Un-identified Foreign Objects

What the heck are these. I scraped out the last of the manure to plant up my potatoes (oh yes, they are finally in) and spotted these luminous fellas. I thought they were shrimp at first (until I engaged brain). Up close, they are shaped exactly like wasps, only a bright orange / pink colour with tiny black dots for eyes. They were about the length of my finger nail. Not knowing whether they are goodies or meanies, I threw them back into the empty manure store



Here are the potatoes, nicely tucked up in their new bed. I planted 10 of Kestrel (yes, I know its a bit late) and 20 (I think!) of King Edward. My Vales Emerald are just to the left of the photograph.



I've planted out my courgettes, two at the end of the beetroot / salad bed and three in front of the bean bed. I hope I have not been too keen, as it seems we may have had a frost here last night. I meant to cover them with fleece, but forgot. Oh well, I'll see how they fared at the weekend.



I couldn't resist any longer and finally pulled a couple of the carrots that were sown last November. They are very pale, but I'm not sure if that was the variety (which I've long forgotten), or if its because there has not been enough sunshine. They have a very delicate flavour and smell much more strongly than they taste. They are also slightly chewy.



The plants in the wildflower garden are huge and there is some interesting foliage appearing:



First I had dandelions, then I had clocks, now I have lots of stalks. Everywhere I look, there are little seeds floating along on the wind. I think next season my beds will be covered in dandelions:



I think these are Ladybird eggs, as a few minutes before I took the photograph, there was a Ladybird on the wall:



The privet at the end of the lottie has doubled in size, but as I set about chopping it down, I realised that there is a nest concealed within the branches. Fortunately it appears to be empty, it seems quite big, so I don't think it belonged to my little Robin:



Last years Ox Eye Daisys are huge, I may need to think about thinning them next year, otherwise they'll engulf everything else:



I found an interesting visitor on the raspberry leaves. I need to get my bug book out to try and identify him.



... and finally, perhaps I've gone mad ... this is indeed grass and it has been potted up ! Our cat and kitten are absolutely obsessed with little pots of grass. They cuddle it, play with it, pounce on it, eat it, sit next to it, sleep with it, squirm around it ... you name it in fact. Whenever the pot of grass goes for watering, we all have to go - they are so excited by it. The first thing they do in the morning is go and give the grass a kiss !

Wednesday

Finally I've tackled the raspberry bed and removed all of the weeds. Quite a few new canes have appeared, so I've replanted them and put a path in between ... OH will be very pleased when he visits next time:



I've made a bit of progress on the weeds at the end of the plot, but there is still a bit to go. It does look better though. With a bit of effort hopefully I'll have cleared it by the end of the weekend ... which is good 'cos my tatties still need planting ! Most people will be eating theirs by the time I get mine in:



This is my plum tree, I'm a bit worried about it and am hoping that the recent frost has damaged it, rather than it being something more serious .. I might write to Blackburn's to seek advice from them. It doesn't look as though I'll be getting any plums this year. The second photo is of the bits that have died.


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My list is going quite well so far - I've even managed to stake the brambly apple tree. No sign of blossom yet, but hopefully it'll burst into flower soon. The crabapple blossom is almost finished.

Whilst moving some stuff around, I uncovered a little voles nest, its empty, so either the little babies have left or it was a backup nest.



Last job of the night was to water my peas and the beetroot bed.

Monday ...

Well I've had quite a productive evening, I've managed to sow one third of a bed with beetroot - Detroit 2 and Detroit 6 somethingorother:



I've also managed to stake the peas for the very first time since I've had my lottie ... I feel it going to be a really good year for my peas, they look fab :)





I've been rounding up my spare strawberries, some are now settled into the glass greenhouse and the others have gone into the bed in front of the glass greenhouse.



Stuff in the potting shed is really coming along - I've potted on 40 Marigolds and so far they are faring much better than last year (the meeces ate most of them last year):



this is some Fennel that has self seeded in the glass greenhouse - I'm not sure when to harvest it though ...



I've also got lots of tiny Mizuna seedlings and what looks to be 99,000 baby tomato seedlings:




Here are the Jerusalem Artichokes that I didn't get around to harvesting this winter ... I'm going to be overrun with them this year !



My thyme is looking really pretty at the moment:

Never enough time

The weather has been incredibly hot this weekend, far too hot for working at the lottie, so all things considered I didn't do too badly with my list:

I managed to weed the broadbeans (x2 beds), the rye bed and the onion bed. I also mnaged to plant out 9 cauliflowers from the greenhouse, they went into shock yesterday, but look to be coming around today - I watered them with seaweed as a little treat. I've also planted some more beans to fill the gaps. In this picture you can see the broadbeans with cauliflowers, then garlic with some more cauliflowers and then the rye bed at the back:



I've potted on the melons, courgettes and squash. The courgettes look so good and its been so hot, I've decided to leave them out overnight:



Unfortunately I've had a couple of disasters too - my very expensive cucumbers have keeled over, I think with the heat, although I've never had much success with them - they are Bella and for just over £4.00 I got 4 seeds, so I'm not very pleased. I also appear to have cooked my beans - nearly all of them ! Again I think they have been way too hot under the propergator. I've resown Borlotti and will do the others one evening this week. I'm also wondering whether John Innes seed compost is not the right compost for them.

OH has set up my bean poles (just in case I do get any to germinate LOL). I'm putting two rows into one bed this season, as I think I was a little generous with my spacing last year.



My homemade compost is germinating quite a few things, most of which I don't recognise, but I did find 4 sunflowers making a break for it, so I've potted them up.



Here is one of my peppers, they are usually quite slow to grow so hopefully the sunshine will get them going:



The crabapple's delicate pink blossom looks lovely .. it is just starting to go over. The tree is from Lidls and was quite small, I will be very pleased if I get a crop this year



We made a start on the fleece barrier for the carrot bath, but unfortunately had some technical issues with the stapler (erm, namely running out of staples), so I'll need to finish it one night this week.



I thought it would only take a couple of hours to dig over the bottom of the lottie, but with the heat of the sun and the sheer profusion of weeds its taking much longer:



I'm sure there has been a danelion explosion this year ... my plot was covered in their cheerful yellow faces a couple of days ago and now I've got feathery little seeds floating all about ...



Here is the 'all you can eat buffet', I didn't get around to turning it yet. No sign of the little vole family, much to OH's disappointment:

All present and correct Sir !

Oh, how smug do I feel ! Look at my beautiful peas - all three lines have germinated beautifully under my magic plastic tunnels. I am so pleased with myself :)



The pea bed had buckwheat in it last year and I notice that a few plants have emerged, so I'll probably transplant them to the greenhouse to encourage the hover flies in:



I finally spotted my first artichoke head making a very shy appearance:



These are the carrots from the brick bed that were planted at the end of the season last year. They differ in size quite a lot, but I'm very hopeful of a good crop ... I've had a peak at some and can definitely see some gold in the soil !



Meanwhile, back in the carrot bath, I've got lots of lovely lines of carrot seedlings. I've labelled them this year, so at least I'll know what I've got and I've gone for traditional lines vs broadcast sowing. I have my fingers crossed for better results this season:



My Vales Emerald Potatoes are just pushing through the soil ... I'll have to earth them up over the weekend.



The bed of Rye is looking very good, I'm not really certain what to do with it now, so will probably just leave it until the seeds ripen:



I'm very pleased with the progress my tomatoes are making. Sadly after the incident with the naughty cat I don't know what variety half of them are ! Here is one of my Roma:



The Avalon Squash seedlings are looking nice and strong:


I've had excellent melon germination, although I've not quite decided where they will go yet - ideally I'd like to put them under glass ... hmm, wonder if my magic tunnels would be a good home for them over the summer.

Ken's gooseberries are looking as good as always, I really wish I liked them:



The blueberry bush has sprung into life again:



I took my camera down to the bottom of the lottie to try and get a photo of my lovely little vole residents, but they are far too quick for me. They are really enjoying living in the compost heap - I have some carrots to take up there tomorrow for them ... well, if you can't beat them ! Whilst mooching around I spotted an egg on the bark area - I think it is a Blackbird's egg, as it is 'duck egg' blue, with delicate mottling on it, in a soft brown. I wonder how it got there.



This is my list for the weekend:
- Pot on courgettes / melons / beans / sunflowers
- Plant out sweetpeas
- Sow beetroot
- Plant potatoes
- Clear salad from greenhouse
- Stake peas
- Weed broadbean bed
- Weed rye bed
- Weed onion bed
- Clear weeds from bottom
- Weed raspberries
- Sow parsnips
- Sow salad
- Sow herbs
- Sow buckwheat
- Plant strawberries in greenhouse

OH's Jobs:
- Make fleece frame for carrots
- Stake apple tree
- Set up bean poles
- Set up sweetpea trellis
- Turn compost heap
- Add more woodchip to paths
- Collect broken glass from greenhouse
- Fit new panes ? (from the ‘lean-to’ greenhouse)

Just for Dug & Rob ... have you caught up yet ?

Everything is blooming ...

I was surprised to see that my broadbeans are just starting to flower, but when I checked my dates, they are about two weeks behind last season.



The strawberries are getting in on the act too:



I was still thinking of moving them, but looks like I'm too late. Nearly every plant is in flower, despite having frost only last week !

The lottie is postively blooming at the moment:



The pond is a writhing mess of tadpoles and the water is looking a little murkier, so I hope they get busy and start eating the algea. The pond skaters have arrived, just a couple, but they are already jealously guarding their little patch. The King Cup is in full flower and is absolutely stunning:





Unfortunately the weeds have also gone 'boom' and I've had an explosion of Shepherds Purse at the bottom end of the lottie, with a liberal sprinkling of obligatory danelions:



Actually, they look rather lovely in the weak sunshine and the bees were buzzing around them.

Some of my tomatoes have germinated, which is a wonder in itself. I decided that the house was too cold to germinate them, so thought I'd give them a helping hand and placed the onto the bedroom radiator ... not realising it was on full. A couple of days later OH pointed to them and asked if I was trying to cook them :) Having moved them to a windowsill, around 10 have germinated. I potted them up at the weekend and then took the remaining seeds home. A couple of hours later OH found then upside down on the floor of the bedroom ! The pesky cat had knocked off the tub - so now my remaining seeds are all jumbled up ... grrrr.

One of my neighbours called in to say hello. She was cursing the meeces, who have been munching the peas that she sowed in the greenhouse. Being such an experienced allotmenter(!) I shared with her my top tip for direct sowing peas. No messing about with paraffin, or holly (honestly, where are you going to find holly in the middle of a city). No, no, no, you just need a plastic mini tunnel. For some reason the meeces leave the peas alone so that they can germinate in peace. Last year I had a fleece tunnel and a plastic tunnel side by side and the fleece tunnel was raided over several days and decimated, whereas the plastic tunnel wasn't touched. She looked at me a little skeptically I'm sad to say, but she'll rue her doubting ways when I have the best peas on the block !



This is one of my herbs, I've totally forgotten what it is - maybe Oregano ?



... and here is .. erm, another one:



I realise how far behind last year I am when I look back to April 07, but the weather is so different (better I think) this season. I've only just started to sow my main things. My courgettes are just poking through:



and I finally feel it is safe to sow my beans - boy, have I got a lot of beans this season:

Canelloni and Borlotti beans from Seeds of Italy (would recommend them, you get plenty for your money):

Milky Canelloni:


Borlotti:


Yin Yang kidney beans - we've not yet tried the ones from last year. I keep meaning to make something with them, but the house has been upside down for so long I've lost track of where they are:



Tee Pee dwarf beans - they look really interesting on the packet, with their black pods:



and I couldn't resist planting some Scarlet Emperor as well. They were fantastic last season. I've tried to restrict myself to ten of each.

I'm using some root trainers for the first time. My dad gave them to me, so we'll see how they go (I'm slightly suspicious that if they were that good, surely he would have kept them for himself !!?)

The wildlife garden is stirring back into life slowly. I'm keeping my eye on it to make sure that no nasties get a hold, such as thistles, bindweed or creeping elder. It is a little difficult to tell what should be there and what shouldn't, so I'm trying to leave it as much as I can. I planted a couple of Lupins last year and so far they seem to have escaped the slug & snail buffet. I used to adore walking around my mum's garden when I was a little girl, looking at the lupins after it had rained. They are truely stunning plants and I think undervalued as a garden plant:



Whilst gathering rhubarb from the wild end of the lottie, I managed to disturb this little critter. He's a very different colour from my usual visitors. I'm wondering if he was the albino baby we found a year or so ago in the pond:







My last job of the day was to make a start on clearing the Shepherd's purse, and I found a ladybird basking in the sunshine:

Distractions, distractions !

oh dear, I may never get anything done again !!!

The new kittie arrived at the weekend. He has just got over the sniffles. He has two switches - on and off.





Oh my God, he is soooooo cute and gorgeous. We have spent hours watching, laughing, stroking, coo-ing ... I have to really tear myself away to go to work





He loves my laptop - the flashing lights, fingers dancing across the keyboard, the heat, the mouse and images swirling around the screen ! Oh and of course, its very comfortable for a little snooze !





We love him to bits already, but he still doesn't have a name ... although 'terror' seems to fit him. I'm boring everyone I meet with tales of how cute he is and OH calls me at work to tell me that "the kittie has woken up" or "the kittie has eaten some food" or "the kittie blah blah blah".

I think he and Ianto are going to be really good friends, they've got over the surprise and shock of meeting each other and have been spotted 'kissing' (ooo, maybe they're the only gay cats in the village !)

Ianto: