2023-08-13 07:46
It’s been another mixed bag weatherwise….We’ve been to the plot to either water or harvest most days. Really hot if the Sun happens to be shining, but at other times it ha… Read More
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Plot 7 Marsh Lane - Our Allotment Blog
plot7marshlane.blogspot.co.uk
Our Hungerford allotment blog. Growing, vegetables, fruit and flowers. Cooking (vegetarian). Watching the weather and wildlife.
2023-08-04 16:38
On 1st August, between rainy days, we planted 60 leeks. I think that’s the most we’ve ever planted but they’re such a handy Winter vegetable.We planted them in the usual wa… Read More
2023-07-31 07:10
I took a couple of slices of bread and butter to the plot for a fresh and colourful sandwich 😀 To be honest, it didn’t taste of anything but bread and butter, but it did look p… Read More
2023-07-27 08:02
I was pleased when it was sunnier than expected yesterday morning and we had a lovely few hours on the plot. The clouds started developing while we were digging the area for the leeks. That… Read More
2023-07-24 09:36
This beauty was on our butterfly bush at home along with two others, a white and a couple of peacocks! I’ll be lucky to see that many when I do my Big Butterfly Count on the allotment… Read More
2023-07-08 09:11
I’m a bit out of date, I haven’t posted in nearly 3 weeks. Well, it’s been a busy time and I have a rotten cough/throat infection which is hanging round too long. But, apar… Read More
2023-06-12 07:26
Petrichor - that's the word of the day after we eventually had some rainfall last night. Aah, the smell of earth after rain - it really is a feel-good smell. And rain is so much better at wa… Read More
2023-06-05 17:43
I’ve been on leave for a week and have a few more days off. I must say that I feel like I’ve been off for a fortnight already - the sunny weather has helped. Although the easterl… Read More
2023-05-22 07:44
Early morning visits are the norm now. We have a pleasant hour on sunny mornings, enjoying the wildlife, removing covers in the polytunnel, watering all the seedlings then back home to log i… Read More
2023-05-15 06:38
Mmm, I made a floral focaccia again. And this time it was actually like focaccia rather than a big flat biscuit!Reading back on when I made it before, I think it didn't have the right textur… Read More
2023-05-08 17:09
The clock is ticking on my holiday. Final day today 😩 What a shame, I have enjoyed our allotment days and some have been very warm and sunny; others have been wet - great growing wea… Read More
2023-05-02 08:08
OK, so it may not be Summer, but this is the kind of weather I like to see when I have more than a week off work! It was so beautiful yesterday after a grey start, so I’m hoping today… Read More
2023-04-24 07:25
What a lovely long day we had on the allotment yesterday. It was warm and the Sun even appeared from between the cloud at times.We’ve taken the net cloches off the broad beans so that… Read More
2023-04-17 16:31
The weekend wasn't as sunny as we'd hoped and we only visited the allotment on Sunday. We needed to pick some purple sprouting brocolli.As you can see we also picked some rhubarb. The stems… Read More
2023-04-04 07:35
Fifteen years post transplant; fifteen photos to represent my gratitude; fifteen words per photo.Such a hard decision for a family, offering the gift of life to a stranger.A releas… Read More
2023-03-27 07:31
British Summer Time is here - the weather doesn’t realise and it’s been mostly dull and windy plus we’ve had a lot of rain; 35mm in the last week.That sounds a bit moany co… Read More
2023-03-20 08:04
March is speeding along and has thrown all kinds of weather at us. The snow arrived at 3am on the 8th so we pulled ourselves out of bed to go for a little stroll. So beautiful to see it… Read More
2023-02-20 07:57
After a busy working week it was great to have two days entirely laptop-free and to be out in the fresh air. I'm looking forward to early morning pre-work plot visits, but not quite at that… Read More
2023-02-13 11:39
On Saturday we decided the time had come to deal with our dalek compost bins on Plot3. Three of them have been composting away for at least two years with new material being added on top but… Read More
2023-02-06 13:12
January sped by and on the non-rainy evenings we enjoyed some amazing skies. The red stripes of this one were so much more dramatic than the photo shows - so beautiful. January offered us tw… Read More
2023-01-23 08:11
We had two visits to the allotment this cold weekend and yesterday (Sunday) everything was looking beautiful encrusted in frost. The likelihood of pretty frost was mainly what dragged… Read More
2023-01-17 12:58
Two weeks in and Christmas feels long forgotten, what a shame. We had such a lovely break. Here's a post-Christmas snack I made, very tasty along with the home-made carrot and patty pan chut… Read More
2022-12-28 10:50
Another year gone, passing quickly aren’t they! Looking back I can see that it was a pretty good one. Here’s my summary of 2022, including my book list, for me and for you if you… Read More
2022-12-22 08:58
Work is over for the year (for me) so I went into town yesterday morning and enjoyed wishing everyone I bumped into a Happy Christmas.After posting a couple of cards to friends houses we wal… Read More
2022-12-11 19:26
Frosted GeumCoo, that’s chilly! I’ve never seen such spiky frost. Apparently it’s called Rime Ice and the freezing fog will have helped cause it, along with the a… Read More
2022-12-05 13:48
It’s December and the countdown to Christmas has begun! The weather has turned from a drenching November to a cold start to the month; not frosty, just grey.That isn't egg nog - it's c… Read More
2022-11-27 12:32
I learnt a new word today after spotting this teasel amongst the dried flower heads.Vivipary- when seeds germinate whilst still on the parent plant. Viviparous germination isn’t uncomm… Read More
2022-11-20 20:22
This was the lovely clear view of a very skinny moon early this morning. And the next photo shows the sky looking towards the sunrise, beautiful (my camera made the sky look a bit darker tha… Read More
2022-11-14 09:02
I’m attempting to stay calm, so here’s a calming bumblebee enjoying the pollen on a fresh cosmos flower in the warm November sunshine.I’m actually very angry as our peacefu… Read More
2022-11-08 08:30
Anyone else had a rainy start to November? It was so rainy on Sunday that we had to shelter in the car when we got back from the allotment! The rain was streaming down the road.While we were… Read More
2022-10-30 18:30
Halloween tomorrow and the clocks have returned to Greenwich Mean Time so we got an extra hour in bed. We’ve spent a couple of hours concentrating this afternoon… carving pumpki… Read More
2022-10-25 07:11
Look at those interesting clouds as we left the allotment Sunday afternoon - I zoomed in on my phone which is why the foreground looks a bit weird. We got home just before a storm hit… Read More
2022-10-17 07:22
I made these very tasty carrot and bean burgers on Saturday. I used this recipe for my dried borlotti and runner beans from last year and fresh carrot and shallots. Our shallots actually tu… Read More
2022-10-10 07:32
Our allotment planet! I do love these 'little planet' style photos and I found instructions on this site. I thought you needed a special bit of kit to make these images. You must have seen t… Read More
2022-10-02 17:53
I made the rosehip jelly - it was a bit of a palaver to be honest. Two little jars of gold - they look great, but I think they may just be super-sweet and maybe not worth the effort. We&rsqu&hell…Read More
2022-09-26 06:34
The weather has been rather changeable. When the sun shone it was lovely but not so good when the cloud took over and that mass brought about 5 spots of rain with it, so the earth is still r… Read More
2022-09-20 06:21
How amazing are the Yin Yang beans! The patterns are great. Unfortunately only three of my seeds germinated this year, so the beans I harvested this week are being saved to try again next ye… Read More
2022-09-01 12:04
This is the veggie bake I made at the weekend - so pretty, but it took a long time to cook even though I’d thinly sliced the veg. The veg (potato, courgette and tomato on top of fried… Read More
2022-08-27 07:48
I spent quite a lot of yesterday looking up. It was so lovely to return to sunshine and blue sky after a few days of feeling rather Autumnal, and it feels too soon.I have a few very welcome… Read More
2022-08-21 09:13
I remembered we have cucumber moulds, so the continuous supply of Baby cucumbers are now looking different. As long as they’re sealed in a plastic bag in the fridge they are still… Read More
2022-08-14 16:10
What a sunny scene of home-sown flowers 😊. I must remember to sow lobelia into modules next year. It’ll make it far easier to pot them on. Zinnia seem to be the flower of… Read More
2022-08-07 12:47
It’s here! The new drone video of the site, courtesy of Colin de Fraine. I hope you agree that the plots are looking amazing from all the different angles. How dry it is though! S… Read More
2022-07-31 10:25
It’s colourful-meal-time! No colour enhancement necessary for Salad Blue potatoes (they’re actually a maincrop). Fabulous looking and great flavour.The one Salad Blue plant that… Read More
2022-07-26 12:33
Our new trug - thanks JoanneToday we’re hoping to have another drone video filmed over the site by Colin. Thank goodness the wind has died down from the blustery days we’ve just… Read More
2022-07-20 16:33
Hands up who else was flagging like this yesterday!Sagging Patty Pan plant“When leaves show their undersides, be very sure rain betides” says the Farmer’s Almanac. Well, th… Read More
2022-07-15 08:58
I have more than a week off work - Yippee! And the weather is good - Hooray! Actually the weather has been beautiful continuously since my last post. The photo above was from last Sunda… Read More
2022-07-09 08:29
Finally got round to filtering the chive flowers from the vinegar. It’s so pretty and the chive flavouring is a lovely addition to chips or a salad. I’m thinking I may make… Read More
2022-06-30 11:41
The last couple of weeks have been mostly warm, with much less rain than was threatened so we had to water every day. And there have been really windy days with sun-cloud-sun. Stupid weather… Read More
2022-06-19 08:26
What a month June has been. In the last week we’ve had beautiful blue skies and high temperatures (~30° on Friday) but night-time temperatures still fell to 3.4°! And now we&rs&hell…Read More
2022-06-03 09:30
We have froglets! The tiniest you’d ever see! I’m so happy 😊There are a least five. The weird thing is that there are still lots of tadpoles which haven’t even deve… Read More
2022-05-29 09:26
My 10 days off work started well, with some lovely, albeit windy, weather. Jamie and I lazed under the blue sky and had a barbecue on Friday.It really was too hot to work - not that we were… Read More
2022-05-25 07:51
I received a 'help - urgent' message on my phone at the weekend, from a plotholder. It was because her partner and a fellow plotholder had to hide in a polytunnel while this lot decended on… Read More
2022-05-09 07:37
What a beautiful May weekend we’ve had, after a rather grey start to the month.We've had some of the rain that all us gardeners were waiting for, but there’s little sign of it on… Read More
2022-04-27 06:44
April’s a tease; making us think it’s sowing time, or even Summer-time, then going cold and windy.We had a few hours on the plot last Saturday and Sunday. Lovely in the sunshine;… Read More
2022-04-19 11:11
What a beautiful Easter weekend! Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures every day. Those clouds just started to get darker on Monday afternoon - good timing!We spent hours on the allotment o… Read More
2022-04-11 12:43
Another weekend of cold nights but both days the sky was mostly blue and it was pleasant weather to work in. Unusual wildlife spotted at Marsh LaneI managed to finish digging another qu… Read More
2022-04-05 07:41
It was a cold weekend - very cold nights with the temperature falling to -6.8° on Saturday night. We got up early (well, not that early but it felt it!) and walked up to the allotment to… Read More
2022-03-28 07:14
The clocks have moved forward an hour, so now we’re in British Summer Time. The blackthorn thinks it’s May already. So beautiful against the blue sky.It felt really summery on Sa… Read More
2022-03-24 08:00
I was amazed to see how quickly the frogspawn have developed. The frilly bits aren’t legs yet though, they’re external gills. The tadpoles look much more black in real life and a… Read More
2022-03-13 19:43
The robin that visits the wildlife plot is so friendly. He eats from a lid in my hand but isn't willing to stand on it; just takes a mealworm hummingbird-style and eats it on the fence. &hell…Read More
2022-03-09 08:14
Everyone agreed that Sunday was too cold. As one plotholder said “it’s a lazy wind; it doesn’t go round you”! The wind was bitter. With the hedge offering us some pro… Read More
2022-02-28 13:25
Aah, what a joy to see blue sky and sunshine. Working on the plot it certainly felt Spring-like (ok, so I did need a big jumper and coat but still..!). The sunshine brought lots of plotholde… Read More
2022-02-20 13:06
This week has been all about the weather. Storm Eunice hit on Friday and there was quite a lot of news of trees down in the area but our power stayed on so I could work all day; just looking… Read More
2022-02-07 13:18
This dwarf iris provided a spot of colour on an extremely wet and windy site yesterday afternoon.It didn’t seem like a day for being outside but working for a few hours on the HA… Read More
2022-01-31 18:31
Two very cold afternoons on the allotment this weekend. We’ve actually started to do a bit of clearing. I say ‘we’, it was mostly Jamie working while I took photos of the i… Read More
2022-01-22 09:52
Three weeks into January already? How did that happen? January always felt like the longest month of the year. Not in 2022 it seems. To be honest, not much has happened. Weather has been mos… Read More
2021-12-29 16:12
So we’re just about done with 2021. Rather a similar year to 2020 due to the pandemic but thank goodness for the allotment and the ability to work from home. I’ve been read… Read More
2021-12-21 09:58
Two days of leave, then a final two days of work before I stop for Christmas - hooray!As usual, we’re going to have a quiet Christmas and, as last year, it sadly doesn’t in… Read More
2021-12-07 13:54
When I opened the curtains on Thursday morning and spotted the moon, I had to dash for my big camera to get a photo and I was pleased to see it was in focus because 10 minutes later the moon… Read More
2021-11-29 16:36
We enjoyed a bit of snowfall yesterday. Nothing like the weather that Storm Arwen brought to the north of the country, but we don’t usually get much snow so I always think of it as a t… Read More
2021-11-25 18:49
November has blurred past me along with much of this year. Too much work and not enough play! I shouldn't complain, I like my job and I'm still working from home full-time - things could be… Read More
2021-11-01 08:52
There goes October, flying by and ending with a pumpkin-filled Halloween weekend.On Saturday we spent much of the day cooking. Jamie made a roasted red pepper and pumpkin soup, with sha… Read More
2021-10-23 17:37
So that's the last of this year's squash tunnel photos - I hope I didn’t hear a little cheer - the area is cleared and waiting for the trenches to be re-dug in time for the manure deli… Read More
2021-10-10 15:42
The mornings have been foggy and dark this week, but this weekend has been mostly warm and sunny. I’ve been prepping for future meals. I do enjoy seeing jars of stored beans.The Borlot… Read More
2021-09-28 17:29
Like other plotholders, I decided to pick the ripest squashes before the rain came.The two blue Crown Prince aren’t very big and I was disappointed that the plants only prod… Read More
2021-09-21 17:19
These weekends are flying by; the weeks are too, but I don't mind that so much! The previous weekend was warm and dull, but last weekend was mostly sunny and very warm. That’s when we… Read More
2021-09-07 07:42
I'm so happy that September has brought the heat and sunshine with it - aah, it's so welcome!The cosmos flowers are doing weird things, as you can see. They started out with normal petals, b… Read More
2021-08-31 07:53
Well, that’s August finished.We took home this colourful selection of veggies yesterday. The yellow courgettes are from Neal’s plot (thanks Neal) and they’re now part of a… Read More
2021-08-28 14:35
With a few days off last week I was lucky enough for them to be the sunniest we’ve had in a while. We had a barbecue at the plot. The sunshine ripened up some of our tomatoes before bl… Read More
2021-08-22 12:15
… Everyone gets wet!Poor little bee, clinging on to his cosmos stalk. We know how he felt! It was the first time in months that we walked to the site because the roads were at a… Read More
2021-08-16 18:14
I thought I'd start the post on a happy picture, as the next photo is a less happy one - our tomatoes haven't escaped blight so this lunchtime I chopped off all the leaves in the vain hope t… Read More
2021-07-31 16:13
The squash tunnel is enjoying the rain - we had torrential showers yesterday. The tromboncino have reached the top first but others are joining them. I have been manipulating them skywards b… Read More
2021-07-28 07:50
I’ve been enjoying my holiday so far. The weather has been perfect, not too hot and some evening (heavy) showers so we haven’t needed to water too often.Ivan let me pick a punnet… Read More
2021-07-20 11:51
Phew, it's been a sweltering few days - Close to 30°. Both Saturday and Sunday we got up the plot reasonably early and then had to return home for lunch and a siesta. In fact, it was rea… Read More
2021-07-11 17:26
This post is mostly going to be about food, with the occasional ‘Come on England!’ because I’m so excited that we’ve reached the Euros final!The broad beans have been… Read More
2021-07-06 12:22
It was Hungerford in Bloom allotment judging at the weekend so it was a busy site on Thursday and Friday, with lots of plot holders making their plots look their best. It’s a nice time… Read More
2021-07-01 08:15
Look at those feathers! Interesting aren’t they? I never realised that greater (probably) spotted woodpeckers literally have polka dot feathers! Unfortunately there was a pile of them… Read More
2021-06-13 18:38
Another bonus for home-working. We visited the allotment for an early lunch and, although it was mostly cloudy, we saw the partial solar eclipse. In fact, the cloud helped with the photo.I d… Read More
2021-06-08 07:07
Yesterday was my last day of freedom - back to work today (it's too early for work at the moment, if you're wondering!!), still full-time from home so that’s not so bad, but I have so… Read More
2021-06-06 09:27
What a beautiful week off work - proper June weather for much of it. We were working on Plot3 and had to move our bench to this lovely spot under the trees in order to cool down a bit.We&rsq&hell…Read More
2021-06-01 07:08
Phew! That was a hot Bank Holiday weekend - how lovely to spend hours in the sunshine on the allotment again. I was pleased with this photo of a recently hatched Cinnabar moth. I particularl… Read More
2021-05-23 13:10
This photo sums up yesterday’s time on the allotment; lovely warm sunshine interrupted by hefty showers which sent plotholders scattering across site to the toolshed, cars or polytunne… Read More
2021-05-16 17:36
We spent several hours on the plot yesterday and today we went up specifically to enjoy the rain from the polytunnel while having a coffee.That’s our first chive flower to open. I&rsqu&hell…Read More
2021-05-09 07:47
Look who we found on the site. Interesting isn't she, made of terracotta. She was dirty so must have been buried for a while.Is she from a previous plot holder or from canal dredging be… Read More
2021-05-01 11:04
It’s actually May Day, but this post is marking the end of April and we had some welcome rain - very cold rain and hail yesterday - and Froggy has found a friend.The seedlings and weed… Read More
2021-04-26 07:09
Look at the beautiful blue sky. What you can’t see is how chilly the strong wind was yesterday! Though I’m pleased to say that we’re quite protected at our end of the site… Read More
2021-04-18 18:17
Here’s a colourful and tasty meal we had in the week - at home (we haven’t decided to join the throngs in freezing pub gardens!). Lovely fried gnocchi with Vivera ‘bacon&rs&hell…Read More
2021-04-13 07:15
No, it’s not cress. That, believe it or not, is a celeriac seedling.There are 3 or 4 like that. I'm not convinced they'll survive to planting stage but will keep them going, even thoug… Read More
2021-04-05 10:37
A 4-day weekend, I need more of these! Especially with weather like we had yesterday - sun and lovely warmth. Aah, that blue sky makes me so happy!Jamie and I finished clearing the wildlife… Read More
2021-04-04 08:34
This weekend marks the thirteenth year of my kidney transplant. This was me at one of my earliest dialysis sessions - you can see the dialysis machine is connected through Tesio lines throug… Read More
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