The trailer is finished

Nick has spent some time working on the trailer. He painted the wood to match the sheds, added mudguards and the cover. All the reflectors are not on the the wiring fully working.

I think it looks very smart.

Is somebody not pulling their weight

Pixie finally ventured off her nest today and it looks like she has rejoined the other ducks.

We had five eggs this morning, somebody always lays late so I check when I let them out - so that made six.

Late in the afternoon there was, what looked like, an egg in the grass on the lawn. It was a bit strange as the grass had been cut at the weekend. I found that it was actually a very tiny egg that one of the girls had deposited late in the day.

I can't imaging there is room for a yolk in there and we certainly wouldn't meet any sort of standard egg size gauge. Katy called and took away a box of eggs so here it is shown with yesterday usual six.

A close call

I was sitting dosing yesterday when I just happened to catch Angel out of the corner of my eye as she jumped up onto the stone planter. She had obviously spotted something but it took me a moment to realise what.

Thankfully my trusty camera is always at my side. I must move that plant though.

I am not sure who would have come off best in a fight.

Salad days

I am hoping that we will have plenty of salad for a while. The tubs at home are recoving from the pruning that the ducks gave them and we have a lovely lot of hearing lettuce at the allotment.

I cropped some to thin out and they are really tasty. Nick cleared a bed for me and it have also thinned out the green and red so have planted up another bed with good pigeon protection.













For a while it will be lettuce only as the cucumbers will to do a bit of growing before they are ready. There are two growing at once so I may make a rosette to award to the one that grows the fastest.

The tomatoes are too pathetic to even warrent a mention.

Update from the allotment

It is a while since we have been to the allotment but we managed a few hours at the weekend. The greatest success we are having this year is with fruit, which just tends to itself. Now that it is carpetted (work in progress) the moisture keeps in so the only watering is to the strawberries that are in the old duck ponds. The end that hasn't had carpet put down yet is being taken over by raspberry canes so we are going to have to do some selective cutting back

The goji berry is going mad and the Kiwi fruit have recovered from their frost and are growing up the posts but there is still no sign of fruit.






The red currents are turning red and the white currents are weighed down with fruit. I really do need to start using up the bags still left in the freezer so may have to turn them into jam.












... and what about them figs!

Broody duck

Emily has been missing from the garden crew in the last few days as she has gone broody and spends all day taking care of her eggs.

We couldn't leave the eggs for her to sit on so substituted them with the clay eggs that we bought earlier in the yeat to give them the hint of laying.

This is only the second time we have had a broody duck. The first was Emily the first year we had ducks and it lasted about two weeks so we are expecting the same from Emily.

The garden will be pleased as she is usually the ringleader if there is mischief about to happen.

Tom and Barbara junior

We had a trip to Kent at the weekend and a lovely surprise to see how well Matt and Rebecca had got on with establishing their allotment. They have put us to shame as they are harvesting peas and strawberries, have beans forming on their broadbeans and cabbages which look like show standard already.










They really do deserve the title of the Tom and Barbara of their generation.












To say this started as a spare bit of waste ground this time last year they have all done wonders to make a fantastic community project.

The first Clematis flower of Summer

Summer must be on its way. The weather is cooler, we had to light the fire last night, it has been the sort of miserable drizzle that brings tomato blight and the first Clematis flower is out.

Ranunculus

I have some beautiful blooms appeared near the front door. I think they are bulbs that Katy game me and I put them in there for lack of space elsewhere.

They are Ranunculus and in lovely colours in shades of pink and yellow. I can't imagine that Katy would have parted with them apart from the fact that they are ugly bulbs with tentacles but they have turned out to be lovely flowers.

I decided to find out more about them by looking on Wikepedia. I didn't get any further than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) way of how to pronounce the word. I didn't have any trouble with Ranunculus but I certainly do with the IPA. ræˈnʌŋkjʊləs

Feast of fabric

You may remember that a few months ago I bought some Martha Negley fabric. I also recently treated myself to a new book - Kaffe Fassett's Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts.

I though I would start with the easiest so using the fabric and combining it with some others that I had stashed away, this is what I created. I have some duck egg blue fabric that I am going to use as a border and then a narrow strip of these fabrics and it should make a quilt to fit a king size bed. That is the theory anyway and I have a few months to work on it before Winter sets in.

Date for you diary

Starting tomorrow - be nice to nettles week.

http://www.nettles.org.uk/

I hope that they won't mind but I have quoted from their website.

.......Almost everyone is familiar with the nettle having experienced its formidable sting. To many it is a troublesome weed that should be eradicated wherever it is found. This point of view has only recently developed. Indeed the humble nettle has played, and continues to play, an important role in the natural world.....

The bit I am especially tempted with is nettles as clothing and I might get in tought with the Northumberland Cheese Company to try some of their nettle cheese.

Hour of fun

http://www.wordle.net/

This is what I got when I put my blog url in to create. You get something different everytime you create.

Cuckoo

At about 8pm today we heard a cuckoo. The first this year.

I have really missed hearing the cuckoo but the one we are used to was from Katy's cuckoo clock that got for her birthday. I had it hanging in the kitchen to check that it was working OK, and as it was her birthday on Thursday I had to give it to her.

It was a really old Herber Herr clock which we got from the auction and had repaired at Porters the clock shop in Hartley Wintney so hope it will keep going for many many more years.

I didn't think I would but I really quite miss it.

Fartichokes

My new TV obsession is Aly Fowler in The Edible Garden which is broadcast on Friday;s at 8pm on BBC1. This week was the Winter Larder in which Alys grows Jerusalem artichokes to harvest in the Winter.

Alys renamed them Fartichokes, and if you have eaten a platefull you will know why. I have found a lovely reference in Wikipedia 'Gerard's Herbal, printed in 1621, quotes the English planter John Goodyer on Jerusalem artichokes:

"which way soever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine than men."

I certainly agree with the first part of what he says but not the last but as they are really tasty and nutty partucularly if in a mixture of roast ground veg.

The other problem with Jerusalem Artichokes is any bits left in the ground will regrow and as we didn't get to the allotment much at the end of last year loads were left in the ground so here is the artichoke patch for this year. We might have to start a market stall.

They are actually a member of the sunflower family so these plants will grow to about 9 feet tall with lovely yellow flowers on the top which look nice in a vase.

Fruit update

The Kiwi fruit which were growing beautifully last time were were at the allotment were also hit by the frost but as you can see new shoots are appearing so I am hoping for a bit of warm weather to get them on their way again.










One fruit that is doing very well are the whitecurrants. Unlike blackcurrants (which are also covered in fruit) the whitecurrant grows in 'strings' so are much easier to pick as one string has about 20 berries. I love them and can't wait for a bowl of black, white and red currants with some home made ice cream. Roll on Summer.

Potatos hit by frost

We got to the allotment as the rain started so couldn't do any work except water (sound sill I know but it has been dry for a long time especially in the greenhouse). We did the usual full inspection and were shocked to find that it was a lot colder than we thought over the last few nights and the potato shoots had been blacked by frost. They will recover but will be a bit late this year.

I hear on the grapevine that Kent was hit as well and it must be unusual for The Garden of England to have frost in May.

Before you ask, yes the grapevines were cut back by frost as well.

I have just found out that aparently London was colder than Moscow, Prague, Copenhagen or Stockholm on Tuesday night!

Roof and paint

Nick worked hard yesterday to get the roof on the shed and just as well as we have had rain today.

The day started sunny and bright but soon dulled until we went to the allotment and the heavens opened on the way there.

Before we left I got the first coat of Cuprinol Garden Shades 'Wild Thyme' which is a heritage colour of wood stain. It will need two coats but will match the other shed in colour at least.

I still have the back to do but that will have to wait for a day when I am prepared to have green hair as it is a bit of a squeeze behind the shed and I am sure I will be using my head as a paint bruch.

Once we have had a tidy up I will show you the wider view.

Nearly a shed

As everything was prepared we decided to move the shed parts round and fix the sides together.

For anybody who has put a shed together it is not as easy as just putting the sides together. Nothing seemed to fit as well as expected and I seemed to be pushing from one side while Nick was screwing the panels together.

The roof should go on tomorrow ready for the roofing felt and for the shed to be painted to match the other one.

Next step is the patio outside the sheds and maybe a pergola to make it a lovely courtyard area.