Saturday 24 January 2009

Moving on ...

Well the handbag saga is slowly being sorted out, I'm trying to put the whole episode behind me and move on. So, one that note ...

... I decided to call into the pet shop on the way home from town and lo and behold their seed potatoes had arrived :) Apparently they were delivered on Monday and are selling, well, like hot potatoes !

They had about 15 varieties to choose from, but I already knew what I wanted, so choosing was easy. I got 20 x Cara (OH's absolute favourites), 10 x Pink Fur Apple, 10 x Charlotte & 10 x King Edwards. One of my colleagues from work had some spare Arron Pilots (from Wilkinsons) so I've got around 15 of those.

The Arron's will go in first, maybe couple of weeks time, depending on the weather. I need to get some manure, last year I got some bags from B&Q, but its quite expensive at £5 a pop. The other alternatives are DIY at a local park (the exotic animal enclosure) or get a tractor load delivered. I don't fancy transporting it in the car from the park, but neither do I fancy spending a couple of days barrowing it into the plot. Hmmmm ....

I'm still digging up last seasons potatoes, I think they are King Edwards. They are lovely and tasty with very little critter damage and a lovely size and no scab damage at all. Only problem is that I'm not sure how many more I've to dig up 'cos of course the foliage is long gone. We had them chipped for tea, along with some Jerusalem Artichokes ... yum :)

No photos as I've not replaced the camera yet - unfortunately I can't get the same one that I had before, so OH is trying to find one that he think's I'll like. So far on the shortlist are the Cannon G10 and a Cannon Ixus 860IS - I'm not really taken with either, but wide angled small cameras are not so plentiful, so I'll have to make a decision soon.

13 comments:

  1. Firstly, can't you get a tractor to drop it next to the plot? They have no difficulty in getting down our lanes. Secondly, and more importantly, if you go down this route you'll probably need to wait for it to rot down before using.

    I pay £35 a load from the local farm that I split with my neighbour, only takes a couple of hours to shift - well that was 3 of us! That was back in the Autumn so nicely rotted down now.

    If you want to buy it bagged, Valleyside Garden Centre (Manchester Road) had 4 bags for £10 or £12, about 30l in a bag at a guess.

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  2. hi Rob, the one and only time I had it delivered by tractor it was dropped just outside the plot, but OMG it was such hard work moving it. I had thought about asking Nick if he wanted to share a load. Thanks for the tip about Valleyside, I pass it when I go dancing and keep meaning to go back when its open.

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  3. It's the same [bag and price] arrangement at New Leaf Nursery, between Jordanthorpe & Coal Aston.

    Is the DIY option from Graves Park? I was also thinking of getting a load delivered but what with the appendix op I'm probably going to leave that until the autumn now, when i'm properly knitted together again.

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  4. I leave my spuds in to harvest as I need them. I find that if I leave 6" of the haulms when I cut off the tops these dry out and act like little sticks marking where the spuds are lurking underground.
    We finished all ours last month unfortunately!

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  5. hi Woody, yes - Graves park supply the manure to Norton Nurseries (not sure if they are the same thing or not). My lottie neighbour gets his from there - apparently you can drive your car through to the manure pile and just help yourself. He seems quite pleased with the results.

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  6. Nobody said this allotmenting lark was easy ;>) You need to rope in a few 'volunteers', bribe em with lunch, dinner, whatever it takes!

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  7. We have just moved to a new plot. I was digging the other day to get things sorted I discovered loads of potatoes. It is nice to find hidden treasure! Makes up for all the weeds which were sitting on the top of them.

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  8. ha ha ... my 'volunteers' sadly have grown wise to such phrases as 'are you free on Saturday' or 'we should get out more and get some lovely fresh air' !! The promise of homemade cakes no longer works :(

    Susan we occasionally go dancing in Stockport :)

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  9. Maybe people on the waiting lists should be made to do a day of shovelling manure to see just how committed to the idea of allotments they are? ;>)

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  10. ha ha I like your thinking Rob ... hmmm, me thinks you've had too much time on the sofa ...feeling better ?

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  11. Much better thanks, back at work but still can't do anything energetic like, say, shovelling manure... Fortunately not much going on at this time of year, well there isn't on my plots!

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  12. Greetings Michelle, have just discovered your blog. That's a terrible story about the bag snatch. Can I recommend a fantastic small camera for you ? The Olympus mju 850 SW has everything you want for a small camera. It's waterproof and unbreakable from a drop of 1 metre. Just what you need on the allotment !

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  13. thanks Gnome, I shall go and google it. I hate not being able to add any photos to my posts, it makes them seem so boring.

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