New Member Saying Hello

Helloooo everyone

I'm Gill, 46 years young, married to Neil and owned by two thoroughly spoilt cats called Chilli and Lily. We live in a first-floor flat in a rural town in Northumberland and have been here for ten years come October (where has the time gone?)

I've been a lifelong lover of gardening and growing stuff ~ mostly flowers and houseplants...no vegetables yet ~ ever since my dad gave me a small plot of my own in the back garden when I was around 3 years old. I loved to grow hardy annuals like nasturtiums, candytuft, nigella and Virginia stock and even now I still like to have a few of these in my containers.

Unfortunately I don't have a 'proper' garden of my own as we live in a flat but I do have a few containers in the courtyard we share with the rest of the neighbours. There was nothing here when we first moved in as nobody seemed bothered about growing stuff but I cannot be without plants and my hands in compost so asked the lady downstairs if she minded me putting a few pots against the wall...and over the years I've kind-of gradually added more and more I've currently got around 20 in various sizes but have my eye on the bare back wall for a bit of trellis and clematis or other types of climber. Nobody's complained about my flowers....it would be rather petty really, wouldn't it? Flowers don't harm anyone yet give so much delight

I have just applied for an allotment...hopefully at the site just five minutes' walk from where I live...so fingers crossed There's a few overgrown plots available according to the council website and I ticked the box for not minding a neglected plot as I don't mind a challenge so hopefully that will go in my favour Neil and I have often talked about trying for an allotment but kept putting it off as we thought we might be moving away but those plans have all fell through so we have decided to stay put. I recently had a small dog from a friend on trial with us (I've been lost without a dog since my whippet died in 2008) but unfortunately had to return her as the cats really didn't like her and were very stressed by her presence. So for the past couple of months I've been twiddling my thumbs and at a bit of a loose end....until a customer in our shop happened to mention his allotment and we got talking and it set me thinking. After a couple of weeks I found out how to apply for one locally and quickly printed out the form, filled it in and stuck it in the post ASAP before I bottled out

Anyway....I'm rambling on AS USUAL ...off to explore the rest of the site

 

Welcome to GC Gill there's lots of great advice and information here enjoy having a good browse around.Sorry to hear about your dog..
Good luck with the lottie application

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Gill. Good luck with the allotment!

 

Hiya....welcome to GC

 

Hello and welcome, you will like it here

 

Welcome Gill!

 

Neil and I have just got back from a mooch around the allotments and there's quite a few (half a dozen or so that we saw) that are empty, not as badly overgrown as I'd feared and, best of all, have some good fencing around them Had a chat with a guy who's had one up there for 4 years and it seems the council are clearing a lot of the middle neglected area that was really bad (6ft+ weeds, bricks, junk etc) and putting some decent fencing up so I'm feeling quietly optimistic......in a kind-of bouncing off the ceiling with excitement sort of way Even the plots that are a little overgrown with buttercup, nettles, etc aren't as bad as I'd originally feared and even Neil was pretty impressed and says that even the WORST plot will be easily sorted He works as security on an opencast site and says he can get all manner of stuff which he can salvage from there (legally with permission from his boss as it'll just be scrapped otherwise) which would be ideal for an allotment (railway sleepers, barbed wire to keep toerags out , wood to build a shed etc.

So fingers crossed

 

I'm just a natural gasbag.

I was forever getting told off by my supervisor for talking too much to the customers years ago when I worked in a supermarket That was over 20 years ago and if anything I'm MORE of a chatterbox now as age has made me less shy about talking to strangers No point in being a shy bairn when you work in a shop

 

You chatter away Gillykat, it's not a problem. When the humour and sarcasm get going here you have to develop a thick skin.