When I was sorting out the strawberries last autumn I potted up a dozen plants to put in the hoop house. I was hoping for a few early fruits when the weather would still be chilly outside. The flowers were very  encouraging and we were getting quite excited. 

We watched the fruits swelling and pinking up. Benjy even managed to taste one last weekend and they held promise of things to come. Thursday we thought we might collect some to put on top of a trifle. I even took a bowl to collect them in. 

We had had a thief in the night and he or she had filled their larder with our beautiful strawberries. Ha, not one left for us. 

On a more cheerful note, this is for Tony. Three leeks and six water melons. 

See you later.

Sad day today.

Last year I introduced you to Pedro my daughter's little dog. 

http://nowimagrandma.blogspot.com/2010/01/pedro-wonder-dog.html

Pedro was a bit poorly last week, Bex took him to the vet and they found a lump. Unfortunately it was a cancerous growth and not operable. He had about six to nine weeks of good quality life left the vet said. So they took him home to love and cherish for those last weeks but it was not to be. I sorry to say our little fella died tonight 

R.I.P  Pedro the Wonder Dog.

I have been out foraging with my mate Bill. We went to the woods to collect hazel poles for my beans and peas. It's all right that's what Bill does for a living and he looks after the wood as well. It was a gorgeous day with warm sunshine and a gentle breeze. The wood was so quiet and peaceful, you would not believe we are only a mile or so from the middle of our only city.

Here's Bill with his trusty saw, choosing the best poles. Some where less than straight but the beans don't mind a bit. This is a very old way of managing the woodland, its call coppicing. The hazel ( in this case ) was cut back to the ground to stimulate growth and the wood was used for hurdle making, house building or firewood. 

I also got the twiggy peas stick as an added bonus. These I use to keep the birds off my broad beans and for the shorter peas to grown up. I believe the twigs were used to make the besom brushes. Witches brooms. 

Bill had this wonderful old truck to collect the wood in. We bounced along the woodland track, not good on the old bones but great fun.

Here we are loading up our spoils. 30 bean poles and a large arm full of pea sticks. Enough to keep me going for a few years and a few to swap with my allotment friends for other goodies. 

Here are all the pea sticks in situ, keeping those pesky pigeons off my broad beans. The broad beans are doing very well considering we have had so little rain since I sowed them. I have about 800lts left in my big tank and a full barrel tank by the tunnel. I have been bringing water from home, to keep the small barrel full. As the tomatoes are going in this week I do hope it rains soon, as they drink such a lot. 

The weather is still wonderful here, it is giving us a false sense of security. I don't think we will have a frost now but the wind can be a killer here in Cornwall. It dries up the ground so fast and the salt ladened air doesn't do any good either. We are a liitle sheltered from the west here, the way of the prevailing wind, so lets just keep our fingers crossed. 

Lots going on outside.

The weather in Cornwall has been just right for allotment work and let me tell you we have been doing a awful lot of that. It mostly been hard hard landscaping and general maintenance, stuff we hadn't been able to do over winter.

The raised beds have gone in, six down the lefthand side. The blue hoop you see will hold the insect net to stop those dratted caterpillars eating all my greens. 

This arrived last week, on the only day it poured with rain. There was a lot more but I didn't remember to take a snap until the rain stopped. Benjy and I moved the lot, up the hill to our plot. It's green chippings, from the local tree surgeon, he charges £20 a load, bargain I say. 

We have used it to cover the paths both outside and in the poly tunnel. Cleaner feet from now on, I hope. The smell is divine, all piney and fresh and not one splash of chemical cleaner in sight.

Pampa made another gate at the bottom of the plot, nothing is ever small but it is very impressive. All I need now is a name for the plot, any ideas? 

I was also gifted, from freecycle, these slab. Benjy wanted to make a sitting area and we thought we could incorporate this into our cutting garden. We'll grow sweetpeas and other flowers for the house, plus anything to attract 'good' insects into the allotment. 

Oh and don't worry about Pampa, I've haven't been making him work. I do take him with me and he 'oversees' our work. What you can't see behind those dark glasses is that he's fast asleep and snoring ever so gently.

Potatoes under the fleece, these are now though the soil and I've earthed them up. The fleece has been packed away for another year, I hope. The two bed to the right have shallots, garlic and onions, covered by netting to stop the pesky birds pulling them out. 

On my mind....

Friday on my mind!

These tomatoes are on my mind today, they need potting on before they become leggy and draw. I have eight varieties on the go this year. Big ones, small ones, bush and cordon, I have even got  a Giant tree tomato. Can't wait to see what that is like!!!!   Lots of lovely fruits to add to salads, grill for our breakfast or put in our sandwiches and loads to turn into tomato sauce.

Have a lovely weekend whether it's autumn or spring where you are.

Allotment diary. March.

2nd week.

The whole allotment was ready for planting but I've now sourced a supply of scaffold planks and we hope to make six raised beds on one side. This is going to hold up sowing by a week or so but to bring things  along I've started some things off in modular trays and popped them into the poly tunnel. So far the shallots are in and I've a tray of beetroot all tuck up. Tomorrow I'll do the onions and sow a tray of spinach, parsnips and broad beans. 

I have five different named potatoes to plant this year, all first or second earlies plus a salad potato. Four are chitting nicely but the Lady Balfour is a bit slow. Popped on the conservatory windowsill to bring thing along. 

All the seeds have arrived from the various suppliers but I think I need some more beetroot. I don't think the one packet I have ordered will give us the crop we will need.

One thing I do need is a marker pen that doesn't wash off in the rain, a Sharpie pen. 

For those of you from the D2E forum here are Rhonda, Hanno and Alice inspecting my compost bin. Not much in it at the moment.

Gyllyngvase Beach - Falmouth - Photos of Cornwall

Gyllyngvase Beach - Falmouth - Photos of Cornwall

Knit and Natter knitting club today. This is where I go on a wednesday morning, I sit and knit and chat and drink tea. It's lovely to met old friends and make new ones. We often have people joins us that are on holiday, regretting they don't have their knitting with them but never mind they can talk to likeminded friends. 

This beach is near my home and I can walk there in a few minutes. This walk takes me down the hill to our nearest small beach, along the cliff path to the next cove, where the cafe' sits. I love being here at all times of the year. Winter when the seas are running high and fast, waves on the beach and white seahorses out on the horizon. Summer when the beach is busy with families enjoying themselves, the hardened swimmers and the hundreds of holidaymakers. The cafe' is busy then but we can sit outside under the canopy and 'take the air'. 

I particularly like this club as the members are of different ages, we have young students from the local university, mums whose children have not long started school, old hands like me and seniors who are a mine of knowledge. Everyone is welcome, you don't have to attend every week or even every month, just when you feel like it. Knitting is not compulsory, we have one lady who attends every week but I've never seen her pick up a pair of needles while there. 

See you later after my knitting fix. x