Friday 27th June 2014 – Bye bye Great Tits and Gooseberry Jam.

Posted on June 27, 2014 by clairesallotment

As I was preparing the fruit for the Gooseberry Jam this morning I was looking out of my kitchen window and there was lots of movement going on in and out of the Great tits nesting box. So I plugged in the camera to the TV and spied on them. There were the 2 little babies preening away, and then flapping their wings and flitting up and down to the ledges in the box. The parents kept coming in and out of the hole with food and trying to encourage them to come out into the big wide world. Then as I watched the parent left and the babies looked up to the hole and then they tried. You could see them working it out. They were each on a ledge, but then kept missing the hole and fell back down. Then suddenly one left, leaving the other baby on it’s own. Whether it was panic that set in or what but the final baby was then so determined to leave. I sat there in the floor of the lounge willing it to figure it out. then suddenly it was gone!! I went out into the garden and they were all talking to each other. I saw 1 baby sitting on my fence checking out it’s surroundings for a bit, and then it was off!!

Having a rest on my fence.

Having a rest on my fence.

So now the nest is empty until next year. I’ll miss them till then. So with that all done, it was then time to make some Gooseberry Jam. I picked a load of fruit a couple of days ago, and they’ve been waiting patiently for me to make them into jam. I got my recipe from the Good Food website. It worked brilliantly, so give it a try if you would like. I did make a little film to show you what I did, so hopefully that’ll be up soon. Just got to label it now and store it away til we come to eat it.

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Thursday 26th June 2014 – Dinosaurs and then the allotment.

Posted on June 27, 2014 by clairesallotment

Yes I know that it sounds like a strange combinations, but this morning I was working, doing a couple of Dinosaurs workshop with kids in year 2. They were brilliant, and we had so much fun. Then once I’d got home and had some lunch, I then went down the allotment for about and hours and a half to see what I could do. The weather forecast for Friday is not good, so going to the allotment tomorrow doesn’t look like it’ll happen, so I’d better make the most of today. I managed to sort out the bed with the Peas, sugar Snaps and Leeks growing in, and half of the Kale bed. I also had to contend with some rather long grass on the paths, so that took up quite a bit of time. Once I’d got home, I plugged in the bird camera to see how they were getting on. Now I reckon they should fledge fairly soon, as they’ve been hatched for coming up to 3 weeks now. I wonder if they’ll have problems getting out the hole like the last lot did. Only time will tell.

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Robot Overlords Screening.

Posted on June 27, 2014 by clairesallotment

You may remember me mentioning this a while back, that Mark (hubby) has co written a feature film with Jon Wright called “Robot Overlords”. It’s now a finished film, and they had a screening late this afternoon for various people. The kids and I had all planned to go, and had worked out how we could all get there on time. Then George’s school announced that they would have their sports day on the same day, and it was going to be a fair distance away at another location, and would be ending later than school does. So that was George and I then unable to go. Emily went up with her film studies group, and my sister was able to get her youngest out of school early to get there. When Emily got home I asked her what she though of the film. Now this was the first time she’d seen it completed. We’ve seen various sections with some effects and other sections with no effects at all. Her response was….and I quote “SUPER FREAKING AWESOME!!!”. Yes those were her exact words. Mark said it went brilliantly and everyone really enjoyed it. So fingers, toes, legs and everything else crossed that this is the start of something HUGE!!!

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Wednesday 25th June 2014 – Getting there.

Posted on June 27, 2014 by clairesallotment

Another glorious day, we really are being spoilt lately. So it was time to spend as much time as possible up the allotment. I managed to thoroughly weed 3 more beds today, so there’s only a few more to go before I can start back at the beginning again. Everything is growing really well so I’m a very happy little bunny. Good news regarding my strimmer though, there’s a 15% day off this weekend at my local Homebase, AND I get double points, so hopefully next week I’ll have a new strimmer to play with. To be honest, it’s very slow with the shears, but they have been brilliant since my strimmer had to go to that great garden in the sky.

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Tuesday 24th June 2014 – Now I’m not a sweary Mary, but….

Posted on June 24, 2014 by clairesallotment

Mark may well disagree with me on this point, but I’m not a prolific swearer. I think that there are much more interesting words that can be used, BUT…. Gooseberry bushes hurt!! Today was the turn of the Gooseberry bushes, as the fruit is ripe and ready for picking. You know when they’re ready because if you squeeze a fruit, they have a little give in them. If you’re still not sure, then you can always taste one, and if it’s sweet and not at all sharp then they’re ready. I’ve stripped 2 bushes, and I hope that I have 1kg of fruit to make some jam with. It looks like I do, but only time will tell when I weigh them. I’ll make a little video when I do make the Gooseberry jam, so you can see what to do. I also picked a load more Strawberries. I think they’re slowing down now, which is good, as I’ve made enough jam, and we’ve eaten loads, so I’m starting to freeze them now, so we can use them later on in the year.

My Gooseberries and Strawberries from today.

My Gooseberries and Strawberries from today.

As I was working my way through the gooseberry bushes and being careful not to hurt myself too much, I came across a dragon fly sitting on one of the bushes sunning itself. It wasn’t worried that I was very close, but eventually flew away when I got really close. I think they’re amazing creatures, they look really scary, but won’t hurt you. Seems a strange place for it to be, as usually they live a round ponds and lakes. Maybe it was a bit confused, like I get sometimes.

It was watching me very closely, maybe making sure I was behaving myself.

It was watching me very closely, maybe making sure I was behaving myself.

I also managed to weed and water another couple of beds, the Kohl Rabi is growing very well, so soon I’ll need to harvest some of that. Then just before I left, I went to check out my peas. They’ve been growing really well, so I picked one pod and promptly ate the peas. They were very tasty, but I took a photo for you to see, before I ate it. I’ll pick more tomorrow I expect.

Eight little peas in a pod. But not for long, as I ate them.

Eight little peas in a pod. But not for long, as I ate them.

And finally, my order of Shropshire Seaweed Fertiliser arrived today, so that’s brilliant news, so I’ll start using that tomorrow.

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Monday 23rd June 2014 – Slow and steady.

Posted on June 23, 2014 by clairesallotment

Another hot and humid day today, so with weather like that, all you can do is go at a sensible pace and stop frequently to have a drink of water. So with that in mind, I decided that I would weed the bed where my cabbages are growing (and the odd rogue potato). It’s quite a large bed, but that’s not a problem. I also have a few garlic growing, because I missed taking some cloves out last autumn. They’ve been growing all winter, and seem to have been very happy. Hopefully I’ll have some decent sized bulbs when I come to harvest them soon. The temperature got up to 25 degrees today, which made loads of plot holders come down to the site. We all had a chat, but because it was hot, many only stayed for a couple of hours (I managed just over 3 hours). I sheared some more grass, and watered the weed free bed, and have used up all my Shropshire Seaweed Fertiliser. But before I went to the allotment this morning, I ordered some more, which has already been dispatched, and should be with me either tomorrow or the day after. That’s amazing service, and the P&P was FREE! That’s it for today on the allotment, tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so I’ll spend a bit longer up there. On Tuesday I have to come back later, otherwise I can’t find anywhere to park, as the local old peoples centre is very busy on a Tuesday and they park where we park. I’m not moaning…well a little maybe.

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Sunday 22nd June 2014 – The path system is not very good.

Posted on June 23, 2014 by clairesallotment

It’s only when you walk about, that you realise how bad the paths are around where you live. If you keep to the main roads, then they’re not too bad, but if you go off road, then they are very hit and miss (more miss than hit to be honest). I didn’t do my training last Sunday as I was driving from St Helens to Daventry. So today I was back on track, and had to walk for at least 3 and a half hours. I started off well, but then after about 2 hours I went down some back roads, with some really lovely houses. In fact it was a private road, and it was very quiet and peaceful (I bet they don’t get unsavoury kids sitting on their walls). Several people were out and about in their front gardens getting ready for a day out, and others were just tidying. They looked at me as I walked passed, but then realised that I wasn’t there to burgle their houses, so they let me carry on. The houses were lovely, but the gardens were too small for me. So I won’t be wanting to move in to one of those houses, which is good, as they’re worth over £1 million!! Now walking round these houses without paths is fine, as there isn’t much traffic, but slightly further up the road I came to a twisty turny road, with more traffic going faster. Now if you have to walk on the road, remember you must walk towards the traffic. Some cars gave me a wide birth, which I was very grateful for, and cyclists gave be a wide birth, as they know what it can be like, but some cars, well….I was not impressed. Now I’m not asking them to give me loads of room, but slightly more than a couple of inches would be nice. Finally I reached the end of the road of terror, and got back to a track carved out by horses and cyclists, so I felt safe. Walking down this path all you have to avoid was horse poo!! Sometimes when there are paths, they just end, and there is nowhere to cross over the road safely, other times the path is overgrown by stinging nettles, and really uneven. Still I think I’ve moaned enough about the paths by me, but I wish the council would spend some time making them better as well as sorting out all the pot holes. Still I made it back in one piece, and without falling over. I walked for just over the time I wanted, but my app on my phone wasn’t working that well, so I’m not sure how far I walked, but it must have been about 14 miles. A sit down with a cup of tea and a rest is needed, time to recover for next weeks walk, which could be a little tricky (I’m planning on walking up a rather large hill!!)

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Tomtatoes – Claire’s Allotment Part 238

Posted on June 21, 2014 by clairesallotment
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How To Plant Rhubarb – Claire’s Allotment Part 237

Posted on June 21, 2014 by clairesallotment
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How I Make My Strawberry Jam – Claire’s Allotment Part 236

Posted on June 21, 2014 by clairesallotment
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