Winter is not quite finished with us yet. The weathermen got it right this time and as they promised we got a dumped on with snow. There was a strong easterly wind blowing too. It was not that cold but the wind was straight from Siberia. There was about four inches [100mm] of snow outside my door when I got up on Saturday morning. That immediately up paid to my hopes of digging at the lottie over the weekend.
After doing a few jobs around the house I got wrapped up and took a walk through the snowy countryside to the lottie. In my bag I had peanuts, bird seed and a big fat ball. I took some wire with me a made a secure hanger for the fat ball. I topped up the feeders and hung the fat ball. As soon as my back was turned, as I went up to the hive just to check it was fine, the feeders were full of little birds.
The tall hedges at the back of the plot were doing a good job shielding the plot from full force of the easterly wind but it was too cold to linger for long. I saw a set of rabbit tracks in the snow I followed them to see were they went. The little beggar hopped over the fence by the long border. That is supposed to be Rabbit proof. The tracks did not go far so it must have been a fruitless visit for the bunny. That little mystery solved I made my way back home the was I had come. Unfortunately it was straight into the teeth of the wind and snow. I pulled my hat down and my scarf up and trudged homeward. I was in no hurry and stopped here and there, behind hedges and took in the winter wonderland. The clouds were quite high so from the high ground I was able to look out across the landscape now quite changed by the snow cover.
PS The blog has passed another milestone, 400 posts since I began. I have been re-reading some of the posts some of the really old ones. Some of pictures show just how much effort has gone into the plot over the years.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday Lunch
I had a scant three hours for the lottie this weekend. Major brownie point won for completing the decorating of the bathroom on Saturday and we had been invited to Sunday lunch. I am not sure I could have done any work at the lottie on Saturday as it had been raining during the week and the local farmer's fields a waterlogged again. It rained, on and off, all day Saturday too. However I was up early enough the be at the stables for the trailer at 9am Sunday to do the trailer run. I ran the trailer back to the lottie and straight round to the far side of the boundary hedge. There I off loaded the manure. Having been shoveling muck regularly I am getting fitter, at shoveling at least. The trailer's worth of muck was spread along the boundary in quick time. Then I ran the the landy and trailer round the lottie car park.
I was on my own at the lottie. The morning was grey and the skys low. I filled the bird feeders and within minutes the lottie was full of birds. Even the Dunnocks were getting in on the actions. The trench near the top of bed1 where I last being working had a couple of inches of water in the bottom of it. So that was too wet to dig. I had a look round to decide what to do with hour and half and had left to me. I decided to tackle the bottom end of bed4. I figure I did not need to dig this bed over deeply as I just needed to remove the weeds. Most of the weeds were grass and the ubiquitous Dock.The soil was quite wet but not sticky. Weeding near the edge of the bed is tricky because once you get a spade full of soil there is no where for it to go except the hole it came from. That makes removing the weeds a bit difficult given they have just been buried. I worked along edge of the bed and once I had a strip of soil turned over it became a much quicker job. Despite promising myself not to dig to deep I drop into my usual rhythm and ending up digging down one spits depth. Once the bigger clumps of Grass and Docks where removed the soils was fairly clear so I was able to make good headway. In and hour I had a managed to turnover about five feet of the bed. If I can do the same next week and will have a bed for my Onions.
I gave the Asparagus bed a weeding just to remove the few early germinating weeds I had missed when I did the big weeding session in the winter. I also took a looks at the bees. The hive is quiet but the candy is disappearing which is a good sign. The rain had started buy now and it was nearly the end of my allotted time so I packed Degsy and hooked up the trailer and ran it back to the stables. The stable owners were just back from their ride so we had a chat about horse things and fussed the Neddies. Then I just a trundled back home with a little time to spare. A lounge in the bath for half and hour then I was ready for Sunday lunch.
I was on my own at the lottie. The morning was grey and the skys low. I filled the bird feeders and within minutes the lottie was full of birds. Even the Dunnocks were getting in on the actions. The trench near the top of bed1 where I last being working had a couple of inches of water in the bottom of it. So that was too wet to dig. I had a look round to decide what to do with hour and half and had left to me. I decided to tackle the bottom end of bed4. I figure I did not need to dig this bed over deeply as I just needed to remove the weeds. Most of the weeds were grass and the ubiquitous Dock.The soil was quite wet but not sticky. Weeding near the edge of the bed is tricky because once you get a spade full of soil there is no where for it to go except the hole it came from. That makes removing the weeds a bit difficult given they have just been buried. I worked along edge of the bed and once I had a strip of soil turned over it became a much quicker job. Despite promising myself not to dig to deep I drop into my usual rhythm and ending up digging down one spits depth. Once the bigger clumps of Grass and Docks where removed the soils was fairly clear so I was able to make good headway. In and hour I had a managed to turnover about five feet of the bed. If I can do the same next week and will have a bed for my Onions.
I gave the Asparagus bed a weeding just to remove the few early germinating weeds I had missed when I did the big weeding session in the winter. I also took a looks at the bees. The hive is quiet but the candy is disappearing which is a good sign. The rain had started buy now and it was nearly the end of my allotted time so I packed Degsy and hooked up the trailer and ran it back to the stables. The stable owners were just back from their ride so we had a chat about horse things and fussed the Neddies. Then I just a trundled back home with a little time to spare. A lounge in the bath for half and hour then I was ready for Sunday lunch.
Monday, March 04, 2013
Making Life Easy
This weekend has been very busy indeed. There is a definite feeling of spring in the weather. primroses and snowdrops are blossoming in the bottoms of the hedgerows and in the woods. The Hazels have thrown out their tassels and the pussy willow are breaking bud. I did the poo trailer run and mulched another length of the boundary hedge. Another ten loads and I will be done for another year. The bird feeds where bare. a couple of Great Tits where sitting on the fence apparently waiting for me to fill the feeders.As soon as the seed feeder was up and I walked away they were on it. I put up the big peanut feeder, this time round, and that too was mobbed as soon as I turned my back.
I was not on my own on Sunday. The nice weather had brought out a couple of lottie holders. One of them, Roundup, came over from a chat. He told me that the Squirrels had been enjoying the nuts. I did not know we had any Squirrels round the lottie. I had not seen him over the winter so he felt compelled to give me a run down of his new ailments. He got me at the right moment. I was ready to rest my back from the muck flinging in to the boundary hedge.
I had an hour so I started digging where I had left off in Bed1. As I had hoped, progress was much quicker now spuds did not need digging up. The soil just fell of the root of the weeds. This patch did not have crops last year so has quite a lot of grass covering. The grass type in the dreaded Couch Grass. If one does not get all the underground roots it will sprout again from the smallest piece of root. The soil being so friable the job of fettling for the roots was not too onerous. I manged to get another couple of feet of the bed done. I have a little more to do on this bed but I have my eye on the next bed. Bed4 is going to have onions this year. My only piece of black plastic has been covering this bed for a good part of last season so with a bit of luck preparing the bed won't be too difficult.
Note to self...must weed and dig over the flower bed near the bee hive before they get active. Just to make life easy for myself.
I ran the trailer back to the stables and had a chat with the owners whilst leaning on the horses. The "Neddies", as the stable owners call their ponies, were just back from a hack out and were only too happy the stand still and be scratched, the neddies not the owners!
I was not on my own on Sunday. The nice weather had brought out a couple of lottie holders. One of them, Roundup, came over from a chat. He told me that the Squirrels had been enjoying the nuts. I did not know we had any Squirrels round the lottie. I had not seen him over the winter so he felt compelled to give me a run down of his new ailments. He got me at the right moment. I was ready to rest my back from the muck flinging in to the boundary hedge.
I had an hour so I started digging where I had left off in Bed1. As I had hoped, progress was much quicker now spuds did not need digging up. The soil just fell of the root of the weeds. This patch did not have crops last year so has quite a lot of grass covering. The grass type in the dreaded Couch Grass. If one does not get all the underground roots it will sprout again from the smallest piece of root. The soil being so friable the job of fettling for the roots was not too onerous. I manged to get another couple of feet of the bed done. I have a little more to do on this bed but I have my eye on the next bed. Bed4 is going to have onions this year. My only piece of black plastic has been covering this bed for a good part of last season so with a bit of luck preparing the bed won't be too difficult.
Note to self...must weed and dig over the flower bed near the bee hive before they get active. Just to make life easy for myself.
I ran the trailer back to the stables and had a chat with the owners whilst leaning on the horses. The "Neddies", as the stable owners call their ponies, were just back from a hack out and were only too happy the stand still and be scratched, the neddies not the owners!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)