Trees, Peas,Beans and Bins

I opted out of the weekly walk in order to catch up with jobs on the plot, in the greenhouse, and in the garden. As it turned out, Wednesday was quite a busy day down on the allotments as the tree surgeons turned up around mid-day to make a start on felling five very large trees at the bottom of neighbouring gardens. I'm the last person to condone unnecessary tree felling or mutilation. However, these are not majestic English oaks (which sustain the greatest variety of wildlife in Europe) or beautiful beeches, but sycamores, sometimes described as 'weeds'. I wouldn't go that far, but they do cause problems by covering everywhere with their ugly, black- spotted leaves, dispersing their winged seeds far and wide, the resulting seedlings shooting up in lawns, paths and all over the plots.

It was time for my camp cooker to come out for its first airing this year, and once a new cartridge had been installed, I was able to brew up a cuppa for John B and John D. Although there had been a real chill in the air when I'd arrived, it was now warm enough for the three of us to sit outside my shed with our drinks, to watch the experts at work. One outcome of the felling is that there are plenty of wood chippings for mulching and path covering.

The following day we picked our way across various plots (due to the ongoing tree felling) with the two new compost bins. Upon reaching Bob's plot we stopped for a brief chat (mainly about music) to be offered some of his excellent parsnips, before continuing carefully on our way.

Yesterday I spent some time transferring compost from the original hand-made-by-John composter to the new ones, rough stuff in one and almost ready stuff in the other, with the quality compost for the plot. The original compost bin is now available for storing horse muck, whilst it rots down. It was hard work. The previous day I'd come to an arrangement with the tree men that they would leave a load of chippings near my plot, before they finally left the site, as they were dumping the rest of it at the top of the hill. However, their work had come to a temporary halt, due to the discovery of asbestos in one of the gardens where they had been working. Thinking I might miss out, I set off up the hill with my barrow, to collect a load. I needn't have worried as there was quite a mountain of chippings, but as I was now on a mission, I carried on, up and down the hill, three times.

The replacement broad bean plants are looking strong and healthy as are the peas (transferred from their guttering). I have utilised the dogwood stems as pea stick (mentioned in my earlier blog) although I can't help but think they looked far better in the large pot, in the garden.

Although we have plenty of yellow tulips (soon to flower) in our front garden, for some reason, when planting up tulips in my pots, I chose even more yellow. Still, these are a completely different variety, with longer stems and most beautiful flowers. They look quite spectacular when they open out fully, in the sun. There is talk about making a slightly larger pond. At the moment we have one about the size of a baby bath but it does the job and provides a home for frogs and newts.

We enjoyed some of Bob's parsnips last night, roasted alongside the loin of pork.

Today is our youngest son's birthday, and there will be another family meal to prepare and enjoy.

Like many others, our friends P & G, due to fly out to Spain on Friday, have been grounded by the Icelandic volcanic dust. Let's hope it doesn't affect our forthcoming plans too. And we think we are all so clever, until nature does its own thing!