Welcome to my blog, that shares how we grow fruit and vegetables and at the same time try to create a beautiful place to just sit and dream. My name is Kathryn, and I am a keen allotmenteer who cannot resist acquiring seeds, especially of anything new to me ... Am I a seedaholic???  ..... I love cooking, watching wildlife and read avidly. Spending time with our grandchildren is a blessing in our lives. 

I learned a lot about gardening and growing vegetables from my Dad, and once I had a space of my own I grew what I could in small way, mainly herbs and tomatoes. One notable year in our first house we had the hugest glut of Purple Sprouting Broccoli you have ever seen! Whoever knew every seed would germinate and every plant thrive? We had our first allotment over thirty years ago but never really got to grips with it as we had no clear plan to tackle the weeds and so grew things in spaces hacked in between brambles and thistles. Amazingly though vegetables grew and we had many a contented hour there, cooking our lunch over an old camping stove and watching the children collecting bugs and beasties in their little baskets.  Reluctantly we gave the plot up when we moved house as it was then too far to walk and we had no other transport. For some years we grew what we could in our greenhouse at home although my fingers itched to do more. A full time job and a family made the dream of growing our own seem very distant indeed for a long time.

I was lucky enough to have the chance to develop a Garden Club at the school where i worked back in 2007, and this really fired my enthusiasm to be back growing our own food. With retirement coming up fast, it seemed a good time to start again. I learned a great deal with the Garden Club, and felt much more confident about taking on a plot again. The knowledge and experience shared through on-line forums has been - and stiil is -- invaluable too.There is always an answer or three out there somewhere, to provide food for thought.

We shall never be totally self sufficient, but try to grow as much as we can and eat seasonally.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and just possibly feel inspired yourself!  Any ideas or comments here will be much appreciated of course. There is a space at the end of each page for this. Thank you.