Aching Back

Not much to tell today - only a little completed at the Lottie today,  my back is still aching from yesterday so I decided to take it easy and just have a gently potter.

Mr Milly came with me today, his hand is still very painful and he really needs to be doing as little as possible with it,  however it was such a lovely warm and sunny day it would have been a shame for him to have spent the day indoors and I like his company.

The bean trench was filled with home made compost and covered over,  a little digging on the never ending bed at the side of the plot with another wheelbarrow load of roots pulled out.  A general tidy up around the plots then we set about a bit of construction work.    I'm quite handy with a saw now and some of the donated wood was put to good use,  a little help and lots of supervision from Mr Milly we made a little cold frame/polytunnel affair.   I will be able to get some early lettuce, radish and rocket under way and kick start a l tiny patch of the Lottie into production.

Our new creation

Tidy Plot 95.  Roll on March when the grass paths can be started.

A little reminder of the Plot from just 1 month ago.  It's been hard work!!

Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig

Guess what the word of the day is??  DIG...........

Yesterday I had help at the Lottie,  My brother-in-Law and the 2 boys came to help,  we spent the day digging.  The very last section of Plot 95 apart from about 3 feet has now been dug over.  In total it was about 4 hours of digging - 3 of us doing it - to finish this section.   4 Wheelbarrow loads of roots were taken away which is the reason it is so very very slow going and absolutely back breaking with bending down all the time to pick out roots.   Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for all of your help!!

These were put to good use...

I was really lucky yesterday to be given a huge supply of wood - enough to make another pathway with plenty left over.   I'm not sure yet what I going to do with it all, but do have a few ideas rumbling around!   I also found out that a skip is coming to the site on Monday which is really useful at the moment as there is bits of rubbish and unwanteds on Plot 96 which I can pop in the skip rather that having to drive to the local refuse station - the boys helped with this and happily gathered up all the bits and pieces and took them to the skip site for me.

A couple of pictures from earlier this week, before the latest bed was dug - I forgot the camera yesterday!

An Eventful Weekend

Tonight I am going to chill in front of the TV and doing NOTHING!  I am really tired this evening and am looking forward to unwinding and relaxing before a busy week starts once again.

Saturday morning started with a bright and sunny morning,  rain was forecast for mid-day so I headed out early for the Lottie. it was a lovely bright and warm winter day  - the thermometer on the lovely new clock is working 11 degrees;-

 I had decided that I was going to concentrate on Plot 95 and really try and get as much as possible completed - it would be easy at this point to flit between the 2 plots doing a bit here and there, but I felt a purpose and a push on Plot 95 was the way to go.

The middle recently cleared bed had been 1/2 dug,  I spent a couple of hours digging this bed and levelling it out.  It sounds like a lot of time but it is slow progress.  Dig a bit,  sift out roots and weeks,  dig a bit more, sift out more roots and weeds and on it went.  Finally it was done,  I planted 3 bulbs of garlic and 24 shallots in a section of the newly dug bed and have temporarily covered them.   Hopefully the cover will be enough to stop the birds digging them out until they start to shoot.    I was chuffed to get this bed sorted - this is part of the bed which was been left since I took the plot over, so a real achievement to finally have it in some sort of shape.

A bit of tidying up and then a phone call came from My Boy - he and his friend Aaron were collecting the greenhouse frame for me and there was a problem - the frame was concreted down and they didn't think they would be able to remove it.    I collected a couple of drinks for them as requested and drove over to meet them.   I was delighted when I arrived to find this......

They had managed to remove the frame from its base and were in the middle of dismantling it!  Three young men, a big bag of tools and soon the partly dismantled Greenhouse was loaded into the the tipper truck and was on its way to the lottie.   I did enjoy watching them puzzling over the dismantling and loading into the truck - they all worked really well together and a massive slap in the face reminder of how grown up and clever my son is now and how ancient they made me feel!!

Anyway the adventure continued..   we arrived at the Lottie I rode in the tipper truck and it was a bit scary!!  The ground is very soft and muddy after the snow and rain recently - the truck didn't like it and slipped and slid all along the lane.   Finally we arrived,  it took me a few minutes to unclench my fingers from the grab rail and then  the greenhouse was unloaded and unceremoniously dumped on Plot 96 until next weekend.  The next challenge then arrived - the tipper truck was completely stuck in the mud and couldn't get out.   Me, with my  girlie mum head on, started to have a bit of a panic - the boys, didn't flap at all and just got on with it with me still panicking and standing around looking and feeling completely useless!!  The solution,  My Boy used his 4 wheel drive pick-up truck to tow the 2 wheel drive tipper truck all the way through the allotment site to the main gate - good job there was no-one else around!!  They all thought it was brilliant,  I was just glad it was sorted so easily and to be honest it was a bit of an adventure!!!

A distance blurry picture - can you see the greenhouse in bits!

Today has been different again - but fun!  My eldest nephew wanted to come to the Lottie with me,  I drove over to collect him and the youngest nephew decided to come too!  Off we set, parked up at the lottie gates and all carried bits and pieces to the plots.    I had stopped on the way and bought one of these;-

It is an exactly replica of my Joseph Bentley digging spade just in a smaller child friendly size.  The boys were delighted with it!!   It was put to good use - the eldest nephew dug out  the trench bed for the blueberries - virtually on his own!

Hard at work

Blueberry bed underway and perfect size digging spade. 

He is 9 and very clever and really enjoys manual activities - he got stuck in and took over!   The trench was soon dug, lined with pond liner which I then tried to puncture with a fork for drainage - the oldest nephew watched for a few minutes and then asked if I thought it would be easier to take the liner out of the trench to put the holes in - of course he was right, he is very good at telling me what to do and is always right too! The trench was lined with cardboard and the youngest nephew and I refilled it and planted the blueberries.  We all had time for hot chocolate and cakes!!  

Everyone gets a job!

Next the bean trench was dug - not by me!!  Another brilliant job by the eldest nephew,  the little one planted some more shallots and  next the cherry tree was planted on Plot 96,  I dug the hole,  we all had a go and hammering in the tree stake and the oldest nephew refilled the hole  a joint effort!   Just as we were having another hot chocolate the boys mum, my sister-in-law, arrived closely followed by their dad -  that is the most people working on the plot at one time ever!   Half of the soon-to-be potato bed was dug over and we started to clear the brambly bed between the 2 plots.    What a brilliant afternoon with so much getting done in a short space of time.    I expect there will be a few aching backs tonight though!    It was lovely having family with me today and I really appreciated the help and massive push the lottie has had.   In fact standing looking at it at the end of the afternoon Plot 95 is almost completely ready for the new growing season  and for the first time since I took it over there are no really major jobs to be done.   More pictures to follow as my camera ran out of battery before we did today!

Just in the Nick of Time

This morning I had a text "The littlest nephew has a tooth about to fall out".  Fortunately I had bought stuffing so the little monster tooth pillow was nearly finished.  I grabbed the needle and thread and sewed up the pillow so that it was ready.     A few hours later a phone call - this time it was the littlest nephew himself "My tooth has fallen out".  Whew - the pillow finished just in the nick of time.

Monster Tooth Pillow

The pillow has now been examined, discussed and collected with  a promise that I would get a phone call tomorrow to let me know if it worked and a little something was left for him.  I love that!!

I decided to play with some fabric last night,  I had another cushion in mind and something I have wanted to try for a while.   I couldn't find a good pattern or tutorial online, so I made one up!   Not difficult really as it a well know subject!  My precious Cath Kidston fabric was put to good use and another cushion finished and ready to join the others.

Union Flag cushion

Today I have been sent a photo from my Youngest Niece it is her new bedding,  I think there is a hint in there somewhere and looks like I will be making another Union Flag cushion!  I might attempt a tutorial this time hopefully someone might find it useful.

Union Flag Bedding

Anyway its Friday,  thank goodness and my thoughts are now turning to the lottie......  the list of jobs is as long as my arm.  Tonight I am sitting working out the priorities and trying to be realistic about what I actually will be able finish.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  Alison x

The Growing Season is beginning

 Do you remember these?

All of my seeds have been listed by the month to be sown and whether this is indoors or outdoors.   The February and January ones have been sown and now there are seedlings popping up all round the house!

Tomatoes and Cabbages in Hall window

Sweet potatoes waiting to root in the Kitchen

Chilli, peppers, squash and flowers on the windowsill in the spare bedroom

All sorts of different seedlings in the spare bedroom

Potatoes chitting in the shed.

Mr Milly is now looking forward to the greenhouse being in place to move the seedlings.  I am too - I'm running out of space for the March seeds inside the house!

My Boy is helping with the greenhouse and today he has been and collected all of the glass - and he didn't break any in the process which is truely amazing!

The glass is now residing in the garden waiting to be cleaned - I am hoping the Portuguese Housekeeper will help me with this tomorrow,  the rest of the greenhouse is going to be collected on Saturday - how exciting!!

Only a few panes of glass to be cleaned!  
That's going to take a month of Sundays........

A bit of Prettiness

After the not pretty picture of Mr Milly's hand yesterday I thought a little bit of something pretty was needed.

Do you remember this Little Helpers and in particular the Cathedral Window cushion?  I really liked the look of the Cathedral windows and also found the hand sewing really relaxing and enjoyable.   I started another one shortly after finishing the first.   Different fabrics a different shape and no button embellishment this time,  the same principles of ironing and folding squares and then hours and hours of hand sewing.  I am pleased with the result, but I do think a pair would be better!

I fancied doing something a little quicker - and found a tutorial for a gathered ruffle cushion.  This one took a couple of hours to complete,  once finished I felt it needed something to pull the 2 colours together, a bit of folding, glueing and rolling and the fabric flowers were born.  The result is more pleasing with everything seeming to work more 'together'.

Finally - something for the boys!    This a tooth pillow, the smiley bit of the face is a pocket and somewhere for a milk tooth to be left in the hope a little reward might appear - I hope the tooth fairy approves!   I ran out of stuffing today so this is still unfinished.  I better hurry up though as I understand from my little nephews that there are 3 wobbly teeth at the minute!

A happy trio of cushions  - well they make me happy!!

Not for the Squeamish!

Mr Milly has had his plaster cast removed,  the stitches will be staying for another week.   All seems to be well with his hand and it is not so painful now, hopefully it is healing OK.

A gruesome picture of the hand today - it's not pretty!!

A Busy Sunday

This was my day today;-

• Let the chickens out and topped up their food and water
• Tea and Toast for me and Mr Milly this morning
• Tidied the kitchen and put a load of washing on
• Put chicken in the slow cooker for dinner (not one of mine!)
• Popped to the local shops for a few bits and pieces
• Went to my friends and carried bricks from her garden and loaded into my car
• Went to the Lottie,  unloaded one lot of bricks from the car,  wheeled the bricks to the plot (too muddy to drive the car)
• Unloaded the 2nd lot of bricks and wheeled them to the plot
• Roughly laid out the base for the Greenhouse
• Hammered in the last post for the Bean Frame
• Attached and tied in the canes for the Bean Frame
• Came home,  made lunch for Mr Milly
• Made the bed
• Had a shower
• Cooked dinner and lemon cake for dessert
• Washed up and tidied the Kitchen
• Emptied all the Bins
• Made 2 Owl Hotties and a Chick-sicle
• Turned up a pair of Jeans
• Helped Mr Milly with a shower 
• Sat and watched the telly.....

Bean Frame - No climbing strings yet,  the frame is in place to start bean trench. 

Rough outline of the base of the greenhouse on Plot 96 and a spare pile of bricks. 

3 Owl Hotties - pop them in the Microwave for a bit of a warm cuddle.
The little one is a Chick-sicle,  keep him in the freezer  for when a bit of cold is needed - better than a bag of peas!

In summary,  some shopping, gardening, brick carrying, housework, cooking, nursing, and sewing.   What a day of complete extremes!


Did you have a good day?

Alison x

A phone call

I'm not going to start with the phone call,  first a little Lottie update - It is cold and everything is frozen solid!

This morning the Lottie looked like this;-

I did try to hammer in the tall poles for the bean frame - the Portuguese Housekeeper was with me this morning and she was laughing at me as the pole really is too tall to hammer in without standing on something!!  I won't be defeated though and soon found something  to stand on!

After a few minutes of hammering with the pole only going into the ground by about 2 inches - I gave up!
Reluctant as I was, I did admit defeat today and knew that really there wasn't really very much I was going to be able to do.   I pottered in the shed for a while and put up the numbers on both sheds - they look great!  The clock now has a battery in it and is ticking away nicely.   Some new hooks have been hung in the metal shed and there is a new addition in the window of the green shed - can you see??

Apart from the numbers there is nothing attractive about this shed........
  I might have to do something about that!

I really needed some kind of path along the length of the plot - the long term plan in for grass but until that can be sown there is little structure to the plot and it is muddy!  Yesterday I was on a mission to make a path - I had seen something on another Blog that I liked and thought would work,  with Mr Milly laid up for the time being any construction work is down to me.   I have spent many many years working alongside Mr Milly as a 'builders mate' watching him, fetching and carrying and having a go now and again, so I did feel reasonable confident that I could muddle through, do things my own way and maybe achieve something.

I started with a pallet, my goodness they are incredible difficult to split down into usable pieces of wood,   so I found a different route!   I wanted slats about 40cm long,   with saw to the ready  I cut each of the slats off the pallet,  next my sister-in-law had given me the slats from the base of a single bed which has been replaced,  these were easier to saw.   Finally the wooden slats were laid in a line,  weed suppressant fabric stapled to the back and hey presto - a roll up path!  I'm quite chuffed with it and I have to say a little pleased with myself too!!

Anyway - lets go back to the phone call.   This weekend on my beloved Freecyle an item came up that I was really interested in,   my email was sent and I waited, and waited and waited.  Eventually an email was received

Hi Alison,

Well I have offered it to someone, but if they don't reply or don't want it, I'll let you know. It belonged to the old lady I bought my new house from, and she was a keen gardener who'd lived here since 1948... so I'm sure she'd like it to go to a good home where it was going to be useful.
I was disappointed, but not really surprised.  I politely replied to the email to thank the lady for letting me know and to confirm that I was still interested if anything changed - I sent her my telephone numbers - just in case!    This morning she phoned, the other people had not replied to her emails and looked like they were no longer interested - did I still want the item......  YES PLEASE was the reply.   I couldn't collect today,  you will see why, but was able to go and see it and take some pictures.

Here it is...........................

A 6ft x 8ft Greenhouse - Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!  How exciting is that!!

  Well that's enough for today - I'm off to have a little glass of wine to celebrate and try and calm by brain which is now in overdrive trying to work out a zillion different things starting with......  how am I going to collect it!!

Alison x

Thank You

To Colin - Thank you!!

To Dearest Father In Law - Thank you!

I have had a couple of lovely gifts.  The first was delivered by my brother,  it is a gift from his friend Colin.   What a lovely and thoughful thing to do!   From this post How Annoying - and in particular my smashed Lottie Clock,  Colin has sent me a new one, and very smart it is too with both a clock and a thermometer - I do find it interesting to watch the temperature through the year and this will be brilliant!  The clock is now proudly sitting on the front of the shed.   I am trying to work out a way to fix it more securely as I will be really upset if anything happens to this one.  

Colin - thank you for my lovely clock,  I am really really pleased and delighted with it and very touched by your gift.  Alison x

Yesterday I received a letter delivered by the Postie,  the letter was addressed to the Lottie Lady -  inside was a letter signed by DFIL and some numbers plaques - initially I did think it was a number 5 and three number 9s   ........

 ......a quick switch round of the numbers and I was holding 95 and 96 - the numbers of my Lottie plots - how cool!!   As I now have 2 sheds, each one can proudly display their own plot numbers and as they are matching it will be announcement to all that the 2 plots belong to me!!  A little gift that I am really thrilled with!

DFIL - Thank you for my delightful number plaques - they will look lovely on the Plots - photos  in situ to follow!!  DDIL x 

No Lottie time for me today - this prevented it!  Hopefully the weather  will be good tonight then I will be off to the Lottie in the morning.  Alison x

Poor Mr Milly

Mr Milly has been under the knife.......  yesterday morning we left home at 6.00am to head into London,  fortunately we seemed to miss most of the rush hour traffic and made it into the hospital for his appointment at 7.30am.    He has had problems with his hand for 10 years now with multiple operations to try and fix it.   This one, I am assured by Mr Milly,  is the last operation - I really hope so!

He now has his right hand in a cast which will be there for a few weeks,  part of a bone under his thumb has been removed - today he has been suffering with it and has spent the day resting in bed being looked after by yours truly - to be honest I am a rubbish nurse!   I try my best, but I am just not very good at the whole looking after nursing business - too impatient I think!

I have a couple of days off work to keep an eye on hubby and make sure he is not using the hand - this really is difficult for him as it would be for any of us,  but for him especially as he uses his hands to get about - hence the staying in bed today and I think tomorrow will be the same.

I did manage a couple of hours at the Lottie today - I set Mr Milly up with TV controls, telephones, laptop and tea to hand and went out for a bit of fresh air.

On the way to the Lottie I passed a skip with what looked like a couple of  compost bins in it.   I debated for about 30 seconds and then plucked up the courage to knock on the door of the house - a lovely lady answered and she was really happy for me to take the compost bins, she said she was pleased someone was going to be able to use them.    What a bonus - 2 composts bins, complete with lids,  one is missing the hatch cover - no problem though, I'll find something to put over it.  That is 5 bins at the lottie now, but with double the plot size and beds I probably will need them!

New-to-me bins at the back of Plot 96

I had my first  ever bonfire today - just a little one,  but it was fun and welcome to do on a very cold day.

 And I have marked out some more of the plot - the 2 paths which will run the length of Plot 95 and have put some canes in to mark where the beans will go this year.    I did think the ground would be too hard today to dig - but as the day warmed up the ground softened and I was able to make a start on digging out the new bean bed.   This way of working suits me - when I look at a whole expanse to be dug over it just seems too much to do and demotivating,  when I mark things out in this way it breaks up the work and I set out with a mission with manageable chunks to complete.

Marked out plot - the final layout of this plot now in place.

Today the postie delivered a little gift for me - and another was hand delivered .....  Tomorrow I will share my lovely gifts with you!!

Alison x

The Fox Saga

Do you remember this post?  Cunning Mr Fox.  We have watched the fox over the last few weeks, sometimes it is in the tree and other times it is not.    We know for definite that it has no problem climbing the tree and will happily sit up there all day.  We think it must have found or made a comfy platform as we can watch it stand up, turn around and curl up again.

Mr Fox turning around getting ready to curl up

Sleeping

Today there is a new development:-

Count the foxes!!

TWO foxes in the tree!!  Before you know it there will be a whole family up there!  Just a reminder we live in an urban district and this tree is huge - much taller than our 2 storey semi detached house.  Unbelieveable  don't you think!

The tree at the end of the garden

As much as I dislike foxes having lost my ducks to one of them and the constant threat they pose to my chickens - the new one is really quite a stunning looking creature. 

I wonder how this saga of the foxes will unfold?

Alison  x