Christmas has happened since I last posted and there was an excellent garden related haul. I got a lean-to green plant house (green house) which I am going to install in the garden so I can get seedlings ready for the allotment. It has been too cold recently to put it up, but as soon as the weather warms up a bit, I will do just that. I also got a pair of long handled edging shears so I can keep the grass path tidy, a new pair of gloves, two netting tunnels and the tame photographer got a very handome pitchfork (shit shoveler!).
We ate our own produce for Christmas lunch - along with the turkey (not ours!) we had brussels sprouts, parsnips and butternut squash - all delicious, needless to say!
We haven't done much gardening in the last couple of weeks - Christmas shopping taking up far too much time and then, of course, the festivities themselves. But we did get down there on the day after Boxing Day. The new pitch fork was christened by moving a couple of loads of manure to our holding heap - and, amazingly enough, it really is better for the activity than an ordinary garden fork. We also baptised our new storm kettle. This is a fabulous device that we got for our birthdays. It involves making a small fire with twigs in a dish at the bottom of the kettle, which then heats up some water. It was fun to do and will be perfect for warm drinks and even soup on cold winter sessions. The great thing is that it only uses tiny twigs and the like, which are easy to collect round and about the site. I also used my new edger to great effect, and wore my gloves.
At the allotment the onions are beginning to grow nicely. They have almost all sprouted and the first broad beans are just beginning to show above the ground. The garlic has just started to grow and the spring onions and spring cabbages look good. We are currently harvesting leeks, parsnips, brussels sprouts, January King cabbages, spinach and the sprouting broccoli is just about to start cropping. It's quite something that we are still eating so much from the plot and I haven't had to start up the organic box delivery since I stopped it last spring. I do have to buy potatoes, carrots and the odd veg here and there, and I have just used the last of the onions.
Last week I put in my order for next year's seeds - it will cost about £30 or so and I have chosen a mixture of veg that did well last year and completely new ones for this year. I am still hoping to get another plot, and I really would like to have more space for all the crops I would like to grow. I still haven't done anything about flowers, but I would like some dahlias, sweet peas and sunflowers.
This was almost a perfect specimen, only one straight root, and very tasty it was too. And the January King Cabbage and very fine it was!
I forgot to mention in the blog that we spent one Saturday removing an old water tank from behind the shed so that we could use the space for our enlarged leaf mould collection. The water tank, albeit rather attractive in an old metal sort of way, was extremely heavy to shift, not least because it was full of soil, but move it we did, and the wheelbarrow even survived the experience. 
You can also see the new leaf mould container, which is now full to the top since our trip last weekend. 
Now for some Christmas presents; the edging shears in action and the pitchfork, both in silhouette and in action at the manure heap.
And finally, the storm kettle in action. You can see the Christmas present trug with a collection of twigs for the storm kettle, and if you look carefully, the new pair of green gardening gloves!
