Tomatoes

This year I have decided to grow 4 different kinds of Tomatoes they are:

1.Neve's Azorean Red (from Plants of Distinction)
2.The Dutchman (from Plants of Distinction)
3.Moneymaker
4.Alicante

Last year wasn't very succesful on the Tomato front as I didn't have a Greenhouse but this year my Greenhouse is all ready to go,I dug the Greenhouse floor out to about 3ft deep,filled this with compost,soil and manure and a little growmore,put a small floor in enough to walk in and filled with gravel,I can't make my mind up wether to grow the Tomatoes straight into the soil (but that would mean changing it next year) or do Ring or pot Culture where the plant is grown in a large pot (grow bag soil) with the bottom cut out and sat on the soil,this is sounding more likely at the moment.this year I am going to grow Peppers (King of the North) and Aubergines (CALLIOPE F1 HYBRID) in the Greenhouse,the tomatoes are now in the heated propergator ready to germinate. Hopefully this year I will have Tom's to be proud of.


The Dutchman
Old strain that features purplish pink fruits with mild flavor. Large meaty fruits are very sweet. 80 days




Alicante
A reliable and highly productive early cropping variety. Produces sweet, red fruits of good size and even colour




Moneymaker
These round, deep red fruits weigh about 7 to 8 ounces, and arise by the many dozen on extra-vigorous plants. Expect the vines to reach 5 feet or so, just studded with luscious fruit. MoneyMaker's flavor is a full, meaty, sweet bite



Neves Azorean Red
A large fleshy Tomato,very similar to the Beefsteak,and very juicy...



Aubergine
Compact, spineless plants produce a heavy crop of baby 5cm (2in) fruits that mature to bitter free, oval, 10cm (4in) fruits of a beautiful cream streaked purple colour.
Ideal for growing in a container on the patio, or in the greenhouse

In the Green house this week I will be mainly......

Sowing Seeds....

We have had 3 lovely warm days so far this week so,I repaired my Green house door glazing,the wind had blown it clean off,it landed on the ground and smashed three panes of glass,so I bought some Silver tape and stuck some clear thick polythene over it and its done the job great (got really hot in there today). I potted some Broadbeans up a few weeks ago (Red Epicure) into toilet roll tubes,they are coming up nice now.
I potted,2 different variety of peas: Misty and Kalvedon Wonder,Butterhead lettuce, that I brought back from Greece,(yeah I know, very sad, I actually found a shop that sells seeds on a tiny Greek Island). Kidney Beans (Minnie),and re potted my Fig Tree (Brown Turkey).

I have decided to grow 2 different Potatoes this year (1st earlies,Maris Bard and 2nd earlies,King Edwards)which are chitting on the kitchen window as I speak,they have been there about 3 weeks.


I have a few things on the boil now so to speak, things are coming along nicely,the nights are still freezing but all my seed trays are all nicely wrapped up in bubble wrap all snug and warm ready to spring to life very soon.
hurry up Spring where are you?

Potential Tenents came to view today!

I went up to the allotment early today,couldn't wait to see what the Chickens would do when they saw SNOW for the first time! I opened the hatch doors and they sort of rushed to the door to all fly out like they normally do every morning,and then all came to a halt as if to say "oh my god whats this on the floor"?, some stood on the duck boards and others came out slowly but flying from one platform to another as not to touch the snow,quite funny to watch.

Anyway,I was cleaning the Chickens out and changing drinkers etc today and as I stood up a pair of Blue tits were checking out the new property! one of the Blue tits actually went inside then came straight back out,probably checking if its suited to family life in there,so in the next few weeks I will be keeping a close eye on things to see if they settle into thier new dwellings.I will add photos too,Paul also said he would make another 2 boxes to go close by very soon. The Collard Doves (Stay away from my Brasicas thats all I ask) are still here also 4 Robins and 4 Jay's,lots of Great Tits,Blue Tits and Coal Tits were all there in one go today it was lovely to see them all in the snow flying in and out for the banquet of food I leave for them.

I have a new book,well new to me but very old actually,it's from 1953! and cost a huge 2/6 in those days,I paid a whole £1.20p for thats inflation aint it? but I love old Gardening books and the old ways are the best ways I find. It's got a really good sowing chart at the back but what makes me laugh is the 'amount of seed required for a row of 30 feet' section, it states: 1/2 a pint of Runner Beans! 1/2 Pint? does or did anyone use to actually weigh them?



Also I found something else whilst flicking through this book under 'Salad Plants', how to grow Dandelions! I spend all Summer trying to get rid of the bloody things,nevermind give them a space of their own and care for them! out comes my weed puller upper thingy and on the fire they all go,and anyway when I was a kid if ya picked a Dandelion it meant that ya 'wet the bed' so I aint gunna grow these and pick them for my Greek salads thankyou very much! maybe thats a Northern saying,has anyone else heard of that?



This week I put toilet roll tubes (I knew they would come in handy for something) around the bottom of my leeks,which not only gives them a bit of protection from the biting wind up there,but bleaches or blanches the stems. In the book it suggest using land drain pipes or metal tubing and should be three inches in diameter and from a foot to fourteen inches in height. They seem to have taken ages to grow though.



Do you have an old Gardening book? email me with a pic if you like and I will put them on the blog.....

Home to let going cheep!

Home to Let in the Lancashire countryside,

one bedroom with comfy nesting area,newly painted,easy access,would suite a small couple for their first home,great views accross the valley,surrounding area includes:a pond,lots of food available locally,very quiet area....no deposit required,available to move into right away,first to see will be let.
Please see Pictures below... :-)

Click on the pictures for a bigger view..

brief update!

Havn't updated for a while due to not being able to do much around the allotment because my ankle is still sore, 'still?' I hear you say,It's been ages now since I broke my ankle on the allotment but it just wont go right,now its really swollen and cant find any shoes to fit me,apart from my old manky,muddy allotment boots. Anyway I have decided to go through my recent photos and post some on here,so here goes...It's Official I love my Husband for this, did I mention he bought me a new Camera for Christmas too,The new Fuji finepix 8000fd 18xZoom with Super Macro basically its all singing all dancing and I would be here all day if I told you what else it can do! (you know I love my photography) bring on the sunny weather....

These pics were taken a few weeks ago when we had a cold spell...Brrrrr it was freezing up there!

This little Robin (below) visits my Nature Garden all day long and I don't know if it is the same one that keeps coming back but I would like to think so,I put alsorts out for the birds,split corn,fat balls,sunflower hearts,meal worms,apples,left over bits of rabbit food,onto two tables and about 5 different hanging feeders..they are well spoilt,also I have 2 European Collard Doves thats visit the tables all the time,they have been coming for ages and getting really used to me now...











Click on the pictures for a full size pic...


B-Jx

Go for it Hugh!

Do you know about the life your fresh supermarket chickens led before they reached the table?

Few people know about the conditions suffered by most broiler chickens - those reared for meat.

For most UK broiler chickens, rearing conditions are unacceptably intensive, as farmers are put under pressure to produce poultry as quickly and cheaply as possible.

These birds live short lives, in cramped conditions, without ever seeing natural daylight. They commonly develop severe injuries and disabilities, associated with unnaturally fast weight gain and restricted movement.

The plight of egg-laying battery hens has received much attention in recent years. Consumers have responded, greatly reducing the proportion of bought eggs which come from intensive systems. Now it's time to do the same for broiler birds.

Please take a sec to visit the website and sign up for the campaign www.chickenout.tv

B-J x

It's Bulb time...

I have bought lots of different Bulbs over the last weeks from here and there,Tulips,Daffs,Narcissi(mini),Aliums etc, and after watching Monty on Gardeners World last Friday I thought it best to set about getting them in the ground,(well, me supervising whilst balancing on the crutches that is).Infact I have gone a bit mad with the Bulbs actually because in Spring I want to be able to collect lots of cut flowers from the allotment and put them in the house. As Autumn has now firmly got hold of everything with the frost etc,its all looking a little bare now,So in Spring its all going to come back to life with the bulbs I planted. I love seeing Daffodils in Spring, it's always a sign that the warmer weather is on its way,and they are the first burst of colour ya can see.
Monty says they like well drained soil and this is something I have not got on the allotment so I made a mix of soil and sand and dropped a bit in the hole then put the bulb in then filled above the bulb with more soil,I think this will be fine,we planted them in the nature garden,around the greenhouse and shed,then all along both sides of the path leading down to the nature garden,some around the pond and finally in a special bed made for the bulbs which is approx 4 foot long by 2 foot wide,layered with Daffodil bulbs then Tulip bulbs so the Daffs will die back and the Tulips will come up keeping that bed going with loads of cut flowers for a while.Perfect for a big bunch of flowers on mothers day and at the fraction of the price of a florist!

Theres a whole load of stuff going on in that little old bulb...

Pumpkins Galore!

Me and Tanya finally picked the Pumpkins today,
I was watching Jamie at Home programme the other night and he was making roasted Pumpkin with Salt,Black pepper,and olive oil,roasted in the oven for approx 45 mins,the Pumpkin wedges are now in the oven roasting for tea and Tanya has just informed me that they smell delicious! (I have no sense of smell ya see). The other 3 Pumpkins arnt quite ripe yet so they are sitting on the windowsil in the kitchen for a while yet. We have never had roasted pumpkins before so I will update you of the taste later...





Mmm Delicious!

If you click on the link SQUASHBLOG it will take you to Matrons SQUASHBLOG where my Pumpkin is featured...Cool Eh?

A HUGE Egg ...Update

The Hens have been laying really well this week and we collected an egg yesterday weighing in.. at are you ready?... 80g It's a huge egg the biggest so far, When we first got the Hens they were laying 55g and 62g eggs I thought they were big. So I am going to have the Egg for my dinner on toast today,
Thankyou to whoever laid that one.

UPDATE: The HUGE egg was a double yolker! and very tasty

Another Update..The last Egg we collected Nov 07 was a huge 83g! that was a double yolker too...




Some photos of my Hens....



This is Molly

Be careful next time your in the park!

Funny snippets of people,ducks,geese,pelicans and other birds

jack 'O Lanterns,

The Pumkins are turning Orange now,very slowly albeit but they should be ready for Halloween. I don't think we did too bad for our first attempt. I watched the Programme Jamie at home last night and he was cooking Pumpkins and Squash so I picked up a couple of good recipes i will be trying them out when the Pumpkins are ready. Next year I am going to grow some unusual Squash see how I go with them.

This weekend Paul is going to repair my Greenhouse because someone thought it would be funny to throw stones at it and smash it to bits leaving me with 7 broken panes of glass each going to cost £4.50 per pain DAMN KIDS! If I get hold of them they will have more Pains! than that.
Also to report is my brilliant Hens laid 7 Eggs between them yesterday which is great and now selling them at £1.50 per dozen just enough to pay for thier bag of feed,they are now earning thier keep. The ducks are doing really well,they even put themselves to bed at night now,all Paul needs to do is walk down the allotment and slide the door on the cabin for them,awww we love them ducks and hopefully in a few weeks we will have duck eggs too.

More Soon....

Live Fast Die Young - the life of a meat chicken

Chicken out! campaign

Sign up for the chicken Out! Campaign ....

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (River Cottage) is fronting the chicken out! Campaign to change the way Broiler chickens are housed and treated prior to being slaughtered for cheap supermarket chicken.

Do you know about the life your fresh supermarket chickens lead before they reach your table?

Rearing conditions for most chickens in the UK are unacceptably intensive, as farmers are put under pressure to produce poultry as quickly and cheaply as possible.

The Farmers don't care if the chickens can stand or not,after all who see's their legs and feet when they are packaged up at £1.99 on the shelf at the supermarket...!


Birds commonly develop severe injuries associated with unnaturally fast weight gain and restricted movement, and many die prematurely: 45 million factory-farmed birds are thrown away each year before they even reach slaughter-weight.


Please visit the website www.chickenout.tv to join the campaign,it only takes a minute to put your name down,


STILL NOT CONVINCED? Click here

Meet Dafid,Taffy,Lola and Delia....

We went to pick 4, 8 weeks old ducks up from Southport yesterday,kindly given to us by my brothers friends relatives,lovely people who love chickens and ducks just like us,when we arrived at the house I thought the ducks would be tiny only being 8 weeks old but no they are huge,and gorgeous,they had a good car journey home and we got the food and water ready for them,we let them out of the boxes and showed them to thier new house and the pond.

They just stood there for a while looking a bit confused then waddled around a while,it was late afternoon when we got them home so it was nearly time for them to be put into the hutch,unfortunatly they do have to locked up overnight at the allotment because the fox is on the prowl but they didn't seem to mind and it is for thier own safety. So we got up to the allotment really early this morning only to find someone had smashed my greenhouse to bits,stones and bits of tiles everywhere! we left at approx 7pm lastnight so whoever it was must have seen us leave and if I find out who it was whoe b' tide them (as my mum says).

Anyway Paul let the ducks and the chickens out at approx 8am this morning and the ducks came waddling out to the food and water,I didnt bother them for a couple of hours because I wanted them to get used to where they live now,and all 4 of them sat in the sunshine not fazed by anything much. Then I thought it was time to show them the pond so Tanya walked slowly behined them until they reached the pond and in they went and they loved it,splashing around and ducking under for ages,so I took some photos of the ducks,we have named them welsh names as they are a welsh breed,so here goes.... the 2 black and white ones (male we think) are now called Dafid and Taffy the girls are called Delia (the white one) and Lola the multi colored one, So Dafid Taffy Delia and Lola are all tucked up in their new house and here are some photos...

Thankyou Hilal and Michelle for giving us the Ducks...

Click on the photos for larger pictures.













I just couldn't resist telling you my duck joke here goes...

A duck walks into a shop and says "have you got any raisins?" the shop keeper says "no sorry we dont sell rasins" the duck says "ok" and waddles out.
The next day the duck comes back to the shop and asks "have you got any rasins"? the shop keeper says "no we don't sell rasins I told you yesterday" the Duck says "ok" and waddles out.
Then next day the Duck goes back to the shop and asks "have you got any rasins"? and the shop keeper say "NO we dont have any bloody raisins!" "and if you keep coming in this shop and asking for raisins I'm gunna NAIL your bloody beak to the counter ok!?"
so the duck replies "ok".
SO the next day the Duck returns and asks "have you got any nails"? the shop keeper says "NO WE DONT SELL NAILS"! and the duck replies "have you got any rasins"?

Funny eh?


More updates soon....B-J x

From Head Gardener to Under Gardener just like that...

First of all I must appolagise for the absence of my updates,there is a very good reason for it,no,there is honest.

Last Sunday I was pottering around the allotment it was about 3:30pm not a drop of rain insite,lovely day so I thought I would make scrambled egg on toast (the hens are laying really well now and we had quite a few that day).
So I set everything up in my little shed,got the kettle on,put the grill on whisked a load of eggs,I was really looking forward to it, we were hungry,so the first lot of toast was ready so I stepped outside the shed to go and get the plate and SNAP! I stepped into a sunken bit of the ground my foot went sideways and what I can only describe as.. if you were to twist some bubble wrap in your hand (ya know the cracking sound?) I went flying down the allotment toast in the air and landed on the hard,cold, wet ground,I knew straight away I had broken my ankle I could feel it burning and swelling instantly,I laid on the floor shouting Paul.
I have broken this same ankle about 15 years ago and all the memories came flooding back I can tell you. The next thing was to get up from the ground which by this time I was getting wetter and I was full of mud I hurt my arm too,so once up I was sat there and Paul pulled my sock and shoe off,it had swelled quite alot by this time,so as I was coming round I realised I was at the bottom of the Allotment and the Landrover is at the very top! how on earth can I get to the top? Paul got the digging fork from the shed and him at one side and the fork at the otherside I managed to hobble up to the top and go to Hospital. The Hospital (Accrington Victoria)was packed, Sunday afternoon full of kids I was in agony by this time and the waiting time said 1 and a half hours! Why when ya go to Hospital there always seems to be someone seen before you who doesnt seem to have much wrong with them? why is that? and then with the boredom of just sitting there and waiting ya start to think..Wonder what they did? and I'm more hurt than them,why can't I go in first. So it was our turn and the triage nurse called us in,she started to press my ankle really hard and I mean really hard,so with tears in my eyes she sent me straight to X-Ray,luckily I was the only one waiting for one so I went straight in,the verdict... not good. I have broken the bone that sticks out at the bottom of the ankle and I was sent straight to the plaster room.

I sooo know whats coming next,I have been here sooo many times,one nurse pulling down on my foot to get it into a 90 degree angle while the other nurse wraps strips of plaster of paris around until it sets! OUCH! I have an oppoitment to have the cast changed to a lighter and more managable fibre glass one on the 8th of October and I can't wait for that. So here I am sat here with a huge pot on my ankle thinking of all the things I have to do on my allotment and can't do any of them! so far this year ive broken my finger,my big toe and now my ankle,this is what happens when ya have Osteoporosis! and I never did get my scrambled egg on toast. Iv'e now been demoted to under gardener whilst Tanya has been promoted to head gardener and Paul takes over the allotment and chicken duties. Damn I want that title back! :-)


Can you see the FIBULA on the left,the bottom of this is broken.



Updates as an when I am afraid ... cheer me up send me a message.
B-J x

Wild Blackberry Fruit

Today me Tanya and Adam went to pick wild Blackberries,me and Tanya collected well over a pound and I decided to make Blackberry Pie! (I know,me cooking) this has to be a first,never made this in my life,the only pie I have ever made is Cheese and Onion pie (without the onions) and a meat pie years ago so here goes with the Blackberry Pie. I got a recipe off a website for a plain simple Pie

3 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
3 tbls flour
1 tbls grated lemon rind
4 tbls butter
I added some Greek Honey to it

Combing flour, sugar and rind. Add to the berries. Using your favorite pie crust, line the pie tin. Dot with 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour in berries. Cover with a top lattice crust. Bake in a hot oven (400F) for 15 minutes. Reduce to 325F and bake 20 to 30 minutes more.


and I started to make it,washing the fruit then adding the sugar ect ect,then I had to find a recipe for making short crust pastry OMG dread set in.. (I have never made this either),so I thought I know Delia will know so I went to Delia online and got it,I made it and thought Mmm not doing bad,I put it in the fridge for ages like it said,I took it out and I couldnt roll it it was resembling a squishy mess so I must have done something wrong! its only butter,flour,pinch of salt and some water what could I have done wrong? then I realised I had put far too much butter in it so it wouldnt roll,I know I know! I told you I couldnt cook,so I threw that and started again this time taking more care,it's now in the oven baking away and hopefully I will be able to taste some very soon,what a rigmoral for a Blackberry pie! Home Economics wasn't my best subject at school and still isnt to this day,nevermind Hells Kitchen it was can't cook wont cook here a minute ago! but I am trying, VERY! As I was browsing for all Blackberry related things tonight on the Internet I came accross this,these are made of glass and just had to put them on the blog,couldn't you just eat one of these? Excellent photography....

Click the picture to make it bigger....



Pictures of the pie coming soon....(

Pumpkin update

The Pumpkin is 20" in diameter now,growing everyday,feeding every other day now...
More soon

B-J

Pumpkin update

Finally we have a pumpkin growing on one of the vines,I never thought I would see one it was taking ages to grow,but here it is. The vines are really long now and reaching right accross the other bed,hopefully there will be a Pumpkin growing on the other vines soon,I feed them 9 litres of water each a day (thats how big my can is) with Tomorite every 3 days,this seems to be working ok at the moment as the Pumpkin swells a bit more I will water a little more.



11th July



22nd July



30th August


Is it going to be huge?




more soon...

An even bigger egg and holiday

Tanya found an egg this morning in the bigger hutch,its very big weighing in at 2.20oz (62g) this is alot bigger compaired to the egg we got a couple of weeks ago 1.90 oz (55g). The chickens are now on vitamins with their food to give them a boost after some of them have molted and they have been unwell.
The Thoery is young hens lay more smaller ones in the first laying season and fewer bigger ones in the seconed season. Eggcelent (sorry couldn't resist)

Back from Greece now,it was very hot,very expensive,very busy,although Mykonos is a lovely island with breath taking sunsets and views to die for BUT it just wasnt the kind of place for us really,maybe when I was 17-20 I would have not wanted to come home from there but when ya get old like me lol ya just want peace and quiet away from the hussle and bussle of a hectic life. Everything and everyone had one speed FAST! Here a few pics of the holiday (dont want to bore you too much).

more on the allotment soon ....B-J x

Me and Tanya at a Church on the way to Mykonos town


One of the 4 Pelicans in Mykonos town


A Boat in the Harbour where the film Shirley Valentine was filmed


Just before we got on the Jet Skis




Me and Paul before the sunset in Mykonos Harbour with Little Venice in the background


Click on the pictures to see a big version (if you want to :-) )