Living where I do.

I find it quite hard sometimes to except that I live in such a beautiful part of the country I'm only 20 mins from the coast and it where many people come to visit for holidays but I live here and often find it quite hard to believe. I don't know why I'm surprised I have lived in Suffolk all my life 33 years to be precise and most of those have been spent living a stones throw from the coast and river or living in deep countryside. Even now I'm in a small town but it's lovely and often taken for granted.




It's lovely spending the school summer holidays here today we have been to the beach for a picnic and paddle the a little bit of messing about on the Mere.






The children think it's great fun and it works well with our family life.

Yesterday I joined the local cycling club and I was nervous but it was lovely to cycle with like minded people and we did 23 miles on the bike.

I'm looking forward to this growing season on the allotment to be over as I can't wait to start afresh I'm planning on having marked beds and proper walkways mainly so the children don't trample over the vegetables also as I'm so near the tap I have noticed other allotment holders have been cutting across my patch to get to the tap. How do I know this there is a clearly marked flat trodden route amongst my beans and it always seems to be damp where as the rest of the plot is dry. I'm also hoping the sections which will be like raised beds but not as high will be easier to maintain as I seem to be having a few problems with bindweed.

Hot and sleepless nights

In typical british style we love to talk about the weather and I'm no different. Luckily today has been cooler but yesterday was far to hot we spent most of it outside or in a hot stuffy clubhouse at cricket. Last night was unbearable with the windows flung open which made no difference as there was no air. Myself and daughter got hardly any sleep. She really suffers with eczema this time of the year so I spent most of it cooling her down with a damp flannel. Sometimes we have to resort to antihistamines to help her sleep and break the itch scratch cycle. It's something we have always lived with but this year seems worse than most.

Today's been a quiet day spent with family pottering about at home. It's cooler today so hoping for a better nights sleep.



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A bumper harvest

So life is about learning things and my first year of having an allotment is constantly about learning things my latest lesson is I do not need to plant 6 courgette plants especially when it is only me that eats them!

Yes I am surrounded by courgettes and marrows planting 6 plants at the time felt like a good idea they will take up space when I'm not sure what to grow well I didn't expect to have 6 very well producing plants. So my neighbours have been given a bag of courgettes each I hope they like them. I'm not allowed to sell them it's in the contract we sign when taking on a plot many people have said they would never know I'm sure there will be somebody that would report me.

I have also been harvesting potatoes by the bucket load and most plants when dug up have been invaded by ants but the potatoes seem to be fine. I have lots of dwarf beans from my 8 plants and plenty of runners and raspberries. My pumpkins and squash plants are doing well along with the sweetcorn and my greens are growing nicely protected in their little cage.

I would like to say I'm a natural and completely green fingered by I'm sure it's just pure luck I know for one thing in my little note book of ideas for next year I will only plant a couple of courgette plants. It was far to hot to spend much time on the plot today so I will pop back later as the edges need tidying up a bit.

What has been most peoples gardening disasters when growing veg?

Redecorating

Three and a half years ago we had a extension built transforming our little two up two down into a three up three down. It was a complete overhaul and renovation job with rated being removed living without a kitchen or bathroom and worse a flushable toilet. I still have nightmares about that!. Like most things this overran and the builders finally left about a week before Christmas. At one point it go so much with two young children running around amongst the dirt and chaos we moved into the inlaws for a couple of weeks. This provided much needed breathing room and at least I could use the bathroom in peace.

So our middle room or dining room come office as it is now needs redecorating it used to be our old lounge and it has the stairs in it and you walk straight in from the front door. We tried it as a day room come playroom but didn't really get used and became a glorified hallway and dumping ground. We are having a new floor that is running straight through to the kitchen as this didn't get done due to lack of time and money.

So I'm having great fun looking at colours and thinking of going green to compliment my blind.




I'm thinking of the lower colour which is called green ground. I will let you know how I get on.

In other news only one more day till the summer holidays begin and we don't have to rush in the morning it doesn't matter what time I get up we still seem to rush.

Location:Redocorating

A stormy weekend

Like most of the country we didn't escape the storms with them starting Friday night which meant very little sleep. I'm petrified of thunder storms but I'm getting braver I can't sleep through them as I need to be alert just incase. I think it all comes from my school being struck when I was nine. So we have had three days with thunder two of them at night though last night wasn't as bad we had a very heavy storm today and flash floods making some roads impassable.

I didn't go up to the allotment this weekend as it was very wet and you can't do much with the heavy clay soil we have. Though I did spend yesterday doing bits in my own garden from making a new flower bed and herb garden. I also broke my little lawnmower so it's was a trip to Ipswich today to get a new one and Mr M needed some bits from Halfords for our bikes as we've both got into road cycling. I have always loved cycling and did a couple of 100ks but on a mountain bike which was tough so have upgraded to a road bike. We had a lovely cycle on Friday as we did 64k as he had the day of work to celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary.

Hoping for a quieter and cooler night as would quite like at least 6 hours sleep.

Th children only have 3 days left of school so I'm really looking forward to the summer break we have lots of little things planned but mostly we take it each day at a time.

Have I really be gone that long

Having technical issues (password and hacking) about a month ago made me have a break from blogging whilst I set everything back up again.

I have spent a afternoon reading the blogs I follow and there has been some lovely news along with some sadness also.

I haven't been doing anything much just ticking by with general household chores and tendering to the Allotment which is producing courgettes, potatoes, onions, runner beans, dwarf beans and plenty of sweet peas. I have also invested in a cage as I was given some Brussels sprout plants, and sprouting broccoli plants.

I'm already making plans for next year on what to grow and where and can't wait to get started.

Having a break from the blog has been nice and I'm still thinking about the direction I want to ramble in.




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A couple of days doing lots of little things

Yesterday I managed to spend a good hour and a bit at the allotment planting out the sweetcorn, climbing french beans and some dwarf beans. Also tackled the weeding. I also believe that my first earlies are ready but I'm a bit nervous digging them up. The children were picking the raspberries that were ripe and putting straight in the thier mouths. 

Today I spent a good couple of hours doing my beaver scout training ready to over my group in September I'm really looking forward to it but also worried I'm sure it will go ok. I also put some shelves together which is for our shed though I should have measured first as they are two tall. I have managed to get around it by having one half in the shed with tools, paint pots and garden bits on. The other half is in the childrens play house which is used to store thier bikes and various toys so it will help keep that more tidy as they do have a tendency to just throw it all in. 

I have also been baking for the cricket clubs teas tomorrow the last one for a three weeks I made a lemon drizzle from river cottage everyday cookbook which is my favourite and a coffee cake which I found in a old good food magazine. 

Cricket most of tomorrow and Sunday we are having a family bike ride Mr M wants to try his new bike out mine is coming next week hopefully and I'm determined to spend a good couple of hours at the plot. I do have quite a bit of spare space which I'm unsure what to plant out. Any recommendation much appriciated.