Things are certainly looking a little better than last year, i have managed to cover some of the weeds now! just got to cover the squash patch with the chicken manure and then cover with cardboard.

Beetroot

Peppers

Courgettes

Gardeners delight

Chillies (in the plastic bags)

Just some of the seedlings growing happily in the greenhouse.

Not quiet sure when these should be transplanted into their growing positions.

Might try a couple of toms in the grow bags this weekend and maybe a courgette or squash in the ground.

Nothing ventured nothing gained! if they don't take I've still time for a few late seeds.......

After the set back of the tide and onion sets, i have done quite a bit! Honest.
Plenty of seeds potted and coming along nicely.
Gardeners delight.
Winter Squash - 2 varieties
Pumpkin
Sweet peppers - Jumbo sweet
Courgettes
Beetroot
Spearmint
Lettuce - mixed leafs and little gems

My early spuds are in and the trenches are dug for the lates.
Eventually made use of all the window frames, a roofless green house!
All four chickens have now left for the pot. and what a beautiful meat it was.
I have let mum have 8 x 10 foot section (plenty of time on her hands now she's retired!) and i've sectioned my squash and pumpkin area off, filled with muck and awaiting covering with cardboard.
Peas and purple sprouting brocklly to do soon and maybe a couple of sweetcorns.

photos soon....

Can you belive it.......
Actually do something usefull (planted onion sets) then the tide comes over and half have been washed away !!!!!!!
At least the hens got to higner ground in time.
With any luck, the water will have subsided by the weekend and i can start again....

Well, i've planted 140 onion sets but thats about it!
Some one has knicked my scaffold planks that i was going to use for the long cold frame, so that idea is on hold.
The 4 table birds are getting extreamly fat, which i suppose is a good thing for me but not for their poor legs!

At last, i've started to get a bit of work done down on the patch.
Little by little i'm digging the land over, i've also managed to insulate the green house. 3 sides have now got an inch thick polystyrene layer with the south facing inside 'wall' having a covering of tinfoil. the roof and ends will be bubble wrapped soon (hopefully this weekend). then its seed time again.
Had a rethink on what i'll plant this year, potatoes, and squashes will take up about half of the plot, then i want to create a long 'cold frame' with 12 removable hinged glass frames, allowing 12 different veg to be grown under each. still deciding on which.

Saturday saw the arrival of four new friends:

5 week old Broilers, saved from slaughter, well for another 8-10 weeks!!!!

Never necked, plucked or cleaned a chicken before, should be interesting - watch this space.

Still no jobs finished (or started) on the allotment yet, looks like they will have to wait till i get back from Cornwall.
Finished the Wedding cake last night. The OH is happy with the result, just a shame about the "little flowers" at the front left, which just fell to a blob...! Never mind, least in know where i went wrong..... 'Not buying one from M&S..!'


Looking forward to Friday and a week down in sunny Cornwall.

I seem to have been very busy lately, yet things still need doing?
I have yet to insulate the green house, make a new mobile hen house, to get the hens clearing the weeds ready for digging.
We have all been out at weekends either walking or biking somewhere. a couple of weekends ago we walked around the Gathurst area along the River Douglas where KK beat his distance record, the walk should have bee around 6 miles, but a few wrong turns and it ended up 9miles, not bad for a 4 year old. We stopped of at the Star Inn, Roby Mill - ealy dinners special - 2 course for £7.95, Fantastic, both quality and quantity. We will be back.

Last weekend i decided that i would make our own wedding cake for the 22nd.
With plent of help from RiverCottage forum it was decided on a traditional fruit cake. this was cooked last weekend and has spent the last 3 days in the freezer. (1 day in the freezer = 1 week maturing, so i've been told).



Saturday i will put the marzipan on and then ice on sunday. Yes i am cheating and are going to use ready rolled of both.





Yesterday i bottled both the Blackberry Whiskey and Elderberry Vodka, which both smelled wonderfull. Lets hope i can keep my hands of the whiskey for atleast a year...!
The Rowan Vodka might end up down the drain as i looks horrible and i descovered i should have frozen the berries first. always next year........

A busy weekend. Fruit picking Saturday with a visit to a local farmers market and of course ending up having tea in a public house!
Sunday, all three of us went on our first family bike ride, KK thought the tag-a-long was brilliant but was worried for mum as it had been 20 years since she last rode a bike and the old proverb "you never forget how to ride a bike" was nearly proved wrong....! A few beers and a light lunch in the pub garden finished of a lovely day.
have now branch out into the fruit liquor market.
Pictured above is blackberry Whiskey (middle) Rowen Vodka (left) and Ellderberry V odka, not sure what they will be like... watch this space in about 18 months time!

I have emptied the green house now of tomatoes, which all have not gone red. lookes like a green tomato chutney in the making...... Just have to make time to clear the rest of the green house ready for the potato bin and a grow bag of rocket.

A quick walk around the back of work i discovered an apple tree. the winds at the weekend had brought most of them down and are now mostly bug food, i have managed to liberate the rest of the tree.

Apple sauce for the freezer..........

Weekend was enjoyable even though the rain and a force 8 gale tried to ruin it...!
Back to the daily grind of work (what a drag) even just having 4 days away makes you forget just how wonderful the trip down the M6 at 6.30am in the morning is!!!!!!!
The carrot bath is starting to show a few little shoots and the winter green cabbage seeds have sprouted. Yet to get a fleece though, must do that soon. i have read that carrots dont always need thinning. now this sounds like my type of growing, throw the seeds in and leave alone.
The hens are still not giving up eggs easily, so i'll have to get them busy clearing the weeds again. The movable hen run is due for an upgrade, wheels on one end and a perch and nest box so i can leave then in over night. just one problem i've no wheels yet........

A quiet weekend down on the land. The hens are laying a few more at the moment, 4-5 a day. Harvested the first squash, ithink i'll turn it into a nice warm soup. well it is getting colder now.....
Roxy had one of her hails ripped out on Saturday, thanks to the dog groomer!! that cost me £29 last night at the vets.
The garage has been in touch and initial thoughts are scrap my car...! thats two things that are costing me, i can't wait for the third...!
A long weekend in north Wales to lookforward to. as long as the weather holds...!

Not quite a shiny bath but hopefully it will be brimming with lovely carrots one row of 'cubic' and two of 'chantenay'. one thing missing is the fleece cover which will go over at the weekend.

I'm going to wait to put the potato tube in the greenhouse, as the 9th September has been given as an exceptionally high tide (10.2m what ever that means) and there is every chance that the allotment will once again be flooded. March this year saw water levels reach 3 foot in the greenhouse, 12" in the chicken house - my hens must be good swimmers!

Lets hope the tide doesnt reach amd my peppers stay where they are in their grow bags.

A good weekend (well they all are when your not working!) friday saw me pick the last sweetcorn. 30 mins between picking and eating. you just dont get any sweeter....

Saturday, weather not brilliant but we had a lovely walk down the Caldon canal.

Sunday and the first pepper was ready.
Yet to eat it but i'm sure it will taste great.
Those big fat pigeons are looking like a great filling for a roasted pepper!


I've read that its possible to grow carrots for a late autum crop.
So the old bath on the allotment has now been transformed into a bright shiny new carrot bed. all the old compost out of the potato bin and the old and a couple of new grow bags have been emptied in ready for sowing as soon as i can find some short variety carrot seed.
With these and a potato tub in the green house (when i get room) i should be able to eat fresh new carrots and potatos for christmas..... Well thats the plan.!

there's something very peacefull yet eerie about the allotment at 6.00 in the morning. the mist rising around the edges, you could be miles from anywhere!

the cock's crowing breaks the silence every now and again, when one starts the others join in trying thier best to crow louder and longer than the first.

its just a shame i have to join the rat race and fight my way down the motorway to work..!