miriam's lottie

giving up

2009-08-16T21:45:00.002+01:00

Hello all

I have decided to give up my plot, over the last 3 months I have only been down there 3 -5 times. My health has not been very good. And so the plot became over run with mares tails and bindweed so I just gave in my key. Although I have left the door open as i have said if one of the diasbled beds becomes available I would like one

So it was with deep regret I had to give up the plot.

But that doesn't mean I have stopped.

I have a small area at the back of my shed at home. It was a rockery when we moved in, but it has become a dumping ground. So today we got some of the old wood we had lying around the garden and doubled the size of the area. We made an edged raised bed and intend to use that for the time being. We have planted out some of our tomato plants that are still in pots. They should do okay there. it is sheltered and get the sun for most of the day.

I will post photos soon
Mim

Digging the plot

2009-03-25T13:51:00.002Z

Well at last the weather is good enough to do some work at last.

As you can see we have started to plant stuff in the Lottie

We planted 2 rows of lettuce, 2 rows of radishes,a row of beetroot and a row of kohlrabi. We have lots of seeds in the conservatory and the green house with more being done as you read.
Broad beans and peas are being started off in the greenhouse whilst chillies and flowers are in the conservatory.

The weed suppressant has worked a treat and has saved a lot of time being spent on weeding thus giving more time for digging the plot. We will use this again next year.

Simon has dug over bed which had nothing in it last year, and since this photo was taken he has done the bed behind him as well. So now I can get on and plant my potatoes and peas and beans soon. Easter weekend will be a good time to do this as we have time off work and can spend a day down there. The shopping bag is there to collect the mares tails in. That way we don't have to forget to take them home and burn them.

Here is my new compost bin, I am just waiting for the wind to die sown so I can move the old one over and turn it at the same time. The secretary of the site built it for me and painted it so many thanks to him.

So after a couple of hours at the Lottie with Simon doing the hard digging slog he is tired and just wants to go home and have a Chinese delivered so he can rest from his labours

Well done him.

Anyway peeps I must go now as I have lots to do.
Happy digging and sowing to you all
Mim

2009-02-21T12:42:00.000Z

All on the move

2009-02-21T12:38:00.004Z

Hello All

Well it seems that we have some sun at last and so I have been down to the Lottie. When I get down there I find that things are a foot. The allotment I share is being split into 3 which I have no problems with as the person who will be sharing the plot with me is a person I have known for about 35 years.

It means I get to lose 2-4 foot of mine but I don't mind, as I have not been able to fill my whole Lottie anyway in the last 2 years. Due to ill health, bad weather and Horseradish (which i cant get rid of). So at least I have less to fill and someone who can help me do mine at the same time.

But not only did I find out that the Lottie is being split but that the compost heap has got to be changed. Health and safety are saying that metal cannot be used on the first 4-6 feet of the Lottie in case children hurt themselves. Again I have no problems with that. But It does mean that the bin can be moved.

So from the photo below you can see where the compost is being from and to. The Secretary of the Lottie is going to help me build a new one as I have no idea as to how to do it. But we are considering making an extra 2 bays so I can turn the compost or store the other bins and water barrels there.

The best bit is that the compost has not been moved for 5-7 years so it should be really good for my beans this year

From this one you can see how far the path is moving. Again no problems to me

All I have to do now is re do my beds and edging and then we are set to go for the new year.
Hear from you all soon
Mim

What a lot to do

2009-01-11T19:32:00.002Z

Hello All

As you can see there is not much doing here this year. I have even considered giving up, but I will be giving the Lottie another year to see how we go.

I am going to be putting in some Fruit bushes here and move the Rhubarb from in front of the compost bin. The compost in there has been there for at least 3 years so it should be very well rotted by now. So I think that it needs turning over so by moving it I hope to do that at the same time. The rhubarb will love the compost as will the runner beans.

We covered the plot in the autumn to stop the weeds resurfacing so early. Lets hope it has warmed up the soil as well.
We have so much work to so this year I don't where to start. it was a difficult year last year, with not really good health, lots of extra hours at work and the bad weather. It's really made me very despondent and I didn't know whether to carry on or what. But as I have said we will give it another year.

Anyone in Lottie land got any ideas on how to pick yourself up and get on with the work.

Anyway I must stop being so down hearted so I will go and think about looking at some seed catalogues

Yours Mim

My Holiday

2008-08-04T20:58:00.003+01:00

Hello All

I thought you may like to see some of what I have been doing whilst not on the Lottie.

I have been to the Lake District recently and where were staying had a community garden.

As you can see they have a wonderful setting in which to garden. It is on a fairly steep slope and has a lot of acid soil areas but they have done a fantastic job of changing a field into a lovely garden or Lottie. They had a bee hive and several chickens. About 400 metres away they have a beautiful waterfall and grounds in which you can sit and reflect on the quietness and peace of the place.

It was worth the walk up the steep slope to see the lovely garden and sit and rest .

Late in April I was helping mom do some wedding flowers for a friend and they turned out extremely well. The bride was extremely happy. Tell me what you think?

The last 2 photos are just there so you can see nature at its utter best

1 Simple buttercup and a beautiful sunset over the North Cornish coast.

Hope you like them

That's what I have been doing whilst not on the Lottie; what have you been doing in your free time?

Yours Miriam

The latest News From Me

2008-05-18T21:59:00.004+01:00

Well hello all,

A long time since my last post, well things have been busy. With a wedding and the bad weather and me doing lots of overtime at work things have just been left to their own devices again. But as I have said in earlier posts This Year will be different.

Well so far it has been, the Hubby has been done at least 5 times this year instead of the twice last year. Every time I go over I am weeding and planting and not just groaning with despair at the weed growth. Little and often is probably the motto for this year.
These are some of the Potatoes we out in in Feb and March. I thought I had lost them because we had put them early and we had some fairly hard frosts. But we have only seemed to have lost 1 or 2 plants over all. Behind these spuds we have put another 4 rows and so we should have some for them winter we hope. Lets hope the blight don't come again.

I have put in some runner beans again but I still have more to put in yet. As you can see I have swapped the spuds and peas and beans around for this year and I hope they will all do well. my heritage peas are starting to put on a spurt. If all goes according to plan they should grow to about 10 foot tall. Thus dwarfing the runner beans

The Rhubarb is coming on well and we have had a lot off it already, but we shall see what happens to this year as we will have to dig and split it as there are too many for such a small bed.
A new venture f0rm me I am trying some strawberries and I shall keep you post on how they do. Does anyone have any ideas as how to best look after them

The broad beans are actually doing very well at the mo, they are taller than in this photo which was taken about 3 weeks ago. again I have only lost about 5-8 plants of the 50 I planted. So not doing badly with them either.

Here you can see 1 of my bush marrows and some small lettuces. I have had to net them, as the birds wont leave anything for the slugs to eat if I didn't.

Anyway I just thought you may want to see what we both look like after a hard day at the Lottie

I am on the left and Simon is leaning on the spade

Hope to hear from some of you soon

Mim

Nearly Cleared plot.....

2008-03-27T22:18:00.003Z

Hello All

It is that time of year again; what with finishing the digging and starting to plant out this years seeds and plants, when do we have time to stop and do anything else.

Well I managed to get to the Lottie today for a couple of hours, first time since the end of Feb, due to work and weather conditions. Having cleared some of the rubbish and tidied up the Lottie I find we only have the following bit of ground to sort out.
We cannot do much with this as most of it is either compost bins or Rhubarb as you can see from the next photo.

But Rhubarb is not the only thing growing on the Lottie to date. We have planted up 3-4 ranks of spuds with another 4-5 ranks to go in still. There are 5 rows of broad beans in and I still have some kale and broccoli left in the ground but that is nearly finished.
As you can see the plot is looking quite tidy at the mo and lets hope this year we can keep on top of it better than last year.

The piece of ground we could not use last year because of the mass of horseradish can now be used this year. We think we have got 99% of it out and if we do get anymore then I will us Azooral on it and that should sort out any little ones.

We have started planting the broad beans in it so far but we will also try planting carrots and Kohl Rabi and beetroot in there this year and see what happens.

Hope to hear from some of you soon
Yours Doidge

Not much doing

2008-03-12T21:04:00.002Z

Hello again

I thought I would put the world to rights again today. The weather has been really bad again this week and I have been at work while the sun has been out so no work at the Lottie again. When I get home at 6.30 I cannot get anything done at the Lottie so I have to wait until the weekend and then try getting a whole weeks work done in a couple of hours.

We have been down twice in the last 3 weeks and planted some more stuff in the ground. But I have been sowing some things at home. I am trying to save some money this year and am trying to grow some flowers from seed this year instead of buying them.

I have tried this before and not had much success. I do better from cuttings, so my neighbours had better watch out.

So far all I have got is really long spindly growth so I think I will have to do some more and see what happens.

This week I am going to start some new broad beans and try sowing my peas in pots and then get them ready for the ground.

I like being able to see things grow from seed and then eat off it later.

So what about the plot. we have dug over 2/3 of now and we have decided to get rid of the grass paths as they are taking up a far amount of planting room. The grass has been saved to make into loam for next year.

So instead we are going to dig out the winter stuff soon and then make one very large bed and divide it up using the same fencing we brought last year. That way we get back about 6x3 foot of ground we can use. I am aiming to get it better laid out for the competition this year and get a better variety of plants in and hope they all come up in time.

I will definitely be growing Nasturtiums again as they did really well as did the Sweet Peas. But I don't have the room for too many flowers this year so I have planted bulbs which I lift and put back into my own garden for next year.

Anyway I will go now and try to take some photos the next time I am at the Lottie.

Happy sowing
Mim

New start 2008

2008-01-26T12:09:00.000Z

Today is the first time since November I have been the Lottie for about 6 weeks .

I lost my keys over Christmas, and only found them when I got back to work. The weather has been awful like most of the country and that has prevented my return until today.

When I arrived I expected to have to deal with a lot of wind damage but found that the only thing that had blown away was my compost bin lid. Which someone else had found and so I got it back.

When at the Lottie in November I planted some broad beans and when I looked at them today I found that they have already started coming up and 1 was already in flower.

The 1 in flower was the one I found growing where the spuds had grown last year and we thought we would try and keep it. Looks like we may have done the right thing.

Today we planted another 2 rows of broad beans and we hope they will do as well. Come the end of Feb we will plant Bunyard's Exhibition ones as they don't like frost .

Again, we also planted some more pansies and some heather I had had in the garden and we will see how it comes on over the next few months. The small daffodils we planted last year also have some green leaves and mom thinks it also has some flowers ready to come on them very soon.

Down one side of the 4 beds in the middle of the Lottie we have planted some bulbs of various sorts. I found a lot of bulbs left over after plating up my own garden for the spring and so I have mixed them up and planted unknown bulbs.
I look forward to see what comes up.

At the Lottie today we meet our neighbour and he had a lovely spade which made light work of turning over the soil. It appears to be spring loaded at the back. If anyone has any idea of what this tool is or where I can get one from I really would like to know.I had a go and so did mom and we both liked it as it would be good for people with bad backs and knees, like me.

The work over we took some purple kale of Broccoli back for tea and I gave it to mom as she had done a lot of useful work today.

Anyway, it its time I went and did my tea and sorted out what I am planting for the next season.
Happy Lottie time
Doidge

Last post of 2007

2007-12-31T11:51:00.000Z

Hello all

I have no photos today but I thought I would end the year on a positive note considering the past 12 months appear to have been fairly fruit less. I have decided to try and get my Lottie really sorted this year and I have now started to get things sorted for the next 12 months. I have kale and broccoli already in the ground as well as some broad beans.

I am looking through lots of my old seeds and deciding which to keep and which to swap with others. I may even see if anybody has something I may want to try growing my self in exchange.

But again I look forward to the new year with hope but a wry eye on the weather man a little more and more knowledgeable than last year, thanks to the lectures we have had given to us on our Lottie site.

All the best to you all and a good new year and lots of bumper crops as well.

Yours Miriam

The Miracle has happened

2007-11-26T17:14:00.000Z

Hello All

The miracle has happened the Hubby has arrived at the Lottie.

He could not understand why I wanted his picture, so I told him I always take the camera to the Lottie with me in case I see anything unusual and this counts as 1 of those times I think.

Well he got stuck in digging for about an hour and then it got too dark so we came home. The tatties I had put in for Christmas have not done any good at all. In fact we have none anywhere.
Here is the strange sight of the hubby on the Lottie.

Whatever will I find next?? Alan Titchmarsh in my shed!!!!!!! Yes please. Even better still Sven Wombwell. He is so cute.

Here is my new planting area. I have put in the broad beans Aqua........ whatever I can't remember the name.

Talking of water does anyone have any ideas for a small pond. I have never done one before and could use some advice on all aspects.

Anyway I will go now

Yours Mim

What a Year????

2007-09-02T08:40:00.000+01:00

Well Hello all

I hope you are reaping the rewards for your hard work. I have not got much out my Lottie this year, so I am starting to look towards the winter and the crops I can grow now and try to recoup a bad yield so far this year. I did get some potatoes and a few runner beans but not a lot. I did very well on the sweet peas which are still going very well indeed.

So what about next year?

I am going to really look at the plot and start to plan it better. I have started some more spuds and I have some broccoli, winter cabbage and some sprouts to put in.

But I also have some Chinese veg which I am starting off in the greenhouse and will have to transplant this week, they were only planted on bank holiday Monday and they are already nearly 1 1/2 inches tall. Wow I thought. I will have fun with those.

I don't have any photos this week as the Lottie is looking very empty and not much more than weeds are growing at the mo.

The open day at the allotment went very well and the Sandwell Show was a huge success,despite having to move because of the foot and mouth disease threat to the rare breeds at the usual venue.

The Green Pennant we got was the 1st one to be won by an allotment in the whole of the UK we believe. The Committee work hard every year and they deserve it. Let's hope we keep it next year.

I shall sign off now and hope to hear from some of you soon.

Mim

Hello Again

2007-07-27T09:46:00.000+01:00

Hello All

Some new just in we got a Green Pennant award this week for the Lottie site.

We also got the results of the allotment competition; I did come last but 1, so what I have plenty to aim for next year.

The best bit about it is though I beat the couple who got me the Lottie into last place. Who cares we only did it for a laugh. The Lottie site got the prize for the best allotment for over 50 plots prize though.

Hear from you all soon
Mim

Weeds have gone part 2

2007-07-11T20:59:00.000+01:00

Hello again

Look what we found under all those weeds

Sweet peas growing very well this year I got none last year and this year they are doing better on the allotment than in the garden.
The cabbages, cauliflowers and sprouts have all been eaten by the pigeons but they are still trying so we are giving them some more space, and we have planted the courgettes and marrows at the end of the bed so we have some more stuff in for the competition judging this weekend.
The corn has done well, it was only put in 4 weeks ago before all the rain and the wet weather appears to have done it good.
The broad beans have done very well and not too many black flies on them this year so I will try them again next year but I will plant more of them and try putting some in the ground directly in Oct/Nov.
Look we found the spuds and they are doing fairly well considering the blight that is plaguing Britain at the mo. we are going to put some more in within the next 2 weeks so we can have some for the winter. I have done it before and they are really nice dug on Christmas Eve and then eaten on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
This is a photo of the Lottie from the same angle as the 1st photo in Part 1. Can you see any real differences?

I hope the hard work pays off and we get some good pointers and suggestions for what we can do next year to improve.

When I get some feed back I will let you all know.

Until then we will keep weeding and growing

Mim

Weeds have gone part 1

2007-07-11T20:18:00.000+01:00

Hello Lottie World

We went down the Lottie on Saturday and this was the sight that greeted us. We got there at 9.30 and didn't get home until 5.00 in the afternoon

Weeds were everywhere and they were worse than expected. It took all day to just weed.

But when I have put the Lottie in for the local authority allotment competition I could not leave it like it was.

The potatoes are supposed to be here, but where are they. We may find out later.

Here you can see mom and Val working hard. Come Aug they will both be pensioners. Val already is mom has a couple of weeks to go. Just goes to prove that you are not too old to have a Lottie.

Here are me and Val after all the hard work have been done we are getting ready to go home and get some rest. In my next blog you will see what we uncovered in the Lottie after we did all the weeding.

See you soon

Mim

My new lawn yippee

2007-06-16T07:36:00.000+01:00

Hello All again

This week I decided that as my Lottie is a disgraceful weed filled mess I would let you see what we were doing last month over the 2 bank holiday weekends.
As you can see we have done some work on the garden. When we moved here in Dec the garden was a mess, lumpy, clods of grass and full of weeds. Where the greenhouse is there used to be a very big playhouse which was recycled to a friend for their children. It took 3 days to get the earth cleared and level. We actually used a weed killer that we got from the allotment shop that seems to have stunted the Horseradish for a year.

We knew we wanted some flower beds and so we put 2 in we did them like a diamond and just guessed where they should go; they appear to be in the right place, and the same shape etc.

We went for a diamond shape as it was not the same as other people. It was quite difficult to get them the same, but it looks nice from the window. They have been planted up since they were done in May, and so they look much prettier now, I just haven't taken a photo yet.

As you can see the lawn has been laid and is looking quite good here. Even though it looks small the lawn is 16 foot across minimum and about 65 long. so it is not that small. If only we could all look smaller in photos that would be wonderful for some of us.

Anyway I hope you like the photos. Next time I promise it will be the Lottie.

Signing off for now.

Mim

Weeding started and stuff is growing

2007-05-27T15:43:00.000+01:00

Hello Again

I told you all I would be back. Anyway I spent 2 1/2 hours at the Lottie weeding, Mom and my friend Lyn came and gave a hand so 80% of the weeds I wanted to move have been dealt with.

Yesterday before we weeded you could not see the 4 beds I put in 2 moths ago. Now we can see the empty spaces. They are starting to be planted up. In the foreground of the photo you can see the 3 lines of green twine tied onto the blue wool. They are only there to show where my seeds are planted. 1 row of Purple Carrots, 1 Early Nantes, and 1 row of Beetroot.
The potatoes are coming up nicely and we are going to try planting some more before it gets too late. They should then be ready for Christmas we hope.

As promised here is a better photo of the Nasturtiums. They are in full flower and looking very nice as little bit of colour until the Sweet William comes out fully. Alongside them are the lettuces and they are doing very well to compete with the weeds and 'Mare's Tails' ( The bain of our lives.)

Next we have the peas. Again they are competing with the weeds but they have grown about 2 feet since the last photos and already have peas on them. I cam considering sowing some more and see how we go towards the late summer for cropping from them. They are a pretty sight for sore eyes and look really healthy. No pea moth around them at the mo, unlike the last plot.

Whilst we were at the Lottie yesterday, we decided to harvest the Rhubarb and so Lyn decided to get the best and we caught her in the act.

Any ideas what is being said or done. All captions gratefully received.

Anyway I must go as I have a Rhubarb crumble to make.

See you all soon

Mim

More work not done

2007-05-26T21:43:00.000+01:00

Hello All

Long time no work done. These photos were taken a month ago, but I did nothing with them as We were too busy laying a new lawn in our new garden and trying to sort out some flower beds, which I still haven't finished planting up yet Since then we have both been really poorly as so had to just go to work, come home and then just do very little.

So I thought I would let you see the photos from the beginning of the month and then let you see the new ones took today in about a weeks time.

The Lottie has grown lots of weeds and the horseradish is still coming up and it has moved. We are trying to get rid of it with some success from where it was growing last year, before we had the plot.

Anyway, back to the photos

This is the best broad bean plant I have in the plot. They were started in Jan in my conservatory and then put n the plot in Feb. Everyone said I was mad putting them in so early as tender plants. But look at them now. Everyone on the plot said I would loose them and I haven't; in fact I have added to them and I should have a nice set of broad beans, which I will freeze for later on in the year.

Guess what ? NO BLACK FLIES YET

These are just 3 of my lettuces that I planted in the latter days of Feb and they seem to be doing fine. There are these 3 left after the real torrent of rain we all suffered. But I wont be disheartened as there are more seeds for me to plant and we can start again.
Here you can see my Nasturtiums. They brighten up a very dull corner of the Lottie and it is a real pleasure to see them growing and give some other colour apart from Green. Green can be boring on it's own some days. But on other days it is the bet colour in the world
Here we see my Pea and bean plants. They are doing very nicely except for the weed growth. The peas have some lovely white flowers on and are doing very well.

For those interested I managed to get some butter beans and they have germinated and are doing better than my French Beans at the moment. They are still in my greenhouse and I will not plant them out until we are getting some very hot weather.

This my Lottie taken as we were leaving on the afternoon after laying the lawn at home.

So it would now be a good time to say goodbye.

Until next time

Mim

More work done today

2007-04-14T17:24:00.000+01:00

Well hello again Lottie world

I have been working hard again, lovely weather and still too hot for me, but they say we have this sort of summer coming or maybe even hotter. Not good for me then. Not much fun for me in the sun any time of the year.

Anyway I have marked out 4 beds with string and started to dig one of them over. The hubby saw the photos and wants to know why I am putting stuff in beds. I don't think I will tell yet. The advantages, more stuff from the plot, less weeding, can sort the work before you go to the Lottie and so more accomplished in less time. Why should he think I am not doing enough work. Hehehehe

I put in a new path along side the previous fencing . This should divide the six beds when I have finished doing the beds. There are 3 beds about 7 x 4 foot wide. The last one is 7 x5 foot. There is a 1 foot path between each bed. I am going to use the larger one for the cabbages and sprouts etc. I have started to grow and as they take up a lot of space then I did a bigger bed for them.

I have started to dig over the 1st bed and weed that one. I am not sure what I am going to put where, but I now have the framework for my deep raised bed at the Lottie I only need to put it together and then plant it up with the carrots and parsnips. I know they are a bit late gong in but they should be in before the end of next week. We will have to see what happens next week with the weather. I will need to use a drill so I need to charge up the battery before I can use it. Enough of my ramblings again.

This is my mom as you all know, she looks very fetching in her green gloves and lovely hat. But the sun has been very strong today and she needed it to keep her cool even though she loves the sun. Someone on the Lottie said she looked like she was going to the Queens garden party with that hat on.

Anyway tea is calling me so I need to go and start it soon

Happy Digging Mim

More to do than time to do it.

2007-04-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

Hello again Lottie people.

Hope then weather is being good to you.

I have been busy at the Lottie again. Now I have planted some sweet peas and some sunflowers on my plot.
I planted 8 sunflowers and I hope they will do me well again this year. They have always been reliable for me. We have to think about the birds and the bees and giving them some food don't we.
As you can see the broad beans are coming on and they have been attacked by something or other but they are still coming up The flowers have started to form and so I will leave them for a while to see what happens to them.
My sweet peas are coming along very nicely even better than the real peas, so we will have to see what happens with them. I have started some more peas in the greenhouse and we will have to plant them out as soon as they come up now. Time is pressing on.
This is just 2 of the inherited Rhubarb and I reckon another 2-4 days and it will be ready for picking.

I have a long day ahead of me at the Lottie on Saturday with weeding and digging and more planting to do before it is too late to get anything else in. 2 more ranks of spuds to put in and my raised beds to finish off makes for a long day tomorrow.

That's all for now Lottie folks

Mim

2007-03-29T07:00:00.000+01:00

Good Morning everybody in Lottie Land.

I only have a small blog today. I went to the Lottie yesterday and spent 2 1/4 hours down there doing a job that should only have take 1 hour max. The weather was so nice I spent most of the time chatting to other plots holders. Me and Mom even helped another lady with the bark chippings for her path. They are on the edge of my Lottie and she is 3/4 of the way back from the gate. She was very grateful for the help and it gave us a chance to find out more about another plot holder.

Me and mom planted some dwarf beans plant which I brought for 99p and each tub had 3-5 seeds already sprouting in. I thought they were a bargain. I have also started some of my own to prolong the growing season a little longer. We also planted a couple of sweet pea plants on a wigwam. These can be seen in the background.

Here you can see mom planted another 2 rows of peas for me. The first lot appear to be settling in okay. With all these plants gone my greenhouse looked very empty until I started on the next lot of sowing for veg and flowers for the garden.

Told you this would be short.

Yours Mim

New Fence and more veg planted

2007-03-25T19:54:00.000+01:00

Hello again.
I went to the Lottie again today and took my camera this time.
I think the fence looks very nice and makes the Lottie look tidy even though it isn't. Here it is from the other side of the Lottie!!! Told you it make it's look tidy!!!!!!

Anyway the broad beans are doing well and I took the other I had started in Feb down to the Lottie today. They should be doing well by the end of the month.
There are now some of the 30 Broad Bean plants in the Lottie. I tried something different with the poles and netting today. I wove the canes at the ends of the netting through the holes in the netting. I am trying this way for the first time and I will tell you how it works out. I hope it works ok as it is very easy to do and should hold all the peas.
Here is the Lottie form the road on the site. I think that it will look much better when we have the sweetcorn and the parsnips and carrots growing and the horseradish gone.
Hope to get to the Lottie again in the coming week and the 'better weather'.Looking forward to hearing from all soon.
Mim

Work is Progressing slowly

2007-03-25T09:22:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone,
This is just a quick update on the Lottie. Spring has still not really arrived except for March Winds and are we going to get April Showers. We just have to wait and see. These photos were taken before I put a path in and divided the Lottie into a couple of smaller beds and leaving the rest for raised beds.
As you can see I transplanted the Rosemary from the old Lottie and it is thriving well. Also moved for most of the Sweet William, Rhubarb and Raspberry canes.
Here you can see the 2 small ranks of potatoes (running at 90 degrees to the water butts ) and the broad beans (only 6 plants in at the moment) and I think I may lose them yet. Good job I have the greenhouse so I can grow some more.
The Rhubarb that was on the Lottie is doing very well and we should get some good pies from it. I was surprise to find what I thought was 2 crowns and it appears that there may be as many as 8.

Here we can see that I have got half of the plot weeded and started. I still have great plans for the Lottie and am starting to get them put into operation. We have decided to not put a shed on the Lottie as it would take up valuable space. We have use of the neighbour's shed to put our tools in. Most people on this site appear to share a shed if they have half plots . It is a good idea and gives both plots more space in the end.

The site is having an open day in Aug and we have all been asked to put in some extra stuff so it can be sold fresh on the day to the public. This should give them a taste for good and well grown veg. It has been and interesting 3 months on the new Lottie, we have met some really characters on this site and have had a really good laugh.

I am not comparing the 2 sites I have been on but the people here are very friendly, helpful and you can have a good laugh at them and with them. The character of the new Lottie site is fun and joviality. A pleasure to work on.

The biggest problem I have found is the wind and how cold it is on the site when it blows.

Any ideas on making a wind break.

I must go now as I have plants to attend to.

Yours Mim

New Greenhouse

2007-03-09T07:47:00.000Z

Hello All, my new greenhouse, is starting to get up and running. My conservatory is now getting clear of pots and propagators and so the hubby is pleased. The greenhouse only took a day to dismantle and re put up with the help of 3-4 people it was done in a only a few hours and only 1 pane of glass was broken in the transportation of it. Well done them I say.

As you can see I already have a lot of seeds started and some were only started a week ago. the peas want to get a move on. I have got broad beans and a courgette called EIGHT BALL. it should produce a lot of courgettes only 2 inches around and spherical in shape. I will let you know how they do.

In this tray we have Nasturtiums and Tomatoes, I have showed mixed seeds this year, some tumbles and some other varieties that do not tumble; cant remember which at present. But having the greenhouse means I can try some in there as well as having a go at some cucumbers. I have never grown them before because I've never had a greenhouse before.
The allotment is going alright at the moment. I have put some very early spuds in and some of the broad beans in. I haven't put my paths in yet but I have the wood I need to start them. I have roughly worked out where I want the raised beds, but having been off work for a month with my asthma the lottie and the rest of the gardening has been put on hold. But now I have gone back to work we can start again in earnest with the work. I am aiming at having just 5 raised beads this year and see what happens with them. $ will be edged with the wood we found in our garden and the 5th will be made from the sides of the shed salvaged from 1st lottie I had. I recently gave that one up and can now concentrate on the new one.

Anyway I will go now and hope to hear from you all soon.

Mim

Hello Again Everyone

2007-02-25T14:03:00.000Z

Just a quick one to say that I have not done very much recently with a spate of ill health and no real good weather, we have done very little.

the old lottie is handed back on the 1st March and we are trying to clear ot before then. only have to take a couple of slabs and an old shed door to move now.

The new one is still as we left it 3 weeks ago with a big hole in it still trying to dig all the horseradish out. So we have decided to cut the root as it stands and then use Root Out or something similar to get rid of it.

I will update the blog when I have doen some more work.

Yours Mim

We found stuff on the lottie already growing................ yippee

2007-01-31T16:11:00.000Z

Hello again

I have been to the new Lottie today as the weather was not too bad. And whilst clearing the rubbish we found some stuff already growing and not just weeds.

We believe the photo at the top is showing horseradish. Any ideas on what to do with it?

This one is showing carrots

and under the orange contraption we believe there may even be some strawberries

Here we believe there are at least 6 rhubarb roots coming up next to the compost bin. We were told today that the previous tenant grew Rhubarb there and so we are expecting some really good stuff.

The soil for the whole Lottie appears to have been well looked after and so we we intend to try and keep it up.

Hope to hear from some of you later

Doidge

More info about my new plot

2007-01-29T22:18:00.000Z

Hello All

I thought I would give you some more info about the new plot. It is 7 1/2 metres wide by 13 metres long in new money. But i prefer feet and inches so it is 25 ish feet wide by 42 ish feet long
The previous owners have left some veg in like carrots and they appear to be good ones, so we may have them for tea one night soon.

As you can see below we have made a start on the clearing. Not too hard a job at the moment as it is just weeds really. I have decided how I am going to divide up the largest section of the Lottie which is 24 feet x 25 feet. the other 2 sections are both 8 feet each so will be left for spuds and beans this year.

The ground in the foreground where the dry twigs are has already been dug over and weeded; when the whole plot has been weeded one of the guys on the site will rotivate the soil for me and that will make life a lot easier for me to manage. I have been and brought some seeds which I hope will last me a couple of years. That is unless I share them with other people.

Underneath the orange mound we think that there may be strawberries.

I have rhubarb and raspberry canes and a gooseberry bush at the old plot which I need to transplant to the new one.

News Of the Old Shed.

It cannot be saved; so it will be recycled and used to make me some raised beds for my parsnips and my marrow and courgette plants. That way they won't wander all over the ground and take up valuable planting space. The old Lottie is 3 times the size of the new one.

Any way I will go now as I have to sort out planting grids and the such for the new one.

Yours Doidge

My New Plot

2007-01-24T15:38:00.000Z

Hello all

I thought I would take some photos of my new allotment.

As you can see it has weeds on but nothing as bad as I have had to deal with in the past. A couple of hours should clear the plot and tidy it up.

Where mom is standing is the full length of the 1/2 plot.

in the background we see the Loo ( usable by the disabled) and teaching block. You can also see the raised beds which are being used by two young men who have electric wheel chairs.

The facilities are basic, but very good.

I have 2 water stands within 20 feet of the Lottie and the toilet has a separate water supply to use if the pipes are not on.

All in all it is a much better site to be on than the last one. It is only 6 minutes walk away form home. It is a private run site and it has better facilities.

The plot is much smaller than the one I am used to but it should be more manageable for me when no-one else can come and give me a hand.

The compost heap under the new stuff on the top I am told is about 3 year's old and should be very useful for growing things in.

News of the Old Lottie

One of the older men came into work to tell me that my shed has fallen over and I need to go and get it up. Fortunately we only have a couple of chairs and the tools in there and the canes for the beans. I am intending to sort that out on Thursday after work. By Friday I am hoping to get to the old one and do a couple of hours work on it to start the clearing out the stuff we have and then we can move the rhubarb and dig out the rest of the veg.

Hope to hear from some of you soon

Doidge.

New Year New Plot

2007-01-22T19:44:00.000Z

Hello Everyone in Lottie Land

Just thought I would post a bit of new about our allotment. We are not giving up but we are taking on a 1/2 plot in the allotments near to our new house.

I heard about tonight and on Wednesday I will be going to sign the paperwork. It will only be 6 minutes walk from home and it has a loo and a shop and a club house where you can make your own cup of tea. I also understand it has a shower facility aswell. Yippe.

I will go now as I have a lot of things to do and seed catalouges to be sorting through.

Happy Digging
Mim

New Year and more veg to look forward to

2007-01-14T16:17:00.000Z

Hello All

As you can see today has been a gorgeous day , if a bit cold, for getting down the allotment. I was surprised to see so few weeds and just grass as the main problem I had to deal with. Having moved house and had Christmas nad New Year as well it has been about 6 weeks since we managed to get to the lottie. So I was really surprised to see how well it is doing

As you can see I have anenomes and sweet william still in flower

as well as cauli 's and cabbage.

Today we got Cabbage, Cauli, Leeks and Potatoes out of the lottie

The Rhubarb is doing very well and we hope to be getting some nice stuff off it later in the year. We have a new addition to the lottie this year. We have been given a gooseberry bush , form another plot holder. She had 5 and wanted to get rid of soeme them and we got the largest. It is a reliable cropper and the friut is really sweet. We are already waiting for them.

Anway Have a great 2007 and a great year on your lotties

All the best Mim

We have moved at last

2006-12-03T19:16:00.000Z

Hello All

Just a quickie, we have moved at last and are sorting out our furniture and stuff.

After a disaster with the furniture people delievering the wrong items and haveing some missing we are not best pleased, but better to sort out the problems now and get what we want than wait and bad service again.

Anyway if I cannot post again before Christmas, have a good one and hope to hear from some of you soon

Yours Mim

2006-11-19T08:52:00.000Z

Hello Again lottie people

I hope you can see that all my hard work atweeding has still not paid off and we still have a lot of work to do.

As you can see we have made a good start on sorting out the weeds at the front of the lottie and by the time you read this all of the lettuce stalks and sunflowers are down and so are the beans.

Here you can see the only 2 crops we have left on the lottie. 2 lots of winter and spring cabbages and the leeks are just behind me to the right.

Other allotments on the site have more veg and some stuff already planted for next year, we are having to wait a month or so before we can really make any headway as we are planning a house move. But when we move our new garden , which we will have to start from stratch is about the size of the lottie, so we may be looking at getting a smaller lottie closer to where we will be moving to.

So watch this space. We will not be giving up on lottieing as we really enjoy eating the friuts of our labour, just dont always enjoy the hard work.

Hope to hear from you all soon

Mim

Long time no veg

2006-10-29T12:09:00.000Z

Hello All

I am now starting to dig my lottie over for next year and starting to plan where I think the new raised beds will go ready for next year.

I am digging up all the remains of any veg left over from the summer, keeping any onions or garlic and storing the potatos that are appearing from no where.

My veg has all but finished now except the leeks and spring cabbage.

I am in the process of moving house and hope to be able to keep the lottie going for at lest the next year and will try to get one closer to our new house if one is availbale about March, which is when the clsoer site to our new house lets them become available.

Anyway hope to hear from some of you soon

Yours Doidge

Hello again campers

2006-10-02T13:13:00.000+01:00

Hello all

just a quick post

I have been on holiday this week to Jersey and have seen some lovely gardens and walked past peoples allotments and they are very well kept makes me very envious of what they are doing. We will see how much I can improve my allotment with the ideas I have picked up.

Yours badrill

Photos at last ...........

2006-08-29T07:35:00.000+01:00

At last some photos have been pbtained from the Lottie and the Dad's camera. As you can see the sunflowers are doing well and so are the 2 wigwams of runner beans. I tried 2 methods for them this year. The wigwam and the normal frame I used last year. The wigwam has proved to be the better options for me this year.

The leeks have been transplanted to thier final growing position and will stay there now until they are dug up.

Again the sunflowers are doing very well as they are all self seeded from last year. Not as tall as last year but still dwarfing others on the site. If you look carefully you will find a bee on this one.

The other sort of flower doing very well this year is the Cauliflower. Last year they all bolted and peaked too early. This year they appear to being very well. They taste lovely aswell.

Anyway I hope to see or hear from some of you soon

Yours Doidge

Hello on this bank holiday weekend

2006-08-25T18:56:00.000+01:00

Hello all you happy people.

Well today I picked my first corn and Cauliflower and large carrots. There are not many items left in my lottie at the moment so I am starting to plan the winter things. I am also trying a large pot for some late carrots and hope to keep off the carrot fly.

All my cauliflowers are doing well and so is my broccoli and the purple sprouting is not purple or sprouting very much yet, but we are not worried. I am hoping to get a green house as a combined birthday and Christmas pressie as they are only 1 week apart.

Thinking about Christmas already I hear you say. Yes and some of my pressies have already been brought. We are hoping to get them all before the end of September.

Hope to hear from some of you soon.

Doidge

Just A Quickie

2006-08-19T13:27:00.000+01:00

Hello All

No photos today as I am very busy trying to buy a new house and keep the allotment going. So I have been very tired and too shattered to write very much.

I hope that everyone is getting along well and not lost too much because of the ridiculos weather we have been having.

Hope to hear from some of you soon

Badrill118

Everything is not coming up roses......

2006-07-31T07:52:00.000+01:00

Hello All

Hope you are haveing more success than me this year. All I seem to have grown this year is more weeds than anything. The only crops doing well are the potatoes. As you can see here we have only took them from the surface and not really dug down very far. But we still have a bag ful from that alone.

The rest of the ground has been cleared and we are deciding what to do about it. Do we replant other stuff or do we just dig manure in now and hope or what?

Weeds still out number crops and we will have to do something about that for next year. May a raised bed system of a complete weed killer operation before we start planting for the Winter

Anyway the other the thing growing well again are my sunflowers. I gave some of my seedlings to another group of plot holders and here they are to prove that the sunflowers have grown. They are self seeded from last year's crop so they are smaller than last year, which reached about 15 foot. This year they barely managed 10 foot.

Anyway I will go now and you can leave me any comments you would like to

yours Badrill 118

Hello all you happy lottiers

2006-07-13T20:07:00.000+01:00

Hello All

No photos this week forgot camera and the batteries ran out.

Well the weeds are coming down. HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been working very hard at work and it seems to be paying me a little eztra money so a holiday and maybe raised beds for next year would be money well spent. Even though we may move in the next 12 months we will keep the allottment for as long as possible and that would be very good for us. But if we move too far we may need to look for another one. Maybe we should only look for a new house were there are some allotments and no waiting list. All the best thngs come to those who wait.

Speak again later mim

Hello again

2006-07-03T21:10:00.000+01:00

Hello all
The lottie was on the back burner this last week as I had a much needed break in Burnham on Sea. I had a couple of the lovely blokes from the allotment water my plot so it was fine when I got back.

No pictures of it though as the weeds are higher than the turnips and onion stalks so not ahppy showing you all. I hope to get some weeding done on Wenesday when the wind should be a little heavier than today and hopefully we shold have a thunder storm.

I do have some pictures of my aunt's garden though so you can see what she has been doing. The hedgepig is my favourite

So just a quickie today

I will be back soon

Mim

My FREE Potatoes and other Stuff

2006-06-24T18:26:00.000+01:00

Hello all

Hope you are all enjoying the good weather, yesterday was quite hot and I got a little sunstroke, must remember to put on my hat next time. Anyway as you can see the weeds are gradually being moved and we can see the peas which already have pods on them. 1 week and they will be ready to eat, whilst I get ready to sow the last crop before the middle of July.

We got very few peas up this year so I thought that if I tried sowing them again we may get a second bite at the cherry as they say.

The lettuces are doing very well and some of them will be going to Somerset this week for my Aunt and Uncle to try.

Below are my free potatoes, as grown from ones left in from last year. I have only dug up three of them and you can see how many I have got. Along with the carrot thinings and a couple of stray turnips. I forgot to mark the row they were in as it pelted it down with rain and I had to take shelter and forgot to do it after the rain.
I tried Spring onions aswell and they have come up quite well until the hubby decided they were grass and tried to pull some out before I could stop him??????

So I will go now and have my Chinese take away for tea and come back later
yours
Badrill118

The weeds are still among us

2006-06-21T15:38:00.000+01:00

Hello All

As you can see the weeds are still winning in one patch of the Lottie. I just can't keep on top of them and work all day as well at the moment.

Arrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh Life

what will we do I ask myself. Should we give up and not do it next year or should we use weedkilller ???????????????

Well I really don't know. In amongst all the weeds are carrots and beetroot. Just in case you all wanted to know the weeds are Poppies from the neighboring allotment.

You can see how far they spread. I have been told that poppy seeds can stay dormant for about 100 years. Anyone got any ideas???

Anyway here you can see we are actually growing some crops. Broad Beans to be exact. WE put in about 50 seeds and only about 30 came up. Smae with the peas. 100 seeds and only 20 plants.

I complained about this last time. But we will at least have some crops and I am going to replant my pea seeds and see how we get on. The variety I ahve brought can be planted out until mid july so we have 3 weeks. 2 successional sowings should bring us back up to date. Runner beans are in and in the next post I will put some photos on of them. The raspberries are going like wildfire and already friuting, so we should have some ready over the next month or so. The rhubarb is doing very well and my patio apple is full of apples and so we are hoping to hve some ready for September time.

Anyway must go now, will be back later.

Happy cropping all

Hi ho HI ho it's off to work we go.........

2006-06-09T20:05:00.000+01:00

l
Hello again from the Lottie of Badrill118,
Things here have go a little out of hand recently with the weather and other things so the weeds have grown better than the crops. Anyway here are my mom and friend sproggie helping with the weeding. This is me again doing as little as poss in the heat as I had to go to work about 1/2 hour after this. really could have done with more time at the lottie.

We have a lot of rouge spuds coming up all over the allotment and hope we will get some nice FREE spuds from them before we go away in the summer. This year we will really dig them out up to 3 foot deep is we have to.

As you can see the lottie was covered in weeds until the sproggie team got involved and they were mainly poppy seeds. Under them were my peas, carrots and beetroot. They all seem to have thrived having some shade but not all the peas have come up so I am going to have to plant some more. The spuds are doing well, but the tomatoes have all died off and so I have to but some more to replace them.

The onions, garlic and shallots are doing very nicely and i hope to using some of them soon. The flowers are doing very well, Anenomes are very happy and the Sweet William is a wash of colour. The Freesias have yet to come out. We will hve to wait and see what happens to them.

Speak to you agian, Weather and work permitting.
Yours Badrill118

Weed meet again.........

2006-06-02T20:01:00.000+01:00

Hello All

I have been lottieing again today and found that the nieghbours have taken out their poppies and mine are still coming up with avengence.

Anyway I have found this year that most of my seedlings are not not coming up only 45% of the seeds put directly in have germinated and so I am now have to find more things to put in to cover the ground.

Last year we had 100% germination and I am not sure why it didn't happen again this year.
The tomatoes have produced 4 plants out of 50 seeds and the peas 100 put in have produced about 25 so I really don't think that we will have much to freeze this year. The only good thing happening this month is that the raspberries are going wild and I know we should have a bumper crop from them. So we do have some good things to think about.

My Runner Beans are none exsitant so I have had to resorting to buying from my local shop. They always have very good quality and always have a good crop from their stuff.

Anyway I must away and will post again this weekend.

Happy cropping this week

Yours Miriam

Did we have a lovely day the day we went to ......?

2006-05-28T11:52:00.000+01:00

Hello Everyone Just thought I would let you guess where I was on Thursday instead of doing my lottie.
A couple of clues, the sea is rarely seen here and the place has a connection with Jill Dando.

All anwers please to be put in comments.

See you all soon

Mim

Hubby "Scarecrow Number 3" working at last......

2006-05-07T17:30:00.000+01:00

Hello Happy Diggers

Hope the good weather has given you the chance to catch up on all those little jobs. And the big ones. As you can see the Hubby, Simon has been done and done some work at last. About time we all cry. But I think he should become Scarecrow Number 3 as he looks scary enough to me.

He has some very little work up till now me and mom have done most of it again this year. But we shall see what transpires over the year. He has done another row of potatoes and dug me some ground ready to plant the brassicas in later on this month. Cabbages and Cauliflowers, Sprouts and the such will all be planted in the ground below.

He decided to get his own back on me for taking his photo and so it looks like I don't like getting my hands dirty, but I really had just stopped for a sec to have a break from the weeding.

Anyway the Lettuces are all coming up nicely and we should have some of them in the middle of June I am hoping if not earlier.
Anyway people

Good bye from the Sunny climbs of Smethwick and hope to hear from some of you soon

Happy Digging

More Weeds than Plants...........

2006-05-07T13:50:00.000+01:00

Hello we are here again.

The Lottie is in nearly full swing

The Raspberry canes are all increasing much better than expected. The largest ones are two I out in last year and the smaller ones are ones that I brought this year. The bean support in the back ground needs some work doing before we can put the beans up it this year.

I transplanted some of my patio apples this year and I hope they will do well. This is the better one in flower. The resulting apples are normally very nice and sweet. One of them looks like it has died but we will wait and see what happens to it.

The potatoes are starting to show at last. We still have another 3 ranks to put in but we will have to do them very soon.

As you can see the weeds are everywhere. It is a full time job just keeping on top of them and the planting sometimes has to take a back seat.

This is my mom and as you can see we are already harvesting things. We will have rhubarb crumble later on this week and the radishes are only the first lot to be taken out. So far the thinnings have given us over 60 to eat. Friends will soon be round for more.

Anyway more hard work to follow will produce bigger and better than last year and so we will still get the benefit of a good feast after much hard work

More of the Chronicles of Badrill118 lottie in the future

Happy Digging

Flowers and Onions

2006-05-04T07:14:00.000+01:00

Hello happy lottieers.

I hope you are all well and happy digging and planting. Well the weather is not too bad today , just rain all day so no really work can be done by me, but we all need the water don't we.

Anyway my onions and garlic and shallots are doing well.

This was taken about 2 weeks ago but they are much bigger now and more of them are up. I planted both white (strukkgard I think but I will check on that) and Red (Red Baron) in the onions. The garlic, I am trying 2 different sorts, the first I will have to check on the name and the second is just a half of a fresh garlic I brought from the local shop. Just thought I would try both. The shallots have no name they were mixed sets from the local garden shop.

I have also tried to grow to flowers this year from seed or bulb. Normally I just buy the plants and then I have instant colour. I have started to grow anenomes from seed and they seem to have taken to the ground quite well.

I have also planted some freesias. I hope that these will make a lovely display over the summer and then I can pout them in the house as cut flowers.

Anyway the new scarecrow is keeping a watchful eye over the flower bed and the old one over the veg...........

In my next blog I will try to show you my very first allotment and the uphill struggle we had with that. An d how the work though very difficult was still fruitful. 3lb of spuds in and 30lb of spuds out. Not a bad return for a years hard slog and now much else to show for it.

Happy Digging All

More Sunshine and a New Scarecrow

2006-05-01T17:57:00.000+01:00

Hello Again

All the sunshine this week has made me go down to the lottie and try to sort out the weeds. I tried to go down this morning but the weather was so bad I had to come back very early. But anyway less of the weather for today and more about the lottie of this week

Firstly the daffs are now coming to an end so I am slowly replacing them with pansies and petunias. All mixed colours and varieties. Can't stand all one colour but I don't like clashes either so no red and pink together for me at the same time.

When my Mom and Dad came back from Portmadoc, they brought me a new scarecrow and so I put it in the flower bed of the Lottie. I hope you all like him. The older one is with the Turnips and Radishes.

Anyway the lottie is doing well considering we are about 6 weeks behind last year. This year I thought I would try to have plug plants alongside home grown ones to see which fair better in my soil. I am only doing this with the Cauliflowers, Cabbage and Brussels. Everything else is going to be home grown or self seeded from last year. In some respects I hope we are not as successful as last year. Why I hear you all cry?

Well last year every seed we planted came up and produced something. So there is the hubby finding room for 300 tomato plants, 25 courgette and marrow plants, 100 broad bean plants ,as well as 10 ranks of spuds, runner beans, peas, sweetcorn, turnips 300 lettuces 300 carrots and parsnips. Our plot is only 115 feet by 20 feet. Not much room for all that lot.

We had been working on a 75% germination rate and we had 100%. So this year we are planting less to start off with but the germination rate is not even 75% this year so that is one reason we are trying plug plants alongside our own attempts.

Anyway on the right is what the lottie looked like last week on the one good day with enough sunshine to do some work. I don't do raised beds yet but am considering them for next year. You can also see the old scarecrow in the foreground as well. They make a lovely pair. In my next post I will put some photos of one of the 1st bumble bees I have seen this year.

Happy digging

Glorious Sunshine At Last....... Hurray

2006-04-25T17:52:00.000+01:00

At last the weather we have all been waiting for, Sunshine and dry weather so we can do some really gardening. For me at least I love Spring with all the new life and green shoots etc coming up. I t makes Winter seem many months behind us and Summer too close.

I managed an hour at the lottie today what with work and home life I don't get enough time to do it all. I did some weeding and some tying up of the Raspberry canes which are now really getting a spurt on.

Can't wait to be able to eat them again this year. I don't have many but the new shoots are going to treble the amount I had last year.

I have planted a number of things this year including some flowers, not many but something to brighten up the Lottie in the Winter months. Just some colour at a drab time of year.

Anyway I have planted a lot of things in the Lottie already,:-
Onions, Garlic, Shallots, Carrots, Potatoes, Parships, Leek, Spring Onion, Lettuce, Parsley, Rosemary, Chives to name just a few.

I will post again tomorrow if I get chance.

My first post

2006-04-24T03:14:00.000+01:00

Hello All

This is my first posting about my Lottie.

Here is my allotment and some of the people who have helped me over the last year. The tall one is the Hubby and the little is his youngest brother. This was taken in May last year. We only got this lottie in March 2004.

The old one was too much work and covered in loads of mess and weeds, Horsetails amongst others. We found it really hard going so we got another one in the same block and it proved much easier to handle.