Hail, Rain or Sunshine

We don’t fancy plotting today as the weather’s turned nasty with showers and such a cold wind. Last Sunday (Easter Day) we were lucky because we had a plot cream tea with Linda and Ivan, with English sparkling Rosé and raspberry jam from Ivan’s hamper. We needed a wind break and the chiminea but it was a lovely afternoon with plenty of sunshine.

And on Bank Holiday Monday the ice cream van visited site which was a most welcome treat on a hot sunny day! We usually hear it travelling around so it was great that he actually stopped.

We’ve been busy in between the snacks over the last week 🙂 We’ve planted our potatoes in manure-enriched trenches; one row of Desiree and another row with Orla, Baby Lou and Paris.

We’ve planted three shop-bought tomatoes in the polytunnel - Gardener’s Delight, Supersteak and Alicante. We’ve hung drip feed waterers up - it’s rather reminiscent of a dialysis ward 😱 and should help while we’re on holiday.

The little row of carrots have germinated in the front of the raised bed and the sweet peas can grow on a bit more before they are planted out along with the mangetout.

Plot-neighbour, Val, kindly gave us a rhubarb crown which was from the Avebury Manor kitchen garden, which I think we should visit in the Summer.

I’ve re-mulched round the fruit trees - the Apsley mulch did a good job of curtailing the spread of bindweed last year. The pear and cherry trees have white blossom and the leaves are appearing now; still waiting for the apple to flower but the leaves have budded so the flowers will follow. Most of the daffodils have been dead-headed but there are a few multi-headed ones still putting on a bit of a show. I’ll leave them to die back but may tie them as I’ve seen other people do.

Jamie weeded the shallots in the raised bed - the bindweed had reached the top of there already - and gave them a bit of onion fertiliser. We only have a few but they served us well last year. Each green stem should produce a bulb so the more stems the better.

I’ve started clearing the front quarter of plot7 and dug the (reasonably) neat edges, mostly to please Ivan and Neal - it does look better, but it’s hard work especially with all the grass and couch grass which has spread onto the plot - of course some would say that’s why I should keep the edges maintained …

I just need to dig/clear the rest now….

I’ve done some weeding in the flower bed so scattered the seeds that my cousin Jen sent. They’ll be lovely additions to fill gaps - I cleared some of the Nigella seedlings which take over each year - they are so pretty but I must be more conscientious and pull them before they set seed. Jamie’s sown a pumpkin in a pot at home - just one, I think he’s feeling positive because his pepper seeds germinated successfully whereas mine are a no-show at present…

I’ve updated my Wildlife Blog recently - the first update was a new addition - a tiny 24-spot ladybird. It’s not rare in Southern England but just not very visible due to being so tiny.

The other update was to an earlier post about the Ashy Mining Bee - there are so many of these around our plot at present and the evidence of the females’ ground nest building. The males wake from Winter first and wait for the females to emerge - I felt sorry for this female, with at least one too many suitors! The bundle was rolling about on the ground with lots of angry buzzing and it went on for ages 🤦‍♀️ 

As I write this, the Sun is on my back through our South-facing window. It’s so lovely and bright but the next April shower could be along any moment and at 10° plus a stiff breeze I'm inclined to sit here a while longer.

Oh, well we did drive up to the plot as it remained sunny, but as we arrived there was a huge hail shower - blowing horizontally across the site - so we waited in the car…

It stopped, hail covered the ground then the bright sunshine returned.

I fed the blueberry bush which has lots of flowers and picked some purple sprouting broccoli, which is now a tasty soup. I added garlic and some plant-based cream. Yum! So it was worth the quick plot visit in the end. At least we know we’re heading in the right direction for Summer; more butterflies are visiting the plot, the birds have paired up and are full of song and we saw our hedgehog amble by at home the other evening; so great to know he/she got through Winter.

The song is provided by The Script and very appropriate for the time of year. It’s a sing-along 😊

First Time

Yesterday: It didn’t rain and it was Valentine’s Day so here’s a 7-spot ladybird sporting a love heart (not AI!).

After more than 3 months of hibernation we took advantage of a dry, albeit freezing, day and visited the plot. I was pleasantly surprised at how it looked - my expectations were low but it’s definitely looked worse.

I was so pleased to see the daffodils are almost ready to bloom in the raised bed. And around the budding fruit trees in ‘the orchard’.

The Apsley mulch has really helped with weed suppression; there are thistles, dandelion and cranesbill but not the grass which is such a pain to weed. We still have a bag of mulch to spread and to replenish other beds. 

One of the last plot visits I made before Christmas was to pull the leeks which had been decimated by leek moth larvae. I was over the moon to see that the garlic appears to have got away without damage, though I think the onions haven’t fared so well.

This is the raised bed where the shallots did well last year - there’s a few of those weeds I mentioned…

They were easily pulled and after an additional layer of mulch and compost this year’s Yellow Moon shallots have been planted and surrounded by a sprinkle of onion fertiliser. We’ve covered it with enviromesh to help protect from various pests. 

This plot with irises and bulbs hasn’t been mulched and is trickier to weed - look at that mess - ugh - but hopefully the flowers will put on a pretty show to distract the eye (the 2 crocuses haven’t quite achieved that) 🤭

This brick provided the brightest spot of colour in the sunshine - look at that lovely moss.

I need to study mosses a bit more, they’re so interesting en-masse or up-close. Looking at the moss world website I think this is probably a common variety Ceratodon Purpureus but don’t quote me!

The birds (robins, blackbirds, long-tailed tits, magpies) were out in number and a kite was circling overhead. There were also two hot air balloons in the clear blue sky - brrr, it must have been very cold up there. We found a couple of 7-spot ladybirds, including that one in the top photo with the heart, soaking up the rays and this wasp was snuggled in the polytunnel.

Aah, she’s holding her antennae down round her face (it can only be a Queen if it’s hibernating). I’ve updated the wasp entry on my Wildlife blog, if you’re interested.

There’s the Sun receding back into the gloom, but it was a lovely couple of hours and we felt revitalised as a result - though we were very pleased to go home for a coffee and a nap.

The title song is provided by Macy Gray recognising the first visit to the plot in 2026 - enjoy ☺️ 

Sunny

This last week I’ve worked more than my current required hours but it’s still felt rather like holiday time. I think there are positive vibes in the air.

We’ve been walking to the river to feed this lovely family - eight cygnets! The River Dun is so clear and there are masses of fish which were also jumping out of the water to eat the floating swan & duck food. One afternoon it was so warm and sunny we decided to go to a local pub for dinner and a bottle of wine - what a treat! Sitting in the riverside garden the same swan family swam buy and were enjoying eating the weed. So beautiful.

We’ve been to the allotment nearly every day, there’s not much to do apart from watering and picking a few bits for dinner. Courgettes are still a major element in our meals:

Layered courgette, tomato & shallot bake with cheesy sweetcorn topping

Pan-fried courgette, sweetcorn, chard & lardons with roast potatoes and onion sauce

Courgette and sweetcorn fritters with our first two runner beans

The Baby cucumbers are producing well so I made tzatziki dip, using a recipe from this great recipe book my sister gave me.

We enjoyed that as part of a Sunday picnic - here’s Jamie ready and waiting ☺️ You can see we were prepared for all weathers but I’m pleased to say it didn’t rain and we had a great time with various plotholders dropping by.

We’ve pulled our last Nicola(?) spud - not sure went wrong to produce those mutants! Let’s blame the weather but I think I may have something for the Horticultural show after all 🙄

We’ve picked most of our sweetcorn now and are noticing that something (birds or squirrels) has been stripping the cobs clean on some plants around site. I left a partially formed cob on the plot and the next day we could see just how popular sweetcorn is - amongst many species! We’ve seen wasps eating them but never ladybirds before! It is a very good year for ladybirds and quite surprisingly most I’ve spotted (🤭) have been 7-spots rather than harlequins.

It’s been feeling rather autumnal in the mornings and evenings now, but apparently another heatwave is due over the next few days - good! I’m not ready for Summer to end yet. 

Now sing-along with Boney M - you surely can’t resist!

The Right Direction

I had a lovely break from work and now it’s August - wow, time flies! The weather over the last couple of weeks has been warm and mostly dry so we visit the plot every day. We’ve been watching the juvenile robins who have been well tutored by their parents to know where they get fed.

The blue tits and great tits are also very active in the hedgerow but don’t seem to have a taste for monkey nuts - unless the celebratory England flags are putting them off.

I’ve been holding off doing the Big Butterfly Count waiting for a warm sunny day without a strong breeze, there have been lots of butterflies around so I probably should just get on and do it really!

Our harvests are getting more varied with Lark sweetcorn making a welcome appearance along with the essential courgette and cucumber most days. As tomatoes show a blush we take them home to complete their ripening. The Black Moon variety are prolific (from the polytunnel) and really tasty.

We’ve picked our first aubergine - Graffiti I think. I roasted it separately from the other veg and it was a nice addition to the meal which included some super-sweet carrot thinnings too - waste not, want not 🙂

This vegetable passata bake was all home-grown (apart from the passata) so delicious with potatoes, courgette, garlic, shallot, chard and sweetcorn. 

We’ve pulled another couple of potatoes too - Kestrel it seems.. They’re delicious roasted.

The remaining salad leaf has been pulled from the raised bed and I bought some additional herb plants - Greek basil, oregano and creeping thyme. I split the basil plant so have a couple of pots in the polytunnel. I was going to pull the chard, which hasn’t grown very well, but as I only eat a few leaves occasionally I decided to leave it. And it is so colourful! The sage needs a trim - I’ll do that when I take the heads off the lavender.

The shallots dried off so we made two jars of pickled onions. Jamie’s jar in pickling vinegar with mustard seeds and mine with balsamic vinegar using a slight adaptation of this recipe.

We received some free All Year Round cauliflower seeds from DT Browns so we’ve sown them in modules and they’ve germinated. I guess that means I should be weeding the brassica cage which hasn’t been looked after this year. It just has some Brussels sprout and PSB growing along with a lot of weeds at the moment. 

Oh! Plus a blueberry in a pot which Jamie bought from the RHS as a birthday present from my sister. I hope next year is as good for fruit as this year seems to have been. We’ve never seen so many sloes in the hedge by our plot - does it mean it’s going to be a hard Winter??

Well, I don’t mind as long as it doesn’t come too soon. My squash plants are growing quite well now and beginning to climb but need a good few weeks to produce some decent fruit. The recent rain-Sun-rain has been great growing weather.

We can only see one tiny melon on the polytunnel plant and none on the outdoor plants yet - as Jim (plotholder) said ‘they’d better get a wriggle on’. I quite agree!

The runner beans are finally beginning to form and the borlotti are beginning to colour. A few more weeks till they dry off and I’ll be storing them. Last year it was so wet that I couldn’t save any beans - I hope that doesn’t happen again! This is a bean’s eye view of their world 🙂

On the health front, I have started EPO injections which kidney patients often need to help the kidney produce red blood cells so I should feel like I have a new burst of energy quite soon. Thank goodness Jamie is able to do my injection as I can’t. I’ve had so much needling all my life but I never look (and you really need to when injecting yourself!). What a wimp I am!

It’s 6 months now since Jamie had his stroke. What a terrible time, but he’s made such great progress, though he doesn’t always feel it and it is still early days. He’s easily tired and rather painful but that’s not unexpected although unwelcome. Overall we’re going in the right direction - thanks to Goo Goo Dolls for the song title 😌