Sadly we lost Spikey today

Busy in the kitchen

Today was fine but bitterly cold. We had to take Spikey to the vet this morning and really didn't expect to bring him home but came away with a more perky cat, having had a anabolic steroid injection and with a prescription for human heart tablets to take as well as his cat heart tablets, diuretic and laxative. He is spending most of his time sleeping but seems a bit happier. I suppose we will sleep a lot when we are 147 years old.

We then had to do our stint in the OBAGS shop from 11-12 so by the time we got home really weren't in the mood for planting shallots so they are still in the box.

We did make a new batch of bird food and finished the first batch of ginger beer. The plant has been brewing away in the kitchin for the last week and it was time to boil up a syrup add lemon juice and bottle.

It made three litres with a little bit left over. Having tasted this, I can confirm that the recipe is correct when it says to leave it for a week for the yeasty taste to go.

I am a bit concerned whether the bottle tops will hold as it is still fizzing and we may come down tomorrow morning to find ginger beer all over the kitchen ceiling so maybe they will be assigned to the shed for a week.

Yesterday's news

Firstly, I must show you the temperature in the greenhouse at 10am yesterday. By midday it had reached 80 but the battery had gone on the camea so you will have to take my word for it.















The other great news from yesterday was that we were on the route of the Valentine day tour from Waterloo, which passed through Basingstoke at 11.40. It was a fantastic sight but we were too amazed to grab the camera, so here is a picture taken from their official website.

A treat for bird watchers

Yesterday was a great day for birdwatching. The heavy snow didn't seem to deter them and the blackbirds especially were feeding throughout the afternoon.


Robins are supposed to be very protective of their part of the garden but these two seem to have a mutual respect for each other.



There was one mystery visitor who looked a cross between a female blackbird, a thrush and a cuckoo but the latest concensus is that it is a juvaline something. Suggestions welcome.


Close up for detail.

No place to hide in the snow

.We got to the allotment today and had the first opportunity to have a good walk around in the snow. I can't believe that this time last week we were digging and also that the snow has been here for so long.

It looks lovely on 51 and 52 and for the first time in our allotment history - not a weed in site






Looks like we are going to have to give up on the idea of any more greens this year as the rabbits have found their way in and destroyed every remaining plant. Not content in eating it all, they also recycled into rabbit droppings and left a lovely trail.
We found the entry point in the back fence where they seem to have chewed their way through the wire. Will nothing stop these pests?


It is not only us with problems, Teds netting over his sprouts is weighed down to the ground with snow. I just hope that he can get it cleared before the netting rips as we lost loads to snow two years ago. It is amazing how heavy it is. We have made sure that we have kept the ducks netting cleared as I would hate it to all come down on top of them.

Snow again

It is so British to spend so much time talking about the weather but what do you expect when we spent the day digging on Saturday, too cold to even get a fork in the ground on Sunday and a thick covering of snow on Monday. What a difference two days makes


I did make good use of my time stuck in doors yesterday and made a new bird feeder.

Instructions: Take one empty plastic bottle. Cut a hold large enough for a bird to get its head in (size depends on the type of birds you want to attract). With a hot skewer make a hole one inch below the hole on the back and front of the bottle. Insert a chop stick through the holes ensuring that it fits snugly. Tie string around the neck of the bottle and screw the cap in place. Melt a block of lard in a large pan add enough bird seed to soak up all the lard. Fill the bottom of the bottle with the seed mix. Hang in a tree in a convenient position.

By the time I had finished the first one, it was too dark to photograph so here it is in the snow. A cheeky blackbird soon found it and has spent all morning back and forth feeding itself.

I will have to make sure that the next report is allotment related and not an update on the weather.

I was considering getting some shallots in at the weekend(having bought a bag at the potatoe day last Sunday) but just as well that I waited.

The potatoe day was as usual a great event. We made it a family event with Matt and Rebecca having their first experience now that they are great gardeners. We got a bag of Red Robin for Katy (who couldn't make) and a wide selection for ourselves. Red Robin was the particular choice as instructions from Katy were good bakers.

We also got some Ambo and Valor which are also good bakers but white.

We couldn't leave without some Pink Fir Applie and we also got, Presto, Nicola, Royal Kidney, Galactica, Rocket and Ratte.

Looks like we weren't the only visitors as they had a total of 1,988 visitors although I suspect that there were not many more than two who came all the way from Kent for the event.

http://thewhitchurchweb.org/potatoday/

I have discovered that there is only one blackbird that has discovered the seed bottle so I have just made another one to hang at the other side of the garden where the great tits, blue tits, coal tits, robin and other blackbirds gather. This one has the last of the peanuts, although I was reluctant to put them in as my birder friends tell me that you should stop using peanuts when there may be young so this is their last.

I also put a dish of warm water out and this robin loves having a scandanavian experience of a bath in the snow.