Thursday, April 2, 2009

A Productive Day on the Allotment 1st April, 2009

Well, it was a funny old night. I managed to get to sleep ok, then woke up when it was still dark and ended up staying awake until 9am, then falling asleep again and Jim woke me at 1.30pm! A quick 'breakfast' and it was out into the garden. It had promised sunshine but was cloudy but dry, which if ok by me. I have been trying to finish digging over and weeding Jim's 2nd allotment plot and it's almost finished. it was full of buttercups and dock and some of it is really heavy, damp soil, which is hard work to dig. We also decided that the only way to stop the vegetables being 'Bustered' was to enclose these 2 plots with a fence. So today that's just what we did and it looks just great, all organised and ready to plant. The 2nd plot is going to have soft fruit in it. We already have rhubarb and strawberries. Buster loves to eat the strawberries, as do the birds. Now we have all sorts of other fruit bushes ready to plant. It was dark by the time we'd finished so I'll take a photo of it tomorrow. We were so pleased with ourselves.

Buster came back from his wanderings and he was just so confused. There was I, inside this 'cage' and he couldn't get at me. He kept poking his head through the fence and barking! He'll get used to it. Jim went back inside and I finished off and put the tools away and then Jim re-appeared with 2 gin and tonics. Fabulous. We sat on our seat in front of the shed and enjoyed the last bit of light. Pippistrel bats were swirling overhead and a large flock of starlings landed on the telephone wires. It looked for all the world like the Hitchcock film 'The Birds'. They chattered away to each other! A pair of collared doves were mating in one of the trees and a blackbird sang to us. Both cats played around near us too. What a blissful half an hour it was.

We had a late meal and watched The Apprentice before heading off each to our own computer.

Jack


As you probably know by now, Jack is my gorgeous Grandson by my son Jason and his lovely wife Sam. He will be 4 in May. Sam told me this wonderful tale about him at the weekend. He was helping his Daddy clear out the small bedroom for the arrival of his little sister Kitty at the end of May. Jason turned to him and said 'Look at the mess you're making'. Quick as a flash, Jack replied, 'It's part of my charm'. Can you believe it!










I brought home one of his drawings on my last visit. It's fantastic that all of a sudden their drawings take on real form and shape and are no longer just squiggles. The photo isn't too clear but this is his picture:







In case you're wondering, it's a chicken and at the bottom are its 2 eggs. How cool is that?












Flower Arrangement

After my flower arranging course for Mother's Day, I had a go at a table arrangement. It hasn't lasted long, but here it is:




Not bad for a first effort!
















Buster

Buster now has his new, larger bed, as you may know if you follow my blog. In spite of that, he still dangles his head out the side! Maybe he's more comfortable that way:





It doesn't look very comfortable











Having a good stretch













Then he went camera shy











Change of position













This is obviously his favourite position!







At the moment his is curled up right inside it, so he can fit in it if he wants to.

Of course today is April 1st and I was totally taken in by the discovery of a brand new butterfly in ancient woodland in Kent. Silly me. Also by a new series of Gardeners' World - to be presented by the Top Gear man Jeremy Clarkson!! I thought it was a bit odd. I'm so gullible.

http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/findings/newbutterfly.htm That's the link to the butterfly.

That's it for today. Just a little blog. A bloglet maybe?? Back tomorrow with photos of our fenced off vege plots. Can you contain your excitement?

10 comments:

Chris Stovell said...

Hellloooooo BT! Sorry, I've been running around like an eejit so now have time to sit down! it was good to see you at 'mine'... I thought I'd lost you! Phew! There are always so many lovely photos on your blog but, oh, I love that photo of Poppy 'kissing' Jim! How cute is that?? I also adore Jack's chicken and egg picture - brilliant! (When Rose was little she 'wrote' an illustrated book called 'Mother Hen Lub (sic) Her Chick' in a similar vein and it brought tears to my eyes - seeing Jack's drawing brought it all back)

Rachel Green said...

What a super idea with the soft fruit. Will you net it like an 'open air polytunnel'?

BT said...

Hello Chris, it's sad to 'lose' someone, isn't it? The Poppy photo has been very popular! No wonder, it's a gem. I'm glad Jack's picture brought back happy memories for you. Poppy's full name is Poppy Rose!

Hi Rachel. We will put some posts around the strawberries and net them but probably not the rest. There are enough fruits about for the birds I think. We shall have to see whether it's necessary after this season to net the rest.

Jinksy said...

Chicken with eggs is a true work of art...And perhaps your dog likes a cool pillow for his head?!

Son1 said...

Ah these are my fav blogs, varied, blogett in length and featuring a Green or two. lol

Your decoration looks good, glad you are using your skills. I laughed out loud when Jack said that to me. Brilliant.

Sounds like you'll have several tonnes of produce!

x

aims said...

Well isn't Buster just silly! He's huge btw!

Love the flower arranging Gina. Great job.

You two have such a wonderful life. G&T's on the bench....how lovely indeed!

mansuetude said...

maybe that Buster is really liking the cool tile floor--he IS hot stuff!

grunt right on back to him... a hello. :)

BT said...

Jinksy, glad you like the 'work of art'. Buster is once again just behind me in his bed - but his head is on the floor. He must like a cool floor I think!

Happy you liked my mini blog (it ended up longer than I intended) and my flower arrangement. I need some more Florapak now.

Aims, indeed Buster is on the large size. We thought he was going to be small and sweet. Little did we know! We know how to enjoy ourselves, don't we?

mansuetude!! You are funny. He was hot stuff but now is an 'it' rather than a boy! He's snoring at the moment, will that do??

DK said...

oh wow, the Poppy Jim picture is fabulous! ~grins~

marianne said...

I still had to comment these!
The pictures are priceless! Buster hanging in his new bed. It brings a smile to my face every time I see it!

Hug >M<