The veg patch bites back

Now I'm working for a while I don't get so much time to look after the garden so I had a quick look this morning to put a bucket of water on the tomatoes. I'd taken a couple of courgettes off last weekend and they wee very tasty so I thought I'd see how they are getting on. There are two monsters there now and the one I picked weighs 2.5 kilos! I'd heard that they grow quickly when they get going but I wasn't prepared for that.

The rest of the bed is out of control. I reduced the recommended spacings for the seeds to get more in and everything is overlapping with carrots fighting the sprouts and the beetroot overpowering the onions. I'll know better next year.

Sparrowhawk and Father-in-law's plums

I was chatting with F-i-L yesterday morning when I heard a commotion coming from his bird feeding centre (it's a bit big to be just a bird table) and it was being caused by a sparrowhawk that had caught one of it's talons in the netting that protected the plum tree adjacent to the feeding area. Presumably it knows that the feeding centre attracts it's own food as sparrowhawks prey on song birds and pigeons etc. I was wondering how we might rescue the bird from the predicament it was in without losing our fingers, eyes, ears etc when it ripped a hole in the net and sped off. That sort of makes sense as the talons are designed to do damage, if not to plum nets specifically.

It's my first positive sighting of a sparrowhawk at close quarters so a good day.

Calibrating my wedges

I bought a gap wedge yesterday: a Vokey 5208. I tried it out at the practice area and the results were horrible. The club looks so gorgeous it has to be me so I took it and my PW to the range today and the results were glorious. Funny game golf.

Chickens under control but not the mole

We got home last night to find the neighbours from Chankly Bore chasing chickens round the garden, watched by Sue from next door.  They were very embarrassed and I wish I'd taken a pic because it was hilarious.  LJ had said I should've picked the chickens up and taken them back but seeing the trouble the owners had getting them I wasn't so unhappy at my efforts.  LJ also assumed I know where they came from which, at the time, I didn't.

The neighbours brought some eggs round later which was a nice touch. 

Unfortunately the mole has the vegetable patch to itself now and the damage this morning is horrible with most of the beetroot plants in trouble.  It looks as though the chickens kept the mole away!      

Moles and chickens

I have spent a lot of time and effort on our new raised vegetable bed. It is beautiful and we are very proud of it so when I found a mole tunnel in it this morning I was not pleased and set a trap. A little severe you might think but it's an organic bed and who knows where the mole's been.
That was bad enough but when I got back after lunch I caught THREE rogue chickens destroying the bed. I could weep!

After a couple of hours the chickens had found their way through to Richard next door and he got two of them into the field at the bottom and the other one came back to me.  I then came up with a cunning plan.  I laid a trail of bird seed from close to the third hen, past the vegetable patch, over the compost heap and into the field.  It all started well with the chicken following the trail so I dashed in to get changed to meet LJ.  By the time I came out again the cunning plan had back-fired and the other two had followed the trail back into the garden.  

I give up. 

Blueberry muffins

My first attempt at blueberry muffins was amazing. I think I may have to quit while I'm ahead! I used a Mary Berry recipe with Sainsbury's fruit. Gorgeous.

Lazy boy!

I'm sitting in Starbucks in the sunshine with a coffe and a good book. I am struggling to find a good reason not to stay here all day.