Trouble with t'chickens

Elly Chicken is back out of the box now and fully brood-free. Here's a video of her and the rest of the girls partaking in a bit of communal feather dusting. But with only two eggs a day I'm still not getting the full egg quota. Only just managing to keep up with the requirements of granddaughter Izzy, who's a bit grumpy without her daily fix.

Trouble is I can't fathom out if it's the same two laying all the time, or they're taking turns to produce the required orb. Could I adapt the old spy trick of sticking a hair across a door frame to see if anyone's entered (or anything's exited in this case)? How about a dab of different coloured poster paint in the required area so each egg indicates it's owner? It's a bit of a puzzler.

With yet another of my own personal painting the Forth Bridge sessions (i.e. strimming the grass) I've finally decided to have all my raised beds up this winter and convert the front plot to a more traditional and simple two bed system with a path down the middle. Give me loads more room and loads more time. Think I'll also focus on just a few vegetables rather than the scatter gun 'something will grow' method... something like onions, garlic, potatoes, salad stuff, tomatoes, peas and beans, cabbage and leeks.

Started planting out leeks this week... one of my all time favourite vegetables. Placing in troughs this time so I can bank them up as they grow and get a longer white stem. Here's progress so far (click to enlarge).

Have been keeping an eye on the water piping (hopefully the framing for my new fruit cage) just languishing away by itself on the new cemetary area. Spotted someone from the contractors looking over their finished work so went and asked him for his view. He thought it was spare to requirements, so dragged the piping across to my plot. Was more than a bit of a struggle... realised I was never going to drag it any further than the front bit unless I cut it up, and even getting it that far involved some choice language to help it along and a backward fall into the beetroots. Just to make sure it's OK I'll leave it on view and check it out with the groundsman when I next see him. Photo below of its new temporary home.

Played sons John and David pitch and putt yesterday and lost. Whenever I putted the ball shot off at right angles to where I was aiming. Think it's something about being used to turning my wrist when playing squash. John started strongly and waned, David started (just) and got better and better. Result went to John. So I'll have to get another cup to go with the tennis (currently held by Barry), squash (David) and pool/darts (me, hurrah!) cups played for.

Lots more photos and videos below. Thanks for reading my blog. John

	Water piping in its new home. (click to enlarge)
	Tigerella tomato ripening.
	Grandson Sammy's letter about his 'pets'.
	Grandsons Connor and Sammy speaking about how much they like their friends.
	UFOs that landed in daughter Becky's cooking tray and called themselves yorkshire puddings. Apparently they were delicious and spurred Barry on to winning the tennis cup yesterday evening!
	Connor in the sea... he's the head in the water!
	Granddaughter Izzy singing 'Baa Baa Blacksheep'
	John (Tigger) playing golf
	David (Lucky &*@?%!#) playing golf
	Beth and Chris boxing. This is the best of three clips taken at their wedding anniversary in July 2008. Note the serious right hooks from Beth! In all three clips Beth claims Chris is cheating... guess that means she lost!

Broody chicken

Elly chicken is brooding. Had noticed a drop in egg production. Next she was permanently sitting on the nest, reluctant to move. Finally, whenever I pushed her outside she'd have a right strop... see this video for a minute's worth of unhappy chicken.

Even when pecking around with the others she'd suddenly rush off as though pursued by a swarm of bees. Finally she was spooking the rest of the girls to such an extent that I didn't get any eggs at all one day.

So I knocked up a box with a wire base and she's been in there since Monday. I'll let her out this weekend when she'll hopefully be back to her normal self. See pictures at the bottom of this posting.

Babysat Connor and Paige last Saturday. Some incredulity on Beth's part when I said I was going to walk them to Hill Rise Park. As we arrived Connor announced he needed a poo ... desperately! Paige piped up that she needed one too. Now when Paige says she needs a poo you take notice, 'cause she's probably not been for a month. So some panic on my part as I tried to divert their attention onto ice creams we'd get on the way back. Paige decided she couldn't hold everything back and promptly downed tackle so she was bare from the waist down to have a wee.

By the time we got back home we were all desperate for the loo. Paige got in there first but was obviously too rushed... had to get her up from bed later to change her knickers. She sat on the loo and said she had to do a red face to make it work. Little sausage!

We've got yet another nesting bird in our garden, this time a collared dove. Difficult to realise at first since it's nest is the most haphazard platform of twigs imaginable. Here's a picture of mum (click to enlarge) proudly suspended above what should be two eggs that have another couple of weeks to go before hatching... so hopefully more photos to follow in future postings.

We've had some great results this year, with our first robin chicks in Spring, a blackbird nest a month later and numerous baby blackbirds that have escaped to the safety of our garden from the surrounding area. Might try making a set of sparrow boxes over winter.

And to confirm my success in the habitat-making sphere, the hedgehog box I installed in Beth's garden last winter was occupied a few weeks ago by a nesting mum. Unfortunately a dead baby hedgehog has appeared in their garden since then. Apparently there is a high rate of loss, but since the average litter is three or four newborns there's still a good chance of success.

The work to extend the cemetary has now finshed and I've resumed my peaceful cycle to the plot from that direction again. Managing to stay on the Pashley all the way with some significant wobbles on the rough ground. Made the mistake of attempting it after a heavy rainfall... only got about two metres onto soft earth before my tyres were so clogged up with mud they wouldn't turn any longer.

Here's some interesting water piping that's been left by the construction workers. Looks like no-one wants it... I certainly do. Would look rather nifty as part of my yet to be built fruit cage.

Been hoping I'd see the groundsman so I could ask if it's surplus to requirements, but no sign of him recently. If any of my fellow Hill Risers scroungers are reading this... I've staked my claim first!

Worrying news this week that a few sheds have been broken into. Hope it's not another spate of vandalism about to start.

Had a great day out walking with Barry yesterday. We did the Abbots Ripton walk and finished up with a great pub lunch at The Crown Inn in Broughton. Lovely village, really peaceful. Highly recommended. And we finished off the day in style with a wine tasting session at The Old Bridge Hotel, the last decision-making event in the build up to Becky's and Barry's wedding on Saturday 22nd August.

Thanks for reading my blog. More photos below. John

Chicken in a basket box

(click to enlarge)

First crop of rapsberries and blackcurrants

Potato flower with visitor

Sunset over Allotment Heaven

Raised bed disadvantages

Back in the halcyon days when I was planning how wonderful my allotment was going to look the advantages of raised beds seemed overwhelming. Nice easy access, increasingly no need to dig as they got deeper with fine composted soil, better drainage for our clay infested ground, and of course I could pack plants in at a much greater rate than normal planting.

Don't know why they were halcyon days since I had a plot in front of me that looked like a straight transplant from one of the wilder corners of Bodmin Moor (click here to see what I was facing). Nevertheless, having raised beds did help me pace the digging... rather than a huge expanse to turn over I only had this one bed to do (so long as I kept my eyes averted from the other twelve!). After three and a half years (gosh, that long?) the disadvantages of my raised beds are now starting to grind, some of which can be seen from the image above (click to enlarge).

Firstly there's lots and lots of paths in between. All with lots and lots of grass to cut. The wood chip I put down in January has certainly suppressed the growth, but have added the occasional frisson of a flying chip bouncing off my pate. I spend about twenty minutes most days strimming before I do anything else, bit like painting the Forth bridge. Often my daily visit is only for an hour or so and that means a big chunk of available time used up already.

Secondly, the depth of the beds hasn't markedly improved in spite of loads of good stuff being added. Unless I get in a huge amount of compost at an equally huge price it'll take years, meanwhile I'm still struggling to grow carrots through lack of deep soil.

Finally, now I've got a second adjoining plot I've no need to pack plants in. In fact I've been getting comments back from the pack (wife and daughters) that I don't seem to be getting much bang for my bucks. Apparently Becky's friend Hayley does much better than me in spite of being a mother of four small children with active life in all directions who doesn't have much time spare yet keeps returning from her plot arms full of carrots, new potatoes, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, garlic etc. etc...... yawn!

And last but not least, it just looks sooooooooooooo untidy at this time of year, when grass is sprouting from the wood surrounding the beds. So I'm toying with the idea of converting my front plot to a more traditional layout of dug beds and just have a few smaller and deeper raised beds to grow huge and delicious carrots. Can use the loads of leftover wood I'll have to build a treehouse for the grandchildren. So that's the winter months allocated! And of course more construction work.

Harvested the garlic and most of the onions, Everything in the greenhouse is bursting forth. Raspberries starting to ripen, although I'll only have a plateful. Recently bottled some rhubarb wine which tasted very nice (always have a quick slurp to check), so I've started actively watering the plants that had almost gone dormant to hopefully start more wine. Lots more images at the foot of this posting.

Had a great time on our few days in Scone with Bob, Amanda and Sophie, who treated us like royalty. Nice do to celebrate my parents sixtieth wedding anniversary. Video footage of the do

can be viewed by clicking any of the following links... clip one, clip two, clip three and clip four. Here's me and my two brothers, Bob and Andy, on Scone bowling green after I'd refereed a competition match between the two of them. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my winning streak before leaving and was narrowly beaten at bowls and pool. Think I needed longer to acclimatise to the altitude.

On returning I've not been able to find where I left that winning streak so evident before. Yet to win a squash match, and having been presented with a magnificent snooker cue for father's day by David and John they then proceeded to thrash me with my own weapon! How unfair is that!

Gearing up for my own personal Everest challenge in the jam making world... trying to turn brambles into something with the consistency more of jam than super glue. Be back to give you an update assuming I can detach my fingers from the jam jar!

Thanks for reading my blog. John

	Here's another example of why too many raised beds can be a pain... it's difficult to weed when you've got netting up. (click to enlarge)
	While we were away Princess Paige (aka Sleeping Beauty, or 'Sleeping' for short) tended the chickens in full battle dress.
	What a result on the garlic front!
	The japanese onions have performed really well, will use them again.
	Fawn spotted by the roadside while in Scone, on our Stormontfield walk.
	Stormontfield beach on the Tay river. One of my old teenage haunts. So nice and warm that Linda and I fell asleep for an hour!
	Tigerella tomato.
	Cornish Gilliflower apple.
	Meadows Crane-bill.
	Sleeping grass snake seen on our walk in Houghton Meadow near St Ives.
	Cucumber flower.
	Chicory flower.
	Not sure if I'll be able to get into the greenhouse soon.
	Potatoes doing well in spite of my usual trick of putting them in late and shallow.
	Raspberries.
	Last year's betroot I'm growing for seed... another project!

Noisy helicopter

Yes, I know I'm a bit behind with my posts... but with this thing hovering over our house at 01:00 this morning waking everyone around I'm not going to be bright and chippy enough to catch up anytime soon!

On the hottest night of the year, when everyone had their bedroom windows open, the Cambridgeshire police helicopter decided to hover a few hundred feet above St Ives for about twenty minutes. Couldn't see any searchlight going, and appeared too high to be doing anything useful. But what a racket it made. No chance of any sleep until it moved off to wake a few hundred other ratepayers up!

I'm assuming it's the police helicopter... it's based at RAF Wyton, which is just a mile north of us. I've put in a Freedom of Information request to Cambridgeshire Police to ask if it was their helicopter, if so what was it doing, what constraints the pilot operates under at night in a built up area and if those constraints were met, what the cost of the helicopter is and some figures on whether it's value for money. I'll let you know when I get a response (they have a month to respond).

Moan over... if it's any compensation I fell better for that! In the meantime I'm gathering photos and stories for the next post, including our trip to Scotland to compete against my brothers at anything that moves. Did I remember to pack my lucky streak? More to follow as soon as I can.

First flush of redcurrants

My ambitious plans for a fruit cage have yet to past the planning stage. I've got the area laid out, even got the plants in there and growing (after a fashion), but I can't find the time to buy or scrounge the wood and netting to get it done. So it won't happen this summer.

Nevertheless the fruit bushes are doing their best without me... here's one of the redcurrant bushes with its first set of fruit (click to enlarge). Got whitecurrant and raspberries too, although the latter are struggling a bit for some reason. Have to wait a while for the type of crop that takes me back to when I used to go raspberry picking in my school holidays near Blairgowrie in Perthshire. Beat most of my holiday jobs hands down, especially the gutting job in a chicken factory! And guess what was on the lunchtime menu.

Got fed up with strawberries... picking developed into a race against the woodlice, who also appear to love strawberries. So they're now outside fending for themselves, much loved by the chickens who should also put paid to the woodlice. Must remember next year to use shop bought compost, since my own was also chez woodlice.

Planted out my peas and beans as well as more lettuce. Arms getting longer by the day as I haul watering cans back and forth from the trough. Started to use the wheelbarrow so I can move three watercans at a time.

Took a step nearer to confirming my status as the allotment equivalent of the village idiot early yesterday morning. Spied a cat along the path and went into my usual feline routine of making lots of noise whilst simultaneously jumping up and down. Has worked at home, so well that all the neighbourhood cats (and I suspect some of their owners) give me and my garden a wide berth. This specimen appeared one of the uninitiated since it turned back to continue its meander. Not to be outdone I silently sprinted towards the invader until it noticed my approach, not surprisingly then giving the required reaction to my renewed version of the Indian rain dance by disappearing pronto. It was at this point I noticed a fellow allotmenteeress by the water trough looking at me with absolute astonishment. Slunk back to my plot trying to look as normal as possible. I know lots of people love cats, but I don't... they kill birds and poo in your garden, all in exchange for an odd purr. Doesn't seem a bargain to me.

Later I took Connor up to the allotment with me. He had another session of building a house to sleep in. To listen to what he thinks about his mum's chocolate fountain click here, or to hear what he thinks about chicken letters and words click here.

Bit of a quiet day today, having had my last of three chemotherapy sessions in this phase of treatment this morning... so lots of dashing to the loo every five minutes for the next few hours. When I've finished this posting I'm going to relax in the warm glow of knowledge that I again hold all three competition cups. Think I'm becoming the Peter Pan equivalent of squash, tennis and darts/pool... it must be so since my rate of decline will slow at some point, finally when I can no longer hold up the racquet/cue/dart. Meanwhile my sons/in law are on the downward trend towards middle age where the rate of decline is much faster.

Next posting will be a bit delayed since Linda and I are off to Scone on Friday for my parents' sixtieth wedding anniversary the following day. Wont be back 'til Tuesday.

More photos from my plot below. Thanks for reading my blog. John

	Reorganised greenhouse, with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins given space. (Click to enlarge)
	The figs are doing really well this year.
	Foxglove.
	Poppy
	Great scabiosa

Walk around Flamborough Head

Off on my annual walk with mate Terry last Wednesday and Thursday. This year it was the 400 feet chalk cliffs around Flamborough Head.

Here's a map of the region showing the actual route we took, straight off Terry's GPS system (click to enlarge, red arrowed line is our path). The first day, having left the cars at Bempton, we took the train to Bridlington (just off bottom of map) and walked back to Bempton.

In spite of all Terry's technology, every year we decide we know better and get lost. Disheartened with yet another diversion around Thornwick Bay and with no visible sign of Bempton on the horizon we decided to try our luck by walking inland. As we trudged along an unending road it was at this point the GPS system took its revenge, telling us we still had two and a half miles to go. We did thirteen miles that first day, much tougher than it sounds because coastal walking involves lots of steep ups and downs.

Day two saw us going by rail to Filey and walking back to Bempton again. Only eleven miles this time with quite a bit of beach walking and fantastic sights of cliffs and birds. Saw my first puffin...

here's a photo of one taken with Terry's latest bit of kit, an SLR camera. Feel I'm falling behind in the technology stakes... must think what I can aquire in time for our next get together!

Thought it might not be my finest moment when we rolled up the street to our overnight bed and breakfast at The Ship Inn past a house with its windows boarded up... but the accommodation wasn't too bad apart from me banging my head continuously off the attic bedroom roof.

Had a move around in the greenhouse to allow room for my tomatoes to grow. Took down some of the shelving and potted up my plants in bigger containers. The strawberry plants are a bit of a disappointment... some of the fruit are a funny shape and they seem to go dark and then past their best pretty quickly. Might move them out to give more room.

At last some decent rain meant I could break up the clay soil more successfully. Made progress on the bean/pea supports. My experiment to see if it was better to initially grow vegetables in the greenhouse before planting outside is proving a hit. Although I've been watering seeds planted outside every day they're only starting to show their heads, and somewhat erratically, whereas those in the greenhouse have sprung up strongly.

Noticed a distinct reduction in eggs from the feathered fiends over the last week with two eggs per day if lucky, and then a broken egg... have they become cannibals? Next the flash of a brown furry thing nipping under a plant tub. Armed with a hefty stick I whipped up the tub... to find a rat rushing around the pen tying to escape. A bit of a tap on the bonce despatched the intruder and production is back up to normal again.

Huge disappointment today. Supposed to be going with my two sons to watch England play Andorra in their world cup qualifier at Wembley, one of our special father and sons trip out together we do once or twice a year. Got the shiny tickets, aimed to set off early afternoon by train, bit of a crawl around some interesting London pubs before a serious burger for tea, then pitch up at the FANTASTIC Wembley Stadium to join 90,000 fans for a bit of heavy atmosphere.

Cue the RMT Union and their leader Bob Crow, today the most hated man in the land for the cynical way he has selected yesterday and today to disrupt the plans of many thousands of England fans by calling the London Underground workers out on strike and bringing London transport to a virtual standstill. So whilst the rest of the country's workers are taking pay cuts, if they're lucky enough to have a job, RMT members are striking for a five percent pay rise and the promise of no compulsory redundancies. Do they live on another planet?

Although we could get to the match, the fear of a poor atmosphere with few fans present and a nightmare journey home means we'll be watching on telly. Here's hoping the disappointment of thousands of families not able to get to the match weighs heavily on Mr Crow and his members in the form of many sleepless nights.

First strawberries

Munched into my first strawberries this week, example shown here (click to enlarge). They're early since I'm growing them in the greenhouse. Thought I'd have a bug free crop until I observed a woodlice burrowing into one plump red orb. Some of my strawberries are very dark red when ripe, never seen them that colour, but they were delicious with yoghurt.

Feel I'm making real progress with the additional early morning visits to the plot. Weeds are almost under control and planted out some of the vegetable seedlings started in the greenhouse... seems to work well. Even started constructing a pea/bean support frame on the back plot.

The tomatoes are also going really well. Aiming to grow those in the greenhouse too... allotment grown tomatoes are a million times sweeter and tastier than the supermarket version, but my crops have been really disappointing over the last couple of years. The first tomato flower appeared this week as shown below.

Slapped some more paint on during the week to finish the hall ceiling with a second coat. At last getting to grips with the contortionist ladder. Look forward to getting down to doing the walls next weekend.

Unbelievably, I'm the holder of all three cups... tennis, squash and pub games! The first and last time that happened was immediately after I bought the silverware for £1.99 from a charity shop. Unfortunately when I say 'holder' I mean it in a mental rather than physical way... son David has taken to not bothering to bring two of the cups to matches thinking he'll save himself the trouble of carrying them home again! So no photograph to celebrate.

Visited the garden show at Woodgreen Animal Shelter with Linda, Becky and Beth on Sunday. Really enjoyable... it took us all day to wander around in the sunshine looking at the stalls and exhibits, following a set path insisted on by the family version of Hermann Göring in the form of daughter Becky, who insisted we only look on the right hand side on the first round, returning to view only the left hand side on the way back. Beth bought a pink imitation coconut matting parasol, so bright you could see it from the other side of Cambridgeshire!

Yesterday started writing a history of allotments in England, aiming to make it a more in depth and interesting version than some of the drier text you can find on other sites. First of next three chemotherapy sessions meant I had to take it easy in the afternoon, though sitting indoors on a hot sunny day went against the grain. After several hours of research had only just started to put fingers to keyboard, and I've still gots hours more investigation and editing... so should be ready some time before end of the year given the amount of spare time I've got at present!