Four lady slow worms, two cats and brassicas galore!

In order to fill the remaining planting area we had to resort to buying seedlings from the local garden centre in Yarnton. Purple sprouting broccoli, savoy cabbages, kohlrabi, curly kale, purple cauliflower and parsnips are all now in residence.

The brassicas are camping out in our three tent like tunnels to guard against the pigeons and cabbage whites. Ging Gang Goolie... and all that!

Photo 47: Any more tunnels and we'd almost be in France.

The compost heap is a hive of activity with four lady and one gentleman slow worm in residence. They seem to be making a rather comfortable home under the Axminster.

Photo 48: Our harem of 4 lady slow worms! We've only seen one boy so far. He must be a happy chap!

As the wildlife on and around the allotment thrives we've also been graced with the presence of two local cats this week. One young and adventurous kitten and a more wise and laid back ginger chap.

Photo 49: Cat number one, the Ginger one.

Photo 50: Cat number 2, Explorer cat.

Tattytastic!

It's been a while since my last post but things have been busy on the allotment (and in the garden) as Emily mentioned.

We've added two vegetable tunnels this week which are now full of brassicas of various types (purple cauliflowers, curly kale and savoy cabbages). Whilst Emily was busy planting those I put three rows of parsnips in, they will eventually be turned into a nice soup no doubt.

The peas we planted earlier in the year were particularly popular with the allotment's resident pigeons so I've constructed a new frame for them to grow up built of chicken wire. Hopefully with an extra layer of wire around the seedling we can protect them and keep the pesky pigeons at bay until they are mature enough to look after themselves.

Photo 44: Tunnels and Chicken Wire - all a cunning ploy to keep the dastardly butterfly and pigeon population away from our veggies.

The strawberries continue to produce with another large bowlful taken from the garden yesterday. Enough for two desserts and one Emily working from home day. More still to come!

Photo 45: More strawberries.

This evening was a momentous occasion. After the frost earlier in the year which damaged the potato plants we were unsure what to expect when we went to harvest our first crop. Happily I can report two plants gave us plenty to eat for our dinner this evening. You can't beat a nice freshly dug boiled potato with melted butter, salt and pepper. Delicious!!!

Photo 46: Our first crop of potatoes.

One final and rather exciting thing to note took place on our walk past the allotment on Wednesday evening. A barn owl carrying a mouse or shrew (difficult to tell as it was wriggling) flew silently and low over the hedgerow and off into the woods. A great way to round off any day (I guess the mouse wasn't too happy though). Hopefully we'll be honoured with the owl's presence again soon.