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.