Kitchen Garden Forum

I'm hoping we will at least see the Red Arrows when the Bournemouth Air Show is on this year, but I will have to wait until the August bank holiday. They used to finish their display & head over the allotments as they turned back to the airport from over the IOW, but the last 2 yrs they go North & turn back to the airport from there. Still see the odd smaller planes though.

Lovely sunny day down here & got the runner frames up but found a lot of my hazel poles had this yellow fungi on them & they were hollow in those bits, so just for little plant stakes now & the frames finished with anything I could find, so not pretty but they will be covered in no time. Planted up the Chinese bed & netted them, got the cucumbers planted & planted up the Calabrese which are a bit small but several true leaves. That should have allowed me time to do other things but the dog was a bit tired & napped on the edge of the plastic mesh I covered over the broccoli. She pulled it tight & the mesh got torn on the stakes so then spent the rest of my time joining up the holes with little bits of that green plastic coated wire. Hmm? Always the dog....!

Up and down…..

Really excited that it’s all but light in the mornings now, when I get up!

2021, only heard the Cuckoo a few times in Milton woods,
2022, only heard the Cuckoo in the far distance, in the Abbey grounds,
2023, haven’t heard it at all yet….and that will be a a very sad first.

I wish our dear Shallot Man would put a post on, just to let us know he is okay!

Would it be too intrusive for an admin to send him an email? It's only that we care about him. Not trying to sell him anything.

No cuckoo heard for some years here....but I did see first swift whilst gazing up at the Typhoon aeroplanes the other day.

C.

Thought I heard a cuckoo yesterday, is this the time of year to hear them?

If so first I have heard this century.

Morning Autumn has gone, we have dry and sunshine, will it last? I'll get some seeds sown today just in case, roots to be sown and plants to be planted, gottagetamoveon.......................

We are in for a very showery week….the weed seedlings are certainly enjoying it….

how many times do I need to sow carrots before any actually come up?!!! I'm going to try pack no. 3 this week. I've waited a month for each sowing to appear, but nothing at all.
Little gems are looking good, but nervous about putting them in the ground, we have a lot of slugs and snails. Peppers are going well in the greenhouse, they are ready to move to bigger pots or ground. As it's not warm enough yet, I may keep them inside in bigger pots for a while.

Put some of the lettuce in the greenhouse, less slugs and snails

ha! nice try, there's quite a few hiding in there too unfortunately, plus, it is getting up to 37 at the moment when the sun comes out. (which is not often so far this spring I grant you) I had a few spares, so I've put them in the ground as an experiment. Plus, we have a hedgepig, so hopefully he/she is eating the slimy beggars.

I put half a dozen lettuce in amongst the tomatoes today, not seen any slugs/snails yet!

My tunnel is getting too hot for even the slimy things, so focused on the outside. Had a great weed & a bit of sow day though! And runner frame is still standing - result!

Saw the rising cost of allotments got a slot on BBC breakfast this morning. Am glad it's being publicised because some Councils are massively increasing the cost, with no admission that having one, growing your own and being outdoors is probably one of the best ways of keeping yourself fit and looking after your mental health and wellbeing.

Another sad case of calculating the cost of everything but recognising the value of nothing!

I'm afraid our local cuckoo has gone for ever. I've read that they return to the same area every spring, so if that is true and local one has died or been killed, I guess it's unlikely another one will fill its place.
Sad. It was always a sign of spring one looked forward to hearing.