Chopity Chop !

Busy weekend at the lottie ... it would have been even busier if the ground wasn't still frozen (will it ever thaw I ask myself !)

The pond appears to have been frozen for 3 months solid, so in a bid to let what little sunshine we have at this time of year into the plot I decide to have another chop at the overgrown hedge.

I asked for battery hedge trimmers for Christmas and Santa sent me some money to go and buy some ... but I haven't made it to B&Q yet to see what they've got ! So annoyingly, I've yet again spent hours and hours with my loppers chopping the flipping thing down. My new loppers are great though, they sliced through sizeable stems and even a couple of small trees ... now if only I could find my secateurs LOL.

When you are up close and busy chopping you really feel like you're doing a great job and everything is level .. then you stand back to admire your hard work and end up laughing your socks off at the crooked donkey-leg mess in front of you. Never mind, it is chopped and the sunshine is indeed hitting that side of the plot.

I spent a few hours shifting frozen bricks yesterday - and knocking a bit more of the old greenhouse down. It's getting there slowly ... slowly being the operative word. Still lots to do.

I wish I could clone myself, how wonderful would that be !

That lesser spotted furtive creature, the OH, was finally persuaded to come and do something with my bonfire today - he was kept busy for 3.5 hours gathering stuff to burn.

The lottie is definitely looking better .. which is lucky as my next door neighbour is expecting the new allotment officer to visit her tomorrow. She has been making tremendous progress and rather depressingly has received one of the letters saying 'get cultivating or else'. Needless to say she was furious and called them up to put them in the picture as to what a state it was in when she took it over. Hopefully they are coming to help remove a tonne of rusty metal, sacks and sacks of broken glass, a toilet (don't ask) and tonnes of other crap ... she's decided to keep the two baths and also the 35 tyres - apparently she has potatoe plans for them ... bonkers in my opinion, but still, whatever turns you on.

My seed order has arrived - I'm too exhausted to open it and see what I ordered. Plus I'm sure it will never warm up enough to ever contemplate germinating them. Someone on one of the forums that I look at has already started off tomatoes (tomatoes in January !), beetroot and some other bits and bobs.

On the plus side my squashes are still keeping well and we are gradually eating our way through them - my new latest obsession is Jamie's 30 minute meals, so they'll hopefully be disappearing soon. Sadly I've run out of garlic and am having to get it from the shop ... and onions too ... oh the shame. Call myself an allotmenter !

Where's that clone button

under starters orders !

finally been up to inspect winter progress.



Well the good news is .. erm, will have to get back to you on that.

We've had more snow in Sheffield - in fact there are still big piles hanging around in supermarket car parks etc from Christmas time. Fortunately it only lasted a day this time, but the pond and water butts have several layers of ice and it's still bitterly cold. The ground is saturated and it's pretty miserable really.

I wonder if it will ever dry out enough for my bonfire to burn...



Sadly no bored burglars have broken in and dug over the lottie ... I do look to have had a few bored foxes playing in the onion bed. They've probably been laughing over the state of them. They are still alive though ... and green. Not so much healthy. But still ... they are there. They are ... therefore they will :)

... which is more than can be said for my broadbeans - as suspected the meeces have have been enjoying some gormet breakfasts. It's difficult to be cross with them, as we had snow on the ground for about a month ... ho hum. Back to the shop LOL. They arnt' ... therefore they won't !

The garlic looks a little better - I should have fab cloved garlic this year. They love the cold temperatures.

The snow & winds have flattened the cabbage cage. I've put the netting into the greenhouse to dry out. I think this season I'll just have a fence type arrangement rather than a 'roof' too - it should make it easier to access and weed. Of course that means easy access for the butterflies too ... oh well, at least they are pretty.



Under the top layer of ice in the pond is water and then more ice - it feels solid. Hope my froggies are tucked up somewhere safe.



Now what about that good news - oh yes, the seed order has arrived ... hurrah ! that definitely means that Spring is just around the corner :)