Day after the rain

It was nice coming to the Allotment today, the night before it rained and rained, so much so one of our empty rain butts was 3/4 full. 

Makes a change from having to carry water down to our plot. Luckily I have been given an Aquaroll, usually used for camping, but so useful as it holds 29 Ltrs (about 5 watering cans full).

We did quite a bit of harvesting today, I have done another end of month video, so you can see what I did today. 

But one of the jobs to do was to pick all the Redcurrants, as you can see they are ready & they will make plenty of Redcurrant Jelly. But can you guess how many we picked? Check out the video for the answer. 

So after an evening of constant rain, our day today was cut short by a thunder storm & yet more rain, I don't mind as it has been so dry for weeks and despite me carrying water down every evening I could only give a few plants, the most needy, the precious water. So was glad for some proper rain.

I will be away on holiday next week, so no Blog, will resume soon.

Thanks for reading & viewing. Ian 

Allotment Open Day today

Today our Allotment site was open to the public, a great family day out and the people did come, the weather was perfect, not too sunny but warm and only a light breeze.

We have been weeding and tidying our plot for a few weeks now in readiness for the visitors, we estimate well over 50 did visit our plot and we had lots of positive comments, our Chickens were very popular with the children and adults too.

The playing field adjacent to our site was used too, large marquees were erected and produce, jam, cakes, bric-a-brac & books were on sale, there were lots of other stalls even the RSPB had a display. I shot a short video for you to watch, click the link below to view.

So after all the visitors had gone we did a spot of harvesting, as you can see here. We also picked rather alot of Broad Beans, not in this shot.

But later on, we had to return to water, as the rain barrels have run dry and the well too, I have to carry water, luckily I have an Aquaroll that holds 29 Ltrs, we manage to water all the thirsty plants such as Peas, Beans, Courgettes and the Tomatoes & Peppers in the greenhouse.

So it's been a lovely day, have thoroughly enjoyed it, talking to lots of people about growing Veg & keeping Chickens, I hope I have inspired some and one day will grow their own Veg or keep Chickens.

Don't forget to watch the short video below. 

Thanks for Reading or Viewing. Ian

Another very hot day on the Plot

Sister of Worzel. 
Sadly Worzel Junior's clothes had faded & were full of flies! So I had to give him/her new clothes, so decided to make a Mrs scarecrow this time.

So here is Wendy Worzel guarding our crops :)

Next week our Allotment site is having a family fun open day, so we have been tidying up the plot as lots of visitors are expected.

As usual we took the Chickens to the plot, they love their Sunday outing. 
All they do is scratch about the fruit cage, nicking the odd Raspberry or Blackcurrant! But we don't mind there are plenty to pick.
 Our Chickens will be on show next week at the Open Day so they had better be on their best behaviour. 

They love it so much down the Allotment and are happy to be there, again one laid an egg among the Raspberry canes this shows they trust the fruit cage to be safe. 

We hardly hear any noises from them they are so busy searching for bugs etc.

So as I said another hot day, a bit of a breeze though, but the weather forecast said it would stay dry for a while yet.

 Sadly the rain barrels have run dry, the well is very low too, so today as we were in the car (chicken transport) we also took 24 Ltrs of water (in 12 x 2Ltr bottles) just to water the important crops & to give the Chickens a drink!

So the most important jobs to do today: Finish the new path between raised beds, weeding & harvesting. As you can see here we did get a lot today: Broad Beans, Charlotte Potatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Mint, Raspberries, Strawberries, Loganberries, 2 Gooseberries & an EGG! Lots of Sweet Pea flowers too :)

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Hottest day of the year so far!

On the hottest day so far, we decided to do a bit of weeding, planting, burning & harvesting. 

Here you can see the first of the Tomatoes in the Greenhouse, it's only the size of a marble at the moment but will certainly get bigger & redder soon.

The Courgettes that we planted along the base of the Runner bean netting are looking healthy, they must have loved the manure I dug into the soil there. 
This one is the Round type, have grown them for a few years now.

As per usual we brought the Chickens with us today, it's important on hot days that Hens have some shade as they cant sweat, here you can see Flo enjoying scratching around the fruit cage, where there is plenty of shade under the fruit bushes. They left us a present too, watch the video and see.

I forgot to look at the thermometer in the Greenhouse, so not sure what temp it got up to, but we managed to put up a large patio type umbrella to give us some shade. Despite taking lots of cold drinks & a flask of Coffee, we got very thirsty over the 5 hours. But as you can see from the video we did get lots done!

Thanks for reading, returning and viewing. Ian