.What a glorious holiday weekend! I made the most of the good weather, working on my plot, and in and around the greenhouse, at home. My little cherry tree is covered in blossom, and I'm hoping that this year there will be plenty of fruit. Last year, after the dreadful cold and wet weather, there were only two cherries - and they fell off! The currant bushes are flowering well and the rhubarb is at its best. There were plenty of plotters around to chat to, and to catch up on how we all were, and what we had been up to, and I even had time to read the paper, outside my shed. So far I've planted out some broad beans, borlotti and climbing French beans and, at home, there are sweetpeas, runner beans and climbing peas to take over to the plot. My greenhouse, and mini greenhouse, are filling up with vegetable and bedding plants (for the front of my plot). On Bank Holiday Monday I even spent some time up at the clubhouse, enjoying a beer and burger.
After such a slow start, the garden is now greening up well. In the 'woodland ' section I was admiring the fritilleries when I spotted a couple of lily beetles, and had to deal with them. Since then, I've despatched a few more. This doesn't bode well for the potted lilies, which are a few inches high at the moment. In future, I will be on red alert. My tiny pond is positively seething with tadpoles. I've never had so many in it. The mating pigeons are doing their usual - landing clumsily on my plants, performing acrobatics and almost falling off the bird table, in order to get at the bird food (not really meant for them) and twice, flying into my windows. Where are the squirrels this year? I'm not too keen on tree rats but I've not seen any yet. I was delighted though to see a thrush on the green, as I made my way to the allotments, the other day. The birdsong is a delight, especially in the mornings. However, on Monday, there was no hope of being able to listen to the birds, let alone have a quiet chat with neighbouring plotholder Grant, as one of the nearby householders had decided to impose their choice of music on us, at full volume. I pitied their close neighbours, knowing that I could get away from it, to the peace of my own garden. Pity then, that when I arrived home, one of my own neighbours was doing the same thing, maybe not quite as loud, but still very irritating. Have I turned into Mrs Grumpy of Sutton Coldfield? Very likely. Still, as all my other neighbours were out, I decided that if you can't beat them, join them, and enjoyed an hour or so, setting seeds, and potting up seedlings, to Bruce Springsteen's 'The Promise' album - drowning out the other music.
There has been a change of weather today, but the rain is welcome, as the earth is very dry and dusty. I decided that, before I fill my greenhouse with growbags and tomato plants, I would give it a good wash, and it does look much better. It's a very old greenhouse. So old, in fact, that that it has the name 'The Good Life' over the door. Looks a bit shabby, but does the job. The door keeps coming off its runners though, and I have to keep asking my son to put it back for me. The mini greenhouse, now full of plants hardening off, is also falling apart, but I'm hoping it will last out a bit longer.
Heres a photo taken at my jewellery party. I promised myself I wouldn't send off for any more gems etc until I had sold more of my stuff but this morning I was watching Jewellery Maker and just had to order some amazing red coral 'chillies'. They look just like the real thing. As a bit of a chilli head, I'll just have to make a necklace (and maybe earrings) for myself. I did order a few more things too. Couldn't resist.
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