Tag: gardening
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Pitmedden Gardens
Last Monday was a bank holiday here and we took the opportunity to visit Pitmedden Gardens. Despite being only 14 miles north of Aberdeen, we’ve never seen them before. We visited the café once on a trip to Tolquhon Castle but have never stopped to look at the gardens. Pitmedden Gardens is a recreation of…
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More plotting at the allotments
I had a back-breaking morning at the allotment today. The mustard yellow shed has inspired me to get some other jobs done that I’ve been wanting to do for ages, one of which was to remove all the stones and weed matting. Never, ever put weed matting and stones down. Weed matting is just awful…
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An easy vegan meal, shed painting, and slim pickings
I’ve been making a lot of pasta with pesto lately. The kids love it and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings I have less than an hour between when my workday ends and my General Assembly course begins so I want something that’s quick and easy to cook. I buy the pesto sauce which is vegan,…
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Dresses, gardening, cycling, and lectures
I got a magnificent gown at the charity shop yesterday. I have no idea when or where I’ll ever wear this but it was too lovely to resist and fits me perfectly. Today I’ve been gardening mostly. There’s so much to do both at home and at the allotment. I’m so far behind this year…
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Ticks and messy plots
The Loch Ness Tickular is still alive. Now that it has shrunk in size I can quite clearly see it’s a tick. When I first yanked it out it was round like a tiny balloon filled with my blood. After several days of starvation it has shrunk and all the limbs are clearly visible now.…
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Baking, gardening, and baby cyclamen
I’ve had the day off work today and it has been lovely to just potter around at home. I did some gardening and baking. Ben made hot cross buns this morning, just as he does every Easter. I made scones. Both scones and buns were both delicious! Earlier this year I noticed my cyclamen producing…
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Scones, tomatoes, fires, and pain relief
I woke up this morning excited to start my day. As Ben would say, “Don’t worry, you’ll get over it”, I’m sure I will. I got up and made some vegan scones with a Scottish twist by adding oats. I love oats and they’re so good for you. The scones are delicious and the perfect…
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Beetroots, beans and bikes
We went to the allotment today and the kids harvested a couple of beetroots. The allotment is giving us beetroots, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, and herbs right now. The other crops have either died away with the cooler weather or have been harvested already. We have an abundance of kale which should see us right through…
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A lemon tree in Aberdeen
I know I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch but I’m so excited about these little babies growing on my lemon tree. I bought this lemon tree about 3 years ago as a tiny plant and it has tripled in size and this year has lots of lemons. Last year it started to produce…
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Courgettes and tomatoes
I’ve been so busy this month with cycling-related activities that I’ve neglected my plot. However I managed to get out there today and brought home more courgettes and tomatoes than we can eat. I also got a couple of cucumbers and some broccoli and kale. I’ve got masses of kale but kale will grow all…
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The weekly yield
This is what I picked from my allotment yesterday. There is more I could have picked but didn’t, like kale, swiss chard, spinach, beetroot, and potatoes. The tomatoes are some kind of tiger variety and are meant to look stripy. I’m really happy to get them because a couple of months ago the plants looked…
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Bees and toads
I can only get to the allotment once per week but it changes so much with each visit. My courgettes are cropping in abundance. I’m not sure what to do with them all. I also got my first tomatoes and cucumbers of the season. I have heaps and heaps of kale. More than we could…
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The pear tree: one month on
The pear tree I planted a month ago that looked rather dead has sprung back to life. In fact, all the plants in the whisky barrel have changed dramatically in just one month. Here’s how it looked at the beginning of June: Here’s how it looks today: That’s a single spinach plant in the front…
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Why I dislike weed matting
I dislike weed matting and here’s why. The following photo is one I took at my allotment on the weekend. As you can see, a previous plot holder as put down weed matting at some point and then placed stones on top. I’m sure the weed matting held back the weeds initially but eventually they…
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The pleasures of gardening and composting
I never thought I’d be excited about a compost bin but I am. He arrived today and he is a Hotbin. I haven’t given him a name yet but he’ll apparently reach temperatures inside of 60C, even in winter! Some people keep them in their glasshouse as a source of heat over winter. He’ll make…
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The interminable battle with slugs and weeds
I’ve been struggling with the slugs at the allotment this year. Most of the seedlings I’ve planted have completely vanished, presumably eaten by slugs. Last month I applied nematodes to the soil and put out a heap of beer traps. There seem to be fewer slugs now and although I’d like to take the credit…
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A pear tree in a whisky barrel
The local school was selling fruit trees for fund-raising and I bought a pear tree. They were meant to be dwarf/patio varieties which appealed to me because although I have a large garden, it’s full of established shrubs and trees already and I don’t have space for another large tree. I already have two plum…
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Growing your own food
Climate Café no.5 was on in Aberdeen last night. If you live in Aberdeen I highly recommend this series. It’s an initiative of Aberdeen Climate Action, a community organisation for which I’m a volunteer, and we are spreading inspirational messages to encourage our communities to tackle the problem of climate change. Inspirational is absolutely the…
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Brussels sprouts, ceilidhs, and ethical clothing
I went to the allotment yesterday after an absence of almost a month due to treacherous ice on the bike path. It was just as well I went as most of my netting had been blown off and was no longer protecting plants. Something has been having a good nibble of this: I wasn’t even…
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View from the cycle path
It has been a while since I’ve posted a pic of the view from the cycle path but it’s time to make amends because the colours were so pretty on my ride this morning. There’s a lovely patchy blue/grey sky today and the landscape is full of autumn colours. I was at my plot this…
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