Spring Bits and Bobs.

[oldherbaceous]

Well done Geoff…..not as early as yours but, had our first Charlotte potatoes last night, and you definitely can’t buy that taste!
Very hot here already….went over at 5 am and watered all the newly planted stuff!

[retropants]

I managed to get some more dark red bidens from the plant guy at Chesham local produce market yesterday. I was selling there too. It was scorching, I had a cold box not only for my lunch, but also for the hand creams, which I kept switching out the display ones so they didn’t melt in the heat.

[Westi]

Warm one today! I did start with good intent at home to dig & clear the little front garden to seed but like lottie it was rock hard & I lost interest in the heat as well. I just hoping I watered everything enough on Saturday to get through them through to Tuesday; it seemed loads to me but it was certainly very hot at home. Oh well will know Tuesday!
I had a mooch around my 1st earlies when I was down on Saturday but the few I found were too small. I will sacrifice one when down as I'm sure they should be bigger as been in quite a while but I was time limited to catch the bus. Finger crossed!

[oldherbaceous]

Puff, puff, puff, a scorcher today and they are saying tomorrow might even be a touch hotter! I’ve taken everything out of the greenhouse, apart from the tomatoes and peppers….

[Clive.]

Meanwhile I see that Wednesday is billed as 15 or 16C...so half todays 32C...

Quite a few more painted lady butterflies about today and sighted a humming bird hawk moth yesterday morning early whilst I was trimming back some catmint from across a path side.

C.

[Clive.]

Forgot to say I have been passing a field of Phacelia on the way to work...my work colleague said today...have you seen that field now.?

Crimson clover has come in to flower below the Phacelia....it looks amazing.

C.

[retropants]

OH, I even had to take the tomatoes out of the greenhouse today, as they were wilting. I need to plant them out, but it’s too hot for that sort of nonsense. Cucumbers and other small plants are coming out of the gh each day until I can put them in their final positions. I need it to cool down a bit before I attempt that!

[Westi]

I think I will need to do a significant water when I go down tomorrow as I seriously doubt even the abundant water I did before leaving on Saturday would have lasted long if the temp down there was anything like home today. Luckily I had the dripper on in the tunnel so the precious plants in there would have got some water. I won't mind watering either as at least I can also keep myself cool with a quick spray.

No real plan for tomorrow but I would like to get the runner frames up. It has been a pointless exercise to date trying to secure them in the hard soil, but the new Hori knife is in the bag so if anything is going to create a hole it will, as has a serrated edge on one side now as well as the smooth side, so kinda a 2 pronged attack. I would also think the successful sow of the Lithuanian baby toms will have popped up enough to be planted on to a bigger pot so enough things to do.

Factor 50 will be on in abundance though for sure!

[Clive.]

I hadn't had a moment to have a look over at the back field... Had a look over just now and it looks to be maize that is coming through. About 2ft between rows and variable, maybe 6 to 10 inches along the rows...I'm assuming for bio digester use..

Meanwhile, after tea and sorting some washing...I looked out West and there's quite a thundery build...so rushed out with hoe and rake and sprinkled the several packets of Salvia horminium 'Bouquet mix' onto the ex dahlia patch and got it raked in ready for a little drop of rain.....

C.

[oldherbaceous]

Maize it is then Clive.
Looks like we are going to miss the storms and rain, again…..

[Clive.]

We have a saying locally...If the Fens don't take it and Keal Hill don't split it then we get it...

Looking out now and online radar map it looks like the Fens are going to take it...the thundery edge of grey is above us now and certainly don't want anything swilling..but a few spots to damp the raked 'dust' would help...

....and gooseberries.!!...usually my Invicta are too tart for the wood pigeons...not this year...all gone..!! They like Radeo peas too....

C.

[Westi]

Well warm on the plot even at the silly o'clock I go down. Went up & down & gave everything 3 waters as soil still rock hard & dry but when I went around before leaving the beds looked like they had not been touched. Might be no rain on the horizon but fortunately the temp is dropping after the weekend so my watering might have a better impact & I can sort the watercress beds & set the drippers up.

Got the sweetcorn in & protected & finished weeding the asparagus beds. Did a little tickle under the 1st early spuds to check but still too small to take. Not a chance of getting the runner canes up. The Hori knife worked well & I got some holes dug but not deep enough to secure the canes so just filled up the holes I made with water in the hope a few drenchings might help. One great surprise was the strawberries have gone crazy, mega huge & juicy!

[Geoff]

Had a bit of difficulty re-filing my empty pots as I planted things out recently. A Robin has nested in the grey multi-tray in the middle of the picture, nicely snuggled down in one cell. When I first found them there it was at a precarious angle only stopped from falling off the shelf by being tilted enough to catch the shelf above but when I found them off the nest I gradually adjusted it to its present stable state. Nothing was sitting this evening when I went down to do the watering so I looked in and found they have hatched, there were only four eggs but couldn't tell how many have hatched.
You probably all know about it but we have recently been having fun with an app (not like us) called Merlin that identifies birdsong, we can sit on the bench on the edge of our woody bit and regularly identify 12 birds in 10 minutes.

IMG_5147.JPG (3.16 MiB) Viewed 283 times

[Clive.]

My old fangle phone won't take apps.....but a couple of my colleagues have the merlin app and it has alerted us to some subsequent special sightings. Tendancy is not to entirely trust it...until you get to see the bird. Such was the case with a Firecrest last year



C.