Hot and Cold

The weather is a bit odd at the moment. The Sun is hot when you are out of the wind but the wind keen. I have a greenhouse full of tender plants waiting for the air temperature to stay up. The lottie quite exposed so is always a degree or so cooler than the surrounding area. The weatherman gave out a frost risk so I thought I would keep the tenders at home for at least another week.

I was absolutely knackered after this week so I chose not to go to the lottie on Saturday. I did the poo run as usual but went we H and Miss L to Tamworth instead . When we got home I went over to Mo's to sort out the Toms. The plants are growing well. The side shoots need trimming out and the plants needs tying back the Tomatoes to the stake. This I did. The Toms are just coming into the their first set of flowers, which will in turn, be the first truss of Tomatoes. I have sixteen Tomoto plants to deal with which took about half an hour. It was quite a pleasant job.

I had a punt a few weeks ago and have been rewarded with ten handsom Blenhiem Orange melons seedlings. I had a chat with Beryl. Mo's missus, and she said that I could use the spare greenhouse for the melons. I just have to get some big pots for the melon seedlings and give the greenhouse glass a good wash.

Sunday was a bit different. I got to bed early and was able to get up early. I had bagged a couple of Asparagus spears when doing the poo run the previous day. H had seen a recipe in the Guardian with Asparagus. Since H was quite keen on the recipe so I made it for breakfast. It is called Gribiche.

The recipe serves four and is:
1 small Gherkin or ten Conchicons chapped finely
1 small finely chopped Shallot
2 tablespoons of caper finely chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped Parsley
A little grated Lemon zest
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Salt and Ground pepper to taste
1 Lightly boiled Egg. It has to be soft boiled

Combine all the other the ingredients in a bowl and set to one side.
Lightly boil one egg, it must still be runny, and prepare the Asparagus, steam or boil.
Plate up the Asparagus with Gribiche and toast on the side. I did all this and all accompanied by hot Tea. H loved it. I liked it.

After breakfast I went of the the lottie for a few hours. I planted a Buddilia in the lottie hedge line. I took a cutting of the Buddilia at the back end of last year and grew it on over the winter. It made a handsom plant which was ready for planting out. That done I finally dug up the Burdock. It went down 18 inches. I managed to get the whole root out. I am not sure what I am going to do with four good sided roots. I reinstated the soil and raked over the whole area to get back to a flat seed bed.

Next up was planting some seeds. I dropped in four rows of White King Parsnips, two rows or Salsify and finally two rows of Carrots; one Nairobi and one of Paris [a globe variety]. I had set my phone alarm for 12.30. By the time the alarm went off I had finished all the above plus watering the Vines, Pea [which are not doing so well], Cabbage and Rhubarb. I had a brew and sandwiches before going off for my two o'clock appoiment. More of which I will tell you when it is sealed.