Monday, April 13, 2009

Biking, gardening, harvesting, eating!

I am now the proud owner of a new-to-me 6 speed ladies cruiser bicycle.

Yesterday I rode it to my allotment garden plot.

There's lots of work to be done, including cleaning up some stuff that the previous gardeners had left behind.


Here are some of our garden beds that we want to double dig.

When we get tired from all that digging we can take breaks under our (what I think is a) cherry tree

I've already picked my first harvest!

These mustard greens and dandelion leaves were growing in the the plot, and were a perfect additon to a shredded carrot salad.

The salad added a lovely bit of colour to the sweet and sour cabbage and tempeh and the Jerusalem artichokes I made with this recipe.

6 comments:

CM said...

Congrats on the bike!

I am so looking forward to seeing photos of the allotment through the season 'cause right now it looks, well, weedy :D and unformed. How big of a space is it?

It's a beautiful day any day you can bike or garden!

Amber said...

Hi CM. I still need to raise the seat on the bike, but otherwise I'm very happy with it.

The allotment doesn't look like very much right now. It's definitely overgrown with weeds and the beds need much work.

There are quite a few berry bushes and some other shrubs I'm looking forward to identifying.

The average size of all the plots is about 1000 square feet. We measured ours and it is approximately 48 by 50. The area around the cherry tree (about 1/4 of the total area) is not being gardened.

Not sure what the total area of our beds are yet, but for a first time gardener there is plenty of space to work with!

I plan to keep posting updates and hopefully there will be quite a transformation of before and after shots as the season progresses.

Amanda said...

Where is your plot? You get so much space!! :) I have one on Viewmount, but yours is much larger.

Amber said...

Hi Amanda.
We're in the Kilborn allotment gardens. The plots are huge!

It's a bit overwhelming for a first timer, so I'm actually quite glad of our tree and shrubbery. It makes it feel much more manageable and more like a backyard.

I think we'll start working one bed at a time and see how far we get this year!

Have you been at your plot for long?

Rachel said...

I love, love, LOVE your bike! How great is that?! Congrats on the allotment too. I have some organic seeds for you if you'd like 'em. :)

Amber said...

Hey Green Grrl! The bike is pretty sweet. And for sure I'll take a look at your seeds. I have some as well. Perhaps we can swap?