tea and clicking away at our computers. Some of his most enthusiastic tales were those of his love of playing Cowboys and Indians when he was little in the 50s, so I knew a gift that incorporated this would be a tick in the box. I also knew that before working for our company he had worked at Britains (another scale model company famous for toy soldiers and the like) so I knew that some Britains scale model cowboys would make that a double tick!

So with all of this in mind, my plan was to make him a Western Terrarium, I had made myself two a year or so ago now (they are here on Kollabora), and knew all it would require was a quick trip to the DIY store and a few bits from eBay, which luckily I already had.


Western Terrarium
This is a really quick make, which cost very little and I think looks great!



What you’ll need:
  • A large glass vase, or storm jar
  • Mini cacti - or two depending on size of vase
  • A handful of clean gravel/Compost – Houseplant compost is preferable but not essential
  • Sand – I used children's play sand as it had the perfect colour
  • A scale model or two, this could be anything at all!
  • Spoon or small trowel for inserting the soil and sand
So let's begin...

1. Ensure that your both your vase and gravel are clean, before adding a thick layer to the base of your Vase. I washed my gravel by leaving it some boiling water for a bit and then rinsing it under the tap once cooled.

2. Remove cacti from its pot and arrange in the vase, add a layer of compost, to support the cacti. Be careful, I chose the cacti with the least amount of prickles for this vase, but it still got me!

3. Next, add a thick layer of sand. You will find over time the sand will work its way down the sides of the vase hiding the soil, which may mean you have to add more a little later on.

4. Finally, arrange your chosen figures, and if you desire a bit more realism add some gravel.

Then you are done! Time to sit back and enjoy!

Tips for aftercare:
When I researched terrarium making the general rule was not to use cacti. Boo! Now,I have had no problem with my ones so far, but Cacti do thrive in conditions where they are flooded with water which is then followed by a drought. This is difficult to achieve in a small moisture retaining vase. I get around this by watering once every 3 weeks or so and using a squirty bottle (it was recycled from a hair dye kit, washed thoroughly) to aim the water directly at the roots give it a good glug, this way it's not filling the whole vase and so gives the cacti enough water to make it happy.

If I had given myself a little more time I would have loved to have fashioned some tombstones out of polymer clay, to give it that added touch, but either way Alan was as pleased as punch with his unique gift and told me he remembers working on the technical drawings for some cowboys during his time at Britains, so it could well be he had drafted one of these! 

Wendy x

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Victory Garden - July and August - We Had a Summer!!!

I decided to merge July and August's Victory Garden progress into one post, this is partly to do with the fact that I have been either on holiday or ill over the last two months which equals less allotmenteering and partly due to the fact that there is a little less to do (which is quite a relief, to be honest) apart from watering and weeding of course!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July

"The summer looks out from her brazen tower,
Through the flashing bars of July." Francis Thompson

The beautiful weather I had while I was away was great for me but disastrous for my allotment, I don't think I could have picked a worse week to leave them to fend for themselves. The hot weather and lack of rain meant my poor little plants were not in the best of shape on my return.

Thankfully with my Mum coming up to London with me I, at last, had some help! She is my saviour in more ways than one, I must make sure I tell her. We spent two early mornings watering and weeding, which finally started to make a bit of a difference to the sun weary plants.

Sadly, though, despite our best efforts, the lack of water and persistent black fly infestation had left my poor broad beans beyond saving. I did cry, I know it's pathetic, but they were the first things I had planted and were looking so good, I was concerned it may have been a sign of things to come.


To cheer me up my Dad suggested that I buy some, Acuadulce seeds, which can be planted in September and should mean that they will be less likely to be black fly-ridden as they should be harvested before the black fly start reproducing! Oh and I also learnt that they can also be called fava beans, you learn something new every day!

Again the carrots I'd planted at the end of June didn't germinate, it's hardly surprising as they just didn't get enough water to give them the start they needed, though the weeds seem to have not been hampered at all at the dry spell.

The Brussel Sprouts and Cabbages, however, were growing slowly but well. They have been well protected from the pests by some netting I found in the shed earlier in the year at this point I couldn't quite distinguish between the two verities, I am sure it won't be long before they reveal which is which!


I mentioned earlier in the year that I have always had trouble with growing marrows, this year every seed germinated, my luck has certainly changed! Which means I have 15 plants, that's more than enough marrow for anyone! 


I planted the first of these in mid-July in my first section of the plot, as I had a bit of space due to using the wigwam method for my runner beans rather than making a row of canes.

The nicest thing in July has to be finding, one solitary gooseberry.

I had expected slim pickings on the fruit bushes, due to them being moved, but despite the small amount of blossom and my hopeful attempts at hiding them under net from the birds, I couldn't see any fruit so this lone gooseberry was a welcome surprise, not enough to make a crumble but ripe enough for a quick snack it was eaten right there and then!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August

This is the month of weeds
Kex, charlock, thistle . . .Spurry, pimpernel, quitch . . .
Making for trouble.'

By August everything that was going to survive the drought, had picked back up and was looking rather healthy! And as the quote above says it's certainly 'the month for weeds'



I planted up another wigwam of runner beans, at the end of the once broad bean row, which should give me a nice succession over then next few months. I've found they are the perfect thing to help make friends when they get growing they can be prolific, which means there is alway more than enough ready to be given away.


The first row of marrows were getting bigger by the day and full of blooms, one even had its first ickle baby marrow, I got insanely excited by this, I mean come on it's so cuuuuute!



I also planted two more rows, in the 3rd section (the weedy section) as I had lots of space, the ground was so dry that I ended up having to almost chisel the soil out to plant then, which left me with loads of boulders of soil, I have mad little soil boulder circles around each to help keep the water near the roots, and also makes them look like little campfires!


The Dwarf French beans were looking seriously healthy they hadn't been too hampered by the drought they were covered with beans!


I've harvested a fair few lbs of pods which have been munched or given to friends, the remaining pods of which there are loads, have become a bit too stringy to eat whole so I have decided to leave them to mature to fully formed beans so I can dry/freeze them to use in stews and the like over the autumnal months.


I transplanted my lettuces in early July, I decided to use the gaps between the first set of fruit bushes just so that I could easily cover them with some netting (my old curtains).

By early August they had matured into very tasty little plants, I munched on lovely fresh salad nearly every day in August.

I had to harvest the onions and shallots a little early due to the dry weather, they aren't the greatest in size but they are not too bad and will certainly save us a bit of money over the next few months They are currently drying in my lean-to greenhouse ready for storing, and pickling.


I finally got round to planting up my cauliflowers. I'll admit I had forgotten about them they sat in my lean-to much longer than they should have (I'd forgotten what they even were, next year I must label everything) and I completely flouted the plan by putting them in where the onions had been, as it was the only ground soft enough to dig over at the time.


They are nice and cozy under some net, for now, hopefully, they will mature enough to eat; if not well I only have myself to blame!


So that is, that for July and August. September is already shaping up to be the month of harvesting, with greengages and damsons ripening up for jams and many a marrow to be picked, all those weekends of hard work are starting to pay off!

Wendy x

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

The Victory Garden - June - Gone Too Soon!

"It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents the noses."

Time for a June shaped recap of the goings on down at The Victory Garden, better late than never.  To start with, here is a quick little video snapshot of the plot!



It was such a beautiful quite morning which I felt I had to capture, even if it's just 15 seconds, I've put a birdsong soundtrack (ignore the running water) on this clip via youtube, as sadly as my mobile won't record sound on Instagram, which means you can't here the wonderful sound of the bees, buzzing manically around the poppies. Oh and that figure at the end is the beekeeper, I guess it's his bees pollinating the poppies, not a member of CSI!

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June  watering my crops
Never have I looked so glamourous :)
As beautiful as this morning was there was still plenty to be getting on with rather than stopping to film the flowers. Most of Junes allotmentering was spent watering and weeding it's been quite a challenge to keep on to of the watering as I struggle to get over to the allotment after work during the week, and when I do it's a bit of a fight to fill up your watering can before someone takes the last of the water as the tanks fill quite slowly.

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June

Despite the battle to keep everything watered the plants were all looking rather healthy and green, the only plants that were really struggling from lack of water were the runner beans (they love water) so were making not the greatest progress in climbing up the poles, but sill there not dead!

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June Broad Beans and Peas

As good as the broad beans look , they have got lovely and tall and have lots of flowers ready for beans to form when the time is right, they are suffering from a black fly invasion!

Ewwww, these are really icky! Just looking at this picture makes me itch!
I decided as there was lots of lady birds munching away at them that it would be mean to spray them with an insecticide, so I went with a more ladybird friendly option, a thick mixture of washing up liquid and water, which when sprayed over the infected crop should kill of the black fly, by suffocating them apparently, nice! Fingers crossed this works!

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June Black Fly solution

It was time to plant out the dwarf beans, which once they began to germinate grew up so quickly you could almost watch it happen!


They are now in three short rows in front of the peas in the first section, planting in long rows as per the plan has gone a little awry. I have found that it's been much easier to look after the plants if they are in shorter yet wider rows, as it makes it much easier cover them with netting or fleece, and  treating them for infestation, so this is something I will be bearing in mind for next years endeavours!


I also planted out all of my cabbages and Brussels sprouts which have been slowly maturing in my greenhouse at home.
May to June is the period for planting out your Brussels...Be careful in lifting from the seedbed to see that you get a good ball of soil round the roots. Should the weather be dry, water the seedbed row the night before. Plant with a dibber deep enough to bury the roots and stem up to the first leaves. Press the soil firmly round the plant with the dibber or your heel. (Ministry of Agriculture Allotment & Garden Guide May 1945)
I completely forgot to take a photograph of them once planted, they are in the last section and are currently covered with some netting (you can see it the first picture, right behind me) to reduce the bug attacks!

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June Cabbages


And lastly, to replace the may carrots which failed to grow, I planted another couple of rows in the raised bed at the end of the plot, this time a variety called Chantenay hopefully I will have better luck this time!

The Victory Garden Walthamstow June Carrots Chantenay
Wendy x