Thursday, 5 November 2015

November on the allotment: sunshine, sunflowers and our memory bench

The weather over the weekend was glorious. There was beautiful warm sunshine & a mellow stillness in the air that you only seem to get in Autumn. We thought we'd make the most of the weather & try to make a dent in the weeds on our plot. The more work we do now, the less back-breaking preparation will be needed in Spring. That's the plan anyway...
November on the allotment: sunshine, apples, harvest, crops
I blogged back in early September about our huge sunflowers. They are now way past their best. We wanted to clear the area so we can plant a green manure crop over the Winter. I have never seen sunflowers with such robust stalks. It was like felling trees. Our loaded wheelbarrow was destined for the communal compost heap, but a neighbouring plot holder asked if she could have the seed heads for her bird feeders. Nice to know nothing goes to waste on an allotment...
Magoo helped my Mum to dig up the last of the beetroot & load up the wheelbarrow with weeds. Magoo loves walking back & forth to the communal compost heap, she likes to look at all the other plots. She was particularly jealous of some huge pumpkins growing in a raised bed. They are on our 'to do' list for next Spring...would be great to carve our own homegrown pumpkins next Halloween.
November on the allotment: sunshine, sunflowers and our memory bench
November on the allotment: sunshine, sunflowers, wheelbarrow, weeding, plot, gardening
Magoo took full advantage of the wooden bench we've recently installed on our plot. This particular bench is special to us because it came from my Granny's garden. My Gran grew up in a poor mining community in Wales & everyone was far too busy working to take pleasure from gardening. She then spent over forty years living in a first floor flat in Clifton in Bristol. So when my Gran moved to her bungalow in the early 1980s, she was overjoyed to finally have a garden. We would often sit on this bench at the end of her garden drinking tea & enjoying the sunshine. My Gran sadly passed away in late Decemeber 2014 & her bungalow has recently sold to a new owner. I was really keen to rehome the bench on our plot. So now when we want to take a break from weeding or digging, we can sit down & remember how much she loved gardening.
November on the allotment: sunshine, sunflowers and our memory bench
This week I'm linking up with:
Whatever the Weather over on monkeyandmouse.co.uk & www.lifeunexpected.co.uk
How Does Your Garden Grow #HDYGG over on mammasaurus.co.uk
Point + Shoot over on youbabymemummy.com and Snowing Indoors
Country Kids over on www.coombemill.com
Let Kids Be Kids over on letkidsbekids.co.uk

10 comments:

Happy Homebird said...

We need a good few days at our plot tidying up but now it's raining this weekend I think we will be giving it a miss. Time to start making the plans for next year with all the seed catalogues and magazines over the winter.

Unknown said...

That's a lovely way to remember your gran. I love that you can sit at the allotment and enjoy the allotment as she used to enjoy her garden. We have my grandpa's old bench too (he passed away in August 2014 aged 99), but at the moment we hardly use it as it's at the front of the house, where we don't tend to sit much. I think we need to move it into the garden so we can enjoy it more. Your allotment is looking lovely in autumn too, hope you manage to get lots planted for next year, we have garlic in, although not all have grown, will have to try a few more cloves!
Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather :) x

Coombe Mill - Fiona said...

Aw that seet has such fond memories for you, how lovely to remember your Gran so fondly and sitting at the end of her garden and to now see your own daughter enjoying sitting there too. I hope you so plant pumpkins, how great would that be to have your very own pumpkin patch to harvest and carve next autumn! Thank you for sharing autumn on the allotment on Country Kids.

snowingindoors said...

I'm the world's worst gardener, I admire anyone who can grow plants and fruit!

Unknown said...

I love so much that your Grandmas seat is there. It would be so lovely to plant pumpkins and get to carve your own next year. That would be so magical. I love the sound of your allotment and that nothing goes to waste. It sounds like such a beautiful place to spend some quality family time. Thanks so much for linking up to #Whatevertheweather :) x

chickenruby said...

how fantastic that you still have your grannies bench, lovely to hear nothing goes to waste on the allotment and that the birds will have a good feed for winter

Mammasaurus said...

I know exactly what you mean about felling sunflowers - I had a really hard job pulling ours up and then chopping up the stalks - less sunflower and more Jack and the Beanstalk!
How lovely that you still have the bench and I found the story of how she finally got a garden really emotive, that must have been such a good feeling. What a lovely reminder of her.
Thank you for joining in and sharing this x

Unknown said...

Sounds like everyone likes to join in the gardening fun. Lovely to have the bench there for good memories.
Thanks for sharing #LetKidsBeKids

A Green and Rosie Life said...

I cannot believe how wonderfully kind autumn is being to us this year ... here's hoping we don't pay too much for this later eh? #HDYGG

Su said...

It is so lovely to encourage kids get working on their green fingers. Great time to spend with your kid and a great outdoor lessons too, eg: grown your own pumpkins! ;) Looks like you've been working hard on the garden. Looking forward to see it blossom the next time around. :) #letkidsbekids

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