Slow and Steady

The squash tunnel is enjoying the rain - we had torrential showers yesterday. The tromboncino have reached the top first but others are joining them. I have been manipulating them skywards but they do prefer to grow sideways and along the ground. 

We didn’t visit the plot today as we had stuff to do at home, plus Hungerford is jammed up because the M4 is closed this weekend. The Sun didn’t show itself at all and there weren’t even rain storms to encourage as outside.

I’ve finished varnishing the crate that I decoupaged using seed packets, allotment magazines and seed catalogues. It’ll be useful for displaying things at the food festival and other HAHA events when they start happening again.

I made a lovely rice dish last night (well, I thought it was tasty) with turmeric and smoked paprika flavouring. It was just courgette, onion, tomato and garlic - I love this kind of meal and it’s so colourful too.

And I did my Big Butterfly Count in the week. I thought I’d hang round the lavender but all I counted was:

3 x Large whites

1 x Small white

4 x Small tortoiseshells 

1 x Small skipper

If the sun re-appears I’ll try again. I’ve seen so many other butterflies on site recently, so it’s a shame they were a no-show but not so unusual!

I’ve made a Google album showing the different flowers on the HAHA Wildlife plot, it’s looking rather lovely at the moment - lots of pinks and purples.

So that brings us to the end of July and just one day left of my holiday, shame as it’s been a lovely break but I know I have another few days off at the end of August so not too bad and obviously I’m still working from home so no commute - hoorah! The song, by Of Monsters and Men, is in reference to the decoupage, which I see that I started in March - well, there was no hurry 🙂

Hold On

Such a windy few days! I’ve been busy all week with work, but have enjoyed looking out at sunshine, rather than needing to brave the wind. I have a decoupage project that I’m working on so have been cutting pictures out of the seed catalogues but it has been making me want to buy more. I’m sure you know what it’s like!

We had a few hours on the plot this afternoon but it was still horribly windy and rather cold. Our plots gained some pots and compost bins but luckily the only damage was to a table; the glass tabletop landed in the manure pile so didn’t smash 😆. I was pleased to see that our polytunnel is still intact and most of my mangetout have germinated as have the marigolds.

We’ve set up an old fire guard as shelving for more seeds in the polytunnel. And have sown the celeriac seeds at home. I was amazed to see how tiny the seeds are!

I sowed all 40, as they can be tricky to germinate. I could have sowed them in a tray but I was keen to use these cut-off milk bottles. They’re under a cover in Jamie’s foil-coated windowsill germinators. And we have some more marigolds germinating at home too. They make such a great display and bees like them.

Meanwhile more buds are appearing everywhere you look and the birds are pairing up. It seems so Spring-like, until the wind cuts you in half! I wouldn’t want to be a seedling out there right now... just need to hang on a bit longer...

We left the site just as it started to rain, having achieved little, but at least it was a bit of time spent outside. Look at it, just waiting...

To be honest, I would have sowed something outside if it had been a bright sunny weekend. Instead, I’ll hold on.. What a great song, provided by KT Tunstall.