Hot and sticky though this weekend was, we have still had a very productive time (and inspite of my streaming cold)
Saturday morning, we went to the allotment. Starting to look abundant up there (and I don't just mean the weeds!) Tim cleared the overwintering onions which have been taken to the house, and rotavated that bay. He planted out sweetcorn, runner beans and a couple of outdoor tomatoes. I strimmed round the fruit bed. Its a weedy patch that, but its hard to dig round it all as the fruit bushes are in the way so we've decided to strim it as the weeds are mostly grass based and then plan to mulch it with composted chicken bedding. This tack has worked well on the strawberry patch. I then started some more tidying in the cutting garden. My sweetpeas needed further tying in as they grow up the canes.
We came home with a great harvest - first small harvest of new potatoes, over 3 lb strawberries, a couple of broad bean pods - there are more to come - the onions and loads of cut flowers including alstromerias, roses, lavender, sweet williams, pinks, and quaking grass to dry.
It was very hot up there and we always take drinking water and have a bit of a rule that once you've run out of water then that's the time to come home! A fellow plot holder pointed out that a flock of upset, screeching rooks were like that, as there was a red kite flying above them. We'd have thought him a buzzard, but Paul pointed out the bird's forked tail as being the way to tell the difference.
As it was such a hot day we decided that for the afternoon, we'd follow the cats' example and drape ourselves about the garden with cake and tea and books. I did put a batch of meringues in the oven to dry out but it was too hot to spend too long in the kitchen A dinner at the local pub followed and for a change from wine we decided to enjoy a jug of Pims with our meal which seemed entirely appropriate.
Yesterday morning, whilst I made up some strawberry ice-cream and pottered in the kitchen, Tim cleaned out the chicken house and worked in the greenhouse, potting on tomato plants and putting the larger of the chillies on to the deck by the house. He also got the grass cut. Our wildflower meadow is coming on and there are poppies coming up. I think it'll take a year or two to become as we envisage it, due to things germinating at different times and the balance of plants settling down.
We've made a start on our new kitchen project by going to a showroom in the afternoon and we can now visualise better how we want the room to look. I don't think I've put much on here about our current kitchen but I'm doing processing and cooking on a single fan oven with the seals going (its about 14 years old we think) plus a ceramic hob with only 3 rings working. The kitchen faces north east and can be dark at times so the lighting needs improving although our plan to have pale units will also help reflect light we think. At the moment we have mid toned wooden units and terracotta red walls. Cooker wise we plan to have a range type cooker as I can then do a batch of cake or soup or similar whilst doing tea at the same time. I'll be able to cook when I want to and not merely when the cooker is free. This currently takes some juggling.
Today I'm doing some light pottering about the house but am mostly going to read and relax to try and get this cold out of my system.
The picture for this post is the local pub - and the food is very good too!
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