That’s the second blog post title in a row with an ‘and’ in it, I think I may be squeezing in my crafting around other things at the moment. This is the first block finished since we moved flats, though I started it before we moved, so I reckon this one’s been nigh-on two months in the making, yikes.

I’m pleased with it, though, particularly being able to use the last of the dark brick red fabric in the centre. These are pieces I salvaged from an early block I took apart because I didn’t like it so I’m glad to have put them to good use and to have used more of the acorns and berries fabric (brand unknown), it’s one of those I discovered belatedly falls into the ‘less-is-more’ category! It’s got a fair bit of purple in it which I’m afraid I try to cut round so there’ll be some wastage but it’s too much of an in-your-face purple for this quilt. Again, the Moda Prairie Cactus has proved its worth, and the brown fabric that I rely on but is discontinued. This is block 41, but I had to go back to the last blog post  wrote featuring patchwork to work that out.

The new hobby that is taking me away from both patchwork and finishing unpacking the flat is the allotment we’ve rented. When I knew where we’d be moving to I was a bit anxious, as you are when moving somewhere not of your own volition and under some time pressure,  so it’s not like you’ve got time or more importantly the budget to look for your ideal place, but woke up one morning and remembered there are allotments in the village we were moving to. This cheered me up immediately, as I grew up with a garden and had been really missing having somewhere outdoors to go, particularly in the summer. I like walking, but being outside for a different reason, having somewhere to cultivate our own plants, would be fantastic. Looking it up online, I saw they are on the street where we live and there were some available to rent, which is amazing because in many parts of Britain there is a waiting list for them, and as we’re in commuting distance from London that could have been the case for us too. We looked round with the deputy clerk to the parish council and chose a half-plot, more manageable for two working people. It was overgrown and hadn’t been cultivated for some time, and unfortunately the previous occupant had left some ugly plastic waterbutts and other big bits of rubbish we can’t get rid of ourselves, so that’s an eyesore until the council organises removal (which could be a long, long time, if ever), but we’ve put them at the far end of the plot and it’ll be a while before we work our way up to that end anyway.

This is a quickly-snapped ‘before’ shot. You can just see the edges of some fruit trees to the right of where I’m standing, and there’s a bit of ground behind. What you can’t see is how hillocky the ground is, and all the bits of wood and broken paving slabs the grass has grown over. Don’t know who that strange bloke at the far end is.

Later, the lovely apple tree to the left of the plot was covered in blossom.

That was before we’d got the petrol lawn mower and my husband had mowed the grass. In the background is our neighbour’s tidy plot!

Since then, we’ve planted potatoes and the lovely weather means they’re growing well, so far. I’ve been out most nights watering them, and am just sorry there’s still grass growing through in the bed so we should have dug it more thoroughly, even though we’d done lots and lots of digging and put about 3 bags of compost on it. Yesterday I planted marigolds round the edges, they’re meant to be more attractive to potato bugs than potatoes are. I’d be so sad if after caring for them the bugs got to them first.

Under the group of fruit trees the previous occupant had put plastic sheeting to keep the weeds down, but the grass had grown through it and the plastic was visible for some inches round the edge of it, really ugly, and I did want to plant flowers under the trees. It took ages, but we got the plastic up and have planted a wallflower, some dahlias (some as plants in flower, some as bulbs to come up later) and some pinks / carnations, and covered the rest with two boxes of wildflower seed. I’m curious to see what comes up (and how to keep the grass down while letting the flowers grow).

In the little greenhouse are some seedlings that if we’re lucky will grow into butternut squashes and purple sprouting broccoli. We grew them from seed on the kitchen windowsill. I’m impressed by these mini greenhouses, it’s worked well so far. Last weekend we started digging a bed that I’d started in the course of the week, and I dug over again on Thursday and Saturday to try to get more grass and other roots out, and yesterday planted it with carrot seeds and onion sets.

Again, can’t take credit for the smart plot in the background! My husband bought these little polytunnels to protect the carrot seedlings from carrot fly, though the test I believe comes when it’s time to thin them out.

I’ve been really enjoying it so far, particularly checking each night to see how the potato plants have grown, I can’t believe how quickly they’ve come on. It’s lovely having a robin come to check on our progress as worm-providers, too!

Next weekend we’ll just keep on top of weeding and watering and devote a bit more time to sorting out stuff in the garage, as we need to try and put our car in it and it’s now not only full of ‘stuff’ but there are also gardening tools and a lawnmower, whoops! But I mustn’t forget my patchwork with all this new excitement, or it would be the mother of all WIPs, so I’ve opened my boxes of fabric and will start planning the next one, promise!