Veg Plotting

Last week I set you a Connections puzzle which I hope you enjoyed. Now it's time for the answers... How did you do? I asked you to answer the questions below, and take the letter as indicated from your answer to complete the blank boxes. For multiple word answers, I asked you take the letter from a particular word if not from the first. The answers to the questions and the completed line of boxes all had something in common. How early did you make the connection? Did it help you with some of your answers? Question Answer Title of a novel by Jeanette Winterson (1985), also adapted for TV (5) Oran g es are not the Only Fruit Place in New York where John Lennon's memorial is situated (3) St r awberry Fields Name of the group with Freegle, Bingo, Droopy & Snorky as members (2, 4, & 6 of second word - just one of them will do) The B a n a n a Splits Name of the purple piec...

I love pub quizzes with friends. They're fun and sociable, with the added frisson of a possible prize if we're on top form. Sometimes one of the rounds is a Connections puzzle, where the answers have something in common. Often getting the connection early on can help with some of the more tricky questions... or lead us completely up the wrong tree if we get it wrong! One of our quizzes came up with a Connections round which I thought was worth tweaking and twisting a little for Veg Plotting . I hope you enjoy it. What you need to do Answer the questions below, and take the letter as indicated from your answer to complete the blank boxes. For multiple word answers, take the letter from a particular word as indicated, otherwise it's taken the first. The answers to the questions and the completed line of boxes all have something in common. What is the newly formed word and the Connection? Question Answer Title of a novel b...

I've made a guest appearance this week on the Thompson & Morgan (T&M) blog with some of my top tips for allotment growing alongside regular Veg Plotting commenter Sue (yay!), plus a whole host of experienced allotmenteers. Those of you who read my National Gardening Week post last May may be a little surprised as I confessed then I no longer have an allotment. My response to T&M's questions apply to what I've been doing here at VP Gardens and show grow your own is feasible whether you have just a windowsill right through to a full-blown allotment. My update on progress since then is long overdue. In a nutshell I produced more in 2019 than many an allotment year despite the more restricted space. It's not been a perfect time owing to family circumstances, so I look forward to 2020's growing season confident even more progress can be made. Two of my key projects last year were to improve soil health and to increase my growing space with some ...

It's always good to get out in the garden (rain permitting!) in the darkest days of winter and take my annual flower count. The blooms may be smaller, but they're a welcome sight and there's always a few surprises. This year's count stands at 12: not my best result, but there were signs of plenty more waiting in the wings. This year we have: the pictured rosemary - now reclassified as a member of the S alvia aka sage family, though I'm sure it'll keep its familiar common name, This is a great plant to have flowering for any bees venturing out at this time of the year 3 different kinds of winter flowering clematis - Clematis balearica , Clematis 'Freckles' and Clematis urophylla 'Winter Beauty' Single snowdrops a-plenty - Galanthus nivalis Strawberry 'Just Add Cream' Primrose 'Cottage Cream' Double flowered hellebores, but no sign of the Christmas rose Violas Erigeron perennial cornflower Viburnum x bodnanten...