Tuesday 10 May 2011
A house full of Martins
Whilst not strictly speaking allotment related, I wanted to record that our House Martins returned yesterday. They built a nest last summer in a little nook between our house and next door, just outside our bedroom window. Hopefully we will wake to the chatter of little Martins soon!
Sunday 8 May 2011
Good news, and bad news
We arrived home yesterday after a lovely, relaxing holiday in Skye. The sun was shining on seven of the nine days we were there, which combined with a beautiful cottage, made it a perfect getaway.
While we were away my exam results were published. The RHS have been very frustrating. The results were due to be published on Friday 29th April, but the day before they issued a notice saying that they would be delayed until the following Tuesday. At 4pm on the Tuesday they published a note saying that they were having technical difficulties and finally I got my results at 10am on the Wednesday.
I passed all four - two with commendations! I'm relieved and very pleased. You may remember there was one in particular that I was worried about - I passed it with quite a good margin but got a lower mark in one of the others!
So that's the good news. We had been trying not to worry about the allotment while we were away. The evening before we left we worked till dusk, covering up all the emerging potatoes, sowing seeds and taking a risk by planting out some young beans, courgettes and pumpkins - if they made it through we would have had a nice early crop.
Whilst the beautiful sunshine in Skye helped make our holiday so wonderful, we were very concerned about the lack of rain in Oxfordshire. We arrived home to discover from our neighbours that the potatoes and other young plants had wilted last week. Feeling rather gloomy, we went to the allotment and discovered that a frost had not only caught us out but lots of our neighbours too.
I'm rather upset about the potatoes. I hadn't really expected the beans or courgettes to survive neglected for two weeks, but had nothing to loose by trying. They will be easily and quickly replaced by new plants. But the effort we put into choosing, chitting, and carefully planting the potatoes cannot be replicated this year. The quick growing earlies have been most affected - Orla and Sharps Express. Thankfully the rather slow to emerge Pentland Javelin's and the maincrops Arran Victory and Fir Apple are not too damaged so hopefully there will still be some potatoes to unearth later in the summer.
The seeds we sowed before we left have not germinated with much success, most likely because of the dry soil and we put them in and the lack of water thereafter. But again, there is plenty of time to sow some more.
Lesson learnt - no more holidays in late April!
This afternoon we fixed the potatoes best we could and did some weeding (not too much given two weeks away - clearly weeds don't like droughts either). I will catch up with all the sowing this week and let you know how I get on.
While we were away my exam results were published. The RHS have been very frustrating. The results were due to be published on Friday 29th April, but the day before they issued a notice saying that they would be delayed until the following Tuesday. At 4pm on the Tuesday they published a note saying that they were having technical difficulties and finally I got my results at 10am on the Wednesday.
I passed all four - two with commendations! I'm relieved and very pleased. You may remember there was one in particular that I was worried about - I passed it with quite a good margin but got a lower mark in one of the others!
So that's the good news. We had been trying not to worry about the allotment while we were away. The evening before we left we worked till dusk, covering up all the emerging potatoes, sowing seeds and taking a risk by planting out some young beans, courgettes and pumpkins - if they made it through we would have had a nice early crop.
Whilst the beautiful sunshine in Skye helped make our holiday so wonderful, we were very concerned about the lack of rain in Oxfordshire. We arrived home to discover from our neighbours that the potatoes and other young plants had wilted last week. Feeling rather gloomy, we went to the allotment and discovered that a frost had not only caught us out but lots of our neighbours too.
I'm rather upset about the potatoes. I hadn't really expected the beans or courgettes to survive neglected for two weeks, but had nothing to loose by trying. They will be easily and quickly replaced by new plants. But the effort we put into choosing, chitting, and carefully planting the potatoes cannot be replicated this year. The quick growing earlies have been most affected - Orla and Sharps Express. Thankfully the rather slow to emerge Pentland Javelin's and the maincrops Arran Victory and Fir Apple are not too damaged so hopefully there will still be some potatoes to unearth later in the summer.
The seeds we sowed before we left have not germinated with much success, most likely because of the dry soil and we put them in and the lack of water thereafter. But again, there is plenty of time to sow some more.
Lesson learnt - no more holidays in late April!
This afternoon we fixed the potatoes best we could and did some weeding (not too much given two weeks away - clearly weeds don't like droughts either). I will catch up with all the sowing this week and let you know how I get on.
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