Tuesday 17th August 2011 - weather: Overcast but warm

Went for a quick pick today.

How to use up 7 courgettes and several dozen quails eggs. Nigella's courgette sponge, the beebs courgette and choccy sponge and a friends courgette and cheese bread. Delicious. Tis how I keep my size zero figure. :)

Wednesday 10th August 2011 - weather: bright and breezy

Welcome home Sally and Ian all the way from the land down under. Do women glow and men plunder I wonder?

And welcome home Geoff and Karen from across the pond. Hope you had a lovely holiday.

Now down to business. I am a slacker, I have no photos to show as it is late, they all need resizing, and to be perfectly honest, after the day I have had, I can barely keep my eyes open. I promise faithful reader to resize and post a plethora of photos once I am recovered.

Today was the day I had threatened to take the kids to the allotment for the whole day. Yes, the whole day including lunch and dinner. You can imagine how excited this made the hormonal 12 year old. The hyper 10 year old didn't mind, he likes nothing more than playing in the ditch with sticks and bows and arrows chasing goodness knows what.

We arrived, with various picnics, at 11 and the allotments looked like a tropical rainforrest. Someone had obviously sown lots of prickly sow thistle seeds all over both plots as they were infected. However, very easy to fork out. Plot number one was first under attack and as I had already cleaned the strawberry bed, I started in the spud/onion/leek/others bed. All of the lettuce plants have now bolted so they were all pulled out and in no time at all, the whole area was looking a lot more under control. I picked a big bundle of french beans and asapagus peas (which I think taste like grass but the flowers are pretty and the seed was free) and dug some International Kidney spuds. The leeks are growing really quickly and I think for the first time ever, I will have some decent sized aliums for winter use. There is also a row of young French bean seedlings, peas and spring onions which only recently germinated for a very late harvest in the autumn.

Beyond the apple trees is my seed bed, mainly roots and salads. Again, all of the bolted lettuce went followed by the bolted beetroot, although I have kept these to juice. A lovely show of Borlotti beans on the vines and huge spring onions.

For lunch we fired up the BBQ and enjoyed toasted bacon sandwiches after which the children were told to keep the home fires burning as it is such a faff to light a BBQ that I didn't want to have to go through it again at tea time, so whilst playing, they would through little bundles of dry twigs onto the coals to keep it quietly smouldering.

Meanwhile I headed for plot numero two and set about sorting the squash plantation. This is going to be a great year for the squashes, a lot of variety, and at least 2 giant pumpkins. Harvested 10 courgettes....again.... and weeded through. Not such a bad job as most are planted through membrane. The corriander has all run to seed, but that is okay, I will keep the seed to dry roast and grind. The rocket hasn't gone to seed, but also hasn't grown much which is a shame as I do love it. The lambs lettuce has made very pretty rosettes which should give us leaves into the winter. I picked a few toms, and a bundle of runner beans. I then set about clearing the sweetcorn bed which either the squirrels or the deer have completely decimated. I have some fab brassicas forming, some huge cabbages and there are already mini sprouts on the brussel plants. This wet, coolish summer has certainly benefited some plants.

Dinner time and the BBQ was still nicely hot so we topped it up with more coal and waited a while before throwing on some sausages. The kids chopped some freshly pulled onions and as their dad had now arrived, we all sat in the shade of the willow and enjoyed our supper al fresco and out of doors. Perfic.

We left after nearly 9 hours on the plot in which time I had humped dozens of trugs full of weeds over to the compost dump, picked lashings of crops, got stung by nettles oodles of times and completely forgotten about the worries of the world. The children had a great time spending the whole day away from the TV and out in the fresh air and by the time I left, I could look over the plots and feel very proud of how neat they both look and how much produce is still growing on them. A good, if exhausting day.

Friday 1st July 2011 - weather: sunny

Such selfishness. Another full day on the allotment. I was hoping to have a sneaky visit on Thursday but due to the teachers deciding to strike, daughter number one's school was closed so I decided to keep myself available for her and her chums rather than loose myself on the plot.

Really, todays visit was a continuation of last Fridays visit, so to pick up with the weeding, where I left off. However, I think someone had been along with and shaken the trifid stick all over my allotment as in the matter of a week, everything had grown like the clappers, and not just the weeds.

The tomatoes are romping away and I am once again growing them under a roof which prevents rain splash, one of the quickest spreaders of the dreaded blight spores. Normally this means I am picking toms long after everyone elses have succumbed to blight. It isn't perfect, but it certainly helps.

The courgettes have now readily set fruit and I was able to harvest good sized courgettes. I have about 8 plants, but sown at different times so hopefully I will be able to have a longer picking season.

I picked the last of one patch of broadbeans. The rest will be left to really swell and will be frozen to bulk up winter stews.

The cos lettuce have bulked up so rapidly that they are harvestable now and are delicious. The butterhead, winter hardy lettuce are also putting on good growth quite quickly so another couple of sowings at home are required.

The apples on the trees are swelling quickly and there didn't appear to be much of a June drop so the boughs are weighed down with fruits. I did remove a couple of low hanging branches that were proving a black eye hazard.

I am digging spuds as we need them - we aren't great tatar eaters so once or twice a week is more than enough. I am working through my row of Kestrel at the moment and they are the most delicious spud with small purple eyes. Very creamy, slug and scab free. A definate for every year.

The soft fruits have been sumptuous and I shall once again wax lyrical about the abundant Glen Ample raspberry. The fruits are large and so flavoursome and they are produced in masses...one could say they are ample.

The beetroot haven't minded the dry spring and wet early summer and have grown magnificently. I will never bother sowing them directly again. These were sown, 3 to a module, planted out when they had their first true leaves, and left to their own devices. Two varieties, old reliable Boltardy and Bulls Blood. The first thinnings were just smaller than a golf ball, took minutes to cook and were sweet and succulent. The next thinnings just smaller than a tennis ball, and I am enjoying those now. The rest will be left to get as big as you like and will probably be roasted or blasted in the pressure cooker. Next year I plan to try more varieties.

Salads have been great keeping us, and the livestock in greens for months now. Cut and come again is definately the way to go and I shall resist ever pulling a lettuce from the ground again. I just cut cleanly across the plant down low, and within a week new leaves are developing and within 2 weeks, I can cut again. Staggered sowings will be keeping us in salad leaves until the winter takes its toll or the tortoises go into hibernation.

As I have been weeding and clearing, I have also been sowing and planting. More salads, radish and peas have gone in, along with yet more carrots, turnips and swedes. The leeklets I planted a couple of weeks back are now looking very perky and green and the asparagus peas I sowed are up. I have grown them before, and although I am not keen on them, the seeds were from mum, the flowers are pretty, and they aren't very prolific so there will only be a couple of meals worth of pods. The rocket is growing and seems to have beaten the flea beetle attack and the lambs lettuce sown alongside it is growing into neat little rossettes. Even the corriander is growing - I now because I accidentally weeded some out and I got a waft of that unmistakable soapy smell from the crushed leaves. I am delighted with how everything is coming along, yes, some of the rows are gappy, some seeds didn't germinate, and some seedlings were frazzled clean away, but I do believe this is the most organised I have ever been. Do you think.....after 40 years of life, and at least 35 of those gardening, I am finally getting the hang of it?

Friday 24th June 2011 - weather: bright and breezy

A whole day, yes, one whole day all to myself at the allotment, between school runs of course. So that is roughly five and a half hours. I kid myself that in such an acre of time I can get on top of all jobs and have time to chat to any lottie friends that arrive. Of course I didn't.

Thanks to the wonderful rainfall the weeds are all growing fast and out competing my desired veggies. Plan of attack, begin on plot number 2 at the brassica end and work my way up, then across to the top end of plot one and work my way down to the shed.

The brassicas are mostly planted through weed supressing membrane, an exercise I would recommend to anyone who has a plot and doesn't have enough hours in the day to visit as often as they should. The brassicas love the cool, damp earth and the complete lack of competition from weeds. However, I didn't have enough membrane at the plot in the spring to cover the entire area, so there were sections that needed some TLC. I oiked out the failed Japanese onions, loosened the soil and planted all of the spare, unlabelled brassicas that I had knocking around, roughly another 15 plants. I sowed a quick crop of radish between these brassicas. I weeded through the sweetcorn and was rather disappointed to see flowers forming, and the plants are only about 3 foot tall. Does this mean no sweetcorn for us again this year? Finally the beans, a mix of borlotti, climbing french and runners. I am not a neat allotment holder, I don't really do straight military lines and strict veggie varieties in rows, so my runner bean canes will by a mix of colours, shapes and sizes and will look a picture as it all comes into bloom.

I had already sorted the toms on an earlier flying visit so straight to the squash area, another area with 75% weed supressing membrane in place. At long last the squash seem to have greened up and taken off. They have really struggled with the dry this year, but thanks to the rain, they are now away and going mad. The Speckled swan gourd is clambering through the blackcurrant bush, the courgettes are covered in baby fruitlets and the Atlantic Giant pumpkins already have set baby pumpies. The mini corns are growing well, surrounded by sunflowers which are shooting up for the heavens. I have left the last few broadbean plants in the ground for these pods to really get huge so I can freeze them for winter soups and stews. More beans here, just runners, but these are mixed with the cucumber plants, all sharing the canes and netting. The rocket sown a couple of weeks ago has germinated and is duly being eaten by flea beetles but the lambs lettuce is up and doing fine and the corriander is up, although patchy, but I don't need masses. In the gap where the failed rocket failed I sowed a row of carrots. I had sown another patch of mini corn seed direct, but the mice really enjoyed them leaving a bare square, so I filled it with lettuce plantlets that I had sown in modules at home.

The kids patches are doing great but number one sons patch was looking a little nude as we had consumed all of the lettuce so I weeded and sowed a row of carrots and a row of radish. Plot number 2 is now filled to the rafters with young plants and seeds.

Over to plot number one. A few weeks ago I sowed a row of wallflowers along the daffodil line, and there is a row of seedlings, but I am unsure if they are weeds or the wallflowers. I shall have to keep an eye on them. The netting came off the strawbs as they have almost finished now and I weeded through them. This took an age as the mares tail was thick, as were the dandelions. The basil seed I sowed directly, just because they were excess seeds and it has been so hot I thought why the hell not, are now growing like crazy so I think I will make a huge batch of pesto in the autumn and freeze it like Ina Garten from the Barefoot Contessa does. The perennial salad plants, also sown direct, are growing really well and are lovely and peppery. They should overwinter to give us light pickings.

As the day was marching on I went and picked the raspberries, goosegogs and currants. I say this every year, but Glen Ample are the best rasps and grow so well in the dappled shade of my apple trees. I also cut the grass on the patchs, which was appreciated by my lottie neighbour Caroline.

That was it, time was up. Looking over the plots I realize I will have to dig up and chuck out the globe artichoke plants as they haven't produced any flowers for the last 2 years, and as I am the only one who likes them, I think I will just buy, or acquire, one plant to replace the half a row of tired plants. The cardoon hasn't grown as tall this year as previous years, but blame the drought. The insects won't care though as there are plenty of flowers and those thistles are packed full of nectar and pollen and the bumble bees get quite drunk dancing from flower to flower. I have a few empty areas on plot number one to fill and I have plenty of seedlings and young plants in modules at home which can start going in as they get large enough and I have ordered my Japanese onions, garlic and shallots from Unwins which should arrive late summer early autumn, so I will have to remember not to fill every square inch so I can squeeze them in.

Tuesday 21st June - Quail diary (and tortoise update)

Again, slacking on the quail news. So, what news. All is very happy in the quailarium at the moment. We are getting between 8 and 11 eggs daily, there doesn't seem to be any bullying from the chaps, the girls all look very prim and proper with hardly any neck feathers missing and they are all in tip top health. This batch of birdies, unlike the lot that the fox set free over winter, just adore lettuce leaves, which is great as I do have quite an abundance of lettuce on the allotment as I am hoping to grow a constant supply to supplement the tortoises hunger and the guinea pigs taste buds. I throw in a few leaves in the morning and they descend on them like a pack of hungry wolves. I just wish the kids were as keen on their greens. We have had one cull so far, so from 16 birds in the quailarium to 15. It was a chap, a very, very noisy chap. The neighbours don't really complain about the noise, but the lady next door but one did mention that she could hear one even when her windows weren't open. Of course, when I suggested that hubby do the business and make the noisy bugger oven ready, there was shock and consternation. Welcome to the world of animal husbandry. As I keep explaining to people, I adore my birds, but they aren't pets, and thus I personally don't name them. The gals provide lovely eggs, and the boys are delicious gently roasted with some allotment veg.


As for our hatchery department, today is day 0 on the incubator and these are our own 7 eggs from our own gals, not bought in eggs, or given eggs. Fingers crossed. The Bobwhites were a failure. Just one chick and it is THE most skittish, insane, mad and crazy chick in the world, ever. But you don't know these things until you try. Just gotta hope it's a girl.


The fox proofing seems to have done the trick and the furry tailed fiend hasn't been seen for a couple of weeks. Mind you, the people round the corner have hens now so maybe he has bigger fish to fry....


Tortoise news for those who know. Tom and Bertha are doing great. Tom badgers and shags poor old Bertha regularly. However, we have dotted around various obstacles and there are lots of mature shrubs that she gets in and he can't find her so she can have a peaceful sleep. Travis, our tropical boy (or girl, the vet has never been sure) lives happily with the couple and they all put themselves to bed every night, all cuddled up in their wooden penthouse. They have a feeding board so they can all clearly see the fresh food which is out in the full sun so they can eat and bask and generally behave like teenagers and sleep, eat and shit just where they stand. The three of them are eating me out of house and home and I come home most days from work with a bucket full of mixed weeds from peoples gardens. I also gather lots from the allotment for them. In the autumn, the apples will fall from the trees...I wonder if they will scoff them? Tom is still a toe biter, and Bertha drew blood on number one son's finger when he was hand feeding her. But they are great and I love them all. I am such an old hippy at heart. :)

Tuesday 21st June 2011 - weather: bright but very windy.

Another flying visit, a little earlier than promised in my earlier post, but I had half an hour before I had to begin the school run/mum taxi service, and I really fancied some new pots with my salad, so I swung by the allotment. It is amazing what you can achieve in a very short space of time. I tied in and removed all extra shoots on my tomato plantation and am pleased to report that there is a smattering of baby toms on most plants. HOWEVER, I am less than pleased to announce that I think my lottie neighbour already has blight on her spuds. Eeek. So early!!

After the tomato job I dug 2 Kestrel plants up and furtled around in the soil and found over a dozen decent sized spuds. Not bad considering the drought, and they are such a lovely potato, definately to be grown again next year. I am just digging up a plant as I want the spuds, so with this current wet spell, the tats are just getting bigger and creamier by the day. I still have International Kidney, Maris Piper and another....whose name escapes me. I also grabbed a handful of fat pea pods, 2 beetroot, a handful of broad beans, 3 perfect spring onions (better, plumper and whiter than I have ever purchased or grown before), and an asparagus spear. I had a late lunch on site, 2 strawberries, a handful of white strawbs and a bigger handful of raspberries.

Before dashing off, I quickly weeded around my only successful onion patch. Looks like we will have some decent sized onions even after the complete lack of rainfall when they needed it most. If only the reds would catch up, but I think they have had it.

Promise I won't be back on the allotment until Friday...promise.

Tuesday 21st June 2011 - weather: changeable

Sorry dear readers, I have been slacking with the Blog. Of course, since my last entry I have been to the allotment numerous times, however, I haven't had the chance to do any full days, lots of hours here, half an hours there, but no dedicated time. Life has just been a rollercoaster with family events, animal husbandry and work work work.

So, to recap. The allotment is so very grateful for the recent rainfall. For a brief spell, East Anglia, our region, was in an official drought. Farmers had to ration water on their crops, rivers and streams were running dry and trees started shedding leaves like autumn. Now however, lawns are again green, crops are pert and blowing in the breeze and the weeds are growing quicker than I can oik them out. I have sown a lot of seed on the plot as I am determined not to have bare patches or miss out, so I have rocket, dill, coriander, lambs lettuce, Kohl Rabi, dwarf french beans, radish and carrots all sown direct and starting to germinate thanks to the rain. I have also sown seeds at home in modules to fill in caps and so far have beetroot, turnips, chard, spinach, florence fennel, french beans, lettuce, purple sprouting broccoli and pak choi. At home, already growing as strong plantlets I have leeks, lettuce and an array of brassicas. I also have a few straggly tomatoes and squash plants that I may just poke in around the edges rather than compost them. So, the theory behind this sowing madness is that everytime I dig up a potato plant, for example, I rake the soil down, give it a light feed, then plant something immediately in its space.

Things are growing well on the plots. The toms are big and bushy and desperately need their side shoots nipping off and tying in. The sweetcorn plants are growing fast now thanks to the rain, as are the brassicas. In fact, I am planning to start harvesting some of the purple kale now before the horrid white fly strikes. The squash plants still look a little weedy, but they have time and once they get going, there is usually no stopping them. We have had a few courgettes already and there is a baby butternut developing nicely. The raspberries have been a joy, as they always are. Glen Ample is a really good, large berry, sweet and delicious. I have a few unamed strays that have wandered onto my plot from surrounding plots, and they all come a few weeks later which is perfect. The strawbs were okay....we started picking them weeks ago, but because they were so dry, a lot were small and seedy. The first flurry were devine and I noticed there are still flowers and fruits, so hopefully now we might get a late picking.

Directly sown seeds are patchy, aren't they always, but the gaps soon fill either with the same plants, or I fill gaps with other things. The parsnips are big and busy, but from a short row, I think there are only about a dozen plants. The carrots are all patchy, but I just keep sowing those as we don't mind them finger thin or arm thick. The spring onions and beetroot which I sowed in modules in very early spring and planted out and fab and we are already enjoying the thinnings. We have had our first few feeds from the peas, but the marrow fat style have out performed the petit pois varieties. Again, I have sown more directly and they are through and romping away. I will sow more of those directly. In fact, I will continue to sow right into August with the faster growing and hardier crops as I have found on our sheltered site, things grow almost 12 months of the year.

I have taken Friday off work to spend the entire day on the plot, so I will have my trusty camera to show off my labours. I shan't have to water which will be a relief, but I know the weeds are growing thick and fast thanks to these wet, warm, bright days.

Sunday 22nd May 2011 - Quail Diary

It has been a hair raising, or should that be feather ruffling few days here due to the renewed presence of a bold fox. As you may recall, we lost our last flock during late winter when a fox bashed his way into the Quailarium, killing at least one birds, and setting the rest free. People don't realise they can fly. Well let me tell you, they certainly can, straight up and away. After this tearful event, Hubby went about reinforcing the Quailarium with galvanised wire, sleepers and paving slabs. Well reader, I am glad to report that the fox proofing worked. Not to say the red fiend hasn't had a very good try at getting in, digging up my pot of mint which stands alongside the Quailarium and generally scratching around and making a mess, but he couldn't get in. We know that it is a fox because our neighbour but one was eating her brekky and glanced up the garden only to see Mr Fox (or Mrs) sunning itself on her lawn. Then, that very night, the foxes were in the street making such a racket. To be honest, it sounded like a young woman was being killed! The neighbours shot out hunting for their cats, and the foxes shot off down the road, 2 of the buggers.

Anyhow, Hubby gave the house the once over, and did even more reinforcing to make absolutely sure no uninvited guests could make themselves at home, so much so that if there is a threat of an atomic bomb being dropped around the Essex area, the family and I will cower with the birds within the Quailarium as it is quite probably stronger than our house.

Still haven't taken the camera up to see the kids, but I did take a piccy of their produce. Egg count is now at 14, not bad as the ladies are only just reaching egg laying maturity, and so far, it seems as if we only have 1 male to 13 girls. What are the odds?

Sunday 22nd May 2011 - weather: very windy and cloudy, but warm.

Someone said to me the other day that my allotment was just like my work, 'same shit, different place'. How wrong they are. The pleasure of bringing home this harvest in mid May is wonderful. Just wait until things really start. By mid July I will be giving my surplus away to the neighbours. There is nothing quite like the taste of an English strawberry, ripened slowly during late spring, or the sweetness of that first freshly podded pea, nothing like those in a tin or from the deepfreeze. But, it is a personal thing. I am in awe of nature and am amazed to watch seeds germinate - it is my 'thing. Other peoples thing might be hitting a golfball around, or catching fish, I don't get it, but that is 'their thing'. Good job we are all different I say.

Anyhow...I digress. A family day on the allotment was forecast as I really needed to plant out the last of the surplus squash plants and hubby had decided that if he filled the compost heap to the brim with manure from the pile, we could plant at least 10 in there and if they do the business, result, if they don't, well, they were destined for the compost anyhow so nothing lost.

Upon arrival of course a row breaks out between adults and eldest child who decided she really didn't want to be on the plot, but, after a lot of letting her cool down, and pointing out the abundance of huge ripe strawberries, she soon calmed and we had a lovely 5 hours on the allotment, including our now legendary BBQ lunch.

So, Hubby and number one son went back and forth to the manure heap which is generously given to us by the farm next to our site. I reakon it took 15 loads to fill the heap. Once filled, I planted an array of squash, all far to close together, really not sensible, but as I said, they were only going to end up on the heap anyway so any fruit will be a bonus. Two cucumbers, turks turban, butternut, sunshine squash, 2 ornamental gourds and 2 atlantic giant pumpkins. They will wander up and over the shed, down over the heap and along the path, in fact, wherever they like. Of course, these buggers will perform better than the molycoddled ones in the pumpkin patch. Sods law!

Number one daughter, after I dragged her away from the strawberry bed, dug up my wilting garlic plants, a variety called Marco. They really shouldn't be ready yet, but with it being so dry on the plot, this variety is dying off so it had to come out before the dreaded white rot set in. To be honest, there is probably enough garlic to last us a year, and I still have another 30 plants, a different variety, growing well.

Monty Don on Fridays Gardener's World made me feel that I wasn't making the most of my allotments when he showed us his frankly stunning veggie garden, so I had taken an array of seeds with me to plug the gaps. Problem is, there really aren't any gaps. I did sow 2 rows of Rocket, 1 of lambs lettuce and 1 of corriander where the garlic had been though. I am also going to plant the last of my brassica plants in amongst my ailing Japanese onions as again, due to lack of rainfall, they haven't bulked up, and a lot are running to seed. I may even just oik them all up next visit and use them as salad onions. The maincrop onions, which I don't normally do due to the white rot, are doing slightly better - if only we would get some rain. My last brassicas are sprouts, purple and white sprouting and some cabbages. My brassicas are planted through weed supressing membrane and are under net to keep the pigeons off. At the end of the row are my beans, a mix of climbing french and runners one side and a row of runners and borlotti planted as seeds the other side.

The generosity of gardeners is constantly felt by me. Not only do many of my customers give me cuttings, clumps, seedlings and flowers from their gardens, but my veggie growing friends are always giving me their spares. I have already had cabbages from Joe, white sprouting from Jack and courgettes from Ray. Then on Friday one of my customers gave me a bundle of leeks plantlets, and today Jack gave me 6 brussel sprout plants along with an big bunch of sweetpeas. I will give Jack some quail eggs when the girls really get into their stride.

As you can see, things are growing well. I am astonished at the state of other peoples plots on our site as I really do seem to be the only one harvesting anything much at the moment.

Before leaving, we had watered, weeded (see windswept me with a handful of mares tail and a handful of dandelions. One for the rubbish heap, one for the animals), and picked strawbs, broadbeans, radish, lettuce and rhubarb and had pulled a couple of onions to cook on the barby to have with our bangers. A very productive day even if we did all come home rather windswept.

Wednesday 18th May 2011 - weather: overcast.

Firstly, apologise for the blog looking like this...something odd is happening and my non computer technology brain cannot fathom it. Give me cuttings, seeds, poorly plants and I am your girl. Give me a machine that is playing up, no idea.

After my mammoth visit last Friday I have managed to get in a few half hour visits after work and before doing the school run. I am pleased to report that my test basil plantation has germinated and is growing rapidly. Home made Pesto all round. Also the perennial salad seeds I sowed at the same time are germinating. Beans are starting to poke their noses through as are the peas. The baby sweetcorn bed is germinating more and more but I might have to do some thinning as I forgot how many seeds I had sown, and as I had a dozen or so left in the packet, I shoved them in also...if they all come up, we will be on stir fries for every meal come late summer. The kohl rabi is up - have I said that before? - but the turnips were a no show, so fresh seeds were purchased and sown. The spring onions from seed never showed and as I have planted out hundreds as young plants, I scraped that row and have sown swede over it instead. Of course, now the spring onions will germinate! I have sown more parsnips in the gaps in the row, same with beetroot and carrots. The larger carrot patches have started to germinate, and the blessed rain last night will certainly have helped.

Back again on Sunday with the family and BBQ and will take the camera. Hopefully by then Blogger will be back to normal and I can post properly.

EGG COUNT - 8

Monday 16th May 2011 - weather: warm but overcast

It seems my computer is still playing silly buggers, but whilst I can, I thought I would give those interested in my ramblings a quick animal update.

We have invested in 6 mature quail hens to boost our flock. We now have 16 birds and it looks like only one is a male, and he is a rampant boy packed full of testosterone. There is a little bickering in the flock, but I know from last year, this settles, or else the most spitefull quickly become oven ready. Of course, no photos, but I shall correct this over the next couple of days. We have an array of colours from range to fawn to white. We also have 7 fertile bobwhite eggs in the incubator. They take longer to hatch that the Japs and Italian so we have had to do some research. Should be interesting. Egg count so far, only 3. One pure white, one with colour only on it's top and bottom and one healthy speckled egg.

As most of you know, we are the proud owners of 2 new tortoises, Tom and Bertha. They needed a new home that they could ransack, and we have just the spot. They have they whole top end of the garden to call their own, an area put down to bark, grass and paving and has several flower beds and lots of hiding places and they can stomp around and watch the quail in the quailarium if they like. Tom is rampant, another male in the house with a big ole hairy chest, strutting around like Tarzan. Poor Bertha must get a headache from the shell bonking, so we have made lots of obstacles for her to hide behind, and there are several mature shrubs that she can sneak into. They have settled into their wooden home and put themselves to bed every evening as the sun goes in. They will have eaten every dandelion in the neighbourhood, and per instructions, they get regular feeds of softly cooked broccoli and cauli. We also have Travis, our hermans who is now spending all day out with the loving couple, but he comes in at night as he is a softy and lives under lights in a tropical atmosphere.

And here are our other 2 scaley friends. Leccy is a Bearded Dragon and Crystal is a Corn snake. We have had these two characters for approaching 4 years. Leccy should eat plenty of greens along with his locust, but, typical of this family, he refuses anything that contains any vitamins and only scoffs the crunchy insects so we have to make sure they are well fed.
Crystal devours whole mice, nice. She is beautiful and is now 3 foot long, very slender and very soft.

We also have a guinea pig, Pebbles, who is incredibly grumpy and an array of fish, tropcial indoors (2 oscars, 5 silver dollars and a plethera of small community fish) and a pond full of goldfish, frogs and newts. Apart from the guinea, no cuddly pets. I like them scaley or feathered personally, although I fear I will have to give in eventually as the pressure is on to get a dog. Groan.

Friday 13th May 2011 - weather: still hot and dry (and some photos - at long last)

A whole day at the allotment, alone. Can't be bad. Today was tender planting day, so squash and toms. I filled the car with as many plants as I could and headed off. The problem with these tender plants is they have all been growing for several months so are all in large pots, so even in my big old Landie, I couldn't get loads in. I sensed several journeys home were infront of me.

Upon arrival, of course, I was alone on site. No mucking around, down to business. I planted an array of toms; Alicante, Gardeners Delight, Marmande, Roma, Yellow Stuffer, Tigerlla, WhiteBeauty, Rose, Lemon Drop, Idle, St Pierre, Riesentraube, Black Plum, Moneymaker, Costoluto Genovese, Jersey Sunrise and San Marzano. I think that is all. The great time saver is, the leaky pipe watering system clever hubby installed the Sunday before. Once all the toms were planted, I turned the tap on and 20 minutes later, turned it off leaving happy, watered tomato plants. I also planted 8 mixed chilli and pepper plants and 3 aubergine plants at the front of the tom bed.

Squashes next, and after last years failure thanks to our slimey friends, I have grown larger, stronger plants which should withstand a certain amount of munching. An array went in, through weed supressing membrane and in rich planting holes full of ripe manure. I can't remember them all but those I can are; Hooligan pumpkin, Atlantic Giant, Butternut, Cobnut, Turks Turban, Marrow, Marina di Chioggia, Hawk, Arrowsmith, Courgettes green and yellow, 4 different varieties of cucumber - approximately 10 plants, Uchiki Kuri, Sugarsweet, Sweet Dumpling, Watermelon and Honeydew melon. There are also a couple of gourd plants; Caveman's club, Speckled swan and a small gourd mix so it could produce anything. I reakon that should cover all of our squash needs. The irony is, I am alone in my liking for cooked squash, although the family do get it in soups and stews during the winter, but I like it steamed or roasted as a veg in its own right. They love me to grow them purely for ornamental purposes, but I don't mind, I love them all.

By now, I had been home once and filled the car back up with plants, leaving the allotment site empty. When I got back, there was nowhere to park! All the old boys had arrived, Ray, Jack and Joe and even the site secretary was over planting and sowing. You have to understand, for our allotment site, which is small, that is very busy.

The lovely Jack, my allotment buddy, gave me 6 white sprouting broccoli plants and Joe (aka smokey or coughing Joe as he has terrible Emphysema) gave me 6 spring cabbage plants. I never turn down donations, but it does mean I have a shortage of room for my brussel sprout plants. I think they will have to go in once my garlic comes out. I also planted another 8 Cos lettuce plantlets. I am really trying my best to be organised and keep sowing at home in modules so everytime a gap appears, I have something to put in it. I still have masses of plants at home and have just germinated another tray of All Year Round lettuce seeds, runner beans, peas and red sweetcorn.

The turnips haven't germinated but the kohl rabi sown the same day has, so the turnip seeds must have had it. I will buy new and sow again. Parsnips are up, beetroot and carrots are starting to push through. Mixed salad leaves are germinating in dribs and drabs but that is okay as it means I should have plenty to pick as and when, little and often. The baby corn seeds I sowed direct are starting to push through properly now and the childrens rows of carrots are through and are very thick so some careful thinning will have to take place sometime soon.

That was it, time up. Hopefully next week I will be able to make several brief visits after work, and have at least half a day on the plot on Friday again.

Now for some more long awaited photos. As you can see, things are marching along - I seem to be the only person on site harvesting and am regularly picking strawberries, lettuce, spinach and broadbeans. I have also had a couple of spears of asparagus from my one that survived the cull a couple of years back.