While I’ve had harder weeks, last week was extremely disconnected. There was all the hospital stuff and much to my surprise, I don’t feel better this week. I have extreme cramping. It occurs to me that all of the prodding of my uterus would maybe lead to some cramping, I have also discovered that having a coil inserted can result in a couple (ok up to six) weeks of ‘mild period pain’. Reader, I don’t have mild period pain, I spent years thinking that I was being a drama queen about it but I’m not, it’s not mild, I’m not going to pretend otherwise! It’s better today than it was yesterday, but I really need it to ease off because I can’t keep crunching paracetamol and the other thing that helps my cramps is alcohol, neither are good for my liver!
Chocolate mousse
I did get to Charles and Eileen’s for dinner on Friday evening and Ma and I were briefly at the plot on Saturday (rain stopped play!), on Sunday I popped over to Christina and Fred’s for coffee and croissant and playing with their delightful 2 year old, she’s a dote, I also got to briefly cuddle the second baby too.
New Baby Clothes
For the weekend not involving that, I was at home with a hot water bottle.
The rest of this week is devoted of work, feeling better and catching up with laundry.
We got gooseberries, blueberries and blackcurrants, lots of them. I knew that this year was going to be a jam making year. Last year, I only made blackcurrant and tomato jam and while the tomato is great with cheese, it’s not amazing on toast and we ran out of jam pretty quickly. Practically, the last thing I did before I left the flat before building work last year was to make marmalade. There is one jar left!
So my was to make several small batches so that we had lots of different flavours. which I did we’ve had apricot, blackcurrant, gooseberry, raspberry and blueberry. I’ve just finished this weekend with two batches, a mixed berry made up mostly of raspberries and blackberries from the plot and a mixed berry from frozen fruit. This because we seem to have run through it.
Part of that is that I now have reputation for jam making and I do give the marmalade away because it gets rave reviews. One of my colleagues children made me a Christmas decoration, to thank me for the marmalade. Two of my colleagues have admitted to hiding it from family members.
Most of the preserves I made last year were made with fruit from the allotment (mixed berry and marmalade being the exceptions). While I don’t have an apricot tree on my plot others do and Nolan had a really good apricot year so gave me a kilo. So at least the fruit component of them are very local – the sugar is mostly made from sugar beet.
Sugar is a tricky part of trying to be sustainable. Beet sugar is more ‘local’ in that we actually grow it in the UK and imports of sugar beet are generally from nearby countries (France, Holland, Slovakia etc) and it’s generally more sustainable that cane sugar, because it needs less land and water to grow and processing it into sugar uses less CO2 than processing cane sugar. It’s not without issues, sugar beet growing is chemically intensive and to prevent the spread of Yellow Virus from aphids, the seeds are coated with neonicotinoid insecticides. There is a ban on them for most part, but sugar beet is the one place where most of the EU (and the UK) make an exception, in 2020, no neonicotinoids were used and the UK lost 25% of the sugar beet crop. So you do what you can and hope that it’s enough. It falls on the wrong side of the line for some people and overall, my sugar buying decisions are a drop in the ocean, I think I use about 10kg of sugar a year for preserving, but I have thought about it!
I still believe that my has a smaller footprint than buying jam and I do know exactly what’s in it. I’ve linked the recipes below
Blackcurrant (I tripled the recipe and did two batches!)
I think that’s probably enough but I still have a hankering for cherry and peach but that’s really for next season.
I’ve talked before about how I make jam and that I don’t water bath it, if you have feelings about it, I don’t really want to know, you do you, I’ve always done it like this and it’s always been fine. Once it’s opened, I keep it in the fridge. I’m sure that all the jam I make could also be water bathed for 20 minutes if you wanted to be extra careful but I’m not sure how that would work with the jars I use. I also don’t take this approach with recipes that do recommend water bathing, the tomato jam, apple butter and compote I make all get water bathed.
Which leads me neatly onto jars. I’ve used various jars over the years and this has lead to some confusion, like the time I gave someone chilli jam instead of marmalade. So I decided that I would use the Bonne Maman style jars for sweet jams and marmalade from now on. However, getting jars back is the bane of my existence so this year I’m going a batch of marmalade in jars I don’t care about and only giving the jars I want back to people I trust. Sally and Jane also give me their spares which is amazing.
I’ve been trying to assemble a list of what we plan to grow this year and it’s just too much. So I’m going to break it down for each month so that I can hold myself accountable to get things sown.
So let’s start with February. It’s not a big month for seed sowing but there are some things happening.
Potatoes. Seed potatoes have arrived. I’m going smaller this year and we’re growing Nicola as a second early and Setanta as a main crop. They are currently in the living room, chitting and my plan is to plant them around Easter time.
Sweet Potatoes. We had a good year last year and I’ve used one of last year’s crop and a random that I bought but that is sprouting. I’ve put them in soil and on a heat mat so we’ll see how it goes.
Sweet Peppers. I had planned to sow these last year but missed my window so I’ve sown them this year. Lipstick from Real Seeds and Lunchbox mix (Thompson and Morgan) and Corno di Torro Rosso (Fothergills). This is the first year I’ve grown them from seed. I’ve got them (and the aubergines and chillis on the heat mat so fingers crossed!)
Chillis. We grew jalapeno peppers last year and they were great for salsa. I’d like to grow them again and got some seeds from Fothergills and we’ll see how it goes. I’ve always wanted to grow Padron (Real Seeds) peppers.
Aubergines. Again something we grew last year with limited success so I want to try from seed. I have free magazine seeds. Black Beauty (Fothergills) and Long Purple (Kings) are what I’ve sown.
Perennial Leeks and Walking Onions. I bought some bulbs from Incredible Vegetables, because I like the idea of them. Where I’ll put them is another matter entirely.
Sweetpeas. I really want to grow more flowers this year. And I love sweetpeas, so we’re going to sow what I have, Everlasting mixed which is a perennial and for the annuals Antique Fantasy Mixed, Hi-Scent and Sweet Dreams.
Ranuculus. I bought 110 corms before Christmas; we have a bed planted up with them and I’ve planted a bunch in pots and containers. When they’ve flowered this year, I’ll lift them and find a more permanent place for them. I suspect this will be part of my as yet to be developed ‘bulb’ plan.
I also have a free packet of Alpine Strawberry seeds, I’m going to sow them and see if they grow, if they do, that’s great I have some room for more and I know Sue will take some and if we have an excess, that’s what the plant sale on Open Day is for!
I’m at the point where I’m just so done with my hormones. More bleeding, headaches and if I could get a hysterectomy, I’d take it because there have been 36 days this year and I’ve been bleeding for 30 of them I’m beyond fed up because it also comes with feeling sick and headaches.
So last week was work and sleeping and feeling bleugh. Even the demise of January and beginning of February could not lift my spirits.
However, as I’ve been saying to my team ‘the only way out is through’. I did manage to be mildly productive, this weekend I did some preserving, some laundry, I sowed some seeds and I read some books. That some laundry and sorting out food prep for the week has managed to improve my mood this week, if not my headache!
Seed Sowing Station
This week, I have an appointment at the Menopause Clinic, monthly reporting, Grace and allotment. It’s going to be a good week, I’m going to make it my bitch!
After a break up in 2019, Turnpike Troubadours got back together in 2023 and there was an album. Mean Old Sun great, but not my absolute favourite (Black Sky and Three More Days are my picks). However, I’m so happy to see them back.
Well, in true to form, the last couple of months of 2023 flattened me….
So here are the headlines.
Christelle’s dad died at the beginning of November, which meant at short notice, she and Mike had to go to France, which meant I had to go to Woking and look after the dogs. Gabi and Baylen are lovely dogs, but they are French boxers and the crazy is built in.
Baylen wanting me to stop work and pay attentionGabi reminding me that it’s time for her dental stick!
I was really glad that I could help my friends when they needed help but 4 days in someone else’s house was hugely discombobulating for me, so there was that.
The rest of my life has just been hard to cope with. Look, I know there are people out there with a heap of responsibility and work and just life and I’m aware that as a single person with responsibility only to myself (and my family, job, allotment and flat), I know I don’t carry the same burden of responsibility as others. However, it’s not a competition. I have responsibilities that other people don’t and I’m allowed to find things hard. I have found the last couple of months tricky, it’s partly working out how to work in a new role and balance all of my responsibilities in all of my working life, it’s partly hormones, it’s partly SAD, it’s partly the absolute mess the world is in right now and it’s a whole heap of other stuff about being 50 that I don’t even have proper words for at the moment. This is why I do therapy.
All of that to say, I put blog down for a bit because I needed more room to stress about the stuff that matters in my life. My work, my family, my friends, trying to get enough sleep…the good stuff.
But there was other great stuff, Ma hit 75, we went to lunch and my friend Christina was having her second baby that very day! There was Grace and work events (one of which was wreath making) there was dinner with friends, seeing new houses, parties, Christmas….and a large and beautiful tree.
The large and beautiful tree
It was all fine, but it’s been exhausting. I heard something the other day, we survive because of our resilience, in 2023, I’ve used my resilience. This year, I’m going into 2024, not having to rebuild my entire life. I used my resilience and here I am ready to start again. All of that is good.
So plans for this week, well office, it’s the last week of January so I need to get myself prepped for end of the month reporting and just catch up. There is weeding on the plot to do, marmalade to make, and all sorts of good things.
While I have been away from the blog, I have visited the the plot.
We haven’t done a ton of work, Ma is only coming every other week and there has been lots of other stuff going on. There has been weeding and tidying but the arrival of the seed potatoes last week means it’s time to start and get the plot in shape for spring.
August 2023
So let’s talk about the state of the plot.
Last season wasn’t the best. We had a four month hiatus in Jan-April last year because of the work to the flat and COVID. So we started behind. The weather was interesting, we had a fantastic berry year, this meant a lot of time was spent berry picking and not so much time weeding, and the weeds got very out of of control, especially on the side with the gardens (rose, herb, iris), where we didn’t strim the path so much. The wildlife loved it, we had crickets chirping away but the grass weeds, went bananas, and my squash beds stuffered.
Current state of the squash beds
It really wasn’t a complete disaster we grew things, I was overall, happy with what we got for the effort we put in. I did feel that I was constantly playing catch up. There were other life things too. I took on more at work, which has been great, however, I don’t do transition well and it’s involved a lot of learning and been mentally taxing, which does impact how much time I had for the plot. We add to that that Ma had her cataract replacement operations in August and September and while that was just a couple of days I was with her, she really couldn’t come over and help and generally, we are starting to transition how we see one another, I go to her more which is time away from the plot and absolutely not a problem, she’s 75 and I’m happy go over and do whatever needs doing (and see her too!).
All that to say, it was a trickier year than I expected and I will need to rethink how I organise my time this year (more activity, less reading I suspect!). However, I need to get it into a useable shape over the next three months, so that come April, I’m not weeding, when I should be sowing and planting!
Let’s talk about structure.
We are going to buy another poly tunnel. The current one needs a new cover and while it is over kill to buy a whole new polytunnel we thought we’d use the cover on the old frame and use the new frame as a fruit cage. Our allotment committee chair has done this and it works really well and it will give us a place for the blueberries and the strawberry towers and maybe free up some space where we’ve had to have them. It will mean losing some of the ‘wild area’ and the bed right next to it. As soon as the ground isn’t frozen, I’ll move the soil into one of the other beds, we’ll have some patio stones coming next week, to go down in that space and I need to move the lavender, that’s in the wild area. One of things we did get done before Christmas, was to plant up another 30 odd strawberry plants (and replant them, twice, over Christmas and New Year due to the windy weather!), so we have more strawberries for this year.
Collapsed strawberries and a weedy bulb bed
At the front of the plot where the bulb bed sits, we’ve removed the sides of the bed because they were not in good shape. The grass from the paths has been really bad this year and it’s tricky to tell what’s bulb and what’s grass. even when it’s clear which is which, the grass roots often pull up the bulbs as the bulbs have really grown. My plan is to let the bulbs flower and dig them up to replant in the autumn. I plan do the same to the grape hyacinths just outside the bed too. I’m still not 100% sure what to do with this area, there is a grapefruit mint and chamomile in this bed and last year I planted a lavender, some thyme and some chamomile lawn near here. There’s comfrey and a sage plant in the corner too. At the moment the cornflowers and calendula self seed here. so part of me thinks that I just plant some more perennial herbs so there’s a bit more green in the winter and sow some more annual flowers and herbs for the summer! We did have zinnias in there the summer before last and it was pretty, so that may be where we go.
I also have to find a home for the dahlias I bought this year. (Look, you know what a sucker I am for things that are named with significance – it’s why we grow Nicola potatoes and irises! So dahlias called ‘Wine Eyed Jill‘? It was going to happen). I’m also thinking with that area that if we plant bulbs that need to come up every year, then it helps us keep the grass under control. Right now what I really need to do is finish weeding everything at the front and get some mulch down.
No more bed and the encroaching grass
My allotment neighbour gave my plum tree a prune in the summer and hopefully, it’ll have a better year this year, it’s an old tree but I’d be really sorry to lose it as it’s perfect and we’re not allowed to plant trees this big anymore (especially not right next to the path!)
Woodchip is like snow, everything looks tidier after the woodchip has gone down.
We have cut back the raspberries and mulched with woodchip. At the weekend, we did most of the paths and over Christmas we tidied up the back of the plot and mulched there. There has been quite a bit of weeding and it’s not in terrible shape…
Back of the plot tidy
The things on the immediate to do list are clear the area for the fruit cage, weed everything I can and mulch at the front, I read that gooseberries don’t need much but that they hate to dry out, so that’s going to be a priority this year. I also need to prune the gooseberries and the blackcurrant.
Trimmed and mulched raspberries
Things I might not get to in February but need too are the boysenberry area, it’s very weed infested and it does get to the back so it needs sorting. The shed needs a paint and a tidy. We need to work out how much compost I need to buy and I need to actually turn the compost bins, there is always something to do!
I’ve also decided to get a green garden wheelie bin in April, there are weeds that need to be binned because my compost game is not good. I can’t keep piling them at the back of the plot, so we’re going to send them to the council compost site! It’s £100 a year well spent.
Next week, we’ll talk about what we plan to grow this year and my new(ish) indoor growing station!
The clocks went back this weekend! I know that people hate the earlier dark night but I personally love the slightly lighter mornings we get for a while.
Last week at work was busy, this week is also going to be busy, I’m just at the point where I just have to do the next thing in front of me and not get too stressed about it.
I had Friday off for a haircut and
Jane’s dog thinks we come to visit her not have haircuts…
The weekend was the pumpkin walk and the bar was the usual success, people really love the event. Last year, the committee took the decision to ticket the event with a minimal charge of £1, so we could limit visitors to 3000, time the tickets and paid for portaloos and St John’s Ambulance for first aid. Every year we improve it and this year we changed the route to help the flow of visitors and it certainly didn’t feel as frantic as it’s done in previous years. In fact someone was selling the tickets on Facebook for £20 a pop. Which on the one hand is terrible but on the other shows that it’s a good event!
This week is more work, home, allotment and tonight Ma and I are going to see Old Crow Medicine Show at Hammersmith, which is nice and handy for a schoolnight.
Nic Dempsey 