Easterama

Hi guys

Well Easter has been and gone.  We have been having such FAB weather we had two (YES TWO) barbeque's in the four day Bank Holiday weekend... If I even look at more BBQ meat I shall turn into a sausage... Blech its enough to make me turn Veggie (yeah right) for about two minutes!

I have mightily calmed down since my last post, and having made the decision to only work on half the allotment I have made my opinions known and others can take/leave as they wish! 

I have also hit the interweb job boards about the chops again and have two interviews lined up - one tomorrow (near Piccadilly circus!) and one next Wednesday, and another to be arranged.  If something does not come out of this flurry of activity, well I may have to rethink the whole working for a living scenario and bag myself a sugar daddy/investigate bank robbing/some type of insurance scam. Although the last may involve me wearing neck braces rather a lot, the second however could take care of the mortgage as I would probably end up living at HMP.

Royal wedding this weekend!  I for one can't wait - oooh I know its controversial - but I LOVE WEDDINGS... I'm all sentimental in "me ole age" and I love all of it.  So there.  Like the Royals or not, there is something about young love so I wish them all the best.  It's not going to be easy, but what marriage is.  PS I have royally forgiven Mr B for unfeeling, man suggestions mentioned in my last post.  Well I say forgiven, I probably sulked for an hour or so, gave vent on here and then forgot about it....   :o)

Anyway I have finally potted up all tomatoes and all but three cukes, the final counts not in but I think I went a TEENY bit berserk...  I will count them and finish potting up tonight.  May sow my squashes too...  Also completed are my Mums hanging baskets.  Pretty good if I do say so myself!  I used the new snazzy baskets and am going to attempt to put up a pic or two to illustrate the snaztasticness of them...

Hmmm that's taking longer than expected - I will try again later.

Never mind the RW - Its also my brothers 40th birthday.  I am going to get him some B&Q vouchers as this is what he wants to do up his garden.  I have to get these and a birthday card QUICK - running out of time...  We are apparently having a takeaway on friday then a Christmas dinner on Monday - random.... Mr B is pissed off as he wanted to go and watch cricket, but I am forcing him to go.  Also hope to get some allotment time, tidy the house and see Mr B.  Seeing the in laws on Saturday - but that's a whole other food issue...  Someone line me up a new diet for Tuesday, I'm gonna need it!

Have fun everyone

Chat soon X

Edit: 28/04/11

You can see how easy these baskets make it to get your plants round the sides of the baskets with the little snap in gates!  Should be great when the plants (lobelia) have grown a bit bushier :o)

Madness this way

Okay peeps - generally I'm quite a happy go lucky sort of a gal - but a few things get my goat.

1. When I'm upset, never ever tell me "Cheer up you're not dying or starving - lots of people are you know" or "Well I don't know what you want me to do about it" - sometimes all you have to say is "What idiots, they made a huge mistake, of course you are the best... Why let me go bop them on the nose!"

2. If you ask for my help... say oooooh with an allotment, don't rub your hands chuckle and think "What a mug" and sit back and watch me work myself to death and  invest all of my time, worry, energy and money into it!  Its supposed to be a joint project.. and you live two minutes walk away.  To only have been there once and only have done one hours worth of digging is taking the piss, and you know it. 

3. Being turned down for the job in Uxbridge which I seemed to be stupidly pinning all of my hopes on and for which I would be paid quite a bit less than I am used to and for which I had to dumb down my CV.  (Which quite neatly leads back to get my goat point number one).

Solutions for these

1.  You just wait until your football team are relegated (a very real possibility this season!)  I can't bloody wait Mr B... When that tear rolls down your cheek - I will save up that GEM and serve it straight back to you!  

2.  I can only cope with half an allotment and will never take on a project with you again. Mug I may be but a repeat offending mug I am not. 

3. Gaaaaah - send a crawling email to the nice chap who interviewed me and thank him for his time and should anything else come up Please consider me again....

Well I can only do soooo much....  I will be back soon in better humour

Chat soon X

Do you dig it?

Hi Everyone!  Soz for the two week hiatus!  WOW how busy have I been - let me count the ways.

I went for an interview last Thursday for a Maternity Cover position with a FAB sounding company in Uxbridge... I get the warm fuzzies about this one so keep those fingers crossed (YES again!)  You know when you get on well with someone when you start saying the same things at the same time and laugh about it... Well that's how it went so.... They have one more person to see today and then they will let me know.

I have done loooooooooooads at the allotment (digging and I have the blisters to prove it!)  As the weather has been really fantastic for the past week or so I quickly booked off Friday and Monday so I could get stuck right in.  Mum and I had dug out the Beanery area (to our horror FULL of bindweed roots).  So I redug over this on Friday and buried some newspapers under the area where the beans will be planted (hopefully will be able to water less this way)  I also put up the poles and even tied most of them up... Spotted a couple the next day that I missed!  I also grabbed the communal mower and got three quarters of the way up one path before stalling it.  So not too shabby.  Saturday and Sunday consisted of me digging over three new beds in a slight revision to the plan. I also planted out my first few broad beans - Although my Mum and I got very confused in one of those conversations that went ....

"How do you plant broad beans?", "What Runner Beans?", "No Broad beans", "do you know the difference" "Errrr, yes of course I do, now do they need a support or not", "yes"  .... Later Mum says "were they runner beans you planted...?", "No Mum Broad beans", "why did you plant them by a pole then?" !!!

Monday I went to visit a pal and got some interesting bits from poundland (gardening fleece and a minitunnel cloche system) and some herbs from Wilkinsons!  Went back to the plot and planted them straight away in front of the beanery.  Oregano and Thyme - my favourites. 

I also picked more Rhubarb... MORE RHUBARB... I currently have some Rhubarb wine fermenting, Rhubarb and Ginger Ice-cream - Ive given some away... I will open freeze this batch.. Or maybe some more wine... Hmmmmm.  I have picked about 8lb - Yes Eight..  That's Nearly £10 worth...  Rhubarb Schnapps... LOVELY.

My brilliant seedlings are coming along a treat at home in the conservatory and looking really healthy although I havent potted any up yet - naughty mummy.  I have stumbled upon the brilliant idea of putting them under the coffee table and covering the coffee table with newspapers for some shade... Brilliant eh!  Up here for thinkin', down there for dancin'.  I haven't lost a plant yet - which is a revelation as I make a mean frispy seedling and have to run out and buy plants most years!  A thing I just can't afford to do with the allotment and no real job to call my own...

Anyway I now estimate that I have about a half of the allotment in shape with a third being dug over and the other bit being fruit bushes and perennials.  I have dug a bit of the top beds but they are now covered in dandelions, which as pretty as they are - can not stay!  I made a few new allotment friends this weekend and think I will have gone up in the "old guys" estimation since being there at 8ish on Friday morning and working alllll day.  I have never slept so well.  I'm still tired now - back to work for a rest.

I must go I've been gabbing on for aaaages, thanks for reading this far!  Chat soon X

Edit 28/04/11

This is the SECOND digging out of the Beanery area.  The bindweed roots filled the wheelbarrow several times the first digging through - Sadly the weed is still growing in this bed!