Good things come in small packages

This weekend was our allotments' 'Big Lunch' weekend, the weather wasn't amazing but the people were.  The place was heaving and I met lots of my allotment neighbours who were all really friendly and had lots of good advise for beginners.  Whilst queuing for lunch and trying (and failing) to answer a quiz sheet I had just been handed on plant related trivia a couple in front of me gave me a few pointers so many pointers in fact that I ended up winning a bag of zoo poo!  Now, I don't know about you but I don't think anything says winner as much as a bag of elephant and rhino poo.  Kevin (resident allotment God) has from day one been great, he's helped us get our bind weed under control, advised on pest management and been a friendly face who always says hello and stops for a chat.  My measure of how great Kevin is came when I showed him our first radish harvest:

Kevin suppressed a snigger and gave us some hints and tips for keeping black fly away from future crops.  In the face of such a comedy radish I thought this was very restrained!

We bought lots of fantastic plants at the big lunch and some really tasty cake (I did my bit and donated one banana bread which sold out in ten minutes and an elderflower tea bread made with Sam's homemade elderflower cordial), also picked up two bunches of some gorgeous smelling flowers it's exactly this style of flower arrangement we're going for with our flowers at the wedding:

As we edge towards the home stretch before the wedding the various odds and ends are coming together.  Sam's mum and step-dad visited at the weekend and brought fantastic craft treats for us to include in the big day:

Guest book made in my favourite turquoise, the lines look like layers of earth which are just beautiful and conjure images for me of all those family holidays we went on as kids, they always seemed to end up having a geography type theme/visit/interest (my parents were both geography teachers, yep envy me I've been on day trips and holidays to slate mines, nuclear power plants, up mountains and treks across moors to find the source of this river or that river).

The second and last batch of knitted flowers for the napkin rings!  I think Mary may never want to see a knitted flower ever again (I think the final flower total was close to 200), aren't they great? 

Just over 7 weeks and counting.......