School Club Harvest (or the Miraculous Never Watered But Still Grew Plants)

Usually when Monday approaches I start thinking about the school gardening club.

Actually, that's a bit of a lie. I used to start thinking about the club and what activities we would be doing on Tuesday. Towards the end of term however, my enthusiasm had started to wane and quite often I wouldn't think about this until Tuesday morning.

It's nothing personal. It seems a general malaise that is currently infecting my life. So last Tuesday I was rather relieved that it was the final one for a few weeks.

Weeding, watering and harvesting had been the main activities for the last two or three sessions, plus a visit from a photographer for the local paper was shoehorned into our busy schedule.

A lot of the produce has been slow to ripen so we've left in the runner beans, courgette and tomatoes with assurances from the members who live in the village that they will harvest them. I will probably pop in too but it does seem a bit cheeky for me to stagger away with armfuls of produce.

Plans for next term include sowing sweet pea seeds, bulbs and working on the herb patch in readiness for next spring. I've also got to look into grants and other funding because I'd like to buy a plastic growhouse (to put goodness knows where) and the bulbs.

The highlights? Definitely the children's enthusiasm and their possessiveness over the plot. It looks good and they should feel proud. The lowlights? Er....lack of working outside tap, the children's inability to remember to water the plants and a general lack of thanks (from adults and children).

For my part I'd mark my report card with a B minus. "Mrs B started the term well but ended a bit flat. She needs to maintain her energy and enthusiasm levels and to remember small but important tasks like entering the plot into gardening competitions, contacting nurseries for sponsorship and burning the photos onto a disc LIKE SHE PROMISED. All in all, could do better."

A "Carrots" Catch-Up

So, onwards and upwards. Or perhaps just onwards.....

The weekend has been busy. And with no help it's up to me and Hubby to fit the essential but incredibly time-consuming Stuff in amongst looking after the children. Stuff like moving everybody's bed around kind of stuff, that takes up entire weekends.

Sixteen binbags of rubbish, two bad backs and five grumpy children later the deed is done but the allotment is untouched. I'm not going to fret, it can't be helped but I have been thinking about it, the garden, plants, seedlings and veggies, so does that count?

So here's a rundown of what's in my head. Granted it's not a lot....

• My new Mini Plastic Greenhouse Thingy (must find out its correct name). Need to put it up, fill it up, find the best spot for it and dispose of the old knackered one.
• Plant carrots and salads in my numerous pots at home. What can I say? We're greedy.
  
• Plant more seeds. In a short space of time we have amassed a load of loo roll inners. One of the unmentioned joys of large family living, loo rolls and the quantity we get through.
• Think some more about the plans for the back and front gardens. To do this I must read the gardening/design books I got from the library. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.
• Organise the child-friendly gardening things - Fimo stakes, sunflowers for the wigwam, garden in a bag (more of all of those later).
• Head up to the allotment, or head Hubby in that direction, with his drill and screws to repair the now dilapidated beds.
  

I'm dreaming of...

Sigh.
I think maybe I'm getting old. I get complimented by checkout girls on the way I stack my groceries at the till. And now I'm coveting a potting shed.

This beauty would not be for the allotment but for our garden, which is in desperate need of an overhaul and some TLC. Part of that is getting a new shed. Of course, I've taken this one step further and am looking at Very Expensive Sheds.

I lovingly gazed at my friend's potting shed today. Only she doesn't use the potting part of it, even though it's in full sun for most of the day and she is into gardening. She has a tiny veg patch next to the shed, four (yes four) compost bins and yet, yet, no trays of seedlings basking in front of the large windows. What a waste!

Oh lovely, I sighed, you could be in here, in the warm and the sun, with the radio burbling away.....

She reckons there's no room for her in the shed, that it is full with her two children's bikes and things. They've taken it over, she sighed.

Hmmm. I could see the same thing happening with mine, if I ever get one. But that's partly the point. We need a bigger shed to store the bikes and outdoor paraphernalia that seems to have bred with the children and I would really love a greenhouse. A potting shed would kill two birds with one stone. Maybe that's how I'll sell my idea to Hubby - it'll be cheaper! Honestly!

As for the encroaching stuff from the children, well I've got a solution. I would draw a chalk line on the floor and woe betide anyone who's bike crossed it. Oh yes, that should do it.

I'd like to know what more experienced gardeners think - a shed and greenhouse or are potting sheds the way to go (especially for those of us with smaller gardens and smaller people playing in them)? So far Hubby is the only one who reads this (heaven knows how you get others to read your blog) and I think I can guess what his comment will be.................