Eggs, chips and beans

247..248..249..250!!!!! We did it! We planted 250 potato sets in, possibly the most inhospitable piece of ground in County Durham!

If you have been following my blog you will know that Philip and I have worked very,very hard on preparing the ground on our allotment for planting. We have been totally amazed at the amount of bricks and other debris we've dug up over the last week, and every day we believed there simply could not be any more bricks in the plot. And every day we have excavated more, in fact we could build a shed from them. Nonetheless the spuds are in and will hopefully break up the earth for us and make the next digging over much easier.

After all our hard graft we both felt a little jaded to say the least. We needed a break. We decided to take a week away in the open. A week under canvas was just what the doctor ordered.

On returning home, we couldn't wait to go to the allotment, and lo and behold we have potatoes growing. It is so satisfying to see the first green leaves of potato plants just peeping out of the earth. Spurred on by this we have now planted four varieties of bean and some mange touts. Next to go in will be carrots and beetroot. I know we are planting late in the season but we are hoping for some success.

I cannot wait to get the allotment fenced off so that we can build the coupe and buy some hens. Most of our fellow allotment holders keep chickens and some have given us eggs from them, what a difference in taste!

We may end up being self sufficient some day. Ah the Good Life.