The new greenhouse and update from the allotment and the kitchen

The new greenhouse is up and secured. The beds are being built on either side and the staging is in place at the end.

Not wishing to miss an opportunity to get sowing I have been filling the shelves on the staging with pots and trays with seeds. So far we have: Broccoli, Chard, Calabrese, Kale, Savoy Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Rocket, Spinach, Chives, Sweetcorn, Courgettes, Basil, Sunflowers, Lettuce and a tub of peas. This is in addition to the Peas, Salad leaves, Beetroot, Potatoes, Broad Beans, Carrotts and Artichokes that I have in the first greenhouse. The small greenhouse with the plastic cover has three Tesco canvas shopping bags planted up with potatoes, three tubs of Jerusalem artichokes, 8 tubs with Canna lillies and some sweet peas. And you thought I spent all my time at the allotment drinking tea and watching ducks.


There is not a lot happening in the ground at the moment as there is still the risk of frost but here is a long shot from the top of 52 showing the three greenhouses, the bean sticks that I have put in place and the globe artichokes. Talking of which, one has globes already which is a great surprise.






I am not sure how but I seem to have two different varieties of globe artichoke, one that is in flower and one with very silver leaves. It will be interesting to see how they develop as the months go on.








Looking back the other way, I have covered one bed to try to warm the soil. I have sown some carrots, beetroot and fennel as well as putting a row of onions in. As soon as the weather warms up I will remove the cover so that they can get the rain as it is not easy crawling in to water.






We seem to be averaging 6 or 7 eggs per day from the girls and I am just about keeping up with using them, although we have given away or sold quite a few. It is interesting how many people have never eaten duck eggs but reluctantly give them a try. They all come back with comments on how delicious they are and I think we are going to have some regular customers. One day this week we were shocked to find 10 eggs. I am inclined to belive that we may have missed a couple the day before as they have a habit of burying them in the bedding.



I am sure you have missed recipes from the allotment so here is the latest and the one that I find uses the most eggs.

Leek, brocolli and goats cheese quiche

- Line a quiche tin with pastry
- Lightly boil the leeks (having removed all mud and slugs) and brocolli (removing the wrapping as we have to buy it after the rabbits ate all ours)
- Tip them all into pastry case
- Beat four duck eggs and pour over the leeks and brocolli
- Add blobs of goats cheese
- Bake in the oven until brown and the eggs completely cooked
- Eat with home made chutney





I have decided that it is time for the bottles to come out. I have a couple of trays of little gem lettuce that need planting out so the first role of the bottles is mini-greenhouses.

Do ducks make good pets

A quote from www.duckeggs.com

Ducks make great pets. I think they're the best kept secret of the pet world. Many people call them the "dogs" of the bird world because they are smarter than many birds and are loyal. When they imprint on you, they will follow you around just like they would their mother.

And then there were 11

Last weekend was the poultry auction in Salisbury and we made the mistake of going. I have always wanted a white duck and there were listed a few runners including three white females, so we went along - we now have Jemima and Jessica.

Jessica has taken a while to settle and seemed to be pining for a couple of days as she would stand and stare into space, but has settled down now.

She is a bit of a loner still and a bit of a perfectionist in her appearance. She is careful not to get muddy and spends ages preening herself.












Jemima on the other hand is a real mud-bunny. If there is any mud she will be digging in it so here is a picture of her at the auction before we brought her home.

The only difference between them is that Jemima has a black line on her beak and Jesica has slightly more orange feet.



Now, I hear you say, seven ducks plus Jessica and Jemima only makes none. Well, a slight problem at the auction was that we couldn't agree on which white ducks to get as I loved the Indian Runners but we had discussed having a couple of Campbell's as a contingency for the winter as they generally lay all year round. There were three lots of two female White Campbell's so.......






Daisy and Maisy

Maisy is in the front with the pinker beak. They look down their beaks a bit at the Runners and can't understand why they are so scatty and have to run everywhere, but they soon learned that they know the best spots to forage and where to lay your eggs.


One of the problems we have now is that we are averaging between 5 and 8 eggs a day but they look so lovely as there are so many shades of duck egg blue and white. The Campbell's lay slightly smaller eggs as are very white compared to the others.




Now for the allotment. Everything is slowing down with the cold weather. The greenhouse if full to bursting with seeds started off, including some carrots in pots, a couple of tubs of early potatoes and salad leaves. So, when we were helping at the allotment shop at Old Basing last week, and I spotted a sign saying greenhouse available, there was no alternative but to ring.

We are putting it on the area still covered with black plastic on 51 so the two greenhouses will face each other.

We have got the frame up and hope to have the glass in by the end of the week.

We have spent the last two days helping Matthew and Rebecca move from Wimbledon to Tonbridge (including a lorry load of plants) and it was lovely to see them in their new home, but back to the reality of greenhouse building tomorrow.

A nice warm bath for Apple

We have been worried about Apple over the weekend as she is very heavy looking and lying down a lot which is a sign of discomfort.

I was so worried yesterday that I decided that she was egg bound and action was needed. So as I am sure you will know, the best cure for most things is a nice warm bath. We brought her home in her box and ran her a nice warm bath. We gave her a rubber duck to play with but, after a couple of poos in the bath she didn't seem too keen on playing. We dried her off, oiled her vent and settled her down in her box for the night.

This morning, there was a lovely blue egg in the box and she looked so much happier.


She was a bit frightened of the flash so here is another one in subdued lighting.

Who's for a nice tasty worm

Since we took over 53 we have had a tarpaulin over an area of the ground and this is where we have stored our wood and wire, but this weekend I decided it was time to see what was going on underneath. All the weeds and grass had disappeared and there was lovely dry soil which dug beautifully. This is going to be a potatoe bed.

What I didn't realise was that as I was digging I was bringing the worms to the surface. It was like kids in a sweet shop for the ducks and the robin. All dived in and anything that moved was eaten. They don't seem to understand that worms are beneficial to the ground, all they know is how tasty they are.





Florence and the robin come face to face for a showdown over a particularly juicy worm.

Blue bins and wooden boxes

I should have shown you the blue bins just in case your don't know what I am talking about. As the weeks go on they will positioned at strategic points around the allotment. A prize will be awarded to the person who can spot them all once they are in position.



As well as the haul from Malcolm, Ted appeared with some wooden boxes that his daughter had given him. He wanted to know if I could make use of them. This is like asking a Chinaman if he eats rice. Well here they are outside the greenhouse. I am going to half fill with well rotted manure, top up with general purpose compost and sow some early mixed salad leaves. In the greenhouse they should crop within 4-6 weeks.

A lucky find

Last weekend Ted came over and told us that Malcolm was giving up his allotment as he was moving away and had said that we could have the blue water bins that he had on his allotment. I trotted along behind him to Malcolm's plot to find that there was also al area at the back where he had stored various pots, pieces of wook etc, to find that anying in that area he was leaving behind so we could help ourselves. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I ran back to tell Nick the good news. As always the sceptic he expected a load of rubbish but it was like finding hidden treasure. As well as a load of blue bins (valuable in times of hot weather when you don't want to walk far with a watering can) there was a hidden hoard of wood and metal strips.

This was the find of the year so far. After standing them to dry we stored them in the roof of the shed until we can plan projects for them. They should be ideal for raised beds or new compost bins (you can never have enough compost bin)


Picture to follow

The great egg mystery

Since the weekend we have had one egg a day until today when we had two. On Tuesday we diden't get the usual small blue but instead there was a large white, we had a white yesterday and today there was a white and a long thin blue.

A real mystery.

Spring has arrived

How do we know that spring has sprung - we have an egg.

Big excitement yesterday when we had our first egg for months. Even bigger excitement this morning when we had another one.

The big question now is who is the layer. We suspect that they are from the same duck as they were identical in size and colour. Anyway, they were delicious. We came home today and had egg sandwiches for lunch - Yummy.

We suspect it was Apple as she looked slightly lighter this morning. She had a trip to the vet on Friday as she had blown cheeks and we suspected that she had a sinus infection. For those of you who has sinus problems, you will probably appreciate that having saline solution blown in one nostral and it shoot out the other is understandable a great relief and good reason to lay an egg.

She is going to be a celebrity as the vet is giving a presentation to the Wildfowl Association on Wednesday and while we were there took photos of her to include. She posed very well, right way up, upside down, with a syringe up her nose. So as a thank you for being so good, she gets the first close up while being held.

She is feeling a bit sorry for herself still with blood on her beak but soon got in the pond to wash it off.









Another sign that Spring is here is the presents from Ted. Fortuitously, Matt and Rebecca were here for the weekend so the cavelry was called and they both had a lesson in skinning and gutting a rabbit.

I am not sure if my ticket covers me for carrying rabbits on the train to Waterloo but I have visions of regular meetings under the close with one rabbit and a dozen duck eggs.

A date for your diary

Can you believe it, it is only 9 days until the 2nd anniversary of us getting the allotment.

Preparing for Spring

I can't wait for Spring to be here, although there are signs everywhere. There are buds on the fruit bushes and trees, the weeks are starting to grow!

I have been busy in the greenhouse preparing for sowing time so have trays prepared with toilet rolls. Based on approximately 30 rolls per tray, I have 300 tubes ready for filling. I am worried that won't be enough so keep collecting. As well as toilet rolls, there is a good supply of kitchen rolls which are much longer so I am going to use these to get some parsnips started. Parsnips are notoriously slow to germinate so if I can give them a head start in tubes they I can guarantee a crop.



The rhubarb is bursting out of the ground and it will be amazing how quickly it grows. We found some on an abandoned plot last year which we put in the bank along the front of No53 (the fruit and duck allotment) and that is shooting as well, which is surprizing as their isn't much soil there and it had a loat of chippings dumped on it in the autumn.



I sowed some broad beans in the greenhouse and they are doing wonderfully but I am concerned that they will go a bit leggy so I will need to cut some twigs to stake them. I also found some garlic from last year that was sprouting so I have divided the bulbs and put them in trays to get them a better start before planting out.





The broad beans outside are looking good, although we have lost a couple to frost. We decided not to cover them to keep them hardier, but left the cloche frames in place as it will be good for support when they need it as I will be able to cut some hazel twigs and push them in the ground between the hoops. I have put CD bird scarers on a cane but I am not convinced that they are working.





The garlic that I planted in the Autumn is growing like mad, even the Elephant garlic is growing now. All the books say that you should only use bulbs from reputable suppliers and indeed I did - Tesco. They all warn against supermarket bought garlic as it is not guaranteed to grow and may be susceptable to disease, so fingers crossed that it will continue the way it has started.




Of course, no update would be complete without the girls. This was a rare occurance that I managed to catch them in the pond while I had the camera round my
neck, but I was managed to creap up on them while Emily, Florence and Fennel were on the big pond. Calling it a big pond is a bit of an exageration but it is bigger than the one they have in their compound and often there are 6 ducks in this one but as it is long and narrow they all have to swim in the same direction - try telling that to the twins who cause havoc whereever water is concerned!

The girls

It has been pointed out to me that I have not shown all the ducks on the blog so here they are. From left to right: Emily, Ebony, Florence, Apple, a twin, Fennell, another twin and Eve. I apologies to the twins but I really can't tell them apart.

It was not easy to get them all to stand still so I have given them individual resumes as well.



Emily
I have to admit to having a soft spot for Emily. She is so pretty since her moult and is one of the smaller ducks. She has created the gang of three with the twins and they are the most mischievous.






The twins (Pixie and Dixie)
Now can you see why I can't tell them apart. They are so adorable and have kept their youthful looks. They are typical Chocolate's with perfect markings. Along with Emily, they are always the last in bed at night and play games with us by running around the house rather than going up the ramp to bed. They are also the three that spend the most time swimming. When we change the water in the pond it sends them crazy and there is loads of jumping in and out and wing flapping, I think the clean cold water must tickle their feathers so there is loads of ducking under and flapping. Wherever one is the other will always be close by.


Ebony
Ebony is the matriarch of the group and is much more sedate and sensible than the others. When we got her in April she was black but since her moult has become
Ebony and Ivory with lots of white. We assume that every year will see a bit more white so watch this space.




Apple and Eve
Apple and Eve and so names as they are Appleyards. They are large ducks like Ebony and look like white ducks from the front but have beautiful markings on their back. Apple has a slightly twisted tail so we can only tell them apart from the back. As well as the distinctive markings, the colouring on their wings is beautiful and ranges from emerald green to peacock blue.



Florence
Florence is the most inquisitive of the ducks. She is always the first to come running out when we let them into the allotment for a forage. She will be looking around at anything new and I really thing she will be the one that we will be able to tame. Saying that, it is not going to be an easy job as they are all so scatty. She has a distinctive white line around her neck and an unusual pink beak.



Fennell
Fennell, and Florence, are by far the largest ducks. I think Fennell thinks that she is the boss but not sure if the others agree. They are both fawns but she has much more white and mottling that Florence. The strangest thing happened when she moulted, she grew a tiny pom pom on the top of her head and now wears it with pride.




While we were trying to photograph them on film today, Molly, the allotment cat decided to join us. The ducks took no notice of her whatsoever and just looked down their beaks at her. She finally realised that they weren't going to play and decided instead that my used pepermint teabag was catnip and rolled in it until she fell off the table.

The wizard of Basingstoke

Great excitement today to find that a new lot of chippings had been delivered. We were getting desperate as the path to the ducks was becoming a bit of a mud slide. I moved 12 barrow loads and made what can only be described as the yellow chipping road. I can almost feel a song coming on, in fact we did burst into song for a little while.






Not quite the same when you are wearing wellies rather than ruby slippers but I think you can get the idea. Follow the water butts, past the raspberries and the orange bucket and don't stop until you reach the ducks.

A winter's harvest

I have decided that all/most winter veg are peculiar. Just take a look at this lot that were picked today. Clockwise from the top are: very odd parsnip, salsify, scorzonera, carrots, turnips, chillis, florence fennel, savoy cabbage, celery and jerusalem artichoke.

Autumn

As it is most deffinately Autumn and becoming quite Wintery with the frosts we have had this week, I thought I would give you a reminder of Summer. Although saying that, these pictures were taken on 3 November. We got home from the allotment to find this bee collecting nectar from the passion flower. He was not at all camera shy but obviously felt that this was his best side.



The fuschias are still in flower and buds opening, which is amazing as usually they are all wiped out by the frost at the beginning of October.













Back to reality now, and that means beans. Having lost the use of the kitchen table with beans drying, they are ready for packing away to give us some lovely soups and stews throughout the winter. I have kept some back for sowing next year as my idea is to build up my own stock of seeds of as much as possible. As well as the beans, I have kept seeds from tomatoes (what few there were after the blight wiped them out), passion flower, chillis, peppers, and melon.





We started to panic, as last year the water was turned off as soon as frosts started and we weren't prepared. We found as many water containers as we could, and with the help of our local plummer (Katy) sealed off the pipes that weren't needed and fitted taps. I then spent the afternoon walking back and forth from the trough with watering cans full of water. It wasn't a problem last year but we now have to think of a drinking water supply and pond refills for the next couple of months. It is amazing how much water an old water tank and two wheelie bins can hold.





As you will all know we are great believers in composting everything we possibly can - vegetable waste, not perenial weeds, teabags, cardboard, newspaper, wilting flowers, the stuff collected by the Dyson (I can't spell vacuum cleaner), the fluff out of the tumble dryer, the mountain of hair out of my hairbrush, duck bedding etc, etc.




A year later this is what it looks like!








It is fantastic stuff. I wish you could feel it, it just crumbles between your fingers and smells wonderful. I have put two barrow loads in the bed in the greenhouse ready for spring and have great hopes for a bumper crop of toms from that lot.Well, this is how it looks on a daily basis when we keep adding more.




Remember back to those heady days of summer when the bowls season was in full swing and yours truely has quite a successful season. Well, the prize giving is on 30 November so I will be able to show you my collection of awards. Old Basing Bowls Club is not the fastest off the mark, but they have finally got the results from the previous year on the roll of honour and of course, I won something then as well. Sadly this year, my win doesn't qualify for a place on the board but still, I will go down in history.



You will need to click on the picture to get a full view but I thought I would include a close up as well.










To finish as I started, with a picture of what we believe will be a prize winning dahlia. We have great hopes for this one and are going to join the Basingstoke Chrysanthemum and Dahlia Society so that we can enter the dahlia show next year.