Spring Time is Here

   The garden is coming out of winter's grip. There is a fresh green of the leaf break on the Raspberry canes and the Blackcurrant bushes. The Apples and Pears are a bit slower. The willow screening is flushing despite my savaging during the winter. The tree we took out has opened a lot of light into the garden and with it has come the birds. The open space has encouraged the usual candidates, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Pigeon, Wren and Robin but we are also seeing Thrush, Blackbird, Starlings, Gold Finch, Bullfinch and very concessionally Long Tailed Tits. A fairly regular sight is the Sparrow Hawk flashing across the hedges. The pigeon is the usual menu item - plump and slow.

   I am back in the pond quandary. It needs cleaning and maintenance but all kinds of miniature wild life over winter in the pond, then the Frogs, Toads and Newt get busy in the spring, then the Iris flowers. When do I get savage back the Iris without damaging everything else? It is a puzzle. No such dilemma with the Ivy. It going rampant again so time for Man versus Ivy. It will be back in flower for the bees in the late autumn.

  Jobs to do .... sow some flower seeds in the greenhouse. But first shift all the beekeeping equipment out of the way.


 

In a quandary

   I could put it off no longer. The weather is dry and has been for most of the week. She who must be obeyed and daugter had gone shopping. I had no excuses left. I went to the lottie with one goal which was to dig up the potatoes. In preparing the soil for the spuds I cleaned it of weeds. Whilst the spuds were growing they created and effective cover that no weeds could grow save the creeping thistle. It grows from a rhizome under the soil rather than a seed so not much cab stop it except constant weeding in order to weaken the rhizome. The outcome was that now the haulms of the spuds have died back the bed is clean of weeds so I need only dig the spuds up and not combine it with a weeding exercise.

   I started at the end of a row and carefully put the fork under were I thought the spuds would be. I was not far off. The trouble was that the soil was so light [thanks to all the manure and work over the years] the fork tines just slipped through the soil hardly disturbing the soil. I change over to the spade. That made a better job. Soil and spuds moved. The spuds came up quite clean as the soil was dry. I left them in the sun for a while as I harvested the row. The sun dried the potato skins and soil alike. The soil just fell off the spuds when I shook them in the tray. At the end of a row I collected the spuds. They filled one of the two trays I had brought with me. The spuds were a good size. Most of them were larger than tennis balls. Some showed signs that they had bulked up a second time probably after a period of rain. I set off on a second row. That too yielded a full tray of spuds. I only had the two trays so that was the end to the harvesting for today.

  I worked along the row. The air was warm but there were no flies to bother me. There were lots of birds squabbling in the hedgerow and high overhead a Buzzard was calling. It was all very pleasant. Since it only took me an hour and half to harvest the two rows I set about weeding the paths by the area I harvested. I hindsight it might have been better to weed the paths before harvest to make access that bit easier. The paths gave up a fully wheelbarrow load of assorted weeds. I dumped these wees onto the new compost pile. The pile had dropped a good few inches since last week which mean s the compost process has begun. I tramped the new load of weeds in the bin. I checked the adjacent compost bin. No snakes to be seen but there were lots of sloughed off skins. I am in a quandary, empty the compost bin or leave it for the snakes.  

   I was encouraged by the potato harvest so next visit more spud digging. 

Chats and trailers

  I had a meeting arranged for Saturday morning but it fell through so I had a few hours free before needing to head off to a birthday party in Berkhamstead for an old friend. I made a call and arranged to do the trailer run. I had a chat with horse owners about the horses shedding their coats. The horses think summer is coming because they are shedding their winter coats. I should have picked a handful up for the bird table. The birds would use the hair for their nests.

   The trailer was emptied into the boundary hedge again. A couple more loads and the boundary is done. Next a whizzed round to the plots and backed the trailer up the poo pile. I part filled the the trailer with lovely aged manure. That is going back to my house the go on the front garden. Then the ritual of filling the bird feeders and checking the bees. No good news on the bee front. Click HERE for the blog on the bee bother. I figured I did not have enough time for digging but I had time for planting however foolish that might turn out to be. The bottom of Bed 2 had been weeded and dig over a few weeks ago. The soil has settled a little. I marked out six rows about a foot [300mm] apart then dibbed a hole about every eight inches [200mm]. Into the hole went one Sturon Onion set. When all the holes were filled I lightly raked the bed and dowsed the are with a couple of watering cans worth of water. The areas was thoroughly soaked which is just all well since their has been no rain to speak of since the snows melted. The crops in the fields around the locale are looking very poorly. The price of Oil Seed Rape is likely to rise once the meagre harvest is weighed and what are my bees to forage upon if there is no OSR?  

   I had a chat with my lottie neighbour who had brought along his lad to help or was that hinder him in building his new raised beds. I left them too it and went home with the trailer part filled with very well aged manure. I got the trailer as close as I could to the front garden i.e.on the pavement and spread the muck out from the trailer. I few plant got a biffing with lumps of manure landing on them. Nothing broken luckily so once the manure was lifted off the plants they look like they will be no worse off for the accidental burying. The manure will act a mulch. The front garden is in full sun and is already looking parched. The surface of the soil is dust. Hopefully hundreds of worms that came with the manure will help the soil out by incorporating the manure for me.  

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!

Who's Idea Was That?!?

  What a vile day. The rain is relentless. It is not quite cold enough to sleet so the rain is cold and blown on a bitter wind. No allotmenting for today you would think. The manure trailer needs collecting and emptying. Horses don't stop pooping because the weather is rubbish in fact they produce more as they eat more to stay warm. I trundled of in Degsy, window wiper doing their best to keep up with the rain and water thrown up from the deep puddles. When I got to the stables the ponies where standing in the stable block keeping out of the rain. I put them in their loose boxes before opening all the gates to get a trailer hooked up and pulled out into the car park. I secured the gates and let the ponies out. They stayed put. They obviously did not fancy being outside today.

   I trundled up the the lottie. The trailer was made extra heavy by all the water soaked up in the muck. I had been thinking of what to do with the hedge that borders my plot. The hedge is the border tot he allotment site so keeping it growing and full serves several purposes; shelter from the wind, habitat for the birds and beasties and security/privacy for the plot. The Willow we felled last year have grown back from the stool. In coppicing parlance the stool is top of the stump from which the new growth springs. The stools have thrown out dozens of new sprouting leaders. Each one has made 10 feet [3m] of growth. It is impressive in less than a year. The Willow obviously enjoyed the wet conditions during the summer of 2012. I drove Degsy round to the access path on the outside of the hedge boundary. There I dropped the tailgate on the trailer and shovelled the manure onto the base of the hedge. The soil in which the boundary hedge grows is utter rubbish. When the allottments were laid out a good job was made of the fencing and planting of the perimeter however nothing was done to improve the soil into which the hedge was planted. The "soil" was just blue clay from the landscaping of the ex-coal mine the allotment sit on. Over years I have put a mulch of manure under the boundary hedge. Ten years on the hedge is pretty well filled out and has many stout bushes and small trees. The hedge is mainly Hazel, Hawthorne, Willow [who's idea was that?!?], Dog Rose and Field Maple. This called an English mix. The Hazel tassels are out and the Hawthorne is beginning to bud. It was hot work shovelling the heavy wet manure and being dressed up to keep the rain out. H calls it "boil in the bag" work. A trailer load of muck does not go far on the hedge. 

  I skipped through the hedge with seeds to fill the bird feeder. I checked in on the bees. Although there was no movement I could feel the heat and smell the bees when I took the roof off. I saw that they had been at the candy. So room for cautious optimism that the bees have weathered the winter so far.        

New Year's Eve

   So the year turns again. It is still raining. I went over to see the bees and check they were okay. They were. A gale of wind is blowing from the South West. It is just getting round the hedge so the Hives are in a drafty spot for the moment. At least the flood waters have subsided. There was no damage to the hives during the floods. One of the door blocks had been displaced so I put it back in place and wedged it there with a couple of pieces of stick. When looking in the front door I can see a few dead bees and in one hive there are lots of capping on the floor. That means they are tucking into their stores. Time for candy I think.

   I got out my hip flask which is full of last years Sloe Gin and splashed a little on each hive and wished the Bees health for the coming year. If you can wassail apples trees I am sure you can "wassail" bee hives I had a wander round the meadow which is sodden after the recent flooding. The grass cover has held the soil together. Some of the plough fields I can see from the meadow have not fared so well. The only sign of life, besides the surging Mease, was a Sparrow Hark that flew down the length of the hedge at knee height then dart through the hedge and was gone.

The hives are in the far left of picture. The River Mease is still roaming across the fields

   It is a desolate time of year in the countryside especially with a gale blowing and biting rain showers in the wind. Finding all secure I trundled back across the fields and went over to the lottie. More desolation. I put up a couple of bird feeders although I did see more than a few crows being tossed across the sky. The soil was too wet to dig so I had a close look at the hedges and the trees in the hedge. I have selected the ones that are coming out. They are shading out areas of my plot. The bees at the lottie are not moving but the signs are that they are fine. I fixed my gate. The wind had given it a beating and a couple of battens needed refixing. I wassailed the lottie and the bees. It is a good deal more sheltered at the lottie but it was still dark considering it was two o'clock in the afternoon.

   I did a little job for one of the plot holders before I packed up and went home for a spot of lunch.

So as traditional at this time of year, I wish you all a Happy New Year for 2013.

A well deserved shower

I had a look in the shed to check on the seed potatoes. They are long over due being planted. The second earlies are really leggy the main crop less so. I did not have anything to do on Wednesday evening and the evenings are light until past 9pm. H decided to come with me. H set herself up at the top of the lottie on a deckchair with her book. I had the floor, roof and brood box of a hive with me. I placed them on the stand at the top of the lottie.

I had dug over Bed1 and it was ready for planting. I got the plank I use as a straight edge and plonked it down across the bed. I used it as a guide to dig a trench. It took two passes to dig it deep enough. As I dug it down I met the layer of horse muck I had introduced whilst weeding.  So the plan worked. I had to pick the individual seed potatoes from the tray making sure I did not break off the sprouting haulm. It made the job a bit slower to complete as I also had to be careful when back filling the trench. I dug each trench in turn, placed in the seed spuds and back filled the row. It was very hot work but the soil was so light that five rows took a little over an hour and half to complete the job.

It was really good to be out in the gathering gloom. H pointed out the Sun. As it dipped to the horizon it was a fiery ball.  There were lots of birds about all making the best of the warm weather. The lottie's Robin is looking a bit scruffy. Times must be hard for him. We saw the Lapwings, Buzzard, Kestrel as well as lots of the small birds. We heard but did not see the Cuckoos and the Woodpeckers.''

I still had some time so went up to the top of Bed2 which is where the Bees are to live. I had weeded an small area round the hive on my last visit. I decided to clear the remainder of the area round the hive. It was a bit tricky because of the wire fence I had put in the way but whose job was to support Sweet Pea. This small area ten feet long by four foot filled a wheelbarrow to the brim and bit more besides.

The grape vines have started to break bud which is not before time. The Asparagus has started to sprout but bit in a random pattern. I think I am going to cut my losses with the Asparagus and use the bed for something more productive. I cut what was there for supper. H spotted that the Gooseberries where doing well. It is odd how plants some plants will do well despite the weather. As a parting shot I ran the hoe over the early potato rows that had sprouted just to knock back the chickweed which make another bid. By the time I had finished I was soaked in sweat so much so my clothes had darken where the sweat had soaked through on my back, chest and legs. It was not just because I had been working but because was so warm. No chance of dropping in at the Railway for a cheeky pint in that state. We trundled home in Degsy for a well deserved shower and a brew.

Plot visitors

Something has been upsetting the bird feeders. Each time I have come across the feeder screwed to one of the posts has been cocked eyed and empty. When I pitched up today something was sitting in the feeder. I could not see what it was. I was I got closer I saw it was a Grey Squirrel quietly munching on breakfast. The Squirrel is probably responsible for the broken feeder I found the other day.

Yesterday a Sparrowhawk tore across the plots. Given all the small birds around the plot I was wondering when he would turn up. The Kestrels have been seen floating on the breeze. In the background is the sounds of Buzzards calling and wheeling high in the sky. Although I have not seen them, two different people have reported seeing the Grass Snakes.

The Robins have been flitting into the plot as soon as I step away from my disturbing the soil. I quite like seeing the Yellowhammers. They fly along then fall to the ground as if they have been shot. Whilst I have not seen any of the Cuckoos they have been singing everyday. Some seem quite close. The Swallows and Swifts have arrived. It is nice to see them whirling about. The trees are in leaf so it is hard to see the birds but they flit about the feeders so I get fleeting glimpses of them. I have not seen a Blackbird for a while. Not such a bad thing since they dig up my plot in search of worms.

I have also seen a couple of solitary Lapwings flapping across the sky. When looking across the pond Steve and I saw a wader picking its way along the margin. Steve said later that it was a common sandpiper. Not so common round here. The pond on the adjasent to the lottie has been pulling in water fowl. Nothing out of the ordinary, Mallard and Swans. It is a small pond for Swans.

What I have not seen is Toads or Frogs. The winter must have done for them.

Budgies at the lottie?

It did not rain overnight and I woke up to sun shining through thick mist which made a bit surreal. I was out fairly early to do the trailer run by the time the I was back at the lottie the sun had burned off the mist. Dave P and Haz were at the lottie whilst I emptied the trailer but had left by the time I got back. I had the place to myself for ages. Today objective was to clear Bed1 of all plants and dig it over. I cut down the remaining Brussels Sprouts and after trimming I put them in the back of Degsy. The Sprouting Broccoli was a bit different. Something has been eating them over the winter so despite all my husbandry there is not a sprout to be had. That is disappointing because sprouting broccoli is £2 a tray in the shops. I dug up the plants and having knocked the dirt off the root I put the by the compo bin. Then it was just a matter the turning over the soil. It was quite compacted since the Broccoli has been in for nine months. The good thing about broccoli is that it keeps the weeds down so there was hardly any Dock to be found and what was growing was small. It took a good hour of effort to turn the soil over. I broke up the rough clods of soil with the back of the fork then sweeping the fork back and forth brought the soils surface to a fine tilth.

I had a walk round the other beds and spot weeded. It was mostly Dock. They were small since they were just sprout from broken roots from previously dug Docks. I had a bit of Lime left so a flung it across bed2 having first checked which way the wind was blowing. I have a huge piece of black plastic which had been covering part of Bed1. To dig bed1 I had to move it. Having spread the lime on bed2 I spread out the plastic and weighed it down. I hope the plastic will heat up the soil and give a good start to the brassicas that will be planted out in a few weeks.

I had some spare Shallots and a bagful of red onion sets. I did not mark the Shallot row last week. I knew roughly were the row was. I scuffled the soil with my fingers and found one of the planted Shallots. In a week it had sprouted an inch of root. Having found the previous row I marked up the new row and set about planting the new Shallots. Then I marked rows for the red onion. I put in 30 shallot and 60 red onion.

The final job has been outstanding all winter. The bird netting has taken a beating through the winter. I managed to find some green polythene twine and with it I repaired the broken mesh. It was not all work today. I had a couple of brew thanks to the Trangia. To sup my brew in comfort I got out the folding chair. I set it up on the path my by the lottie gate so that I could have the sun on my back and watch the bird to my front. There were all the usual suspects, tits - blue, great and long tailed along with blackbird, bullfinch, dunnock and pied wagtails. But today there was a newcomer, a yellow and brown speckled bird a bigger than a finch but smaller than a Blackbird. It really stood out in the sunshine for all the world looking like a budgerigar. Steve told me that it was a Yellowhammer. It was pleasant siting in the sunshine sipping my brew and watching the little birds whilst in the fields roundabout where flocks of pigeon and various corvids; crow, rook and magpie over flown by Kestrel and Buzzard. Whilst sitting there a pair of Mallard shot low overhead. The things you see when you have not got your gun!

I chopped up the broccoli that Steve did not take for the chooks and filled the compo bin. I found a couple of plastic bags and filled them with weeds I had dug up this and last week. There was a lot of soil left behind on the slabs so I dropped the soil through the sieve just to get all the broken bit of weed out. The recovered soil went on the Rhubarb bed. Speaking of Rhubarb the Victoria has broken the surface on the muck pile it has been living under. I filled my green bucket with muck and put it the back of Debsy together with all the tools and trundled home happy in a good days work. The whole of the lottie is dug over bar one third of bed4 and I shall deal with that next week.