FrogPrincess

I must have been doing most things right this year - been digging up lots of goodies recently! Potatoes - Edzel Blue - very nice tatties - bright purple skin and pure white inside, purple colour disappears on cooking though, bit of a disappointment there). Pink Fir Apples - so knobbly they look like Jerusalem artichokes, but lovely salad potato. (And still to dig up the main crop of Maris Pier.) Onions - all the over wintered onions are now dug up, white, red and yellow (as I can't remember their names) Garlic - got a mix of elephant and normal (welsh?) this year - all dug up also Broccoli - not much left of this either now, but been a good crop, small but very tasty (my nephew Liam says) Cauliflower - forgot I planted two small rows of this - the broccoli and Brussels sprouts covered them totally. Small but perfectly formed heads and no slug/snail or other beastie attacks to be seen! Strawberries - lots of greenery and a few tasty fruits but left them too late to pick so slugs

Think I must have found the foundations of an old building now - fork goes down about 3/4 then hits a solid lump of concrete over a lot of large stones. Still digging up half bricks, granite shards etc but this is new! There was an old crane on the site before the council made it into plots, so maybe a bit of the foundations are still there. They did dig up 3 car sized bits of concrete last year and that may be why the ground is fairly well compacted in some bits? My free wheelbarrow find last month has been a godsend for carting the lumps about. New stone wall build on the way.

Just came back from the plot and will try to attach some pictures - rhubarb is up lots now, got a clump from mum last November but no idea what type it is. It seems to be growing well. Very red. I didn't try to force it since this is the first year since I planted it.

Can't believe the price I paid for 2 green houses! £9.99 for 3 shelves and as high as my shoulders, cheap shops are just brilliant for bargains and I need to use something as the cats have discovered the nice individual litter trays on the window shelf...I could do a CSI Aberdeen with plaster casts of their ickle paws to find the culprit? I am leaving the print to see if any seeds survive - survive 3 cats wandering over them, they will survive Aberdeen summer. :)

Well I have just sowed enough seeds to keep Morrisons in business with brussell sprouts for this Christmas! Didn't think they would germinate as they are last years ones - got every seed coming up now and need to transplant them into more suitable pots. The Jersey Walking Stick Kale is also up and bolting with the sunny window sill it's on. Bit of a quandry - should I remove the covers now and let the cats eat fresh greens, or leave them on until I repot? Leave them on just now I think - less mess in the kitchen. Got a few cloches from my favourite online shop Ebay, now I need to figure out a way to stop them blowing away into the North Sea. Look great all the little tunnels but the plots are very open and prone to gale force winds. Wonder if washing line will work criss crossed over them with some tent pegs to hold them down? Will try that next weekend. On another thought - went to see Derek Acorah last night -what an experience - guy looked like he was a split personal

Started digging up the 4 rows of tatties I'd left in the ground since last year...they are enormous. Only a few have been worm eaten, the rest are all bakers now, might try this again this year - salad potatoes or bakers? Bought a couple of Wisteria plants half price from Woolies and a blackberry cane. I love berries and will probably eat them straight off the canes again this year. I've been advised that they will grow everywhere so I need to cut down a foot away from the main cane in the autumn and separate the new canes. They have plenty of room to grow so might leave them be for a while.

Back to digging stones up again - I'd left about a quarter of the plot empty last year and covered it with black plastic to stop the weeds getting too much - unveiled it yesterday and dockens still managed to grow underneath it! They didn't last long after a morning digging up roots etc. I found another two large stones - thought my fork was goning to break lifting the corner of the second one. The plots here used to be a granite work area back in the 50's and most of the stones I dig up are cuttings, the latest two must be left overs from grave stones or wall copings. First one was about 40 cm square and about 10-15 cm deep, the second one must be 40 x 70 and the same deep. It was so heavy I had to drag it along the ground. Think I over worked my back as it is kinda sore today. After the grave stones were cleared, the ground was easy to dig over and I got 2 rows of second earlies in "Edzell Blue" for baking and mashing (so the packet says anyway). They have

Took a trip to No 5 after some serious storms here and I had to lift both sheds upright again. There are not really sheds as such, one has been recycled from its earlier life as an office filing cabinet (looks like a metal wardrobe) and the other one was a weekend project involving some pallets (and odd pieces of wood we inherited when we moved house 2 years ago). I felt like I'd had a proper workout after righting them! The plot looks quite bedraggled at the moment, not very much growing, the onions are at least withstanding the wind but the strawberries are really looking flat and not likely to survive the forecast snow. When I got home again, went onto Ebay...now the proud owner of 2 cloches that should help the strawberries get a better and warmer start to the season. Will wait to see if the instructions on how to make them up are as easy as the item description said they'd be...not convinced (memories of flat pack furniture are surfacing)

Since getting this plot last year quite late, I have done so much digging and de-stoning I feel like a proper labourer. I got a shock when I saw it - 10.5 meters by 20.5 meters. not sure if that is usual for plot sizes, but it is enormous to me. I started by marking out 2 meter lengths and digging all of the stone out and almost breaking my back - lots of hot baths later I had made quite a big stone and weed wall at the front of the plot. The nice council faries came one week and spirited this away, so no trips to the skips needed anymore! I planted and destoned, and watered for all of 2007 but apart from potatoes and carrots galore, nothing else realy grew so 2008 is my I'll get it all right year. Wait and see. Jan 2008 I have white, red and normal onions in already along with 2 types of garlic which are all growing away nicely. The last of the potatoes really should be dug up and binned as they must be frosted by now. I got some strawberries from Marshalls posted at the en