Bank Holiday Monday - 31st May 2010

QUAIL DIARY

Constantly amazed by my gals, they are now delivering us 6 eggs per day, and as I estimate we have 7 ladies in all, only one isn't yet ready to do the business.

Today they had a good clean out. For small birds, they are messy buggers. Some deliver nice firm little poops, others leave great big messy slimy craps. Very unpleasant. However, very little smell from them, and they are just so darn cute that I can forgive them anything.

They used to lay their eggs neatly in the pots that we are using as little nesting homes, but now they just lay with gay abandon, wherever the urge takes them, and whenever it seems. At first, we didn't get eggs until around 6pm. Now the first eggs are deposited before lunch time. I assume this is down to sunrise getting earlier and earlier.

I am yet to see one of the ladies actually lay, but they are doing it, which is good enough for me.

Each girl lays a very distinctive egg, which means we are able to monitor who is doing the laying. We get a blue one, a little browner one, a larger chalky one and so on, as you can see from the piccies. I can also report that they are fertilised eggs as we have had a couple which have a smear of blood in them which confirms that it is time for hubby to set about constructing an incubator. I definately want to hatch a dozen and see what colours, and sexes we get. It could mean a glut of quail meat in the freezer, or enough eggs to supply the local village market!! Oh the excitement. :)

Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th May 2010 - weather: bright and breezy

I really need to perfect my rain dance, and quick. The plot is just so dry my seeds won't germinate. The beetroot has, but I figure that is big seed, and I drenched the drill, as I always do, and they popped up, as did half the row of spring onions, but only 2 florence fennel seedlings and a smattering of carrots. No parsnips or turnips. I shall carry on sowing and hope that when the rain does eventually come, which inevitably it will, I will be inundated with seedlings of all description.

Anyhow, to business. Tuesdays visit was short and sweet as I only had an hour, and I got called away by school after 30 minutes as daughter was having an asthma attack. She is fine, fear not. This visit was meant just for earthing up spuds, and I did nearly all of the 6 rows before the call, so I was pleased.

Todays visit was a longer one, arrived at 1.15 and didn't have to leave until 3.15. I earthed up the last of the spuds, then hoe hoe hoed around the last cabbages/spring greens. They are hearting up and I really should use them, but I need to do a roast or else be imaginative. I also weeded number one son's small plot where he has 3 pointed cabbages, half a row of calendula, and 2 red lettuce planted. I then planted a dozen 'Black Magic' sunflower plantlets in there for him. They should look very sexy, providing the snails keep off.

Now plot number 2 is weed free and looks great, so I planted half a row of red and green kale and half a row of cavalo nero kale. I did put some netting over them, just hope it is enough until I have time to construct a proper pigeon/deer barrier.

Over on plot number one I weeded around my seedless seed bed and sowed half a row of climbing french beans. I am growing more frenchies than runners as I prefer them and think they freeze better. I shall probably miss the runners and end up doing a late sowing....well, I do have a dozen spare 7 foot canes just hanging around.

I had a good natter with Jack, and Mrs Chapman, who's hubby broke both his ankles in a motorbike accident, and then watered what I could. That was it, time up! Half term next week and lots planned, but I am hoping I will be able to beg/bribe/plead the kids into going so I can sow another row of peas and plant out my spring onions and leeks that are in trays, wilting at home. Wish me luck.

Monday 24th May 2010 - weather: hot hot hot

QUAIL DIARY

The pecking order in the quailarium seems to be sorted. Out of our 11 birds, we are farely confident we have 4 boys. This is okay, they don't seem to harrass the ladies too much - just the odd quickie, no foreplay, no boxes of choccies.

The family are becoming friendlier and as they reach maturity, we are starting to see their personalities. Grumpy and gingernut, both chaps, love to crow. It is such a great sound, a muted cock a doodle doo. They seem to like the sound of their own voices mid afternoon. I have no idea if they are crowing during the wee small hours as they are at the end of the garden and have to compete with the blackbirds who seem to wake up at 3am to start the dawn chorus.

One of the fat range girls has left the madding crowd and lives up on the shelf. I have given her a box to live in and some straw and she has a flower pot full of compost which she snuggles down in. The rest of the clan had adopted pots, or the wooden house to sit in, although they all love to fluff up the dry compost and cause a dust storm before nestling down in the impression they have made.

The new clan were all quite scruffy when they arrived, but I am glad to report that injuries have healed and feathers have all regrown. I put that down to a healthy diet of mealworms, quail mix, dandelions, cabbage leaves, corn on the cob and soaked bread crusts. Am I fattening them up for Christmas??

Have we named them all? No is the short and easy answer. We have stumpy, named as she is missing at least 3 toenails, bobble, named by daughter, The Big One, our large pied white, who is large, and fat, and wobbly, Grumpy a mean boy who shagged everyone upon arrival and started quite aggressively. He has now settled down and is slightly gentler in his love making. And finally, gingernut. He is the odd one out, the only ginger quail we have. He was very scruffy upon arrival, but has settled in to the house well and is looking much less shabby. I haven't seen any bedroom action from him, but he does stand on tip toe and crow loudly.

The greatest news so far - EGG COUNT 72 !!!!!

Monday 24th May 2010 - weather: Even more scorchio

Yet another seriously hot day. Not really a day to be out working with the noon sun on my back, but my allotment time is rare, so after weight watchers (lost another pound), and Asdas (spent way to much, but have stocked up now for half term), I got to the plot around 11, and could stay until 1.30 before heading to work for an hour.

A busy morning on site, my old mate Jack, Ray and his wife who have the neatest allotments in the world, emphysema Joe who has to take things very carefully, and me. On our site, this is a full house.

After a brief chat with Jack, onto my plot. I planted the rest of the brassicas, so the current cage is now full. I have netting to create another cage, but really need to clear the onions. This happened to me last year and I will probably end up doing the same again....build the cage over the onions and plant the brassicas inbetween said alliums, oiking them out when they are ready, leaving the brassicas behind.

I then decided to try and use one of the hoes that Jack gave me. I am not very good with hoes, and I don't like leaving the weed debris lying around, but this funny contraption has a blade on one side, and with a quick flip, a small 4 pronged raked the other, so I hoed a patch, then quickly raked up the weeds and stones as I went. Very tidy indeed, and I had completely hoed and tidied the onion bed in about 20 minutes. Fantastic job. So, enthused with my success, I then did the same further up plot 2 and cleared the area infront of the tomato house. The lovely soft tilth left behind allowed me to plant another 8 tomato plants. Perfect. I also took advantage of a gap in the onion bed and sowed a row of slender french beans. No idea if they are climbers as I bought them in France, so will have to wait and see.

Over on plot one I planted 2 short rows of perpetual spinach plantlets, and sowed a row of french breakfast radish inbetween. The deer proof netting is so fine, I don't seem to be troubled by flea beetles, and if my carrots ever bother to germinate, I don't suppose I will be worried by carrot fly as I have such a high and fine barrier.

I was able to use the hose from our allotment secretary, and filled all of my butts up. Suprising how quickly the levels had gone down since last filling.

A brief visit, but plenty done. Next visit, I shall get busy with my hoe/rake and tidy the spuds up and get them earthed up.

Sunday 23rd May 2010 - weather: Scorchio!!

Can you believe this weather?? Glorious, just glorious, although apparently, only a brief visit from Mr Sunshine as the days will be considerably cooler as the week wears on. The car themometer registered a balmy 25' on route to the plot Sunday lunchtime.

Mobhanded Jack told me, and we were. All of us made the trip, including step daughter, the plan being sort out some more deer proofing, BBQ lunch, a bit of planting, then home for a cold one and a relax in the shade.

Hubby was definately in the zone - I told him what needed doing, and he got on with it, no questions asked. He put up our scarecrow and planted the 2 tumbling tomatoes in his head. He cut the paths all around both of my plots, and run the mower around old Jacks to thank him for the 6 white sprouting brocolli plants, onion seedlings and 2 cucumber plants. He then constructed pigeon proof netting on plot number 2 for my various brassica plants, put up deer proof netting on plot number one around my courgette/sweetcorn area and finally helped me water everything in. What a star.

Whilst he was working up a sweat, and a rather fetching sunburn, I planted 12 squash plants - courgettes, marrows, cucumbers, gourds and pumpkins, purple queen dwarf french beans, 18 tomato plants, 3 aubergine plants and 24 different brassicas ranging from white sprouting broc, calabrese, different cabbages, caulis and sprouts.

A leisurely lunchtime break with the kids, all sitting in the shade by the shed, the barbeque sizzling under the weight of sausages and burgers and will all shared a bottle of cola. Even though it is still only May, I was able to harvest some lettuce, radish and a leek to compliment our grilled lunch, and even daughter number one ate a radish...her first ever. Of course, the first was mild and sweet and she loved it. It had lulled her into a false sense of security as the second one was the king of peppery radish and you could see the steam coming out of her ears!

It is such an innocent way to spend a couple of hours - no telly, no technology - well, once the charges had run out on the i-pods, just gossip, jokes and laughter. A perfect day.

Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th May 2010 - weather: changeable



Well, can you believe it? Three days in a row on the allotment. Granted, they weren't full days, but I worked like a dog whilst there and achieved a lot.



Monday - I had to visit a client for her to tell me what plants she wanted me to buy for her garden, but then I hot footed it to the plot. The deer doesn't seem to be munching my uncovered lettuces, but I am making the plot a bit of a maze with planting, and bits of chicken wire here and there, so maybe that, and the fact that I am on the plot a lot at the moment, has put it off. However, lots of tell tale footprints on Jacks plot. My main objective of today was to get some more seeds planted, plants in, weeding done and finish off laying the weed suppressing membrane down for the squash/corn bed. Got the lot done, and planted 2 last rows of spuds!! Seeds in, beetroot, carrots and parsnips. Plantlets in, broadbeans, runner beans, peas and sweetpeas. Shifted 6 barrows full of manure and spread it around the squash area, then put down the membrane and pegged it in place. Knackering work, but if it helps with the weed control, it will have been worth every stinky minute. Finished the day weeding - bloody weeds don't care about the dry soil or the hard crust in places. No, they grow regardless where as my poor carrots struggle to break through. :(

Tuesday - a flying visit. Worked nearly all day and had just an hour to go before collecting the kids, so, as the mower was in the car, the paths received a very short hair cut. I also had the strimmer, with just a little charge left in it, so I was able to edge also. A productive hour.

Wednesday - a couple of hours spare. I worked until 1.30 and didn't have to be at school until 4, so the job I planned was laying more membrane down on plot number 2 at the bottom end, the end where the cabbages were going. Firstly I had to weed the area. Actually, it wasn't in to bad a state, but those darn creeping buttercups come up from the centre of the earth! Anyhow, once cleared, I spread over a few handfulls of lime, raked it in a little, then got busy laying the membrane. I wonder if the deer will be put off walking on it?? Of course, I cut it short so had to do a bit of a jigsaw, but that was okay. And the bonus prize, enough left to do the tomato area. I could hear the weeds shaking in their tap root boots. It is a faf, but it will be worth it.
Caroline, my lottie neighbour, popped up, and she told me that the deer had munched her raspberry plants to the ground. AAGGHH! Glad mine are safely tucked away in the fruit cage. Of course, this means I am going to have to spend more time putting up net fences when I should be sowing, planting and weeding. Anyhow, in the last hour of the day, I pulled a huge armful of rhubarb and set about weeding the onion bed. I must remember not to bother growing red onions as they just don't grow on our soil. We do have white rot, but the red ones don't even get started, they just sit there, whither, and die. The whites however, begining to bulb up nicely. The shallots are also really growing fast now which is very satisfying. I am growing the garlic at home this year as an experiment as it always grows well on the plot, but when I come to dig it up, all the bulbs are rotten in the ground. If we get decent garlic at home, I shall continue to grow it there.

No photos, forgot the camera every day- useless bird. I shall take it next visit, promise. Hopefully next visit, netting will be erected and the brassicas will all get in the ground, then the visit after that, beans and squash, if any have survived the couple of frosts we have had this week.

Wednesday 5th May 2010 - weather: bright but chilly...again.

QUAIL DIARY

News flash! News flash! News flash! News flash! News flash! News flash!

Day one we were greeted with 3 eggs. No idea from which hen's bottom they came, but after that, we had only one egg delivered on the next 4 days. Overjoyed that my girls had started thinking about laying, and were obviously reaching laying age, we hoped for more. On day 6 our wait was rewarded with 2 eggs, laid by different hens as the eggs had a different pattern. One of our girls is laying eggs which are cream in colour with brown splodges, the other hen is laying cream eggs which are spotted with brown and white. Our 2 egg banquet continued for another 4 days, bringing us to this wonderous day. Today, whether from one of our new ladies, or from one of our mature fawn girls we don't know, but today, 3 eggs, and the new egg was blue in colour, more dumpy with brown smears. We have no idea if this will be a regular laying, but where normally the girls leave their eggs neatly in their flowerpot homes, the blue egg was just deposited on the ground on the earth.

The family have taken to sitting up with the quail for a while each evening, watching their antics and listening to their chatterings and them tapping on the greenhouse glass wishing they were outside. Of course, they have an outside run, which they all use, I think they just forget where the door is.

My cup floweth over.

Egg count - 18

Tuesday 4th May 2010 - weather: overcast and chilly

QUAIL DIARY

Of course, 5 quail just was not going to be enough, so hubby found another local dealer and we pootled off on Saturday to buy another 6. We now have 5 fawn quail, 3 range quail, 2 white pied quail and 1 who is still in her baby plumage, but I think she might be a fawn lady. Sods law, we have at least 3 boys. Oh well, at least it mixes up the gene pool, and if it becomes necessary, they will wind up in the freezer.

There does seem to be a lot of hanky panky going on, and I have to say, I don't want to come back in my next life as a quail. The boys grab the gals by the scruff of the neck and pin them down whilst they do the deed. No dinner...no flowers....no foreplay!

Our large white pied is very much in my bad books. I had a tray of lovely tomato plants growing nicely. They were up high on the staging, and to date, the birdies had ignored the tom plants....until last night, when our lovely big white girl, scoffed the lot! Thanks to her, I had to spend £6 on 6 new tomato plants. The things we do for pets.

Our new ladies, and men, are only about 6 to 7 weeks old so not laying yet, but the good news is we are now collecting 2 eggs a day, so our egg count is 15. Happy!

Tuesday 4th May 2010 - weather: overcast and chilly

A flying visit to the plot this afternoon, only from 12.30 until 2 as I was working in the morning and had to do a couple of chores before collecting the urchins from school. I really need to press on and get the brassica bed limed and covered in weed suppressing membrane, and the same with the squash corn bed, but rather than lime, a good thick layer of manure needs to go under the membrane. Well, today I managed to weed and lightly fork over the squash bed and humped 5 wheel barrows full of manure from one side of the allotment site to the other and dumped it on the bed. I will need to do at least another 5 journeys to get a decent covering, but I ran out of time. Hopefully next week I will have a couple of hours on the Monday to get to the plot, and a full day on the Friday so I should be able to get both beds sorted, the last of the spuds in, and the brassicas in.

To say I am knackered this evening would be an understatement.

Wednesday 28th April 2010 - weather: humid and hot hot hot

QUAIL DIARY

A quick update to let you know that after an impressive start of 3 eggs, for the last 2 days we have only had one egg a day. We are not complaining however, 1 is a 100% improvement. So, egg count currently stands at 5.

Monday 26th April 2010 - weather: bright but overcast

QUAIL DIARY

Big news followers. Today we can start our egg count. I paid the gals a visit at around 2pm, and found 2 perfect eggs in the flowerpots. Later, when I finally arrived back home with the sprogs after swimming and shopping, they went to check, and to their great pleasure, another egg in the flowerpot. I am overjoyed. Hubby and I had them fried on a slither of french bread, and they were devine.

EGG COUNT - 3

Sunday 25th April 2010 - weather: overcast

Quail Diary

Still no darn eggs. I cleaned the gals out yesterday and chattered with them, gave them lashings of food, fresh water, and a sprinkling of mealworms. Were they grateful, were they pah! Still no eggs. I am obviously doing something wrong, or they are all boys. It is a good job they are cute or else their days would seriously be numbered. So, bugger all to report. No mice or rats, they are eating well and gaining weight, they are plump and have lovely shiny feathers, neat beaks and feet, and they do flap around from time to time and trash me seeds on the staging, but other than that, nothing at all to report. :(

Friday 23rd April 2010 - weather: fabaroonee

Happy St. George's Day

I didn't get onto the allotment until 11ish as I had to work a couple of hours, but when I got there, I knuckled down. I planted the last of my lettuce seedlings out and am glad to report that the ones I planted previously, with no netting or deer proofing, are still intact. Hopefully the muntjac have found a bountiful harvest elsewhere. I then sowed a row of florence fennel, beetroot and spring onions and finished off sowing a block of carrots.

Everything is struggling to germinate due to the lack of rain (although I am typing this on Sunday evening and we have had several welcome downpours today), so I did start watering with my can. Already one waterbutt is empty and 2 others are only half full, and this on an allotment where watering really doesn't take place very often. Action was needed, so I tromped over to see if the allotment neighbour, and site secretary was home. She was, and after some polite chitchat she was more than happy for me to run her hose across her garden, fill my waterbutts and water the plot. It was a bit of a carry on as the hose was blocked with algae, which I managed to clear, and of course, it was in a tangle, which I undid, but after about 20 minutes, I had lashings of water spraying about with gay abandon. The hose ended up being on for a good couple of hours, during which time, all of my butts were filled to overflowing, and the seed bed and all of my recently plants seedlings received a good water. Now that was a seriously good job well done.

I still have a couple of varieties of spud to get in, so I cleared the last of my spring onions, and planted half a row of a maincrop variety called Bambino. I then wandered down plot 2 and dug up the grass/weed infested path so that I can plant another row down that end on my next visit. Whilst down that end of the plot, I took the time to weed around my Japanese onions, and I must say, the white ones have really put on a burst of growth. The red ones however, very weedy. Talking of hunions, old Jack had left a tray of what looked like blades of grass, but what I knew were maincrop onion seedlings, so I went back over to plot number one, and planted them on a spare square of ground up by the cardoon. I watered the ground well first and once it had all soaked in, I planted roughly 25 maincroppers. Generally, I don't have any luck at all growing maincrop onions due to the white rot on the allotment, hence this year I am growing my garlic in troughs at home, but I will give them a go. If I have to pull them very young and use them as salad onions, I haven't lost anything.

The globe artichokes are looking fab after I was a tad worried a few weeks back, and the cardoon is growing like a triffid. The rhubarb is also growing at quite a rate of knots and we have already had several delicious feeds from it. I also still have a lovely thicket of parsley, but I know this will quickly go to seed now as it is left from last year. I really should pick it all and freeze it, but I don't have any problems getting it to germinate, so I never bother.

Hopefully I will get back to the plot next week, but I have a pretty full working week ahead of me. If nothing else, we need to get to the plot to deliver our new chum, Bill, who we made to try and deter the deer. He is rather dashing, don't you think?

Sunday 18th April 2010 - weather: STUNNING!!!

Who would have thought...a suntan in April?!? Yes, after spending most of the day on the allotment in glorious April sunshine, I have sunburnt shoulders. Am I complaining? Not on your nelly. It was so lovely to be out and feel the sun on my skin, although I wouldn't complain if we had a drop of rain as the allotments are bone dry and my seeds are struggling to germinate.

So, up with the lark and on the plot by 9am. A fabulous time to get there on a Sunday as all I could hear was bird song. My main aim of the day was to weed and sort out the fruit cage. I didn't really do much in there last year and the grass and nettles had really crept in and infiltrated the currant bushes, so now was my chance to have a good weed through and put down some weed supressing membrane that I had left over from a previous job.

Labour of love, that is all I can say. Fiddly, plenty of nettles and brambles, but on the upside, loads of flowers on my purple and green goosegogs, red and black currants and the jostaberry. Also, the raspberries have put up lots of canes, so should be a good year for fruit. And a bonus spotted whilst weeding around the green goosegog - 2 layered cuttings, 2 two nice young plants for free.

Putting the membrane down was a palava, and I only did the back half of the cage as I didn't want to supress the raspberries, but what a lovely job. Hopefully the fruit bushes will benefit as there should be no competition from weeds, it will be easier for me and the kids to get in and pick the fruit, and it is a weeding job I can cross of my list giving me more time to concentrate on other jobs.

Now, the family arrived for a couple of hours. Mark strengthened the fruit cage as it had sagged and a couple of cross beams had broken after the heavy snow, he cut the grass on all of my paths, and he sorted out and tidied the shed. I weeded under the apple trees, sowed a row of beetroot, planted my broadbean plants and a row of little gem lettuce plants and iceberg lettuce plants.

After lunch, I was all alone, so I carried on weeding around the strawberries. They have put on an amazing amount of growth in the last few weeks. I am going to have to think about netting them once the flowers are open and young fruit start to develop otherwise the pesky deer will be enjoying the strawbs before we do. I then sorted out my runner bean canes and tied them all in place. I think I am going to have to put up some more somewhere as I have sown a lot of bean seeds this year in an attempt to use some of them up. Can a girl ever have too many beans?? Last job of the day, watering. Never easy on our site as we don't have taps, so no hoses, and the only water we have is the water we save. Already one of my waterbutts is empty! Honestly, some nighttime rain would be lovely please mother nature.

No photos...camera had no charge, but I will be back on the lottie on Wednesday afternoon for a couple of hours, so will endevour to take the camera then.

Thursday 15th April 2010

Quail Diary

Nothing, nada, zilch! Not a sausage, or an egg. I don't think my girls like me very much. I am spending a lot of time in the greenhouse and hope that will make them less timid. I wonder if they are all boys? Everyone keeps reassuring me that they will get around to it, but when I check out the quail forum, everyone seems to be getting at least 2 per day from their birds and have been for weeks. Patience girl, patience.

Their saving grace is that they are beautiful and I adore the sound of their chatterings and the way they tap at the glass hoping to break free into the outside world. One big girl has made a new home seperate from the others in a big clay flowerpot. The others all still huddle together under the greenhouse staging in the straw.

I have brought some dried mealworms for them, as a little treat, and yesterday, when potting on my kale, I ended up with half a seed tray spare. Now I could have potted them up, but who needs 100 kale plants? So I put the tray down on the ground, and by this morning, most of them had been picked and scratched up, so they obviously enjoyed that treat.

Now come on gals, get laying!

Thursday 15th April 2010 - weather: glorious again.

I wonder if this weather is the calm before the storm? I heard a rumour that the temperature is going to drop down into the minuses again at the weekend. Not good for all of my emerging seedlings and plants. Oh well, nothing we can do when mother nature decides to play silly buggers.

I have spent the last 2 days potting on seedlings. Not the most exciting job, actually, one I dread, but this year I am determined to be more organised and grow more variety. Every year I seem to run out of room or time and there are things left unsown, so this year, I am trying to be efficient.

I have potted on calabrese, brocolli, cabbage, cauli, toms, peppers, kale, spinach, dahlias and pansys. I have also sown some more basil as the last lot failed to germinate and I have a wodge of seed packets to sow in trays tomorrow and over the weekend. There is a lot of germinating going on - hollyhocks, sweetpeas, peas, beans, chillis, celeriac, calendula, chrysanths and sunflowers. No show yet from the squashes, but they only went in at the start of the week. As you can see, plenty of flowers as well as veggies.

I watched Alys Fowlers program last night about her edible garden and I thought that I really should grow a bit more at home. I do have a trough of cut and come again leaves in the greenhouse which should be ready for a picking next week but that is all. I have masses of pots, troughs and other containers I could use, so I think I will do a wigwam on the deck with some beans, and perhaps a tom plant or 2 in the garden.

Today I purchased 2 aubergine plants which will spend their life in the greenhouse. I have zero joy with aubs, and had decided not to bother sowing any, but my allotment friend Caroline is much luckier than I, so I brought 2 from her at the country market today.

Fingers crossed, an allotment visit looms over the weekend, and again Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday 13th April 2010 - weather: Glorious!

A brief allotment encounter today. Daughter number one is attending a school club every morning this week, so number one son and I popped to the plot today. The deer proofing seems to be holding up well, and there doesn't seem to be any damage anywhere. I have peas germinating, radish and salad bowl lettuce. I also think I spotted some teeny carrot seedlings. Plus, the first Maris Piper spud is poking through the earth. Hoorah - spring is springing all over the plot at long last.

This morning was really for him, so we weeded and gently forked over his square, which he then meticulously raked level. He went on to plant 8 greyhound cabbage and 3 red lollo rosso lettuce. We also sowed a short row of calendula seeds. Of course, all of this had to be netted. Honestly, the netting takes longer than the planting and is becoming somewhat frustrating. I am going to have to invest in lots and lots of netting. Anyhow, whilst he went of to play shipwrecks in the stream, I planted the rest of the lettuce and got them netted.

I started to weed the last area in my netted seed plot over in allotment one, but number one son was by now geting bored, so we picked some daffs, the first 4 longest stems of rhubarb, and 2 stonking, show stopping leeks and headed for home.

I may well try to get back to the plot early Sunday morning for a few hours. The fruit cage is incredibly weedy. I need to sow beetroot, turnips and so on. I haven't yet tilled the old brassica area in preperation for courgettes and corn and I want to put down weed supressing membrane also. And both plots could really do with edging and the paths need cutting. Will I ever get on top of things??

Monday 12th April 2010

Quail Diary - New owners!

Because I obviously have so many spare hours in the day, we have decided that keeping a few birds could be fun. Actually, I have always wanted to keep birds - as a child, Lovebirds, but as I have gotten older, and some say, wiser, I have come to appreciate the rising cost of our food, and the naff quality of a lot of what we buy, and as we have only the best fruit and veg courtesy of the allotment, and the local producers, I felt it about time we tried to produce more for the table, so we are now the proud owners of 5 Italian Quail.

We purchased them from a local breeder in Chelmsford, and they are darlings. Plump gals, somewhat stroppy, and of course, to be a member of our family, greedy little darlings.

We have modified the greenhouse and Mark has made a fab run for them, with a little door, so they have access to the outside world and grass and mud in which to play. I have also temperarily covered the opening window with chicken wire so I can open it during warm days, just to let a bit more air circulate. However, I have done a lot of reading over the last 3 weeks, and it seems that quail like to be toasty and hate drafts, so the greenhouse should be the perfect penthouse with en-suite. As the weather warms, I will remove the glass from the opening window and compeltely cover it with chicken wire. I think we will do the same with the door as I am concerned we will come down one afternoon and find them all spit roasted!

Mark has built them a lovely home, which they refuse to use, prefering to huddle together under my greenhouse staging. This is fine and I have shoved some straw under there for them to make them comfy. I have also put down some turf at one end of the greenhouse. Well, we all like a little shag pile in our living rooms. Today, after yet more research, I went out and brought a bag of bird sand and oyster grit for them to eat and bath in. I also put in a few large flower pots, on their sides, in case they wanted some privacy. Finally, I have brought some seaweed and vitamin dust to add to their food. A teaspoon is enough for 16 girls, so a scant quarter of a teaspoon went into their feeder today. Now, this mix claims to improve laying. Laying huh?....do we mean laying in the sun, topping up our tans?....laying a carpet so improve our living conditions?... no, we mean laying some eggs please girls!!!! Have we discovered any eggs yet? No we haven't!! I tell you, at £4.50 a tub, this seaweed extract had better live up to it's promise otherwise I sense quail casserole might be on the menu pretty soon.

So there we are, it will be 3 weeks on Saturday 17th April since the girls moved in, and 3 weeks with no eggs. Rumour has it we may add to the brood, as according to 'the experts' our quail accomodation could house up to 16 birds. I don't want 16. I just want layers.

I will keep you posted of egg production....if we get any. Oh, to be fed up with quails eggs on toast, poached quails eggs, mini scotch eggs, hard boiled quails eggs..........

Friday 19th March and Tuesday 23 March 2010

A double issue this time as we have been without internet access for a couple of weeks, thanks to the local 'travellers' wripping up the copper telephone wire linking our village to the outside world. However, back with you all now, and after 2 visits in close succession, I finally feel like I am getting on top of the plot.

Our newest, and now, biggest problem are the muntjac deer. We had signs of them last year, droppings and mystery vanishing crops, but now they seem to have really made themselves at home, eating green manure, emerging broadbeans and sweetpeas, overwintering greens and salads. Rumour has it, there is a cull going on in the area, but whether it is true or not, we will have to wait and see, so deerproofing was the order of the day. Now, in my humble opinion, an allotment should be a place for recycling, reusing, and making do. I am certainly not going to spend upwards of £100 per plot, netting them in. So, as you can see from the picture, I made do with some scaffold netting I had been given. It isn't pretty, but it does the job. I have the same amount again which I will erect once I have planted my squash and corn plants. This area is for beans, peas and salads. Apparently, those in the know tell us that the muntjac don't eat onions, spuds or rhubarb, although one of the allotmenteers on site reakons their emerging bubby had been munched away to nothing! And there was me thinking it was toxic. Once the net barracades were in place, I went and checked with the site secretary, whose garden also backs onto the site, to make sure she didn't mind, and she had no objections at all, agreeing that if we don't protect our crops, what is the point of having the allotments.

During my coffee break I watched a mad March hare in the corn field next to the site, 2 woodpeckers zipping about, an array of small finches and tits along with the usual black birds, starlings, crows, jays and magpies, and this rather handsome fella had a stroll around, squarking away. We are very lucky, our allotment is like a nature reserve, and I am sad that the deer might be shot as I love to see them, but they are just so darn greedy.

Now my seed area was safely netted, I put up my bean poles, just so I had an idea how much room I had to play with, then sowed a row or little gems and a row of radish down the middle of the poles. I went on to sow a large block of peas, carrots, parnsips, and more salads. I still have lots of room for more beans, peas and so on.

Next job, clearing my strawberry bed. I have quite a large strawb bed now with a mixture of varieties which I have been given, or purchased over the years. It means I have a good long harvest, and a mix of size and flavours of fruits. However, a constant weed issue in the strawbs is creeping buttercup. Thankfully, due to the rain, the ground was good and soft and I was able to do a really thorough weed. I will scatter some rotted manure around them next visit, but I ran out of time on these two days.

My cardoons and globe artichokes reside alongside the strawbs, and as you can see from the picture, the cardoon clump looks fab. I had given the 'doons a good deep mulch of manure before Christmas, which I didn't do to the artichokes, and don't they look poorly? I weeded thoroughly around them, cut away dead and yucky leaves, and gave them a mulch. Hopefully it isn't too little too late as I do love my artichokes, if not to eat, then just for the globes and the way the bumble bees bury themselves in the purple flowers, getting drunk on their nectar.

Along the top of this allotment are my bulbs, daffs and glads. I also usually plonk in a few dahlias grown from seed (and they have just germinated in the greenhouse for this year), but I also decided to sow a mix of other flowers amongs the bulbs, so I weeded and raked the area next to the daffs, over the glads, and mixed together a packet of cosmos and cornflowers and broadcast sowed them. I will take poppies and nigella next time to finish the row. I do love flowers on the allotment, just a small area, but it brightens the plot, and it gives me lots of flowers to cut and take home, hence I have sown 4 packets of sweetpeas in the greenhouse at home to be planted out on the plot...I suppose I will have to net those to protect them from the darling deer. :(

Spuds were next on the list. I have Bambino, Internation Kidney, Maris Piper, Rooster, Dunbar Standard, Pink Fir Apple and Asparges. Of course, always way to many tats and not enough room, but I did manage to get the Int Kids, Maris, Rooster and Asparges in. I shall get the rest in over Easter. I did chuck a nice layer of rotted manure over the spud beds once they were planted. Well, it seems foolish not to as the stables next to the site is providing us with so much lovely manure now. I also put some in my compost heap for good measure.

From here, onto my bubby, sorrel and Jerusalem Fartichokes. A funny thing, what are us allotmenteers like? I don't like the fartichokes, nor do my family, but they were a gift to my from a dear friend who I got to know through the Allotments 4 All forum. Her name was Sarah, her user name Supersprout, and she had cancer. Within a week of her sending my the artichokes, she had died, so I grow them in her memory. Like the cardoon and globe artichokes, they do reward me with a magnificent wind break, and lovely bright yellow, sunflower like flowers. The sorrel was also a gift from a chum on A4All, Saddad, and I have Buckler leaf sorrel and broad leaf sorrel. I don't use it as much as I should to be honest. It has a lovely fresh, lemon flavour, so I am planning to feast on it this year. And my rhubarb was also a gift from Hyacinth on A4all, probably 8 years ago when I first took on my allotment. All three were thoroughly weeded, docks are a problem down this end of the plot, and then I caged in my bubby, better to be safe than sorry, and them gave them all a good top dressing of manure. A bumper harvest from all three hopefully.

That was it, time had run out. I was pleased with what I had achieved during my 2 visits, and I even had a gossip with Hillary and Caroline.

At home I have sown a selection of chillis and tomatoes, which are now germinating quickly, leeks, celeriac, sprouts, cabbages, brocolli, a deep tray of cut and come again to live in the greenhouse, dahlias, pansies, evening primrose, hollyhocks, kale, caulis, broadbeans, adzucki beans and soldier beans. There are probably others, but I can't remember, and it is nearly 11pm, so I am not going to venture down the garden now.

Next visit, hopefully, will be over the Easter break when I should get the last of my spuds in and dig lots of manure into the area where I will grow my squashes.

Sunday 14th March 2010 - Weather: blue skies and sunshine

Happy Mothering Sunday

Being Mothers Day, I had a completely guilt free day in my own back garden today, joy of joys. It meant, at long last, I was able to start sowing seeds for the allotment. I didn't do everything, as I ran out of potting compost, but at least it's a start, and I feel much happier now. So, sown today was:

Broccoli - Red arrow

Calabrasse - Marathon

Cabbage - Golden acre

Broad Beans - Longpod

Celeriac - Brilliant and Alabaster

Dahlia - pompom mix

Spring onions -Paris silverskin and White lisbon

Brussel Sprouts - Brilliant

Kale - Cavalo Nero and mix

Mixed salad leaves

Sweet Basil

Leek - Goliath

Verbascum nigrum

Sweet pea mix

Perpetual spinach

Cauliflower - All year round.

I can also confirm that chitting away merrily in the conservatory are Bambino, International Kidney, Maris Piper, Rooser, Dunbar Standard and Pink Fir Apple.

I have Friday off work, and come hell or high water, it will be an allotment day. I hope to get the spuds in over Easter weekend, so I need to prep the ground and generally just tidy through. I have to say, spending the day in the garden today, with the sun shining down, and flowers poking through everywhere, I could really sense that spring is well on it's way, at last!!