rain RAIN rain

well we had big plans for a full day on the allotment today, but it has been raining none stop since early morning, so that put pay to our big plans. ive been looking around the web and come across some lovely gardening sites, with lovely colourfull pics of lovely cottagey plants so im goung to share them pics with you, and brighten up the day with them.

dont they make you feel all summery

these are the pics of the primrose's we put in on monday, sandy made a scrapbook layout with these pics here

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a splash of colour

we decided that it looked really drab on the allotment and needed a splash of colour so we went and got some primrose's, just to brighten it up. they look nice so we put them across the top of the potatoe bed, now we feel like there is life there, we noticed some of the seed'd we planted had started to sprout so thats gonna give us another incentive to keep at it, sandy brought seaweed back from her trip to angelsey at the weekend and we spread that out on the potatoe beds, i read somewhere that it was very good for the potatoes. she also bought some perenials that she wanted to plant so we found a little bed and she put in her hollyhocks lupins and sea holly, so it will be really exiciting when they start to grow to,we have decided that we are gonna put in some flowers as well as the veg.

these are what we are hoping the flower plot ones will look like.

sandy loves that cottage garden look so there will be more plants added when she gets round to splitting what she has in her garden, delphiniums, larkspur foxglove more lupins and all that kind of stuff.

i bought a few packs of seeds todayto plant when the time is right, candy tufft, sweet william night scented stock godetia, these always remind me of our dad he always had these growing in his garden, though he never spared much room for flowers he grew mainly veg in both his front and back garden, he was one of those men that could grow anything but he liked to be able to feed himself off the land,with growing his own veg and hunting with his lercher for rabbits, he was also a very good cook and rabbit stew was usally on the menu with dumpling to die for.

another day another plot dug

we got another plot dug and weeded, it seemed to take forever this one was twice the size of the others so it took nearly a full day to complete this one , now things are starting to look a little in order.we decided to put visqueen down in between the beds for easier walking between and we are gonna put bark or some sort of chippings on it , just by doing that it made a hell of a difference to the apperance of the allotment, like someone is actually doing something there. we got the early onion sets in too today too.

the boys were designated there space two small beds at the far end and they happily dug and weeded and dug and dug and dug, then stated that they had made it rain in affrica, when we looked up oran was covered in sluch from head to toe , they had dug a hole about 2 foot deep and filled it with water and then accidently slipped in to it you can imagine they state they looked, hence he had to travel home in the car semi naked, but at least the poor people in africa got some rain LOL!!

Scarecrow

i was wondering if we would need a scarecrow? or do you think she will do


robin
yeah he came again today, he was a little braver he came quite close and perched on the fence post to observe our work, we made a sort of feeding table for him and put in seeds and dried mealworm, which when we were at a comfortable distance for him he explored and enjoyed lunch , he retreated to his tree branch then and sang his heart out.

suggestions
there is an area that we call the wilderness and we are looking for suggestions as to what to do with it, it has a few trees in there, and lots of brambles, and is very boggy. dose anyone have an idea of what we can use this for or how to transform it?

got in a couple of hours

we got a few hours in today, our little friend the robin came to visit so we are going to buy some meal worms for the next visit to see if we can get him to come a little closer so we can get a good photo of him.

we planted some potatoes today,we thought we had cleared all the roots of the weeds in that bed but they must have multiplied again as we prepared to plant the Murphy's they were all over it looked like a giant bed of spaghetti, hopefully that will be the end of them today but somehow i don't think so..... also we started off some pumpkins in seed tray's the kids were really excited about these and hopefully by October they can make there own home grown jack-o-lanterns. the daffodil's that we stumbled across last week under all the leaves have really grown and are starting to get buds on them, cant wait for them to open up and a bit of colour star to appear, then we will know that spring is here, and it will be full steam ahead from then on.

this is how we want it to look someday but its gonna need a lot more work before it gets anything like this.

these are not pics of our daffs or robin just put them on to brighten up the post

todays recipe

Beetroot Ravioli with Dill Cream
This requires quite a lot of preparation, but it really is delicious - it is the sort of dish to make on a cold wet winter's day when you would rather spend time in a warm kitchen than outside!
Serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a main course.
1 quantity fresh pasta1 tbsp olive oil1/2 tsp caraway seeds175 g/6 oz cooked beetroot, chopped175 g/6 oz ricotta or curd cheese25 g/1 oz dried breadcrumbs1 egg yolk2 tbsp grated Parmesangrated nutmegsalt & pepper
1. Make the pasta dough; wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest.
2. For the filling, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and caraway seeds and fry for 5 mins until light golden; add the beetroot and cook for a further 5 mins.
3. Process in a liquidizer until smooth; leave to cool, then beat in the ricotta, breadcrumbs, egg yolk, Parmesan and nutmeg; season.
4. Roll out tlhe pasta dough to form 8 sheets; lay one sheet on a floured surface and place heaped teaspoons of the filling at 2.5 cm/1 inch intervals over the dough; dampen around the mounds of filling with a wet pastry brush and lay a second sheet of pasta over the top; press around the mounds to seal well. Cut into round ravioli using a cutter, or into squares using a sharp knife. This should make 40 ravioli. Place on a floured tea towel.
5. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil; add the ravioli and cook for 3-4 mins until al dente.
For the Dill Cream:

seasonal reciepes

well havent been to the allotment for a few days. the snow came not a lot on thursday but quite a bit yesterday, its rained over night so most has been washed away. its half term next week so hoping to spend most of it on the allotment
im going to add a few seasonal reciepes .

LEEKS

Pork & Leek Sausages, Black Pudding & Leek Mash
Rich black pudding twinned with leek mash and succulent sausages – this really is comfort food at its best
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
450g (1lb) pork and leek sausages
900g (2lb) potatoes
2 leeks, sliced
100g (4oz) black pudding, cut into cubes
1 eating apple, cored but skin left on
150ml (¼ pt) cider or apple juice
A sprig of fresh thyme
Splash of milk
Knob of butter

Method
Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Place them into a pan, cover with water and boil for about 15 minutes, until soft. During the last 8-10 minutes add the leeks. Meanwhile in a small frying pan cook the black pudding until golden and crispy.In a large pan, dry fry the sausages for 12-15 minutes until cooked they’re through. During the last 5 minutes of cooking time add the apple to the pan and allow it to lightly brown. Add the cider, or apple juice, and the thyme to the sausages and allow it to bubble until reduced slightly.Drain the potatoes and leeks, and mash with the milk and butter. Then stir through the black pudding.Serve the sausages with the black pudding and leek mash, apple gravy and seasonal green vegetables.

got in a couple of hours on the allotment

well all were feeling a little better so we trotted of to the allotment for a few hours, we got another three beds turned over despite the frost and ground being so hard, the boys got stuck in for about ten minuets before the got bored and wanted to explore the rest of the sheds and allotment.

oran while exploring the old chicken shed found a butterfly,amoung the muck and other stuff he discovered later there were a few more, so he gentle put it back where he found it

we had a visitor today

a lovely little robin sat perched in a tree watching what we were doing the photo isnt very clear but you can just make him out keeping an eye on us

we fought our way through the wilderness a fenced off patch that is over grown with weeds and bramble the view of part of the valley we live in was lovely from here

The grave

the grave on the allotment has been there over a hundred years , the story is that there was once a farm on the land and this man had commited suicide and was part of the family that lived there so he was buried here as it was unconsumated ground

a find for Carol

for those of you who havevisited my sister carols blog pink cottage will know she loves to revamp old things and make them pretty, while looking around the sheds we came across this little stool, i think its a stool with storage space for sewing or embroidery items, so its here waiting to see how she transforms it to somthing pretty

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the weather for next week has forecast snow , and its half term too, thought we might have got more done , well you never know he may have got it wrong

not much done

there hasnt been another thing done on the allotment in nearly a week, i have bought some new gardening tools, seeds and a few plants and im raring to go, but my sister sandy and her kids havent been well, and being the scardy cat i am, knowing there is a grave on there i wont go by my self, hopefully we will get there tomorrow, we noticed last week while we were digging for most of the day there wasnt a single worm to be found on the allotment which puzzled us, if anyone could enlighten us on why i would appreciate it.

first day on the allotment photos

ground breaking day

thursday i spent the day on the allotment with my sister sandy, we got quite a lot done, we thought!!! we tidied up all the leaves and put them in the compost bin and got a couple of beds turned over, its a huge allotment and there's loads to be done, i don't know what has been growing on there in which bed over the last few years so its all gonna be trial and error this year, i will post the pictures on tomorrow when i have more time.