Simon's Allotment

This morning when I woke up sunshine touched my heart... My lovely daughter gave birth to a baby boy at 00.05 this morning, my first grandc...

All systems go, spring has sprung, vernal equinox and all that. Busy sowing under glass today for planting out in about six weeks when the s...

The last bit of digging: a rather patchy patch of winter tares turned in:

This year's new project (ta-da!) is to extend the biodiversity of the plot with patches of wild flowers at the top of the two beds. On...

I've used the last of last year's compost to mulch the perennials:

Time to shake a leg. Was it ever so slightly perceptibly warmer today or was that just my imagination? Whatever. I've sown the first pea...

Mostly for my benefit, I'll keep it updated. Antirrhinum "Crown Mixed" (saved seed) - Sown in greenhouse 21.3, 1/2 seed tray. ...

Back from a month in Australia. Not that I expect anyone to have noticed. You can read about it here if you haven't run out of better t...

I sowed these at the back end and they seem to have survived the snow and ice so today I've put up some roadwork netting to give them so...

I managed to miss the big garden birdwatch . I did see a redwing on the plot the other day but not today so it doesn't count. Such is li...

Where I cleared some of the brambles at the back of the plot I've planted a young Sweet Chestnut - Castanea "Marigoule". This ...

Now the snow's gone I can crack on with some jobs on the plot. I've pruned the apples, gooseberries, raspberries and grapes, now I...

Brambles are a great multi-purpose plant. Shelter for birds and mammals, flowers for the bees in spring and blackberries for me from summer ...

As the fence panels between me and my neighbour start coming apart I'm replacing them with a hawthorn hedge. Here I've planted a str...

A gang of us planted these stands of trees as little saplings for the council twenty-odd years ago so it's good to see them doing well. ...

Hello boys and girls. My resolutions this year are to eat more from skips and resume shoplifting . And get out more in the countryside. Sta...

So how was it for you? Check out my cool pressies: Bungee-jumping bird feeder Trailer-shaped nesting box (makes me feel all nostalgic ). Che...

I haven't shown you my air raid shelter before because it's top secret. Or possibly because up till now it was buried underneath the...