Chim Chim Cher-ee

We had two visits to the allotment this cold weekend and yesterday (Sunday) everything was looking beautiful encrusted in frost. 

The likelihood of pretty frost was mainly what dragged me outside. It's so easy to just remain indoors but of course, once out and surrounded by birdsong on the allotment I was glad I shifted myself.

The frost on this dandelion was just starting to thaw as the temperature edged above freezing when the Wintry sun emerged. The macro shots bring out the lovely ice features which I certainly couldn't see with the naked eye.

The temperature has been sub-zero for a few nights with day temperatures staying low. Some parts of the site haven’t had a chance to defrost at all as the low Sun doesn't reach all areas.

The ground and all the water collection points are frozen solid. I took the thick round slabs out of our buckets because I am rather fascinated by ice even though I hate, hate, HATE the cold.

You can see how thickly it's formed in this photo - I stood them up in the raised bed. I hope the pond ice isn't as thick as that smallest bucket. Male frogs apparently tend to stay in ponds, at the bottom, over Winter (females hibernate underground usually) but the ice can deprive them of oxygen if it stays for too long. I wonder why we found that dead frog last week - it was by the pond, but shouldn't have been out and about...

The houseleeks couldn’t avoid getting a frosting but they won’t mind. They're hardy little plants.

And I’m sure this moss won’t be adversely affected either. Look how sparkly it is, just starting to thaw.

The birds seemed to be enjoying the sunshine on Saturday. I think this was a flock (a charm) of goldfinches but it’s difficult to see from this angle. The robin was happy to see us with his mealworms and we saw (probably) a buzzard land in a nearby tree. So huge compared to the tiny blue tits, wrens and long-tailed tits that were flitting about.

The main reason we visited the plot on Saturday was because I need to saw some dehydrated coir compost block for making up a seed compost. Believe it or not, I had to remove my coat as I got so hot exerting myself - first time since about September 🤭

The coir block is rehydrated with warm water and then we add some vermiculite. It worked ok as a peat alternative last year, but I'm rather concerned about the sustainability of using coir. We’re not actually going to start most of our seeds yet, but it’s exciting as they’ve been arriving in the post all week. A few different flowers this year.

January has certainly provided some beautiful skies in the mornings and evenings - this was a morning photo. You can just about see the sprinkling of snow on the dormer windows from a thick, but quick, snow shower we had in the early hours.

The jackdaws have secured their spot for another year. They pair up and stick together with a lifespan of about 5 years. We look forward to watching these two rear their young on the chimneys opposite.

And these two photos are my excuse for sharing this song by Turin Brakes. I liked the original in Mary Poppins (well, Dick van Dyke was always a favourite, even with that accent) but this version is so beautiful and the video makes me think I should stop whinging about the cold as I sit in relative comfort.

Holiday

What a beautiful Easter weekend! Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures every day. Those clouds just started to get darker on Monday afternoon - good timing!

We spent hours on the allotment over the lovely 4-day weekend. I dug through the area in front of the bench. Lots of couch and hedge roots to remove from the area which has been under weed-suppressant for a few years. 

One particularly large root took a lot of tugging; when it gave, I discovered that it was a (the?) tap-root of the Lovage plant DOH! So I'm quite expecting part of that lovely plant to die off soon... The wet patches are where I've sown some chrysanthemums - I want that area to be a beautiful flower bed... we'll see!

Jamie was working on the carrot trench and it's environmesh cage then sowed two rows of carrots (Eskimo and Early Nantes 5). We really hope they do better than last year when we hardly had any carrots to eat. We're being more generous with our sowings this year, where previously we've been a bit tight; we've decided to sow lots and plan on thinning more than we usually do.

I've been more liberal with my beetroot, parsnip, radish, spring onion and lettuce seeds that went in on Sunday too. 

The watering regime has started. As you can see the ground is very dry, but there may be a few showers this week.

I cleared some weeds and some of the masses of nigella seedlings near the pond. I transplanted a couple of houseleek and hope that they'll spread across the area.

The pots next to the bench will be moved when I plan to have Love Lies Bleeding growing there. The seeds, along with some more sunflowers, are sown into pots and in the polytunnel so I'm hoping the night temperatures don't dip too low. 

The pots are full of various flowers and bulbs including the tulips that my nephew, George, gave us for Christmas which are just developing. Also the bay laurel from my sister, but the cold winds hit it when it was in a different position and some of the leaves went brown. I'm hoping it'll be happier in that more protected spot.

Meanwhile the wallflowers are providing a lovely scent, even though they're beginning to go over now. They come back every year and are messy but so pretty. My mum always insisted on pulling them up each year and then I'd go searching for new plants each spring.

We managed another PSB harvest along with some leeks. Much of the Purple Sprouting Brocolli is covered in yellow flowers now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see another lot of shoots now that I've chopped these off.

I've made leek and chestnut soup, with turmeric, for my lunches. I had to have a taster - delish.

And lastly, we have a frog in the pond on the wildlife plot! I'm not sure if he found his own way there. He may have arrived with a lot of duckweed, which I think the tadpoles will appreciate as protection.

The song title is provided by Weezer - it may have only been 4 days but it felt like a holiday. Bliss!

Radioactive

This photo sums up yesterday’s time on the allotment; lovely warm sunshine interrupted by hefty showers which sent plotholders scattering across site to the toolshed, cars or polytunnels.

We were working on Plot3, attaching the netting to the old polytunnel frame.

This is my long-talked-about squash tunnel. Hopefully the netting is secured tight enough for the weight of the squashes (I have high hopes - dangerous, I know!)

So it’s ready and waiting for the squashes, which have nearly all germinated in a week - just 2 of the Boston seeds haven’t broken through so far. I’m planning on growing two of each type, so ten plants (Boston, Crown Prince, Festival, Honey Boat and Tromboncino). Some of them have large heavy fruits so may need additional security, but that can be sorted as and when required. 

I’m excited, hope it works!

I’ve been talking to a friend about his lovely alpine garden so thought I’d take a close-up look at the succulents and houseleeks by our little pond.

They’re so pretty. I thought they were stunning enough to be considered ‘treasurer’ in the BlackBerry Garden Chelsea Fringe - what a fun idea!

The pond is nice and full but the frogs are a bit shy at the moment. It looks nice overgrown, but the bindweed needs pulling and some of the nigella otherwise that’ll cover everything else.

Here are the potatoes. We covered them on Saturday night as there was a frost risk. It seems we got away with it, though the thermometer showed 2.3° in the polytunnel.

And a few Spring onions, meals for the future come to mind.

But for the timebeing we’re still living on rhubarb 😆 

Mmm, rhubarb pancakes for breakfast and the presentation gave me a song title. I like this song by Imagine Dragons, I didn’t realise this was the title. Enjoy

What a Waste

January has sped by which is unusual for this long cold month. The weather has been mostly grey with the occasional frost and some very welcome blue skies but we've only managed a few brief visits to the plot. I was very pleased earlier in the month when I made this sausage and bean casserole with the dried Gigantes, Edamame and Soya beans, using Shaheen's recipe.

Just one problem.... I forgot to actually cook the beans, after I'd soaked them overnight, so it was all wasted - boohoo, it looked so delicious and was going to serve me for two meals! Hence the blogpost song-title.

On Sunday we spent over an hour on the plot, but only to do our bit for the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. What a wet and miserable day! But I like this little slow motion video of one of our over-flowing buckets.

Most of the birds, sensibly, had decided to stay under cover, but these pigeons were enjoying the berries on the ivy.

So this was our, rather weak, count:
  1 x robin
  6 x wood pigeons
  4 x magpies
  1 x blue tit

Our cover was somewhat lacking... the polytunnel has a new sunroof...

Jamie ventured a bit further from the 'comfort' of the polytunnel - look at that weedy plot! Well, it'll have to wait a bit as it's so soggy and we've got a holiday to go on before we deal with that :-)

The wellie-boot remover that I retrieved from my Mum's house has been well-used so far this year.

I'm pleased that the sempervivum (houseleek) which I potted on last Autumn seem happy enough in the wet weather - I do love them.

Jamie and I enjoyed a fun weekend with two celebrations to hijack and make our own - first was Burns Night on Saturday. It's a good excuse for eating our favourite Stahly veggie Haggis with neeps & tatties washed down with a few tasters of whiskey (not my favourite drink). Followed by a Scottish film called Restless Natives from 1986.

And then on Sunday evening we celebrated the Chinese New Year - of the Rat. We had more of a pan-Asian feel to our evening with miso soup, Japanse saki and various oriental items to decorate the room and then watched CJ7 a Chinese film that I've been wanting to see since 2008, it was good.

So this blogpost is brought to you by the colour red - for luck, joy, and happiness over the next year and just a few rats, I'm sure! The song is provided by Ian Dury and The Blockheads.

Picture This

This has got to be the most photographed view in Hungerford this year, so I thought I'd put my version on the blog - the new planters on the bridge, provided by a voluntary group, have been so successful.

Look at that beautiful blue sky which we enjoyed yesterday with Summertime temperatures - not quite the same today, with some welcome rain.

Jamie pulled the last of the Kestrel potatoes yesterday; quite a few with slug damage but not too bad, especially as there are some massive spuds in that trug. He's sprinkled lime over the patch that he dug over yesterday and we're going to plant our onions in there for over-wintering along with Aquadulce broad beans.

I weeded two of the raised beds - ready for garlic - and the patch where the shallots were this year. I found quite a few that are in good condition to be eaten, but it wasn't a good year for our shallots. (it was a good year for thistles though!)

We've been picking tomatoes at every visit and this has been our largest red pepper.

There are still lot of peppers on the plants; they're still green but tasty even if they don't get a chance to change colour - everyone is saying that yesterday was the last day of sunshine for the year :-(

That's the last of the cucumbers, which all arrived a bit too late and mostly at the same time so they are bound for the compost bin - this one tasted ok, but was split in the middle and the skin was a bit tough.

I've picked some of the Gigantes beans and had some in a salad - dressed with soy sauce, oak-smoked olive oil, spring onion and mustard seeds. It was so delicious, I must make it again.

I'm soaking some more overnight to cook tomorrow for a tomato & bean-based lunch. It seems that they shouldn't need overnight soaking because they aren't completely dried out, but I'm playing it safe. They look good anyway as they're soaking up the water and getting even more gigantic!

We've picked a couple more Lark sweetcorn; one for inclusion in tonight's meal (along with potato and cabbage patties) and the other for my lunch tomorrow. Something is nibbling them - not sure if it's birds or mammals but the ants are enjoying them once the kernels are open to the air.

I've planted some houseleek into the giant boot from Jamie's dad's garden - I remember his mum had it overflowing with houseleeks when I first saw it and I want it to look like that again. The pond needs a bit of work, the frogs still seem happy but the weed has rather taken over.

Meanwhile, we're slowly moving to Autumn and after the HAHA AGM next week we'll be thinking about Hungerford Food Festival where we'll have our HAHA stand as usual - do come and visit us on Sunday 6th October!

The song title is provided by Blondie.