Meet Rothwell.....

This is Rothwell........

The newest member of the Chicken family down at O.A.V!

But wait it's a Rabbit! Yes it's Rothwell the Allotment Rabbit,(Rothers for short) found by Paul at the top of Rothwell Ave and this is how he got his name,he lives with the Chickens,eats with the Chickens and sleeps with the chickens,none of them mind at all, except Molly my white silkie Hen but she has gone broody again and spends most of her day sat tight on imaginary eggs and clucking to herself, so she doesnt count at the moment. How do I know its a HE you ask?

Well, much to my amazement I actually caught the Rabbit yesterday sniffing at one of the chickens and yes actually trying to mount it! Is this normal behaviour? has it been heard of before? or is this a breakthough in animal behaviour? I dont know, but whats even more stranger is the Chicken didn't even mind,it just carried on pecking at the floor minding it's own business whilst a big fluffy thing with floppy ears and no beak was minding it's own business. BIZZARE!.

So I went to buy it a ball to save the poor chickens embarrassment and frankly it's pride amongst the group, and I threw this soft small football in the run and the Rabbit just sat there and looked at it whilst all the Chickens ran after it to see what it was! SO that didn't work and within minutes it was back to following one of the Chickens around again,Oh well they all get on well so leave them to it. Jack said we could have furry eggs and Paul said they will be nice for Easter. :-o

Stranger things have happened....

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More updates soon B-J x

Beans and Chickens...

The Broadbeans (Sutton) are growing really well now and already some lovely big pods on them.

Despite the rain and the flooded beds they have kept going through it all,well done the Beans.

The Chicken's also have a new bigger area now,we have moved further into the next plot and extended the run for them,4 Cockerils went and I got 3 new pullets and 2 new little black and white spotted chickens,havn't worked out what breed they are yet they are very young about 10 weeks old. I put down 2 bails of straw on the run floor which has now stopped it being so muddy and they love to scratch about it looking for bugs,slugs and other mini beasties they can find,so the chickens are happy in thier new home.

Please Stop Raining!

Ok hands up who wants a green house like this?

Me that's for sure,but let's face it most of us only have enough room and enough money in the bank for a humble 8x6 aluiminum one!

I got a new Green House this week (Well new to me) and we have put it up on the new part of the allotment,a shed is being put up there too soon, but first we have to sort out the this flippin Green House,we bought it from Swinton and got it home in one piece (or so I thought),so we started putting it up and realised 4 panes of glass had broken,so off to Victoria glass we went to order 4 more new panes costing £13 which I thought was reasonable as the green house was cheap in the first place,but one big problem! every bloody time we get near to going to the allotment and arrange to repair the green house and carry on finishing it off,low and behold it RAINS! (STOP RAINING! no seriously now STOP raining,it's day after day after day)for one afternoon please it's driving me mad now,and only to be reliably informed by Jack that the only nice day we are going to have is on the 15th of July (Sunday) then more rain till August!
I have wanted an allotment for years,I have wanted a Green House for longer,Ive wanted Chicken since year dot and finally I have them all and it rains like there has never been rain before! is someone up there stopping it all from happening? AND do you see me giving up? NO.

This is my Greenhouse finally up in place minus 2 panes,it all got a bit too boggy around the greenhouse from walking on the grass,it has dried out a bit now so I am waiting until it dries out a bit more before I go squelching around there again. Oh and I got a free water butt with it too.

I wanted to put this picture on,it was one of those rare moments that the rain stopped and the sun came out,and there in the distance was a rainbow going right into the little white farm house on the hill.
Prize Pumpkins!

3 lovely Pumpkin plants treated better than the Queen! they better appreciate this.

The sunset over the allotment the other night,couldn't resist sitting there waiting for the sun to go down. We havn't seen many of these in June or july this year.

Can Cabbages and Chickens Swim?

Well, the last few days has seen sooo much water on the allotment that I am begining to get webbed feet I think! The Chickens apparantly don't seem to mind the wet weather at all,they are still running around in the mud,clucking and crowing as usual but if the water gets any deeper they will have to learn to swim. The pen is soo muddy and slippy and yes, I did fall in there the other day and did a full on slam dunk to the floor in the mood whilst chasing one last chicken around trying to get it in the hutch in a torrential downpour!

have I got any photo's of me falling in the mud? NO I havn't...lol

The Summer Cabbages have been underwater a couple of times this week so if they survive it will be a miracle!

On a more positive note I did go to pick up my new greenhouse today from Swinton,which we took down and put up in this awfull pouring rain,Why do we do this? After all allotments arn't about being a fair weather gardener,to me they are about getting stuck in no matter what the elliments throw at ya! because UK weather, being UK weather, ya would end up never doing anything because it does rain most of the time.

This morning we pulled up the first crop of carrots,perfectly formed bright orange carroty carrots,it's like a suprise when ya start pulling the carrots,grab hold of all them green leaf tops that you have been looking at and watering and caring for for weeks,checking everyday to see if they are big enough to pull out and eat and when ya finally do pull them up it's a relief that the one ya pulled up is actually big enough to put on your plate rather than a matchstick size orange thing ya wish you would have left in to get bigger!

So all in all a very wet but productive week....more soon

just flicking around allotment website's (like ya do) and I came accross this site,take a look, I think it's pretty good...

http://www.gardeningwithadam.com/