It's a new day, a new dawn and a new allotment....

It was going to be an easy going Sunday morning....get up late....potter about a bit....go out with my good friend Laura . We were only going to buy some potatoes from a nursery to chit and that would be it. Job done,with a  lazy Sunday afternoon to look forward to.

But it hasn't quite turned out like that. My mind is now racing, I've got a piece of paper out and I'm trying to draw the future.

Mind you, I hadn't even managed to get out of the house today and I'd already been distracted.And spent some money. I blame Fiona from www.cottagesmallholder.com  

She'd put up a blogpost about what she'd just ordered from Thompson and Morgan's online sale...Sungold tomato seeds for 20p? I couldn't resist....and also managed to find myself ordering cheap salad leaves, some runner beans plus some poppies I had no intention of buying.


I digress...by eleven o clock I'd picked up Laura and we were on our way to Brookside Nurseries , north of Leicester ,to get our potatoes for the coming year. It's where I've been going for the last three years for potatoes. So many different varieties , so tempting - so we both bought far too many.

First Early favorites for me are Arran Pilot, Rocket and I'm also going to try Lady Christl...but it's the salad potatoes which really get me going.....such as these, as well as Anyas and Charlottes

And that's why we've now found ourselves sharing a new allotment. Because we'd bought too many potatoes!

And onions...

Now getting an allotment in the UK in most areas is not easy.Some people have to wait for years on a list and wait for someone to die or become too incapicitated  before they can take over a plot.

I had to do that myself for one of my allotments...three years I was on that list. And I love it there...it's a single row of about thirty or so plots set between two rows of houses in town. It's fenced and a real suntrap ..and last year I grew pounds and pounds of peas, broad beans , french beans and tomatoes there.

But I have another allotment which I share with Laura. It's not far from my house, it's in a windy, at times god forsaken field, which we share with rabbits, muntjaks  , allotmenteers and other  wild animals.

In my bit I grow fruit - blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries.I also grow potatoes and garlic.

Laura's American so she's got a blueberry thing going on, and she  loves artichokes ( or fartichokes as I call them). Not that I'm saying she has a problem in that department you understand, but the last time I went to France and the whole family had some - let's put it this way, we could have gone from Limoges to Nice only using about 10 litres of petrol. Definitely wind assisted.

I'm digressing again  though. Back to the nursery and a trolley full of potatoes, garlic , and Laura with the onion sets....

.I happened to mention that I'd heard there was half allotment plot going spare in the field. Laura's face lit up, and the next thing I'm phoning Monica ,who runs the allotment society ,to find out which allotment it was. Not that we're picky mind, but there are plots and then there are others. As with buying houses it's all about location, location, location. But at this stage, this was merely an enquiry as to which one it was.

Monica then gave us the good news. It's the plot right next to ours. Mainly covered with black plastic. We said Yes, and that was it. Until we had a little wibble and asked ourselves if perhaps we were taking on too much.

We took a detour on the way home - to our allotments.  Yes, allotments - in the plural.We've not only agreed to take this new one on, but we've seen Monica and already paid up our subs.

This wasn't quite what I'd had in mind when I got up this morning - but hey, it's a new day , it's a new dawn and a new allotment. And it's feeling good..

The only thing is, I haven't yet seen Mr Thinking of the days to tell him the good news yet.....

Guess what today's song is? I 've always adored her ...Nina Simone....

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