Beauty and the beast

The beast does produce a nice flower though.

Friday Pictures

My favourite time on our site is early morning. I am probably a boring old fxxt but love to have the place to myself for a while. These are a few random pictures taken today.

Dahlias

We have been really pleased with the Dahlias this year. We just really let them fend for themselves. The tubers are never dug up so stay in the ground over winter and I just give them a bit of liquid tomato feed every ten days or so. We are going to try adding some different colours next year.

Bean Feast

I went to the plot today to pick a few runner beans for tea. Each time that I thought I had picked them all I found more hiding. We have decided to make chutney with them.

The old roller we found under all the undergrowth when we cleared the plot four years ago. Once upon a time it was some body's pride and joy.

Love them or hate them

Whether you love them or hate them you can't deny how stunning a healthy fox looks.

A wise head on young shoulders

I did not feel to well at the weekend so had to make quite an effort to go to the allotment. We intended to stay a short while just to tidy up a bit but ended up staying three hours.

We managed to harvest a fair bit as you can see in the picture. The jar is plum jam which our neighbour Ann kindly gave us from plums which we gave her last week. This is the second jar she has given us, the first one was really good.

Another of our new plotholders had made a sign for every plot showing the number and the name or names of the people working it. I think this is a great idea as I am useless at remembering names, so it is really good and helps to build a community spirit.

My grandson Rhys plays for his football team Langley Hawks ( a link to their website is on the side) he is seven and last season did really well in their league. He is really very good but also likes to play in goal so last week he went on a goalkeepers training course at Crystal Palace.

I used to play in goal when I was young so decided to pass on some of my "vast" knowledge of how to do it to him.

I asked him what was the most important thing about playing in goal , good positioning, eyes on the ball, concentration etc.

His reply was " the most important thing is to have fun"


I shall never get stressed over a weed or slug again but try to have fun.

Saturday Brunch

After all the rotten weather of late we took advantage of a beautiful day yesterday. The foxes turned up and were just lying in the shade among the trees.

We spent a lazy few hours just pottering and harvested, carrots,runner beans,beetroot,chard,turnips,courgettes and swede.

We used one of the courgettes straight from the plot and Barbara cooked us brunch. There is nothing quite like eating vegetables you have grown yourself.

So far we have made, beetroot chutney, courgette chutney and plum jam. Next to make is piccalilli.