Making a garden seat from pallets

I saw this very rustic garden seat at some allotment plots in a nearby village and just had to share it. Why not have a go at making one yourself!

Rotovating

On our allotments there are the usual two types of allotmenteers - the organic women who like raised beds and a few chaotic flowers, and the old geezers who rotovate the whole plot each year and sow everything in rows measured and plotted with militaristic precision. However we all get along and even share ideas now and then. Here are some of my neighbours doing their manly work!

Broad Beans growing well - need string supports

Currently planting a lot of seeds but they don't look that exciting in a photo yet - so here's a pic of the broad beans instead. Had to put string round to give them a bit of support. Apparently you have to pinch out the tips to stop black fly at some point, not sure when though! In the USA they are called "fava beans" so I will try and find some recipes on Google. But I've found that you can make humus with pretty much any cooked bean, not just chick peas, just by adding some olive oil, salt, pepper, blob of tahini or peanut butter, plus any old spices that you like such as garlic or cumin. You can also find proper recipes online. I also like to pop in some leaves from the top of celery. Mmmm! I use a handheld blender that is very quick and easy to clean, and often we have humus "wraps" or burritos (using flour tortillas which we quickly heat up in a dry wok or frying pan), plus whatever is handly such as tomatoes, cheese, cucumber, lettuce, tofu etc. There is really no limit to what you can put in a wrap - there are whole restaurants selling just wraps in California and even one or two elsewhere too. The blender's also great for making fruit smoothies, but that's another topic!

Wordsworth daffodils rap squirrel - so bad it's good!

You have to see this video, at the Cumbria Tourist Board site.

April - cloches, plastic and fleece.

We're still mostly digging over beds and adding compost and other inputs. Have put lime on the brassica bed (Bed 2) and sharp sand to the carrots/roots bed (Bed 1) from the allotment plan done earlier in the year. Here's a pic of the seed bed, have just got a few lettuces under cloches for now. I like the 5 gallon water jugs the best as they are study and don't blow over and have a handy handly on top. Plus the water is only £1 per bottle at Iceland, so that's not too expensive - although generally we use a Brita filter. But now and again, like if you're going on a long car journey, a bottle of water is handy. Have also put fleece and clear plastic over beds to warm them up.

Corn salad lettuce - useful during "the hungry gap"

Here is one of my corn salad lettuce, also known as lamb's lettuce. Grows over winter so is very good this time of year when there is not much else in the ground. Interestingly, the best crop came from an area where I had thrown some of the weaker seedlings whilst thinning out. They somehow grew and survived the slugs far better than the area of soil with the original row!