Eating from the allotment

 We popped up the allotment this evening and were amazed at how things have come on since Saturday.   So many red raspberries!  I picked a whole punnet full.

 The strawberries are still doing very well, but there are a few that have gone mouldy, too damp I think.

 This was the total pick from tonight, some new potatoes "Kestral" not eaten these before but they look lovely with the pink bits on them.  Some peas, rocket, raspberries, strawberries, dill and sweet peas.

 One of the courgette plants, needs to grow a bit more.  I think it will be a while before we see the first courgette/

 The runner beans are slowly making their way up the poles, with sweet peas growing amongst them.  I didn't get a bean until the end of July last year so still plenty of time/

 I have tried to grow sweetcorn for the last couple of years but not had much luck. I started it indoors much earlier this year and it has done well.  It is growing with calundula and borage to look pretty.

So dinner tonight was new potatoes with salad the home grown part was one (!) spring onion, radishes, lettuce, rocket and dill.  Strawberry and Rhubarb cordial to drink and Strawberry ice cream that I made earlier.  Lovely

VACENCIES

Now open! Free accommodation to all insects, bugs and other small creatures except for rats.

We have started building our insect hotel at the allotment. The bottom layer is sand with bits of roof tiles ( left over from the porch building). Then there is a layer of wood and then some cardboard tubes filled with straw and corrugated cardboard rolled up. The next layer is pine cones. On top of that is sticks and wood, some with holes drilled in the ends.

I think that we will do a couple more layers, probably some leaves and pebbles and then top it off with a roof covered in roofing felt to keep things dry.

Perfect for Mr Toad and all the rest of the slug, snail and black fly munching crowd!

Breakfast at the plot!

we were "up the plot" early on Sunday morning. Took some bread and marmalade and most toast!
The bean trenches have been dug and manured, the poles and sweetpeas are in, just waiting for the last frost and then pop the beans in. Will we get a last frost? We did last year the very night after I had planted the beans.
Broad beans and peas coming on. The flowers keep falling of the beans and no pods developing. Asked Basil from over the way and he said lack of rain. I don't think that it has rained here since March.
A view up the plot,
The strawberries are looking very good, covered in flowers and beginning to develop little green ones. Hurry up and turn red

TOAD OF TOAD HALL

Look who I found at the allotment this morning - Mr Toad!
We had covered the new raised bed with cardboard after digging it over and adding some cow muck. This morning I took the cardboard off and noticed that the earth moved, just like the compost bin heap moved the other day when I was convinced that there was a rat in there. I am not keen on rats, so I don't know why I just moved a bit of compost to see what had made the earth move? And there sat a toad. Quick! Quick! come and see the toad! I called to Lukey. He came and picked it up and a quick photo before popping under some more cardboard behind the compost bin.
A few weeks ago I visited someone who has a "bug hotel" and since then we have been planning to build one.


Maybe something like this, but a little smaller. We have some wood and roof tiles so hope to make a start next week and then we will have a proper home for Mr Toad.

The story of the porch.....continued

The new porch is so nearly finished and yet so much to do. The main part is built and finished and we are now on the final run.
This next stage was to sort out the drainage. There needs to be a soakaway for the rainwater that collects off the roof, this needs to be 5m away from the house. The hole in the ground needed to be 1 m deep and filled with stones and a pipe laid from the house to the soakaway. Last week a skip and a ton of small stones were delivered. The trenches were marked out and then the digging begun!!! It has been a bit dry here lately also we have parked the car on here for some years so the ground was a bit hard!!! But after 3 days work the trenches were dug, the hole was dug. The pipes were laid on gravel ( with a suitable drop so that the water atually runs away). The hole was filled with stones and it was all filled back in.
What is still left to do:

1. Lay the new path
2. build a step
3. dig over and weed the garden
4. dig up the old log edging
5. lay new log edging
6. lay new weed control membrane
7. cover with stones
8. fit the drain pipe

And then the outside will be finished...... Just the inside to do!!

British summer time

It's nearly half past seven at night and it is still light outside, yes the clocks went forward today and we are now enjoying "British Summer Time". Not quite summer yet, but getting warmer and lighter. I always find the coming week quite difficult as my body adjusts to the time, having to wake up earlier and feel quite tired by 9 o'clock. A few weeks ago I went to Greenwich this is where all the worlds time is measured from - GMT or Greenwich mean time. The photo shows my sisters standing with one foot on either side of the line - half in the east and half in the west.

I have had quite a productive weekend and enjoyed a couple of hours at the allotment this afternoon. The best bit was sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee in one hand and a homemade coconut and jam biscuit in the other watching Lukey digging!!!

SPUDS

This year I decided to order a mixed lot of 5 different types of potatoes. They have been happily chitting in a cool, light, frost free place (not an easy place to find in our house) but put them in the half finished porch.
Today I went to the allotment and planted the first earlies - Lady Christl, the second earlies - Kestrel and the salad type - Charlotte. Still got the main crop, Desiree and Maris Piper to go in, but needed to dig over another bed for these so left it for today.

I am also experimenting with the Strawberries, I cleared and weeded one third of the bed and added pelleted chicken manure and wood ash. I have read that wood ash is good for fruit, not sure if it was for strawberries or not. Will try something else like bone meal on the other part and compare.