Glorious Devon

Some people who read my blog will already know that I won a competition in The Edible Garden magazine for 2 places on the Get Growing course at River Cottage, I've been getting excited about this for a few months. The prize also included a nights B&B and dinner at River Cottage Canteen. What a special treat.

My plus one was my sister, Sally, who is looking into growing her own and needs lots of advice to get her started so it was ideal for her. I'll blog about the course in my next post as I want to share a bit about our lovely B&B and the glorious scenery of this part of England, on the Devonshire/Dorset border.

We travelled down on Friday 5th July, at the start of the heatwave, the course was on the sunday and we travelled back on tuesday, no point in going all that way just for a couple of days. We had been booked in for one night at a B&B on a small-holding called Spillers Farm in Musbury which we extended to cover the extra nights and what a find that was. Keith and Bridget who run the B&B are such a lovely couple, clearly passionate about what they do and properly living the "Good Life". We were greeted by their friendly cat, Silla and dog, Merrick, the rooms were immaculate and as for the breakfasts, home-grown sausages and bacon. Delicious. Here are the cat and dog keeping us company at breakfast

They have chickens, ducks, geese, a pig and some orphan lambs on the farm and they grow their own vegetables, there is a lake and they also lease a small bit of their land for the Landshare project. I would definitely recommend this place if you are in the area. Its handy for both River Cottage HQ where they run the courses and also for River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. Its also close to Lyme Regis and other coastal villages.

 

 

The lambs are in the field near the lake and they came rushing over to greet us when we walked there, liked having a bit of a rub behind the ears.

 

 This is me saying hello to Marlene the pig, I also got a bit of a mud splattering from her the day after when she had a mud bath to keep cool.

It was so peaceful spending time at the lake in the evening at dusk, watching the swallows and then the bats come out.

The view from our room.

 The friday that we arrived we went for a cream tea in a little seaside village called Beer.

On Saturday we walked from Beer along the coast to Branscombe. It was another glorious day, hot but luckily there was a nice breeze along the coast. The coastal scenery in this area is stunning, especially on such a lovely sunny day.

 

 

  

We arrived in Branscome to the welcome sight of the Sea Shanty Beach cafe for some much needed refreshment.

 Which has a lovely walled garden but we recuperated in the cool of the main cafe.

 

Heading the opposite way along the coast you are in Dorset and Lyme Regis, I love it here and Martin and I stayed in a lovely chalet here last year and  had a wonderful time. The year before that we stayed in a proper thatched cottage, in a village just outside Lyme Regis. There are some more photos of the coastal scenery in this post. Lyme Regis is a proper seaside town, a wide sandy beach, lots of gift shops and some nice restaurants.

 

 

 

If you are fans of Jane Austen's Persuasion then you will know all about the Cobb at Lyme Regis. I'll leave you here while I go off and daydream about Captain Wentworth.

My new prickly friends

My biggest excitement this last week or so has been the discovery that we seem to have a couple of hedgehogs residing in, or very close to, our garden. Martin made the discovery while I was away, I'd just been speaking to him on the phone where he'd been sat in the garden at dusk, then he sent me this photo.

Two hedgehogs wandering round the garden, I was very jealous of Martin seeing them, its been years since I've seen one, they really seem to have been struggling. Martin said that he was a bit worried at first, all he could hear was a loud snuffling and rustling in the bushes at the bottom of the garden. He didn't know what was going to pop out. But what a treat.
Obviously with this gorgeous weather I've been making the most of being in the garden and on Saturday night around 10pm as it was going dark. I was sat at my table with a beer and my feet up on a chair, when I heard some rustling near the shed, I kept very quiet and out popped a hedgehog. I have a large tray which I fill with water to water my trays and pots from below and this nearly always has some water in it and the hedgehog went straight for that. It then carried on oblivious to me sniffing around and under my chair, unfortunately then I moved to see where it had gone to and the security light came on and it scuttled off down the path onto the grass. Its lovely to watch but I don't want to scare them off. I'm not certain but they could be living under the shed, they seem to come out from there, though our garden could just be on their evening circuit, I've read that they do visit many gardens and can cover quite a distance each night. I've now seen them most nights, they come just as its going dusk.
I've just looked on the Hedgehog Preservation society website and they are recommending that everyone should leave water out for our prickly friends in this dry weather. Maybe thats why my garden is so attractive to them (and the slugs). There is some advice on encouraging hedgehogs to stay in your garden and that is to make sure there is water and to feed them with meaty dog food?! I've put out some of Bob's dried cat food, the first night I put it out the hedgehog went straight for it and was crunching away, so I've been putting a little bit out each night. I worry a little bit about doing this as you don't want them to depend on it but reading on the website it suggests that it will just help supplement their diet.
I think my slovenly garden habits may also be good here as there are lots of overgrown bits in my garden, leaves piled up near the shed and watering at night may encourage slugs, so I think I'm helping them a bit there.
So honoured that they want to visit my garden and happy for them to keep visiting and eat as many slugs as they'd like.

Scorchio!

I can't believe its been 2 weeks since I last posted, I've got so much to blog about I'm not sure where to start. I apologise for not commenting on my favourite blogs, I've been away and with this weather.... I just want to spend every spare moment in the garden or at the allotment! So as I say, I've got lots to write about including my trip to River Cottage, the fabulous weather, Dunham Massey's gorgeous Rose Garden in all its glory and my resident hedgehogs. I won't get that all in one post so I'd better get going.

Well can you believe this amazing weather what a difference to last year. It started here, I guess, on Friday the 5th, the day my sister and I travelled down to Devon for our trip to River Cottage. I keep checking the weather forecast and its here until at least next week, they say the end of July, some even say August. Who knows, I just hope we don't get a hosepipe ban. I'm trying to be very careful with my watering I always use a hose with a on-off switch so its controllable, I'm not watering everything and when I do I make sure I give a really good soaking right at the roots. Some people on my allotment site just get the sprinkler out and have that going for an hour. Seems such a waste to me. I even had to give strict instructions to my other half, Martin, for watering the allotment while I was down in Devon. I think he ended up with more water on him than on the plants. But everything survived and things are growing well. What a star.

Bob, my cat, has turned nocturnal, staying inside in the cool asleep all day and then out at night when its a nice temperature.

 Or else he's keeping an eye on the neighbourhood from the top of the shed.

Its all go at the allotment harvesting, weeding and watering. I've picked tons of peas, mangetout and broad beans. I've picked my first courgettes, first of many, I always plant too many in case of slug devastation and this year they have all come through. I've even now got some small fruits on my squash plants.

My first early potatoes have been dug up, My lettuces have been fab though too many all at once, but my first successful growing of hearting lettuces at my allotment so very pleased. I had some Iceberg, some Little Gem and another Cos type lettuce called Freckles which is very pretty.

I'm getting my first fruits setting on the cucumber and also on my cucamelon, can you spot it. I'm intrigued to find out what they taste like.

The first heads are developing on my calabrese. They seem to be growing so quickly.

 Very pleased with my beetroot on the whole, I posted in one of my blogs earlier in the year that I had often struggled with beetroot in the past, but I seem to have a technique now, I have to sow in modules, they don't seem to germinate or the slugs get them if I sow them direct, then once a reasonable size I plant them out and they seem to have grown on well. My first planting are just cropping now. I've just planted another batch and I'm going to sow some more this weekend. So hopefully that will keep me going I love beetroot.

Another crop that I often struggle with are Spring onions, many people on the blogs seem to grow them in pots and I have had some success with that, but I've also managed to grow a small row on the plot.

My strawberries have been amazing, it is their 3rd year so they should be at their peak and they certainly are. I've had many punnets full off them, one batch went to make some Strawberry and Gooseberry jam. I've also had a good crop of redcurrants though I have lost some to the birds.

My apples are growing well, very excited about my first crop of James Grieve.

There are some things that are struggling a bit, the shallots have not swelled as much as they could I don't think, though will get a reasonable crop from them, the spinach has all bolted now, there is some mildew on my peas, however I have managed to get a good crop off them, though I've just started spotting a few pea moth caterpillars in some of the peas which is a bit off-putting. I'm wondering whether to sow another batch of peas now. Some of the Beetroot and Chard is bolting but have still had some stems and leaves which are a good alternative to the spinach.

Its so dry on the plot there are big cracks in places.

I'm usually an evening allotment goer but this morning I had some time to head up there before it got too hot, you see a whole different set of people.

 

Its looking very colourful on my plot, I've got some lovely Iceland poppies.

 

Some echium 'Blue Bedder' which contrasts well with some Calendula on the plot .

My sunflowers are just starting to flower too, my favourite cheery flower.
All in all everything is growing well, what a change to last summer when all I seemed to do was complain about the weather. I've just been looking at my blog post from last July and things are much more advanced than last year. Hope you are all enjoying harvesting your crops.

Race for the strawberries

Its still light at 10 o'clock I love it, so spending long evenings up at the plot, its fabulous. The allotment glows in the evening light. These photos were taken last week, its a bit grey today but sunshine is planned for the weekend, good timing for my trip to River Cottage.

The allotment is flourishing at the moment, could do with it being a bit warmer at night still and the wind has been a bit annoying but I'm days away to harvesting some of the crops, the over-wintered onions are glistening, spinach is ready, strawberries ripening as we speak as are gooseberries and redcurrants, potatoes are flowering, suggesting that their starchy goodness is ready, broad bean and peapods are swelling and lettuce is hearting up nicely. Its a bit of a race to get the strawberries before the slugs, they seem to have become a bit more active again recently with the damp weather, I've had to lose some but overall I think I'm winning.

I'm growing some purple flowered broad beans this year which have done really well, and produce not only a lovely colourful flower which the bees are loving, but also have a lovely scent which wafts around as I work.

I've also got some things planted for future crops, I've some runner beans 'White Lady', some dwarf french beans, both green and yellow-bean varieties. There is some climbing french beans 'Cosse Violette' which were fabulous last year and I've just planted some Borlotti beans which have a lovely speckled pods and will be great to harvest for their beans which can be eaten fresh or dried for storing and can be used in soups and stews in the winter.

 There are some squashes, a bit of a mixture here, I've planted some 'Blue Hubbard' and 'Crown Prince', which I've had good success with in the past. 'Uchiki Kuri' and 'Patty Pan' the latter of which I'm going to try growing up a wigwam. There is also a pumpkin 'Jack O'Lantern', never grown a pumpkin before. These have taken a bit to get going, another reason why we need some warmth.

Here are my Brussel Sprout 'Titus', I'm determined that I'll have a few more winter crops this year so I've got some sprouts and I'm also soon to plant some red cabbage.

The leeks, another winter staple have now also gone in though admittedly a bit weedy looking at the moment I'm sure they will get going soon.

I've planted a few sunflowers which I've managed to get past the slugs this year and they are growing strongly now.

The Globe artichokes are starting to bud.

New for me this year is the Cucamelon, supposed to give you small sweet fruits. Not sure whether it will cope with being outside but will have to see, its starting to climb.

Anyway hope you are all busy harvesting the first delicious crops and enjoy the sunshine this weekend.