The Moss Family Weblog

Yesterday it was Manure Day at the allotment. A farmer came round twice with a cartload full of poo. Poo mixed with straw, the perfect stuff for good soil, but oh my, does it smell! (Although poo diapers are worse!) Even though the day started a bit overcast and drizzly, it got beautiful later on in the morning, and we had a lovely time shoveling shit (haha) and ‘breaking in’ our shed. Yes, we got the key!!! This means the kids now have a dry place to sit and play whenever we’re there and they’ve had enough of the garden and of digging around…
Piccies!

We hadn’t posted any pictures of the new allotment, so here we go! It’s still a loooong way from finished, so a full tour will follow in spring, when everything looks cool and clean and ready! At least now we have space to put down some chairs, and as soon as we get the keys to the shed, also a place to put our stuff, so we don’t have to load up the car every time we go to do a bit of hoeing.
Our new domain:

We transplanted our pumpkin, and we’re talking and singing to it. Little hope of the minuscule pumpkin (right beside Amy’s right boot) growing big enough to be slaughtered for Halloween, though… Better luck next year (and maybe an idea to put the seeds in the ground sooner ). Behind the feet are our brambles, raspberries and gooseberries. And a lot of soil that still needs to be turned over before winter time. Behind behind that is crops that still need to be harvested by the previous user, and which we don’t have to touch yet. Tomorrow, as the kids are away, we are going to try and make some yardage…

A picture-heavy post with some recent images of the allotment, where stuff is starting to bloom, grow and yield fruit! We have enjoyed a lot of fresh strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb, plus coulis on ice cream and yummy jam. The veggies are coming slowly but surely. Next year, the beans will go in a bit sooner, and will be aided by some fertilizer, which hopefully speeds up the process a bit Our apples are getting bigger by the day, and are now the size of tangerines. It’s so cool to have a fruit tree! Later on this year, we will plant a cherry tree! Can’t wait!

Remember this place? It’s our allotment… We were either busy or the weather was plain crap (and then it’s too muddy to even get past the strawberries…) and have only been able to pick the occasional box of beans and parsnips or courgette – but it needed attention. URGENT ATTENTION!
It was time to start planning for next year, and after some brainstorming we decided the theme for next year will be fruit. Fruit to eat and fruit to make wine (a friend of us does that, and we’re more than happy to oblige with the odd bag of berries and stuff…).
Today, Amy went over and planted loads of fruit: brambles and yellow raspberries (gifted by Tijm, one of Amy’s knitting friends who also has an allotment there), blueberries and red gooseberries, anemones and phloxes (these last ones are autumn flowering plants, cool for some colour later in the year), and crocus bulbs (for some Spring surprises).
The middle part of the garden was cleared of Malva (a real pest in our garden, however pretty it looks with its purple flowers), the soil was quickly turned over (as if we care for weeds this late in the year ) and then the plants went in. Tadaa:

Did I say I can take pictures, no… Just trust me. It’s just quite a long stretch, and it’s hard to take good pictures. Here’s a closeup of the yellow raspberries, ’cause I had never heard of them. Strange little things…

And some more snaps:

Guess what we’ll be eating the next few days

And also on the menu, home-made rosehip jam. The hips are on the stove, softening away, just as an experiment. There were so many at the roadside we decided to pick a small bag’s worth and make some jam. It is a messy job though… After deseeding about half, we decided to just let the rest cook to mush and then strain. We’ll see if it works!

We would be soooo fat! Today was cleaning up day in the allotment. It had been a while, because of busy days, rainy evenings and other excuses… but, it now actually looks like a garden!
When Amy got there, one of the other gardeners had some bad news. Our neighbour had a terrible bike accident and unfortunately went into a coma and died. We wonder who will be looking after his lovely garden!
We had quite a good loot today, a box full of beetroots, loads of string beans, a few courgettes (one humongous one) and an arm full of rhubarb. Lots more is growing and thriving, good to see that we’re not the only ones making an effort (I mean, good to see the garden is pulling its weight). And, as we’ve now figured out this gallery function on the site (haha…), another gallery with photos!!!

What a shock! A week of sun and heat and then a week with rain showers has done wonders for the allotment! When Amy went to check today, she saw that the plants had been busy! The loot: 2 normal and 3 huge courgettes (between 1.4 and 1.7 kilos!), 5 lettuces, loads of rhubarb and 1 strawberry. Yes, haha, 1!

Piccies!

At first…

And after some weeding

A lone, lonesome ripe strawberry…

The loot.

And just because we love doing this. Select a random picture from a random month and year… A blast from the past! When Hannah was around 2 we went on a day trip to Stavoren, proper Frisian weather at the sea side…