Cuckoo

As promised I now post the photos of my peas in the polytunnel together with the tomatoes in the greenhouse with a shot of some beetroot  and spring onions. 

The weather on Wednesday was horrendous with rain all day and a bitter cold North East strong wind with the temperature around 10 c. Thursday fared a little better with it being a lot warmer but still no sign of the sun. Today started off cloudy but improved considerably with the sun coming out and it was pleasantly warm. It made me want to spend time in the garden generally weeding. Whilst I was in the garden I heard a Cuckoo the for the first time this year, I don't think I heard it last year but definitely heard it a couple of years ago. When I was young it was heard regular until late May or early June when it left the area.

 I have just seen the weather forecast for the Bank Holiday week end. It is mixed with tomorrow being rather cloudy here on the coast but on Monday it is expected to be similar to Wednesday. Something that I am dreading. Incidentally my Central Heating came on the morning, not a good sign for the end of May. More soon.

Magpie

At the week end I was cleaning up after baking my bread, the sink is directly under the the window. I looked up and thought to myself that the male chaffinch wasn't looking too great. Within a few seconds a magpie swooped on the bird, pecked it behind it's neck killing it then off it flew with the dead chaffinch in it's claws. Obviously it was going to eat it, such is the wildlife kingdom.

The weather has not been great this year for the garden. The best results so far have been the potatoes and the shallots. What I should have done was show the peas in the polytunnel which are well into flower with the odd pod being on, also the tomatoes in the greenhouse  are looking good also. My flowers are only fair with the waterlogged garden several times meant I have lost quite a few flowers, surprisingly some aquelegias .

As you can see by the photos, the garden doesn't look great. Will try to post photos of peas and tomatoes next time. More soon.

As expected

It was I expected, yesterday my mate came to see me. It is quite a while since he was here and it was nice to see him.
 Later on my Best Pal came and he had told me his Wife would be calling later to see me. I am pleased because she didn't call last year.
 It was a miserable day with rain at times but not as heavy as in some areas.
 Later on his Wife came in and bought me a Rose bush. She told me it was an early Birthday present. To be honest I am not keen on Roses as they attract greenfly and have sooty mould on their leaves. We had a pleasant time and while we were talking the lad from next door rung the door bell. He had just finished work and as always he likes to see my Pal. He was surprised to see his Wife here but he soon began to talk a little.
 After about 15 minutes he left and his Wife commented on how nice he was. I told her that if he hadn't been nice I would not have bothered with him at all.
 Today I set my last peas and the odd potato I set  a while ago are beginning to show. My tomatoes in the greenhouse look good, both my Pal and his Wife commented on how well they looked.
 Incidentally I gave my mate a couple of tomato plants and he told me they looked good, I also gave him some broad bean seeds to sow.
 By the time my Pal ane his wife left it was past my teatime but I did enjoy the time with my visitors. More soon.

Plants

I hadn't seen the young lad from next door for a few days and wondered if he was alright but on Sunday late afternoon he called to see me. He had been on Respite, that is where the carers next door have a few day without the two who they care for so it gives them a little break. He was pleased to be back and told me that where he had been it was cold, mind you the  weather was cold for mid May.
 These last few days have been a little warmer so with this in mind I planned to plant the runner beans in their allotted spot today so yesterday I dug the ground up once more. It really is in a poor condition, I guess that is because the amount of rain we have had and I couldn't believe how compacted it had become. So this morning I went out early to plant them out. It took about 40 minutes to do the job and I had other plans for this morning. I wished to go to the surgery to make an appointment for my 3 monthly blood test, I then planned to go to have my haircut so that was the morning taken care of.
 I went to the Surgery  around 9.30 am. and saw a lady who I know well. She told me she was going to retire next Easter. I asked her if she had a Pension from the NHS and she told me she had not. She then informed me that she was 67 and it was time to go especially as the new management team had been installed and most of the older people had retired.
 I then went to the bottle bank to dispose of several jars and then it was off to Alford to have my haircut. There was the market on also an Auction so there were plenty around the market place. I went into the Barbers Shop and found there were a few in so I had to wait a while.
 While I was waiting a young man came in and sat next to me, the guy on the other side offered me the daily newspaper  to read which I accepted but I only glanced through it for about 5 minutes and offered it to the young man who said he didn't want it. I told him I could understand it as he had his mobile in his hand. I remarked that he had more news on that mobile and he agreed. I asked him how much he had to pay for the use. He told me it was on contract paying £20. a month, this gave him unlimited text messages  so many free calls and some free time on the Internet. I told him that I would not be able to see the text on the mobile and I had a tower computer. He grinned and told me that at his home there was a computer like mine but it was gathering dust. He replied to my question of where he worked by saying he was working for Pocklington's the Bakers in Withern. WE had a quick conversation about baking and too soon it was my turn to have my haircut.
 I got back home in time to prepare my meal. After eating it I went out to water the polytunnel for tomorrow it is supposed to rain.
 This is typical, I don't see anyone for a while then I will have 2 call on me tomorrow. Fist my mate will be here , this was arranged last Saturday. While I was writing this blog the phone rang, it was my Best Pal asking if he could see me tomorrow, still it will be nice to see both of them. More soon.

Weather changed

Yesterday it rained all day. I got up around 7. 30 am. and it was raining and when it got dark it was still raining. This morning it was dry but cloudy and not before long we had more rain but it did clear up around 11.00  am.  and we saw some warm sunshine.
 I saw the young lad from next door and he told me his broad beans are looking well, also his radish too are growing. With the rain we have had it will certainly help.
 I told him some time ago that I was concerned about the pear tree I gave him. I am certain that it has decided to die. It did come into flower about a month ago but there was no sign of leaves. Eventually the blossom withered. This is not the only failure. I too have a plum tree that is almost certain it has died.
 On the other hand my tomatoes in the greenhouse are progressing well with a few in bud. The grape vine on the other hand has only produced a couple of fruits on the vine. They are very small but hopefully the lad will have a taste. I think the lack of fruit is because I severely pruned it last year. I didn't care much for the grapes as they were small and had plenty of seeds in the grapes.
 the potatoes in the polytunnel are looking good, also the peas I set are just beginning to come into flower so with a bit of luck in June I will have fresh garden peas. More soon.

Behaving

With the weather behaving better I decided to plant my tomato plants in the greenhouse. As anyone who is a gardener knows that having potatoes and tomatoes in close proximity is not a good idea as they are related and blight is the worst thing one could have. With this in mind I decided today to lift the solitary potato out of the greenhouse. As you can see from the photo I had a good crop of extra early new potatoes. Had I left them in for another 2 weeks they would have grown a lot more but I do have plenty in the polytunnel to lift in a couple of weeks or so.
 The young lad came for dinner on Wednesday and when I went up to see his garden I could see that the radish was growing, also a couple of broad beans had just pooed their heads above ground. He had not noticed them as I think he was disappointed that they had not shown before but I kept telling him that it was the cold weather that had been the problem. At the same time I had a close look at the pear tree and told him that I thought it was dying but I would keep a close eye on it.
 I then went back to mine after we had sprayed the dyke and took a close look at a plum tree I had sown. I didn't like the look of it but to be honest the ground has been waterlogged for some considerable time so it will not surprise me if it decides to wither away. I don't suppose I will be replacing it in the near future.
 While he was here we did sow a few seeds and I let him plant a few seed potatoes, the last thing we did was to plant his tomato plant in the greenhouse which he was pleased to do.
 He told me that this week end he will be visiting his Sister on Saturday and on Sunday they plan to go swimming so will probably not see him until next week.
 Tomorrow I intend to ring my mate up with the expectations that he will visit me next week. It will be nice to see him as he hasn't been here for some time. He has been busy in his own home, the latest thing for him, so he told me was to change his radiators over. I think the central heating has been installed for some time and he has bought a few replacement radiators. More soon.

Sowing

On Saturday I asked the young man from next door to help me repairing a fencing panel. I noticed that it needed to be repaired on Thursday.
 He came round fairly early on Saturday so we started to get the panel repaired and to be honest I was pleased the way it went.
  Whilst he was here I told him we would sow some garden peas which incidentally I soaked prior to sowing. I also gave him a few seed potatoes to set and I told him that we would sow some french beans and to top it all I then suggested we plant a tomato in my greenhouse which he readily agreed to. before we started I asked him if he would like a ham roll with a few home made chips, something he had never see done before. I cut the potato up into chip sizes then place them on a try, cover with a light coating of olive oil and pop them in the oven on a high heat for about 40 minutes.
 Before I did that we did the seed sowing and thank goodness the weather has been a little warmer these last few days.
 All went well with the gardening and he loved the chips, he then went Online and showed me several things which to be honest I was not really interested but I had to show him that I was in fact interested.
 After dinner he went round to get his remote control car and played with that for an hour or so. Eventually he left and I reminded him that on Wednesday he would be round for dinner which is Cottage Pie and his usual pudding of Apple Crumble. Heaven alone knows what he will have next time as I have run out of blackberries.
 I managed to catch the Postman today to give him 3 plum tomato plants. I hadn't seen him for about a fortnight and the first topic of conversation was how cold it had been and it was only yesterday he had sown his seeds. I told him that I had not sown any small seeds yet but would probably do so this week. More soon.