Stop Whining !!

After the last post, full of woe is me and isn't every terrible, I had a long hard think, my home is safe and dry, my family are safe and well and my plot hasn't been flooded - rotton cauliflowers, blight on the potatoes, non existent peas and lack lustre everything else is nothing compared to what a large portion of the country is suffering at the moment, so in the words of my three year old 'Stop whining mam' - don't you just love it when they throw your catch phrases back at you !

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week both days were dreadful but the evenings were dry and pleasant so I went down to the plot to make a start on the Operation Weed Removal.

It was hard to decide where to begin - it all looks pretty dreadful at the moment, however the purple cabbage and sprouts and green sprouts and the dead peas won the prize for looking the worst so it was there that I attacked first.

From this ....

To this

The next evenings work entailed deciding which of the rows of potatoes looked the most dead and then digging them up and weeding the rest - I was under the impression that the top growth of the potatoes would shade out the weeds - oh no it didn't - the weeds grew like plants possessed - anyway an hours work saw the potato bed go from this ...

To this ..

I am getting a strange satisfaction from seeing freshly dug, plant free soil - it seems to show real effort to me ! Two evenings work have made a big difference to the plot and I am quite please that four hours weeding and digging have almost licked this plot into shape

The row of potatoes on the right of the photograph are so far standing up well - no illness to report of so they are staying put, the next trip - hopefully tomorrow night - will see me sorting out the row next to the compost bin and the edge of the path - this row seems to be suffering from illness and weeds so it will be the next to see action, after that the weedy path between the purple foliage and the freshly dug potato bed and then the onions - and then Operation Weed Removal really gets into full swing on 'the other plot' !

EEEEEEKKKKK !!!

I think the rotton cauliflowers and the almost overgrown rhubarb win first prize for being in desperate need of rescuing - so they will be the first to be helped !!

Doom and Gloom

If you have been wondering why I haven't posted for a long time at what should be the busiest and most enjoyable season of the growing cycle, it is because of sights like this poor cauliflower which have left me considerably downhearted ....


This cauliflower went from promising beauty into rotten mess in just eight days, I had a rotton cold and didn't visit the plot for a week and when I returned I was gutted.

Nothing appears to be growing - apart from weeds, if things are growing they are stunted - like these cucumbers which have been in the ground for seven weeks and have put on one paltry leaf - I have checked and they are supposed to be an outdoor variety !!

The potatoes are suffering so all the ones that look yellowy and sorry for themselves have been dug up and are being dried out in my kitchen.

This a full length shot of the plot - even my beans cannot cope with this silly weather we have been enduring - and after I went to all that trouble creating a wig-wam for them to grow up - they haven't even manged to get two foot high.

I am really disappointed with the lack of success - but I feel that a lot of it can be attributed to the weather and I will certainly not let it stop me trying harder next season.

I have decided to write this year off and begin planning now for next year, soil preparation and improvement, weed control and removal, and above all regular attendance should see me in good stead.

Oh well its all part of the fun we call lotty-ing and I did get some absolutely stunning strawberries !!!!