Showing posts with label allotment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allotment. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Growing sucess


Wow most things in the allotment are doing really well. First I had spinach coming out of my ears, then broad beans galore and now courgettes everywhere.

The only thing I'm short of is water. The lovely iron pump that I prefer to use at is almost dry. A family of mice moved in and I got two drowned ones swirling round in my watering can!

Lots of things have come and gone, but I took photos. We inherited some lovely large double poppies. We worked around them leaving them where they were. At first of course we didn't know what they would look like, but we weren,t disappointed.

Some storm damage was sustained, but Mc put that right before I could see the disappointing devastation. My beautiful sunflower was propped up and and the beans reorganised.

Something has been eating the runners as the flowers are fading, but we do have some left.



The shop is going well as it does in the summer. A trip to Taunton resulted in some lovely charity shop buys. I carried the heavy enamel sign all the way from Station Rd to the carpark behind the bus station while pulling everything else in my wicker shopping trolley!



I got lots of quilting supplies and some sheet music. The bell jars are from Sainsbury's! I got an identification of the vintage Welsh blanket from here http://www.welshblankets.co.uk/index.php . The roses are long crisp lined cotton curtains.

Vintage Toys
A customer and his Japanese wife sold me a part auction lot of a dolls pram and some toys. He only wanted a few books and sold me the rest. His main interest was Sooty and Sweep and he kept a Noddy puzzle. Long after they had gone I found a puzzle piece that looked like part of a Beek illustration. Was it from his puzzle? Also he collected Sooty and Sweep and one of the my puzzles hiding in a chocolate box was Sooty and Sweep in the kitchen!

The pram sold the next day before I could photograph it, but I took some pics of the toys, which have now sold on eBay.

After watching Mary Queen of Shops I have decided I agree with her idea of painting furniture and reselling it. I have been selling items for customers to paint and have painted a few small pieces myself which have sold well. These are my current projects. I liked the colour the shelves were when I bought them from last weekends car boot, but the finish was not good and you could tell the preparation was hurried.












I often pass an empty shop in my village. It was already spoken for when I got mine, but has remained empty due to unsuccessful planning app. As Mc and I walked past it this week we noticed the windows where whitewashed. I said "That would be a great place to sell painted furniture. You could do the work in the lean-to at the back" Well guess what? Yes a new shop in Ilchester!!! opening in mid August selling painted furniture. With the proper antique shop not closed yet down, my junk shop and this new shop Ilchester is moving to become somewhere to actually go to shop instead of stumble on.

Monday, 10 May 2010

If you can't find me I'm down at the allotment



I made it to the top of the waiting list, and now have an allotment in my village. You can see it from the 303 as you zoom past the Ilchester junction and smell the sewage works.

I decided that this bed was far too big, and wanted to split it into two smaller beds or make it L shaped. This is why I have been so quiet lately.

I took over a small plot which has had some work done on it already, but the last tenant was moving out, so, the shed, gate, bench and wood from the raised beds were eventually taken away.
One thing I have noticed is how obsessed the English are about potatoes. Everyone wants to know 'Where are you going to put your potatoes?' 'How big is you potato bed going to be?' 'Will you be sowing earlies, late earlies and lates?' ...um well actually I wasn't going to grow any spuds at all!! We eat carrots and broccoli, some beans sweet potatoes, pasta, couscous, and rice at home. Why would I want to grow potatoes?
Mc has taken over the general direction of the allotment and if you haven't noticed he is Irish, so we are growing Charlotte and Desiree who as far as I knew were two of Elvis' girlfriends, but are actually potatoes.
We have now got a microwave cooking box thing in the kitchen and I have heard that you can put potatoes in it and wait for a ting noise and then they come out a bit like baked boiled potatoes. I think it is as much a waste of space as the similar looking TV box thing in the other room.
We have been working the allotment for a month now and I notice that we should start taking notes. We forget what we have sewn where and when. This info would be useful now and next year.
I've missed some good fairs due to having my head in the mud (that's another thing apparently it is called SOIL). I will have to visit a few blogs to see what I missed.