Ready for the holidays?

H and I are off on holiday at the weekend so it has been something of a trial to get the lottie ready to left alone for a fortnight. It is the same each year. Busy at work preparing things to continue whilst I am away and busy at the lottie ensuring that I don't come back to a weedy jungle. The main problem has been the weather. When it was raining steadily you knew where you were. But recently the weather has changed to heavy showers. Unfortunately is seems to shower on me as I get to the lottie.

Last week was relatively dry. Friday night stayed dry as did most of the day. Unfortunately I had to go to see my in-laws in Chapel en le Frith to organise their website and email. They have finally got consent to let their apartment in Croatia. Click here to open their website. That took up most of Saturday althought we were treated to a lovely lunch. I was determined to get to the lotttie on Sunday to do weeding, clear out poorly plants, harvest some veg and plant out the seedlings from the greenhouse. H joined me at the lottie to help. H turned up about 11am having dropped the daughter in town. I put the two seater bench on the community patio and took a few minutes for a brew from the flask H brought with her. She is a gem. We drank tea and looked across the plots for ten minutes then back to work. Whilst weeding on our hands and knees we spotted lots of tiny toads. About the size of your little finger's nail. Brownish red things.

The snake has not been seen for a while. Perhaps he has found another home!

By 1.30pm the plot was looking ship shape and the back of the car was full of potatoes [Ulster Prince], cabbage [Hispi], Calebrase and spring onions [Lisbon]. I took my lottie buddy Steve up on the offer of PYO red currants. They went very well with the Strawberries, Raspberries and Blackcurrants from the fruit bushes at home together with some Greek yogurt and dribble of honey. When we got home we had bacon butties for lunch and then went for a stiff walk as part of our training for the walking holiday.

Over the weekend other items were checked and fettled such as:
The Parma style ham that I am getting ready for Christmas had its second dressing. It is looking good. It is getting darker in colour by degrees and lighter in weight as the moisture is drawn out. The one that is ready and hung up in the shed is slowly disappearing, shaving by shaving. The thinner it is cut the better it seems to be.

The worms in the wormery have settled down at last. They kept try to escape. Have you ever tried rounding up dozens of wiggly worms that are making a bid for freedom in all directions? It ticklish business trying round them up without damaging them and persuade them to remain in their new home. They seem to have come to terms with their new home and look busy. I can not ell how many worms are left but they are supposed to be prolific breeders so I hope to have happy colony before the winter sets in.

The Tomatoes in the greenhouse have really started growing. Some fruits have set on the Shirley's. The Beef tomatoes are in flower. If the plant is anything to go by the fruit will be enormous. The Cucumbers are growing as well. There are flowers as well as leaves but they just don't look really vigorous. I will have to investigate cucumber husbandry over the winter ready for next year. We seem to have cornered the market in massive frogs. The only trouble is they seem to be match by the size of the slugs. I have been tripping over the buggers. The salt and pellet patrol will have to be re-established.

The sparrow have discovered the blackcurrants so we have harvested all the ripe currents and are going to make them into jam or cassis. We won't have time to eat them all before our holidays so I will turn them into something that will keep.

I was at the lottie last night to check on the seedling I put in over the weekend. I had a fright as I walked passed the spuds. A Partridge shot out the rows straight past me. Unfortunately for him he crashed straight into the netting that is supposed to keep them out. At the second time of shooing the bird spotted the open gate and flapped off into the distance just short of a few feathers for his troubles. I have been blaming beetles for the nibbles taken out of the brasiccas leaves but it might have been Partridge all the while.

Dare we speak Summers name?

The rain seems to be easing off. There are still heavy down pours but they are very localised. Any persistent rain is relatively light compared with what we have had this past two or three weeks. The forecast is for the weather to abate by mid July The First early potatoes "Ulster Price" are performing very well. I started harvesting them, two or three plants at a time, about two weeks ago. Day by day the spuds get bigger giving a bigger crop. They are very tasty. I think I will have them again. The second earlies, "Charlotte" are in flower. A very pretty purple with a white centre. I go on holiday on the 14th July and I am undecided weather to harvest the Charlottes before I go or to leave them in until I return. The Ulsters will be gone by the end of next week so I hope to have prepared the soil and sowed some green manure before I go away.

I have had a few Hispi cabbage which are very nice. The spinach has boltted though which is a disappointment. I have more in the green house to out in the next few days. Finally I have carrots! They seems to be doing quite well. So it would seem that all I have to do in future is keep them really, really wet and warm. The second lot of young french bean have taken a beating. They have another week to show signs of recovery or they will be assigned to the compost heap and others planted in their place. The Swede planted in cells started really well and have established themselves outdoors.

We are eating the air dried Ham. I feel like leaving it a little longer as the drier it gets the finer it can be cut and more delicious it is. I have another one started, perhaps a month old and has just had it's second application of cure.