Kitchen Garden Forum

Robins are aggressive little buggers - I reckon that was Robin Rachman.

How sad, OH. At least there is still time enough for them to start again fro this summer. Yes, perhaps it was the robin which chased them off.

We saw our first baby robin today in the garden and also two baby dunnocks and a female blackbird with a completely bald head, poor thing. Presumably she is starting to moult. Our local male blackbird is becoming cheekier and cheekier in search of currants - we can't leave the kitchen door or window open without him popping in because he knows that's where the titbits come from!

Good to feel a little freshness in the breeze this morning

Orf on my grande tour of Kent this Saturday, just thought i would give the Kentish folk, fair warning.

Yesterday we watched a oriel bombing an eagle that was trying to get at the oriels nest it was up against it as the eagle was a big un put it seemed to win the day

he doesn't look to happy about it does he?

Thanks to the warning, Kent is rapidly emptying

How good to get up and see rain

I have finished hay making (always a stressful time) until the next lot is due and was thankful for the long dry days but now welcome the cooler temperatures and rain. Not so welcome for the thousands at Glastonbury though. I just don't know how they enjoy themselves so much amongst all the thousands of people and mud. If I get the energy (and the weather permits) I may just climb the Tor and have a look and listen and what I'm missing.
I hand weeded my late planted runner beans yesterday and they nearly all seem to have germinated with few gaps and they will appreciate the rain as well. My very old carrots seeds have not germinated proving it does not make much sense sowing some old seed although my old pea and broad bean seeds have germinated (and so have all the weeds).

Barney

It's still a mystery to me how a good shower of rain does more good then endless watering from a hosepipe, I have lived in hard water areas and now soft water and even though our water will be treated it doesn't taste like chlorine. Visitors say we should bottle our tap water because it tastes so good.

After a good down-pour from the heavens everything seems supercharged.

Two days ago the SE wind flattened quite a few of my cosmos and stocks, where I ignored planting instructions/guidelines on packets and close planted in groups they are all looking after each other and standing up straight (And choking the weeds off). Today the wind has gone around to the north and 20 knots so things are leaning in the other direction.

In future I shall ignore most planting instructions on seed packets, I'll use a bit of gained-experience instead.

Cabbages in the environmesh tunnel are oblivious to the wind and snuggied-up together growing nicely.

Once again we've had rain around but where there has been good amounts at home lottie has missed out! Probably 1/2 mile as the crow flies but dry as a bone! Tonight it finally rained on both - yep I did feel a bit of a plonker standing there with my hands up grinning ear to ear but like you say nothing is as good as rain water for perking up the plants.

Westi

Westie, you are not the only ones who have missed the rain! We had 1mm of drizzle last night and that is the first and only rain for some time now - and none forecast. On Tuesday I spent three hours on the allotment just watering anything that was desperate for a drink. But we have not been able to earth up the potatoes because the ground is too dry.

I bet it will start chucking it down next weekend when the Tour de France comes through our area!

Got rained off my drainage/construction works today, worked in new soakaway for a while under some old corrugated perspex, before giving up and doing some stuff in the shed.

Breautiful morning here this morning, been picking veg like a man possesed.

Forgot how quiet and peaceful Milton Bryant was!...until i get up that is...