More grass to the compost

Posted on March 24, 2024 by james

And my son’s GCSE notes, as it happens.

Poor weather is forecast for tomorrow so it was a major rush just to get through a first cut of all the grass today. But we managed it. Sadly, whilst I was tidying stuff out of the way whilst my daughter followed on with the mower, I disturbed this (robin?) nest hidden inside a discarded tarpaulin

I reassembled it as best I could, but I suspect I may have been too late. I’m not sure it would have survived anyhow unfortunately, as it was not very far off the ground and once the chicks hatched and started making a noise the cats would have been all over it 🙁

All the clippings went into the compost bin mixed, as I said, with my son’s remaining GCSE notes which he doesn’t think he’ll need any more given that he’s finishing his degree in a matter of months.

I left it an hour and put the thermometer in.

I imagine that’s going to be pretty toasty tomorrow morning.

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Last of the 2023 apple juice

Posted on March 24, 2024 by james

It’s not done too badly. Pressing was late November, and whilst I did press quite a bit of juice not all of it was frozen for drinking straight. But today I opened the very last bottled. No more until the Autumn. I’m slightly sad.

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Memory Lane, 20th October 2022: Beekeeper to the rescue

Posted on March 23, 2024 by james

I received a phone call from the owner of the farm where I keep some hives. The council have been cutting back some trees between his hedge line and the road. In particular, this oak which I think was partly dead.

I imagine the tree surgeon doing the work (from a cherry picker) got something of a surprise when he cut off one of the limbs, right into a hollow that was occupied by bees, hence the call from the farmer. I arrived to find the branch lying in his field about ten metres away from the tree.

There were none left around the tree, so I assume they’d found there way back to the rest of the colony. Remember that “three feet or three miles” rule? I’m beginning to suspect that it’s “mostly guidelines”.

Closer inspection showed plenty of bees inside the hollow, and comparing that part of the branch with the piece that had been cut off first clearly the tree surgeon had the incredible fortune to cut through right at the very top of the cavity, leaving no sign in the other part, meaning there was probably a fair chance of a queen being present and in good health.

I felt there wasn’t much I could really do that would make anything any better so late in October though, so I closed off what had been the top of the colony with some ply and added another piece to try to keep the rain off that. If they make it through to the Spring then we’ll see what can be done then.

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No dig diary, 23rd March 2024

Posted on March 23, 2024 by james

Yesterday, much of which was spent chipping bits of tree was a lovely day to be outside. Today was, well, barely describable. We had high winds, rain, hail, sunshine and probably a load of other weather (though not snow, as some people had) in rapid and repeated succession all morning and into the middle of the afternoon.

“Stuff” really needs to get done though, so I braved the unpleasantness and got on with making more of the paths around the new beds in the veggie plot using the wood that I chipped yesterday. There wasn’t quite enough to finish the job, but I got a lot of the important bits done.

I was planning to sow seeds today, but I’ve just run out of space. I must have a dozen and a half or more trays of plants in the greenhouse that I have been delaying planting out because the weather has been so poor. Some of them desperately need planting out now though. I think I might have to crack on with that tomorrow and put mesh cloches over them with fleece laid on top. I’ll see what’s possible.

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The compost bins will now start filling up

Posted on March 23, 2024 by james

Despite the fact that it’s still more than a week to the start of April it’s become necessary to start cutting some of the grass which has grown ridiculously long over the mild Winter. During the same period the compost bins always fill quite slowly as there’s not much “waste” from the garden, despite the inclusion of two dead roe deer that turned up in our yard and orchard a few months back. From now on I suspect we’re going to have a lot more to go in which means I need to get on with emptying the existing compost out, something that would normally have happened by now, but hasn’t happened because of the sheer amount of rain we’ve had over the last few months: the ground in the veggie plot has been impossible to work on most of the time.

I think we’ll be seeing much more of this over the coming weeks.

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Memory Lane, 18th October 2022

Posted on March 22, 2024 by james

Harvesting peppers today. Gorgeous selection of colours. Still a few more to come, perhaps, if the weather is good enough for them to ripen.

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Just get a grip

Posted on March 22, 2024 by james

I see that people who are desperate to be offended by something/anything at all are up in arms about the new England football kit because it contains an image of a cross that is not strictly a St. George’s Cross.

I really don’t give a monkey’s about football in the first place so I wasn’t ever going to be that fussed, but really! It’s a small part of a pattern on a shirt collar. Get a sense of perspective! I read that some woman on a radio phone-in (probably Mrs. Angry from Purley) claimed to be “incensed” about the change. Honestly, if that’s what gets her incensed, how does she cope with the knowledge that so many people are having to use food banks or are living rough or can’t get dental treatment, or even any kind of hospital treatment? How does she react when our government ministers are gaslighting us (which seems to be all of the time these days)? Or about the entire state of our education system? I’m surprised that I can’t hear the gnashing and wailing of teeth from here.

It’s a football kit. Worn by a small group of outrageously wealthy people kicking a bag of wind around a field, deliberately falling over and pretending they’ve been shot with an elephant gun. Get over yourself. The Moon will not fall out of the sky. The World will not end. The Sun will not go out. Not even if they turned up to play in fluorescent green mankinis. Though the Womens’ team might find that a bit uncomfortable.

If you really need to be “incensed” about something, get incensed about an issue that actually needs fixing for people who can’t even achieve a basic quality of life.

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Keeping on with the firewood

Posted on March 22, 2024 by james

Tidying up some of the trees I’ve felled was first on the list of priorities for today. We’ll need to start cutting grass soon and it’s no good if we can’t get the mower out because it’s blocked by a wall of trees.

So, out came the chainsaw, chipper and trailer once again. I trimmed off all the bits that were useless for firewood and turned them into veggie plot path material and shortened the remaining trunks into manageable lengths for processing later.

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Memory Lane, 16th October 2022: Has beans

Posted on March 21, 2024 by james

Continuing the theme of “last harvests”, the very last of the climbing beans, which are the last of the borlotti beans…

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Met Office forecast offers trial of new weather data

Posted on March 21, 2024 by james

But when I do try it, the forecast it offers is completely different from the one that uses the current data.

So which am I meant to believe?

Tomorrow’s weather, hourly from 3am (with the chance of precipitation), old-style:

New style:

So either there’s a strong chance of showers before dawn, or quite a small chance. Go, as they say, figure.

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