My Tiny PlotBasket of Plenty
Whenever I go up to mtp for a bit of a potter around I always come back with armfuls of vegetables that I never intended to pick. I say to Ryan, I’m just popping out to do some watering and when I arrive at the plot I find that the cucumber that was about two inches long several days ago now looks like something you would use to club a giant with (so of course must be picked). And that the courgette plant has gone crazy again and has small marrow-like forms protruding from it (and so they have to be picked). And the corriander is taking over the herb patch and so I have to cut some of that, and there are four gherkins that will be too large for my pickling jars if I leave them any longer… and the list goes on. Before you know it you are stumbling down the field balancing vegetables on every available digit and trying to navigate the allotment garden gate with no hands. So I was overjoyed at the sight of this very rustic basket ensemble that my work collegues bought me (plus a cook book but more on that later). Now I can pick all the vegetables in the world and skip down the path, like Anne of Green-Gables, with a free hand to open the gate and everything. The only thing missing is ‘lashings of ginger beer’…
What are the flowers, Ms Greengables? Excuse my ignorance, I only got my plot a few weeks ago and the only thing I’ll be skipping along with is armfuls of couch grass…
Ms Greengables – now that has a ring to it… :)
The flowers are Dahlias, I grew them from seed and planted them way back in June. Somehow they survived the freak frosts and have flowered beautifully. And true to my ten commandments (see About mtp) the bees have come!
As for the couch grass, I can honestly say I know how you feel (oh yes!) but take heart – the CG period is hard work, worth it in the end and thankfully it’s never as bad as it is in the beginning.
So, have you had a birthday? (In which case, many happy returns!). Or do your colleagues just spontaneously give you gifts because you’re a wonderful person? (In which case, can I come and work with you??).
Gorgeous basket and, as ever, great produce!
Well, actually I left my job, so it was a leaving present. I now work with Ryan full time organising training workshops. Which is a world away from editing magazines – in a good way.
I also grow 2″ diameter pompom dahlias on my allotment. I got the first plant when my neighbour had her garden “made over” and it was among the garden waste she gave me for my compost heap. I planted it last year and it produced more than 300 plus blooms of red, white or a mix of both colours. I won 1st prize in our annual show with these dahlias. In the spring of 2005 I bought from Homebase the same dahlia in orange, white, red and purple. Now I have cut flowers for the house all summer. One snag – the stems are very short, so you need lots of narrow stemmed vases to put them in. Your dahlias look superb in the lovely Anne of Greengables basket.