Sunset rainbow

Posted on February 1, 2026 by james

The Sun was only a few degrees off the horizon when it created this rainbow. Sadly it doesn’t look anywhere near as semi-circular as it appeared to the naked eye. I assume that must be something to do with the camera lens.

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A lovely cloud inversion

Posted on February 1, 2026 by james

In the valley behind my home today…

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No dig diary, 29th January 2026

Posted on February 1, 2026 by james

My height extension for the propagator is now complete!

Hopefully this will allow the peppers to continue growing under the grow light until they’re big enough to be elsewhere.

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No dig diary, 28th January 2026

Posted on January 28, 2026 by james

I’m stunned at how fast the peppers are growing under the grow lights.

I’m concerned that before the end of the week the plants will have reached the lid of the propagator, so I’m going to make a collar for it to allow the lid to be raised and give the plants more room.

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The wheelbarrow lives!

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

My replacement inner tubes arrived today. The courier tried to hide them in the cupboard containing the pump for the well, but I found them eventually. It barely took ten minutes to get one of the new tubes back into place. Then I had to pump it up without the valve in just to get everything to settle into position, after which I was able to replace the valve and get the tyre up to an adequate pressure.

Not sure that tyre’s in great shape though. I think it will need replacing at some point in the relatively near future. It will do for now though. It’s not as though the wheelbarrows get used for much that’s really heavy.

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No dig diary, 26th January 2026

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

One of my garlic cloves has really taken off. No idea why; I’m sure it wasn’t anywhere near this tall just a few days ago. I’m certainly not complaining though.

At the other end of the scale, I suspect all my purple pepper seeds are duds. These are most of my trays of peppers.

The purple peppers are at the back left in that second photo (plus a couple of another variety because I only had eighteen seeds). Pretty much everything else has germinated and is doing well. Of the purple peppers there is no sign whatsoever.

I have ordered some more seeds from a different supplier. Perhaps I’ll have more luck with those.

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I’ve never been able to see this

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

I’m a beekeeper with a strong interest in astronomy. There’s an open cluster of around one thousand stars in the constellation of Cancer known by a number of names including Praesepe, Messier 44 and The Beehive Cluster.

The latter is apparently because some people believe that it looks like a beehive. But I just can’t see it. Anyone?

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Suella Braverman owes me a new irony meter

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

Britain is indeed broken. She is suffering. She is not well.

Immigration is out of control. Our public services are on their knees. People don’t feel safe.

We can’t even defend ourselves, and our nation stands weak and humiliated on the world stage.

Well that certainly didn’t all happen in the last eighteen months.

Why don’t you remind us of how long you were a senior member of the governments that failed to do anything about it?

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I didn’t realise that milk had become so expensive

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

Perhaps just in the US?

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Irony much?

Posted on January 26, 2026 by james

From ‘I spent £2,000 on one event’: Why Gen Z is obsessed with Hyrox

Allana Falconer, who works in sustainability and started competing in 2023…

She has competed in 20 different races across six countries and 12 different cities.

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