100 - How's That

This posting is a milestone in this blog. It is the one hundredth post. I have had a very busy week at work and the weekend was equally busy.

Friday night I went to my friends birthday party. Happy 40th Phil Busby. Phil and his missus run a Strawberry farm in Chilcote, not far from where we live. He had a live band and our favorite Butcher supplied a "Hog Roast". All set up in the village hall. There was a bar as you might expect but it was free! Whose birthday was it? I was even made to dance. Phil's missus Nicky does not take no for an answer. We went with some other friends and a good time was had by all. Towards the end of the night we sat outside and looked at the stars. The venue was was on the outskirts of a small village so there was little light pollution. There was a chill in the air but a few beers made a good overcoat.

My head was fine on Saturday morning. I went to the lottie with a big list of things to do. I had under estimated the area of bed 3 to dug. I pulled out the remaining Sprouting Broccoli which were now in flower. I let them flower so the bees had some fodder. I set to digging. The rain we had did not penetrate the ground so it was hard digging. I got there in the end. I had to stop a couple of times as showers blew over. Still the ground did not get really wet. I was pleased to finish this plot. My whole lottie has now been dug over. I was wrecked so set the Trangia up for Tea. Whilst I waited for the kettle to boil I checked out the Carrot rows. To my amazement to rows are all furry with carrot seedlings. The Salsify and spring onions are all sprouting too. The Asparagus bed is still on my conscience because it needs weeding but the Asparagus is now two foot tall. I bumped into Steve who was on poo wrangling duties. He told me we have a new taker of the mini-veg plot. I went home for break and to get he forms printed.

It was a drag to get back to the lottie. It was not improved by it starting to rain hard. I managed to plant out the Broad Beans in between the showers. Just as another shower moved in the new chap and his Dad arrived. I read the rules and regs to him. I try to address myself to the child rather than the parent when I do these introductions. I feel the youth has to take responsibility for the plot. I hope I come across with the right amount of gravitas. After all it is their hobby rather than the parents. It is good to see how excited they are by the prospect of veg gardening. The parents show real support whilst allowing the kids to get on with the gardening. I gave him the tour and asked him what he wanted to grow. It was something of a formality since Steve had allowed the youth to adopt a plot and had made a small start on the preparation. It was fine with me. More the merrier. Despite the new chaps obvious excitement which even the rain could not dampen we all called it a day.

I took some Timperly Early Rhubarb home. We were having a different bunch of friends for dinner Saturday evening. The Rhubarb was for pudding. H is getting the hang of stewing Rhubarb. She gets just the right balance of sweet and tart. The Peter's came at the appointed time. As we had a small drink Alan asked if we could see the allotment. I was a little surprised but I did not need asking twice. Miss L and Miss Peter's had other fish to fry so the adult bundled into the car and went to the lottie. I gave them the tour. We discussed the notion of trees to make a statement at he lottie entrance. Alan is into woods and conservation so seemed the right person to ask for advice. The soil was considered as well as the space available. He has requested some time to research an answer. We all went home a tucked into Antipasti, of which I ate to much, and then Lamb kebabs followed by Rhubarb and Greek yogurt. Obviously we had a few drinks. Alan brought a rather nice Tempranillo. Purists might think Tempranillo was the wrong choice to accompany the meal. I am not a purist so it went very well indeed.

I was not so sprightly on Sunday morning. Miss L and H were out for various reasons I had a leisurely breakfast and went off to the lottie, not too early just for a potter. I checked to make sure I was not dreaming about the Carrots - no they are actually sprouting. I raked the soil in bed 4 to prep it for seedlings. Ii put in two rows of Rainbow Chard. I finally plucked up the courage to tackle the weeding of the Asparagus bed. It went OK. The soil is really light in this bed so half an hour of scrabbling about on my knees had the bed cleared. I found a crown that had died so it was pulled out. I planted the new crowns in the empty row and filled in the two spaces with the new crowns. The bed is full now so I think the next thing to do is top dress it with the allotment made compost. The Worm compost is working very well so I think I shall and bucketful in with the top dressing. I need to think about a weed surpressing mulch for this bed.