One of my big projects for this year is creating a flower bed.
I’ve grown flowers on the plot before like sweet peas, Nasturtiums and Calendula and I also have a Jasmine near the greenhouse but I’ve never dedicated a whole bed to anything other than fruit, vegetables or herbs.
Before
Towards the start of April, I propagated some Rosemary to replace my very woody 5 year old Rosemary bush on the allotment.
If you’ve never tried to propagate Rosemary, its really very easy! Simply take a cutting around 4-5 inches long, strip off the bottom leaves until you’re left with just a few and put the end in either soil or water. Make sure you take plenty of cuttings as some won’t take. If you’re trying the water method, replace the water every few days.
I figured I’d hedge my bets and put four sprigs in a mixture of soil and perlite and five sprigs in just water. I’m curious to see which method will produce the best results. It will take between 4-8 weeks to see if any survive and take root, so stay tuned for an update next month!
My herb bed has gotten a little unruly. While its lovely to see the herbs doing so well both the sage and lavender are huge and smothering the chamomile, the Rosemary is getting too big and woody , I have two fennel plants (one dead, one self seeded in the wrong place) and it just generally needs a good weed and tidy.
I tried to move the self seeded Fennel to replace the dead one, but unfortunately, I should have moved it sooner. It self seeded last year and the tap root had already grown too long so it snapped as I was trying to extricate it. I’m going to replace it with dill instead as I’m planning on growing Florence Fennel as a vegetable elsewhere on the plot so I’ll still have some if needed.
Then I found a surprise in my Rosemary bush!
A blackbird had taken up residence some time over the winter and laid some eggs. Sadly, as you can see, they didn’t survive but its nice to think the allotment provided some shelter even if was only for a little while.
I’ve taken cuttings to propagate some Rosemary this year. Pruning is not a skill I’m particularly good at and it has gotten so very woody. I’ll probably dig it up once I have some new Rosemary to replace it.
And… that’s as far as I got, part 2 to follow. I ran my first half marathon on Sunday so didn’t get back to the allotment to finish the herb bed. My time was 2:02:06 which I’m very happy with; my legs not so much!
It’s that time of year when the weather starts getting warmer and the days longer and the allotment feels like a blank canvas of exciting opportunity and potential. I’m reviving this blog to document my progress, connect with other people and learn from them, share my successes and failures, and hopefully inspire others.
The plot is a bare looking patch of ground for the most part right now. The exceptions being an unruly herb bed that needs putting back into order, a strawberry patch that is half weeds and unwanted strawberry runners and a plastic greenhouse that has more holes than I can count.
But it won’t stay bare for long! I’ve put in potatoes, shallots, onions, broad beans and (I may be a bit optimistic with these given it’s not too warm yet) spinach, beetroot and spring onions. I’m looking forward to seeing it slowly transform to green and vibrant!
Argh!
So I thought I had 10 balls of yarn. Turns out I have 9 balls of yarn. Of a discontinued yarn. So my plans for a nice deep rib are out, and its most likely going to be 3/4 length sleeves. But I’m still confident that I can get a sweater out of the yarn that doesn’t look like its been short changed.
Current stitch count: 41,860
I put the body stitches on a holder cable and worked a ball of yarn on the sleeve just to see how far a ball will go. I have two balls left plus the one in the picture. I’m planning to knit the rest of that ball, use one for the left sleeve and the final ball to do the ribbing on the sleeves and body. I will have little choice but to play yarn chicken. Hopefully, I won’t need to unravel my swatch…
On the plus side, I absolutely love the sweater. It has knit up sooo nice and soft, fits perfectly and I think I will be wearing it a lot!
Current stitch count: 31,868 stitches
I used a tubular cast on for the ribbing, in the past I’ve always used the stockinette version and I’ve loved the neat finished look but not the hassle of undoing the provisional cast on and picking up stitches. This is the first time I’ve done a tubular cast on for 2×2 rib though and when I googled it I found the long tail method. Gotta admit, it might now be my go-to method for tubular casting on. It’s a lot quicker and just as neat.
I have made a little mistake, you’re supposed to change to 4.5mm needles after the ribbing (and I thought I had) but a couple of inches into the main body I checked my needles and found out I hadn’t. I tried it on and I think I’ve gotten away with it, I like the feel of the fabric and it fits so I’m carrying on.
I did have to rip back a couple inches at the underarms as it was a smidgeon too tight and I didn’t like the decreases in the pattern. I added a few stitches each side and its much better for it. The best bit of a seamless top down sweater is being able to try it on as you go! Baring any other major issues, I think I’m still on track to finish in November.
*Fingers crossed*
NaKniSweMo is short for national (or should it be international?) knit a sweater month. It was inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which challenges people to write 50,000 words in November. Swap words for stitches and you have NaKniSweMo.
I’m not sure if my sweater has the required number of stitches but my challenge for myself is to knit and finish a sweater in November. Emphasis on finish because its not unusual for me to finish knitting a sweater only for it to languish for longer than I’m willing to admit waiting to be sewn together and blocked.
I’ve stacked the odds in my favour by picking a top down sweater that’s knit in the round. Seriously, the only thing I have to do is sew up a few inches under the arms and block it. It shouldn’t be too hard, right?
I’m making Arendal from Drops out of stash yarn; the sadly discontinued Rowan Lima. Its a gorgeous blend of 84% baby alpaca, 8% merino, 8% nylon and knits up so soft.
So far I’m on track to finish, wish me luck!
A month sure does go quickly! This is how the allotment has changed during May. The first picture was taken on the 1st of May and the last on the 29th of May.
It’s good to see there’s a lot more green now! It was a cold start to the month but things are really getting going now the temperature has risen and we’ve had some fabulous sunshine. In fact, my strawberries have finished teasing me with their ripeness and I enjoyed a tasty bowl of them at the weekend. Yum!
I’ve been watching Gardener’s World, mainly to try to glean some fruit and vegetable tips from Monty Don, but I’ve found that I’ve been watching more and more of the rest of the show. So this year, I decided to watch the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time.
One of the bits I especially enjoyed was the BBC Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens, which are five gardens designed around the five senses; taste, touch, smell, sound and sight. They felt far more accessible than the impressive show gardens, after all I already have a taste garden!
The Jo Whiley Scent Garden inspired me to think about the scents I have on my allotment. I have a wonderful selection of herbs and I grow sweet peas every year which have been very successful and fill not only my allotment but my home with their scent.
Sweet Peas 2016
So to add to this I bought a Jasminum officinale at the weekend, the variety is Clotted Cream and it was grown locally. Jasmine is at its most fragrant in the evening and since I’m often at my plot in the evening after work to water I thought it was a good choice. Plus, when I’m not drinking coffee I’m drinking Jasmine green tea so it’s in keeping with my rule of using edible flowers on the plot. (Although I’m not planning to make Jasmine tea!)
Next job: creating an arch for it to grow up…
I’ve spent quite a bit of time on my allotment recently, but I am still knitting I promise! Currently on my needles is a pattern by Cath Ward called Lazy Ocean Shawl. I’m making it out of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace a luxurious, 55% merino and 45% silk blend.
I cast on sometime in March (I’ve gotten really slack at updating my project pages on Ravelry and I can’t remember when exactly). Its on 2.75mm needles and laceweight yarn so I’m not expecting to finish it any time soon either, but I’m past the halfway mark and really enjoying taking my time knitting it.
The pattern only has four other projects on Ravelry but I can’t imagine that staying that way for long as its a lovely design and well written with both charts and written instructions. In fact, I recommend checking out Cath Wards pattern page as its full of pretty lace shawls and scarves that are all available for free.
I made a few modifications; I added some width, omitted a couple of the eyelet stitches at the edges and didn’t do the border at the start as I wanted to have as much of the stole in the lazy ocean pattern as possible. If you’re interested in the details of the mods, you can find them on my project page.
I think of this as the ugly duckling stage of lace knitting; it doesn’t look like much now, but I know this will be beautiful when finished.
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Allotmenteering, Knitting and Sewing
An Allotment blog exploring gardening and growing your own produce
Allotment and kitchen garden blog
Writer, gardener, TV presenter
Adventures in the life of an English allotment
Allotmenteering, Knitting and Sewing
joyful seamless knitting patterns
Allotmenteering, Knitting and Sewing
ninety nine stitches 