All or nothing

It is either all or nothing. A couple of months ago I was buying vegetables, now I have plenty of different vegetables to choose from although I must admit that with the very hot weather my peas have come and more or less gone very quickly.
 I was fortunate with my cherries, on Sunday my Best Pal rung me up to let me know he was coming to see me on Monday with the news also that he was going back home the next day. He will of course be returning soon.
 As I had a blackbird in one of my fruit cages, I decide on Sunday to pick the fruit off the tree and save them for my Pal to take home to his family.
 I decide to put them in the fridge overnight and luckily checked them first thing on Monday. To my surprise quite a lot had begun to rot so I  sorted  them out made some  jam and also slice the best ones in  half, take the stones out and freeze them. This I can make a sort of ice cream with frozen bananas and other fruits such as peaches and nectarines.
 I then went out after my mid day meal and picked about 6lb of cherries. I also picked some carrots and a few beetroot. I just managed to get everything ready when he called.
 No sooner had we sat down to put the world right when we had a terrific thunderstorm. It lasted for almost 90 minutes. Still I had managed to get my fruit picked.
 The weather brightened up briefly around 4.15pm. My Pal left at 4.30pm. and about 15 minutes later it started to rain again. We had very little sun after 2.45pm.
This morning I went out to pick a few more cherries to give to people, to my surprise, the heavy rain had caused much damage to the cherries, however I managed to get enough but to be honest I guess 25% were ruined.
 I saw the workmen who s building an extension next door. I told him he had an early day yesterday. He told me he did and he also said he waited in his car for ages but did no more work at all yesterday. He looked up and suggested that we may get a repeat performance today. Although it turned very dull this afternoon the amount of rain was not also great as to stop them from working.
 As for my vegetables, I now have a choice of peas, broad beans, runner beans french beans, cauliflower carrots and marrow, so for now I am spoilt for choice, soon I will not have such a wide choice of vegetables. More soon.

Lively weather

 

 

 

Just a couple of photos of blackcurrants and cherries. Everything seems to get ripe at the same time. The cherries are called Stella. I have a later variety called Summer Sun. these will be ready within a week or so.
As for cherries, I have lots and lots of them, blackcurrants I made jam with those.
yesterday I got up before 6.30am. I was surprised to see that it had just started raining, not hard but a gentle rain. It finally stopped around 10.30am.
At 7.30am. I heard a noise and looked out to see that a local builders merchant was delivering some building materials. With the crane unloading it was quite noisy, I just had to laugh because I never would have thought that a delivery would be done that early.
Last night around 10.00pm. we had a terrific thunderstorm with torrential rain. One thing was certain was that all my water butts were once again full to overflowing and the garden now has had a good soak. I checked to see if the water had gone well into the ground, it indeed had.
 It will help my runner beans they are coming on well, I had again today another taste, soon I will have plenty to give away. That is typical, it is either all or nothing,  that's the way it goes. More soon.

Poor week end

The first peas are called Little Marvel, I picked around 7lb of them on one of the hotter days. My back ached after picking them. It was not easy as I have to cover them up with netting to stop the pigeons ruining the crops.
Shelling them too was not an easy job but I managed it alright.
 The lower peas are what a lot of people grow for showing. I am not interested in showing them though. They are Hurst Greenshaft. Commonly known as Greenshaft. These are the main crop where as Little Marvel are the first early variety. Unfortunately this year although I did sow the first early in March and the main crop in mid April, they were more or less ready at the same time this means that I will have lots of peas that will go to seed so that I can use them next year.
 I have picked, today several more fruits which I will post soon.
 Today has been a much better day although the forecast for the coming week is not good at all. Heavy rain and thunderstorms at times.
 The week end was a huge disappointment for anyone who came to the sea side. Saturday was rather dull and yesterday was a dreadful day. Dull all day with no sign of the sun at all, it was rather cool too. I was wearing shorts and going shirtless those days when the sun shone but yesterday I wore my trousers and shirt, I also put a jumper on as it was rather cool. Today started much as it was these last 2 days but around 11.00am. the skies began to brighten somewhat and it turned a lot warmer.
 Although much of the Country has had unbroken sunshine we on the East Coast have had several days where the sun has failed to shine at all so we have not had the blistering heat.
 We will see if we get the thunderstorms that are promised. More soon.

All O.K.

 

These pictures of my cottage garden were taken just before the hot weather arrived, just as well because the flowers are being affected by the sudden heat. Still I was very happy with the sight, plenty of colour and variety too.
Went to Hospital yesterday and to be honest this is the best I have known for efficiency.
 Normally when trying to park it is a nightmare but when I approached I noticed that the outlay was totally different. Much easier  to find a parking space and there were several spaces available. Still only £1 for an hour or £2 all day. On entering the building I spoke to one of the ancillary workers and I remarked on the car park> She then told me that everyone had to pay  for parking their car. Not good as most of those would be on the minimum wage.
 Anyway I booked in and immediately a Norse called me over. I knew her well as she has dealt with me before. She wanted me to be weighed. I begin to wonder if it is me or it is normal. What I had to do was take my jacket and shoes off then sit on this chair. This is the new way of checking your weight. I then sat down for a couple of minutes and at the appointed time my Consultant called me in. We both said it was nice to see each other and we had a social chat. Amongst other things he told me that he had been on social events lately including going to his Daughter's party. She had just become a Doctor, not here but in London. This is where he came from and his Wife still lives there and he told me he has 2 homes now. I told him that his base was really London, he agreed but I told him I didn't wish him to go back there to work as he had been a life saver to me.
 Anyway we passed a few more pleasantries and he told me that he was not worried about ma and another appointment would be made in 12 months time.
 After making my next appointment I left and noticed that it was less than 30 minutes that I had been there. This must be some sort of record.
 Called to see my Italian friend and his Wife, who incidentally is much better. He was complaining about the garden and how things were not growing much at all. I put my foot in it by telling him that I had my first cucumber on my plant.He took me to see his, they certainly looked far better than mine but he didn't have a fruit on his at all. It was more galling as it was him that gave me the cucumber plant. I did soften the blow by telling him that I gave my mate one and his also had nothing on yet.
 I saw his grape vine was full of smallish grapes with lots of seeds. It is my intention to have mine removed if possible as they are not good enough for me. I didn't tell him though because it was him that gave me a couple of cuttings, one of which I gave to my mate. He thinks the same as me about them.  We shall see what happens.  More soon.

Hot

 

You will notice that I have to cover the broad beans and peas with bird netting. just one of the perks for living in the countryside. Much better though to have animals as the pests than vandals.
 Today I picked lots of peas, it is a little disappointing really because although I set my first earlies in early March, the main crop in late April, both lots are more or less ready at the same time. It was so hot picking the peas, I picked almost 7lb of Little Marvel early peas managed to shell them and now they are in the freezer. Later I picked the main crop. Hurst Greenshaft, they are really for the show bench. Much larger than the earlies but just as productive.
 It has been very noisy here today. Next door, the one with the large house had a delivery of bricks and other things to start the extension. The other side have had machinery working most of the day. Disappointing for me because I have a screen fitted so that I can have my door open with no fear of flies coming inside to bother me. The noise though was, at times too bad for me to leave the door open.  I wonder just how long this will be going on for.
 Tomorrow I go to Hospital to see my Consultant, only for a general review so I am not worried. I don't suppose anything will change at all.
 My runner beans are just beginning to set, well some of them anyway. I am picking tomatoes off my plants regular. Cherries are just beginning to ripen, not that I have that many on this year but will have enough for me. Strawberries are more or less done with. I guess it is the sudden hot weather that has bough everything on so much quicker than I anticipated. There are a few blackcurrants ripening and the gooseberries are too looking good.
I have dug up some first early potatoes Pentland Javelin, what a disappointment, one has to watch them closely because they soon turn to mash, one minute they are not ready, the next they are falling to pieces in the pan. One can steam them but for sure, I will NOT be growing them again. More soon.

Must be better

The hedge as it was before I decided to take it down

 

 

 

As you can see, I have been busy, not as you would imagine all this done in a day. It took me several days to cut it all down.

 

The marks on the gravel are from my garden waste bin. The largest pieces were dumped in the ditch for my neighbour  to pick them up and burn them.Yes I did ask him if it was alright and he told me there was no problem.                            

 

This is where I dumped the leylandi the neighbours have a large field and he often has a bonfire burning rubbish so there is no problem at all.                  

Now I will have a few days rest, today has been hot and very sultry, not good for my solar production as it is too hot for my system. I don't suppose it will  make an awful lot of difference in a year though. More soon.                                         

 

 

 

 

 

Under the weather

Thank goodness I am feeling a little better, on Tuesday last week I was not too great, a flare up of one of my chronic illnesses. I immediately doubled up on my dosage, and keeping my fingers crossed I think this has done the trick. Not out of the woods yet but hopefully I think all will be well. I do go to see my Consultant next week so will give him my progress report.
 Today we drew the short straw for the weather. the vast majority of the Country basked in sunshine, here all we have had is a cold dull day with a light drizzle at times. At 6.00pm the sun did try to put  in an appearance but after a couple of minutes gave up. Tomorrow it does talk of being better.
 As I sat inside I heard some machinery working. It was the other side starting their building extension. Later I poked my head over and asked the guy working what was happening. He told me what was proposed then said that it was a much better day for working and he was pleased he had yesterday off as it would have been too hot to work.
 I thought about the hot summer days when I was on the Railway working express passenger trains to King's Cross. It was certainly very hot at times but there was never a thought of saying it was too hot to work. We just took it in our stride.
I saw the other side guy who told me that they hadn't ordered the bricks yet so they are in no hurry to complete their project. I wait to see what happens next.
 With the hot weather over the week end, my strawberries are ripening well, also what cherries I have are beginning to turn colour so it shouldn't be too long before I am tasting cherries. More soon.

Builders

It is like being next door to a builders yard. To be honest though the neighbours did tell me before hand what was happening but it has taken some time for this to happen.
 It started on Saturday morning, not early though. It turned out that they were waiting for a mini digger and a dumper truck to arrive. These duly arrived mid morning and then the noise started.
 They are building a conservatory, also they are concreting much of the rear garden so that they can park their care their cars there. Besides having 3 cars they also have a sort of campavan.
 Well they dug out quite a lot of soil and took it up the field. They also took out many small shrubs. The Father told me that they would be putting a fence down the side with kick boards, this will make my life easier as I am constantly spraying their place with weed killer.
 Yesterday he told me his Wife had got the hump. I asked him why and he told me that the greenhouse had to be moved. They started to dismantle the glass and he asked me if I would like the glass. I immediately told him that if he was dismantling the greenhouse why didn't he try to sell it. He just told me he couldn't be bothered. As I have a polytunnel, his wife also wants one too so I think that this will be on his agenda  next.
 The front garden was hugely overgrown it hadn't been touched in weeks. Yesterday afternoon they scraped the top off it digging out one of the shrubs, one that was very prickly. He told me that this was going to be turfed and the Lad could mow it.
 They had the Building Inspector come and pass the work so today has been nice and quiet.
 Tomorrow thought they are going to concrete much of the rear garden so the cement mixer will be going full tilt for much of the day.
 Let us hope that the weather is kind for them. More soon.