Baby Birds

Well what a lot of weather we have had in the last week and more on the way but at least we didn't flood.

Weather in Warrington
Monday 18° 7° 0 mm	Tuesday 22° 8° 1.7 mm	Wednesday 21° 11° 0.1 mm	Thursday 23° 11° 7.1 mm

It's been cold wet and windy but hopefully we'll get the warmer weather as promised and have some heat in the next few days. I have to gamble with the poly tunnel doors. Shut while there's cold and risk of storms but I've left one open for today/tonight.

Mrs Blackbird is now brooding 4 lovely (?) little chicks. I think they are about 3 or 4 days old now, so hopefully they will let me take their photos again before they fledge in a few weeks.
We had the first samples of potatoes yesterday, not as many or as big as I was hoping for but it's early yet. I'll leave them well into July before digging any more. The courgettes are coming on well and the mystery squash are small round ones, hopefully onion type. I'm going to stuff some of their flowers for tea.

Terry's riddled over another of Sam's spots today. I think it's going to be a home for some leeks.

More rain on the way.

More rain forecast and we might even get floods in the NW. Not good news for those of us in a High Risk Flood area.

Weather in Warrington
Thursday 19° 10° 7.9 mm	Friday 15° 9° 14 mm	Saturday 19° 9° 5.6 mm	Sunday 17° 10° 15 mm

But at least we have had a couple of really nice days this week which allowed me to get in some broccoli and net over the raspberries. I'm pleased with the progress of the peas. The beans are slower and flopping around a bit. I'm sure I was eating broad beans this time last year.
On the other hand Prince Charles' French Beans are dismal. 3 slug gnawed shoots from a whole packet. I wonder if it's worth letting him know. I believe beans are very susceptible to rot, in that case they are likely to be very scarce this year. I bought some more today from B&Q. Both Dwarf and Climbing ones so I'll have another go.
I called at Kenyon Hall farm shop this afternoon and bought some purple sprouting broccoli which are at same stage as my own broccoli. I'll squeeze them in under the net and hope that the white fly keep off.

What a great day at the allotment.

Weather in Warrington
Tuesday 18° 6° 0 mm	Wednesday 20° 7° 0.4 mm	Thursday 16° 10° 20.4 mm	Friday 15° 9° 10.4 mm

What a great day. We've been at the allotment all afternoon, me and my mate Mango, toiling away in the lovely sunshine. 5pm rolled round before we knew it. 


Tomorrow looks like it might be even warmer so guess where Mango & I shall be?


The new fruit on the tomatoes seem to double every day, but I'm surprised that the actual plants are not that big. Perhaps it's their reaction to having a nice warm home. The outdoor ones are tall and thin.


Consensus of opinion on the cucumbers is that the initial flowers will be male followed by female fruiting flowers. As these are 'Marketmore' I don't need to remove the male flowers.

I went into the woodlands and found some sticks to make a support for the raspberry netting. Then I found a whole dead tree which makes a very nice flagpole for my bunting. Oh what a fun day. I love the Foxtail lillies and so far they've not succumb to the slugs

Mrs Blackbird looks very tired, poor thing, but she's sitting tight on these 4 eggs. Not only is she unfazed by Mango and me banging around the shed but she even eats the biscuits I put on the shelf beside her nest. I sneaked this picture while she was on her comfort break.

Getting Impatient

Weather in Warrington
Monday 17° 8° 0.3 mm	Tuesday 17° 7° 1.5 mm	Wednesday 21° 8° 0.3 mm	Thursday 19° 9° 16.6 mm

Well I'm getting impatient now, I want to eat things other than lettuce and spinach.

The courgettes are making  plenty of little finger sized fruit but can't seem to get any bigger. It's not been for the lack of rain as we've had bucket fulls. Any container left out is inches deep in water the next day. Weeding is much simpler when the ground is soft but I can't help thinking that all the goodness is being washed out. Below average temps since the hot spell at end of May, but today has been lovely and I think well continue with nice warm weather until end of week.

We managed to get the petrol strimmer going today, amazingly, it's been gathering dust in the garage for years and last time we tried it we couldn't get it to work. Terry strimmed all of Sam's weeds and then dug over half of  what had been cleared. I'd love to see his and Georges faces next time they look out there.

Hope it keeps going as there are a few people who will want to borrow it!

Tomatoes 6th June

Tomatoes are coming on well, romping away in the P'tunnel but fighting for space with the borage. The bees are just mad for the borage, especially the bumble bees. I did wonder if it was detrimental to the tomatoes, that the bees might ignore the tomato flower in favor of the borage flower but I can see plenty of fruit starting to set.

I have a selection of Marmande, F1 Incas (plum), Gardeners Delight, another cherry plum & some from unknown saved seed which don't seem so vigorous. Following on are some Cour di Bue and a San Maranzo, and a long way behind some Russia Black Truffle which seem quite primitive by the shape of their leaf. Big and not very serrated. It's a fulltime job to pinch them out and I've missed quite a few that now have double stems.

The Publano peppers are shooting ahead of any that I grew from seed. They have a few tiny flower buds forming. I'll be keeping them inside.

Tomatoes 17th June

The cucumbers are flowering but not much signs of fruit yet. I'm trying to raise their humidity by keeping them in a shallow water bath. Must read up on how to improve the set.

Mrs Blackbird is sitting fast on her 2nd clutch in the shed, I've been leaving her to it but when I do have to go in she seems to be pretty bombproof. 

1st of the strawberries are turning and even saw some colour on a few raspberries today, but it will be a few weeks before we have plenty

Summer suspended

Weather in Warrington
Tuesday 16° 4° 1 mm	Wednesday 16° 8° 1.2 mm	Thursday 18° 9° 2 mm	Friday 16° 9° 10.7 mm

 The only things that are growing with gusto are the weeds. I've spent today weeding the spot between the fruit trees which had 3' high docks and nettles. Now the ground elder is flowing so I know I'm really behind with the weeding. The good news is that all the rain has made the ground so soft that they pull out very easily.
Helen & Alan brought Abi and Olly to visit the allotment yesterday and a great time was had by all.

Tomatoes are coming on well. Both inside and out are showing first signs of fruit setting but they are a long way off eating yet. The cucumbers are quite a bit behind, I've only found one flower so far.
















Outside the courgettes seem to have frozen in time, no further on than my last post over a week ago. Hopefully we'll get some hotter weather and everything will take off again but there are no promises in the forcast.
Potatoes are putting on a bit of top and a few flowers, hopefully they are now soaking up all the rain and making spuds.
Today I sowed some more peas, beetroot, turnips, spinach and the last of my mangetout peas. This has used up the last spot on the main site.
The broad beans seem to have an enormous amount of flowers but no sign of any pods yet.
I'm very disappointed with the drawf French beans that I bought from the Highgrove shop, so far only 2 have come up and the slugs have had a good go a them. The other beans from Lidl are struggling on too.

Mango is my constant allotment companion, I think she loves going there as much as I do.