2010 - Here we go

Yes yes its been way too long - since Aug last year both Trevor and I have been consumed by the big C!!!!

The first one in August was a shocker Trevors boss of 28 years- who had been his fathers boss also died of kidney cancer - the first he heard of it was once he had actually passed away - and then a letter arrived from the company - That i opened by mistake - He was about to visit Oz to give his daughter away at a lavish wedding ceromony!

Then my sweet and dear Auntie Mary - had cancer, she had kemo and drugs and all the treatment possible between July and Sept but that took its toll on her very small frame and she was too taken from us - Trevors father was diagnosed in Sept and he again had treatment but all so quick he was too in a hospice suffering and died begining of FEB - all in all a tough 8 months - esp as trevors Dad lives in Plymouth a 5 hour drive each way.


So weve come through this stronger smarter and wiser but its all still so fresh and sad - so what better way to get on with things than to blog about it

Sunday gone 21st of March was first proper day for uncovering, dusting off and getting stuck in - all looks fine and it felt fab - the sun was finally shining 2010 has had the coldest wettest Winter for 30 years -so that can only mean one thing ahead - a scorchio summer!!!

\So welcome back - lets get back into it - Just wanted to touch base - make sure they hadnt suspened me blog page seeing as i havent used it in such a long time, on Charlies laptop too so no pics - next time i will get some

Regards to all!

Catch Up from last 5 months

the last few months here have not been the greatest. Two close family members have been diagnosed with the dreaded C - I cant even write it in full. So this has taken up a lot of our time, we have done our best with the plot but not as much tome as usual so we havent blogged as much as we would of liked!!

My auntie M is so dear to me - This is her garden in North London this summer I spent a lot of time here sitting with her on her bench in the sun.............its a great garden - flowers all around the edge - with veggies in the middle. Its her pride and joy and Uncle J's too.

Preparing for Wimbledon

These are strawberry seeds - we are planting them in a teracotta pot ready to eat with Wimbledon on the lawn.............Yeah right!! we may be a bit late - However we have some other plants as backup - we grew strawberries our 1st and 2nd year no problem - they take no work at all - as long as theres sun! Lasy year though we only had a handful as the summer of 08 was our wettest in our records - So lets see what happens with these seeds - I will also try some in the greenhouse - Thats what allotmenting is all about!! Give it a go and see what happens

The Grape Vine

Here are two pics of the grape vine - the first is the actual bunch of grapes that have just started taking shape - the vine is about 3 years old - it was a fathers day gift for Trevor. We had one bunch last year but hopefully more this year - In the winter it just turned into a twig - its incredible how something that looked so dead can come back to life and burst into life and actually produce fruit - I just find that incredible.

Catching Up - Ben, Digging and a Picnic

Weve only been to the plot 3 times in the last 2 weeks - we've been on a fishing weekend away - and camping - and I have had exams so it was study, study, study for the last two weeks - Exams are now over so back to business!!

This is our picnic from last week - we like to have a spot of lunch on the plot - and we do it in style - under the tablecloth is a table give to us by Pat, our Irish neighbour who has been a great source of information and who we now call a friend.

The cougettes here are enourmous - they were under recycled water cooler bottles that trevor brought home from work - we planted more than this and the ones not under cloches are teeny weeny compared to these! Just shows you how temprature plays such an important part in the growth of these veggies.

This is Ben - Ben lives in the house across the alley and visits most days - Hes such a friendly little moggie - he likes nothing better than a cuddle and a sleep on the big chair in the shed - Funny thing is Ben doesnt seem to visit anyone else on the plot - just us - and we used to live in the house he now lives in - Maybe we smell similiar is all I can think of??

This square was dug a couple of weeks ago ready for crops to come out of the greenhouse - havent exactly decides what yet - Maybe the broad beans and runner beans.

Easter Egg Hunt

Trevors birthday 12th April and as Lucy and Harvey are here and Auntie likes a bit of chocolate too - I had organised a Easter Egg Hunt on the plot 20 or so eggs were hidden throughout the 2 plots for Charlie Harvester and Luby to find. Lovely to see Charlie on plot he dosent come at all now - being 15 its so uncool - So really great to see him over