thoughts on a grey day

i finally got round to having some breakfast this morning. cornflakes with blueberries. this got me thinking about alys fowler, she loves them too with ice cold milk. she's a gardener and writer of the edible garden. it's a lovely book and oh, i want a garden like hers. still, i love it for allotment inspiration. although the allotment has been a bit of a disaster this year, but grey rainy days like today are great for planning what to do with it next year. if i could only plant some shallots and garlic before the end of the month then i think that would get me off to a good start. now i'm almost over my cold i need to start going up there and sorting it out. basically, everything we planted got eaten before it even got a chance to grow, plus the soil is terrible. chalky and too tough for any plant to push roots down into. remember the teepee? i had such high hopes but every single plant got chomped on by snails and slugs i'm guessing. i tried putting down sand but need to revise my approach. and the pink fur apples potatoes. from 10 plants, i think i got one tiny handful. the rest, you guessed it. there's a photo of a few tomatoes and raspberries gathered from a couple of months ago. the other photo's are of the surrounding allotments. i must admit i did get a bit of allotment envy this summer, when nothing was growing on our plot. i think the best harvest we got were from the blackberries on the hedge that borders the allotment. oh well, i think we need a good dose of manure and then take it from there.

sarada xx