allotments

The carrot barrier, how’s that sweet pea?

There I was explaining to my brother, he who is a little older and wiser than I, that I’d devised this ‘foolproof’ method to keep the dreaded carrot fly off my crop on my plot.

I’d built a carrot wall. Not made of carrots but of little planks of wood, so that the carrots cannot get at my crop. A mini raised bed where the carrots can thrive in peace and would, therefore,  crop beautifully and without a blemish.

There was a brief silence from him then ” they might get over the wall by flying, they are after all called carrot flies”.

Here’s my answer:

Carrots

This is the first time that I have been able to grow carrots without the little beasts getting at my crop. They might fly but they can’t get over my wall!

My sweet peas, on the other hand, needed no walls.

Sweetpeas

 

The rare breed: a gardener sitting down.

gardenweb

This is another from my series on the British Character ( Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character ) and is close to my heart. I like order in the garden but not too much, a bit like I like order in my life, but not too much. I’ll let the drawing do the talking today, it’s sunny outside and I need to go and see if that pigeon is eating my veg. The one featured here is a veg bandit unlike the one found the other day ( Pigeons, well that makes a change from sheds. )

Enjoy the day!

The Art of the shed

I’m a fan of this artist’s work. Guided here by my other half who discovered him for herself some years ago, and is herself inspired by it, take a look at Antoni Tapies

In a homage to his paintings here are my own images, gleaned straight from the plot. A heady mixture of art and “sheddism”. A sunny day helps both the art of the shed and the growing of the plot.

shedcu3

This one is called “Untitled 1”

Shedcu

This one is “Unititled 2”

shednail

and this one is “Rusty nail”

and finally this one:

Profile

which is called” Self portrait with shed door juxtaposed”.

All are available as fine art prints, of course. Get in touch with your bank details.

 

Autumn plotting…

Some days of Autumn the light catches just right and yesterday was such a day. Not my plot but one that I cross on a favourite walk. This one caught my eye. If you look a little closer you’ll see a fine crop of tommies in that greenhouse and the greens have done ok too.

autumnplot3

Anyone familiar with my site will know my liking for sheds. This plot with it’s amazing collection of slightly raised wooden beds for the veg must have taken hours of work to get right. I think I know what they are trying to achieve and that’s to eliminate the dreaded couch grass. I won’t work, but it will help. That stuff could tunnel into a bank vault, which some of you might remember over here is another pastime that us pensioners get up to. Pensioner pastimes

autumnplot1

On my own plot I have the other dreaded weed: horse’s tail. Someone asked me what it looks like the other day. I asked if they’d ever seen a horse’s tail. What I could do with is what comes out from below the horses tail.

Sunflowers are a favourite with artists and they are with me. If I get some of that stuff that comes out from below the horses tail I might give them a go next year on my own plot. These two are somewhat degraded from their full yellow glory but magnificent still.

autumnplot2

autumnplot5

Have a good Monday, and if you’re a pensioner, stick to the plot.