Old Jack Frost paid a visit to our allotments last week, she thinks it was on Friday night and he's burnt all the new leaves on the fig trees. All of the other fruit trees are all ok but Jack has 'nipped' a lot of the cherries whose blossoms were the last to form. GRRRR! It must have been one hell of a cold night as we've never had leaves burnt like this before, most are six feet off the ground for goodness sake, what was he doing scattering his icy wares so high up?
Everyone's potatoes were hit by it, as, too, were the vines, the leaves look as if someone has put a flame thrower over them, poor little things, they're scrivelled and twisted, not a happy sight at all.
Apart from that she's slowly, very slowly, winning the battle with the beastly briars, which is what you call blackberries when they go wild and just produce huge amounts of growth with not a piece of yummy fruit in sight.
And you can now actually see Little Shed! She got dressed from top to toe in slippery clothing that the briar thorns couldn't catch upon, climbed into long boots, put on leather gauntlets and set about the briars with long handled loppers and a special pair of secaturs.
It took her the best part of a day, so you can imagine the gratification she felt when she pulled and cut away the last long piece that was growing across Little Shed's door. The incinerator was still there.. heehee.. this is where beastly briar is going to end his reign of terror, as every inch of him is going to burnt! She cut every piece into small sections so that they would fit into the bin.
The door needs replacing, she's not surprised, it was very old when she took on the plots and that was over sixteen years ago. She has planks of weathered wood that will do the job, it can't be a shop bought door as someone built this shed by hand a very long time ago, she re-inforced it and renewed the weather proofing in 2003.
She plans to install the same anti-theft protection that protects the door to Little Shack. For this she needs to dig two holes at least a foot deep, this is filled almost to the brim with ready-mixed cement and into this goes a 6' high piece of 4" x 4" of timber, through which holes are drilled, D shaped bike locks are fitted through these holes. A piece of heavy duty metal grill, originally part of a supermarket cage, hangs onto these locks in front of the door.
Meanwhile.. back home.. It is the First of May and she's just had a coffee with the Pewsey folks, I was not invited! I was left squeaking piteously by myself whilst they drove off but she reappeared about twenty minutes later skipping down our steps in a hurry for it had started to rain and it's chilly.
The forecast is for rain for most of today, she has no plans to go anywhere, which is a good thing as there's much to do at home! We have two large slabs of plastic lurking in the hall, they are the two tables which are going out to the allotments, one will go inside of Little Shack and one's for the terrace. Their legs snap in and out, so at the end of the Summer, she can take out the legs and it'll be stored inside.
There is also a stack of chairs lurking there as well, you can see why I am glad that I fly over this stuff! Imagine if one was a dog!
Huh, the sun has come out but she ain't tempted to go, she will finish tapping this, put a chicken into the big roasting pan which has the ridged top, pour in a little water with herbs and spices together with a couple of homemade stock cubes from the freezer, put it onto to simmer over a low heat and she'll do laundry and housework
It matters not that it is a Bank Holiday, it is Monday and old habits die hard! Anyway, the museums will be packed with tourists, she has much to do and the week is already getting booked up, she's got to go to out Romford again on Wednesday and a dear friend, John, has asked if he can work with her at the allotments to get exercise and fresh air!
Well, there's plenty of both of those waiting for him out there! I went out there with her yesterday and had forgotten how very pleasant fresh air is, but they, the football teams, were playing at the other end of Dukes Meadows, that was a bit disappointing, I haven't blown my referee's whistle for ages!
She's got to go off to do her chores (rather her than me) and I'm off to doze on the pole. PipPip to you all.. PipPip.
GeeGee Parrot.
May 1st, 2017.
PostScript: Michele of Pewsey's birthday tomorrow.. we picked her a lot of roses yesterday and put them to soak in a rubber gardening trug and yes, we know that she grows her own but one can never have enough highly scented roses in the house, especially if they were 'home grown' by a friend, can you?
Everyone's potatoes were hit by it, as, too, were the vines, the leaves look as if someone has put a flame thrower over them, poor little things, they're scrivelled and twisted, not a happy sight at all.
Apart from that she's slowly, very slowly, winning the battle with the beastly briars, which is what you call blackberries when they go wild and just produce huge amounts of growth with not a piece of yummy fruit in sight.
And you can now actually see Little Shed! She got dressed from top to toe in slippery clothing that the briar thorns couldn't catch upon, climbed into long boots, put on leather gauntlets and set about the briars with long handled loppers and a special pair of secaturs.
It took her the best part of a day, so you can imagine the gratification she felt when she pulled and cut away the last long piece that was growing across Little Shed's door. The incinerator was still there.. heehee.. this is where beastly briar is going to end his reign of terror, as every inch of him is going to burnt! She cut every piece into small sections so that they would fit into the bin.
The door needs replacing, she's not surprised, it was very old when she took on the plots and that was over sixteen years ago. She has planks of weathered wood that will do the job, it can't be a shop bought door as someone built this shed by hand a very long time ago, she re-inforced it and renewed the weather proofing in 2003.
She plans to install the same anti-theft protection that protects the door to Little Shack. For this she needs to dig two holes at least a foot deep, this is filled almost to the brim with ready-mixed cement and into this goes a 6' high piece of 4" x 4" of timber, through which holes are drilled, D shaped bike locks are fitted through these holes. A piece of heavy duty metal grill, originally part of a supermarket cage, hangs onto these locks in front of the door.
Meanwhile.. back home.. It is the First of May and she's just had a coffee with the Pewsey folks, I was not invited! I was left squeaking piteously by myself whilst they drove off but she reappeared about twenty minutes later skipping down our steps in a hurry for it had started to rain and it's chilly.
The forecast is for rain for most of today, she has no plans to go anywhere, which is a good thing as there's much to do at home! We have two large slabs of plastic lurking in the hall, they are the two tables which are going out to the allotments, one will go inside of Little Shack and one's for the terrace. Their legs snap in and out, so at the end of the Summer, she can take out the legs and it'll be stored inside.
There is also a stack of chairs lurking there as well, you can see why I am glad that I fly over this stuff! Imagine if one was a dog!
Huh, the sun has come out but she ain't tempted to go, she will finish tapping this, put a chicken into the big roasting pan which has the ridged top, pour in a little water with herbs and spices together with a couple of homemade stock cubes from the freezer, put it onto to simmer over a low heat and she'll do laundry and housework
It matters not that it is a Bank Holiday, it is Monday and old habits die hard! Anyway, the museums will be packed with tourists, she has much to do and the week is already getting booked up, she's got to go to out Romford again on Wednesday and a dear friend, John, has asked if he can work with her at the allotments to get exercise and fresh air!
Well, there's plenty of both of those waiting for him out there! I went out there with her yesterday and had forgotten how very pleasant fresh air is, but they, the football teams, were playing at the other end of Dukes Meadows, that was a bit disappointing, I haven't blown my referee's whistle for ages!
She's got to go off to do her chores (rather her than me) and I'm off to doze on the pole. PipPip to you all.. PipPip.
GeeGee Parrot.
May 1st, 2017.
PostScript: Michele of Pewsey's birthday tomorrow.. we picked her a lot of roses yesterday and put them to soak in a rubber gardening trug and yes, we know that she grows her own but one can never have enough highly scented roses in the house, especially if they were 'home grown' by a friend, can you?
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