Hard Work Now Showing Results

Every weekend since the middle of March except for one Himself and I have been slogging our guts out, digging our new allotment with a little help from Badger Boo although BB's help was mainly in a supervisory capacity.  

When I took our allotment over it had been left for sometime, although it wasn't in as bad an overgrown state as some of the others I looked at. Yes I was lucky, I had the choice of four. 

Looking up the plot.

Looking down the plot.

It's a big plot it's what is know as 10 rods, but our last one was very tiny and as we have such a small garden I wanted the largest I could get, so this can become our garden to sit out in as there is a fabulous community spirit there.

So we set about digging and got some Potato's  planted the first week.

Backbreaking work for Himself :o)

We quickly dug three beds in the bottom quarter, it was backbreaking work as it is over run with Couch Grass. We decided we would work the rest of the plot slowly over the rest of the year, and rid it of as much Couch Grass as we could, then really go for it next year.

As most of you know, neither of us are in the best of health, so we don't want to knock ourselves out, as then we may lose interest. Then the weather changed and the sun came out which is great after the long cold Winter we have had.

BUT

That meant the weeds and couch were growing like wildfire! So we had to cover most of them over and get the rest cut down, our lovely new allotment was looking like The Dingles Homestead in Emmerdale  compared to everyone else's. We've still got to buy a petrol strimmer, so it had to be done by hand with a pair of shears and the first assault  of "Operation Kill the Couch Grass" had began.

It was bloody hard work but we are very pleased with the results.

First part of "Operation Kill the Couch Grass"

We laid tarpaulin to kill off most of the couch grass, when it's all dead we'll dig and get the roots out as it's really resilient stuff. Himself had to sift the couch roots out of the compost, I'd been putting them in there, not knowing it was the wrong thing to do. They are now all happily drowning in the buckets of water and holding down the tarpaulins, so they can be burnt in a few weeks time, on the advice of one of the other allotment holders, they really are a helpful lot there.

A well earned cup of coffee for Himself as he surveys our efforts.

We've been offered the third shed down from our plot (in picture below) it needs a new roof as it has completely rotted but that's easily sorted. It's basically sound for an old shed, so Himself we just need to level a spot for it and find some helpers to shift it. Complete if we can as it may not survive being taken apart. Whatever happens, if it falls apart we can always rebuild a smaller shed with it's wood. I do love a challange to adapt and overcome.

We still have a lot to do, but thanks to the glorious weather over the Bank Holiday weekend we are getting there and our hard work is showing results at last. 

Very pleased with the end result, still loads more to do but we are getting there.

The Apple Tree on the allotment is now in blossom, I'm really looking forward to try out my very own home grown apples later this year. 

I wonder what type of apples these will grow into?

  Now go check out the other links to The Gallery theme The Weekend.

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Self Portrait ~ The Gallery

It's been a while since I last joined in with The Gallery, funny how I don't have so much free time now that I'm Retired, but I'm glad to be back.

I took this picture whilst I was still working last Summer, not sure why but I obviously thought it was a good idea at the time.

So glad that this weeks theme is Self Portrait as now I know why I took the picture lol.

Click on the badge below to take you to the links of everybody else's Self Portraits for this week.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

The Gallery ~ Noses

The theme for The Gallery this week is Noses.

I've not done The Gallery for a while, but what  fantastic theme, what with Red Nose Day coming up.

But my real reason for loving this theme is my dog Badger Boo, he has the cutest little black button nose, it's always so shiny, moist and very very black. 

I just love to take pictures of it.

Did you know that every dogs nose is unique? 

Their Nose Prints are as individual as our finger prints.

Why not head over to Sticky Fingers and check out some other great noses.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

The Gallery 125 ~ Colour

This week the theme for The Gallery is Colour.

There is nothing more amazing than the colours you find in nature, they are so beautiful, vibrant and constantly changing.

You can't get better than a lovely sunrise or sunset.

Hope you enjoy seeing these beautiful Colours as much as I do?

I love the oranges, pinks and greys and the way the sky is a constant changing canvas.

Now hop over to Sticky Fingers blog to check out everyone else's posts on Colour this week.

The Gallery 123 ~ The Eighties

The theme for The Gallery this week is The Eighties.

What can I say apart from "My god I was skinny"

How depressing is that!!!

Luckily for me, I was not a follower of fashion, so no fashion faux paux  for me, apart from the odd dodgy haircut and the idiot that I wasted my youth on!

I was much more interested in riding horses and showing my dogs, no Ronhills, White Stiletto's and dancing round a handbag for me.

Although I do still have a pair of black suede 4" stiletto's hidden somewhere in the back of the wardrobe. I actually used to be able to run in those. 

When we moved house 10 years ago I put them on and couldn't even walk across the room in them, how times have changed.

So the only pics I have from the 80's are these dodgy haircuts.

So let the mickey taking begin...

Pop over to Sticky Fingers and check out other peoples dodgy 80's pictures.

 

The Gallery 122 ~ Autumn

The theme for The Gallery this week is Autumn.

I have to say Autumn is my favorite time of the year, the colours are amazing, it's time to get the woolly jumpers out and the brisk frosty mornings just take your breath away.

I love this tree, all Summer it is a deep purple and come the Autumn  it goes this amazing orange.

This is one of my favorite views, and I never tire of taking it's picture, this time it is of the morning frost. Sadly soon I will no longer be able to experience this view, and all it's amazing, dramatic sky changes :o(

 There's nothing I like more than watching the sun rise and feeling the warmth of it build up through the window.

I hope you have enjoyed my pictures of Autumn? 

Why not pop along to Sticky Fingers blog and check out everybody else's.

The Gallery 120 ~ Books

The theme for The Gallery this week is Books.

Another hard one for me, I read many books, I love books, my taste is very broad from Dean Koontz,  Brian Jacques to Biographies.  

How can I use books as a theme?

I went looking through the bookcase and came across my childhood version of 101 Dalmatians.

 I had an idea **relieved sigh** I would hate to miss a week.

This book, Black Beauty and Nancy Drew where the books of my childhood.  

Sadly I don't have an old copy of  Black Beauty or any of the Nancy Drew books, but I'm always on the look out for them in charity shops.

I think what I loved the most about these books, was that "Good" always won in the end. 

I fell in love with the little Cocker Spaniel in Chapter 9:- Hot Buttered Toast, and I now have my own  Cocker Spaniel called Badger Boo.

Why not pop over to Sticky Fingers and check out other peoples entries in this weeks Gallery.

The Gallery 119 ~ Old

The theme for The Gallery this week is Old.

We have a lot of old pictures in this house, but this is the only one on the PC. It's a picture of my dad and his friends on a day out in the 60's, my dad is on the right.

I grew up with this picture, and it has a lot of sentimental value for my dad, as one of the young men was killed the very next day.

I have many happy memories of time spent with my dad, this picture and the stories he used to tell me about him and his friends.

The reason it is on my PC is because, for his 70th Birthday I secretly took a picture of it, and got it enlarged to A4 and framed for him.

I have never seen my dad as emotional as the day I gave him this picture, it was so nice to do something nice for him, as he has always been there for me through thick and thin.  

This next picture is my dad singing with one of his favorite bands from The 60's  The Rapiers at his 70th Birthday Party.

It was a fantastic night.

If you want to check out other Old pictures them head over to Sticky Fingers to see them.

The Gallery 118 ~ Yellow

The theme for The Gallery this week is Yellow.

This is a hard one for me, I don't particularly like the colour yellow!

 I have to wear a yellow hi-vis vest everyday **urgh**

I searched high and low for a picture with yellow in it.

No luck until I looked in Badger Boo's photo album, and found one of him modelling his new hi-vis jacket.

I got him this jacket two years ago, so I could see him in the woods when I walk him in the dark, he also has a florescent yellow flashing collar. 

The difference is amazing, I can always keep track of where he is, so he has the freedom to run even in the dark.

Now you have heard my views on the colour Yellow, why not pop over to Sticky Fingers and see other peoples views on this colour!

The Gallery 117 ~ Fitness

This weeks theme for The Gallery is Fitness.

Himself is a keen kayaker, it's an excellent way to keep fit as well as being great fun, for many years he has been an instructor, teaching mostly young people the benefits of this brilliant sport.

Several years ago Himself decided to teach our Cocker Spaniel Badger to stand on the front of the kayak, as he kept swimming around and around, and appeared to want to join him. This picture was Badgers first lesson.

Within minutes he had learnt to balance, and soon discovered that it was very comfortable to curl up on the spraydeck and have a little snooze.

So whilst Himself is paddling around getting a massive upper body work out, Badger is busy exercising his right to take things easy, as only a dog can.

Badger is free to jump off at any time, but he will always opt to go back to the kayak after a swim, and refuses join me on the shoreline until Himself has finished, he loves it that much.

Please note:- 

We used only positive training methods and went at Badgers own pace. Not all dogs like water, or the instability of being on a kayak and could become very stressed very quickly, so do not try this if your dog is not 100% happy in water.

Why not pop over to Sticky Fingers to check out other peoples ideas on Fitness. 

The Gallery has teamed up with Coca-Cola and their Work it Out Calculator so you can see how much exercise you need to do to burn off the calories, what a great idea..

The Gallery 116 ~ 8pm

This weeks theme for The Gallery is 8pm.

In our house 8pm is better known as 2000 and it's chill out time. We have no young children, Dinner is eaten and the washing up is done, it's time to sit on the sofa and update all of  Badger Boo's social media. This is the best time of the day as a lot of his fans are abroad,  so we are able to catch up with a large proportion of them at this time.

 I didn't take this picture of us, hence the quaility!

As you can see Badger Boo likes to keep a close eye on what is being said and shared.

Yes he's a dog and it's a bit bonkers but it is great fun and we have met some of the most wonderful of people.

If you want to see what other people get up to at 8pm, pop over to Sticky Fingers and check out the other entries.