2nd life for One Lucky Potato Sack

Found an old frame at a shop in Portobello called 'Last Place on Earth' (pretty!)(£10)

Painted it with tester pot paint in biscuit grey that was lying about in the flat (£0)

Old (possibly for potato) hessian (karung guni) sack spotted at a random stall in Cambridge filled with dust and used to cover furniture (£5)

Cheapie cork board from Homebase - torn apart to fit the sack (£10)

Assembled together while watching 'Antique's Road Show' and voila...

My personalised cork board!

Meet...

...my current pride of joy!!! A beauuuuttiiieeee!!! It takes me 20 minutes to cycle to work and I cycle with a stupid grin on my face that if you have seen it, you would have felt like slapping me for it!

Now now...for the more pressing issue: naming my new obsession!
we have the following selection:
a) Poppy - in homage to its colour
b) Bella (the bike) - as my colleague calls it
c) Amelie - cause Lyn says its French so it deserves a French name

Burn Baby Burn

The first weekend of the year where the temperature hits 28 degree, you do one and only one thing in the UK. Dust down the barbie and get it fired up!
This is our first barbie in the flat and Jenna (Scott's sis) was with us to bask in the sun and enjoy burnt food! Bring on summer!



5 minutes later, these rocket and spinach leaves are mix in with tomatoes and avocados, drizzled with so-tasty-I'm-precious-about-using it extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar bought from Italy and finally ended their life squash between the burger. Yum!

More Hellos

Premier and Arran variety Potatoes - This grew rather quickly in growbags. The bags come with side pockets that you open when the potatoes are ready so no digging required...just open the sides, let the soil tumble out with the potatoes and pick! Recently this has grown at a crazy rate. The idea is to keep adding soil to the bag as the stalk grows and I have been adding soil almost every week! Very impressive considering we are doing it the organic way - not even 'pee fertiliser'! Fingers cross I can harvest them by the end of June! The Arran variety are purple skinned potatoes - exciting no!?



Pak chois



Cos lettuce - the silly slugs and snails are loving this more than I can. Cue slug killers!!! Now my lettuces are looking better.



My little veg patch at the end of my garden. In it are mini squash, more potatoes, savoy cabbage, carrots and the lettuce....hmmm yum. Savoy cabbage will only be ready to harvest in winter - a little too long but I am dreaming of winter stew with savoy cabbage + chorizo + pancetta + grated boiled egg over it...hmmmmm......heaven





herbs galore - huge ass rosemary bush and bay tree which was there when we moved in, thyme, basil, parsley, coriander, chives, oregano, mint, tarragon and sage

Say Hello To...

Strawberries - we got a little overexcited and bought 6 plants so I am expecting a glut to make jam and tarts!



Gooseberries - the green jewels of my garden. this is very exciting as it's something the previous owner left behind for us. It survived the harsh winter and suddenly bloomed. Never had them before so I am crazily singing to them everyday to grow faster so i can chomp on them. Yes I sing when I water the plants!



Raspberries - Another lucky inheritance that survives the mad winter! We didn't know what this was and were yo-yo-ing between raspberries or blueberries? Saw the same plant at Laura's allotment and the mystery is solved - raspberry plant it is! Hallelujah!!! Imagine picking it fresh and popping straight into my mouth - come on Summer!!!!



Rhubarbs - our favourite, nothing like a rhubard tart to polish off sunday's lunch. Check out the size of the leaves. These aren't as big as the ones I saw at my friend Laura's allotment - so big you can use it as an umbrella in the rain! Supposedly you shouldn't harvest on the first year so the roots grow strong like popeye and you get a better yield next year. So far, we have been good and left them alone hence the few yellowing stalks. Very tempting but we are presevering with our patiences

Veggies introduction next....expect it to be a much much longer post!

Welcome to Plum Project

...named after the two plum trees we inherited when we bought this lovely (but sometimes cranky) Victorian flat with a garden that we finally call home