Sunday

Good morning, gentle readers all.  It is still very dull here although the sun did make a brief appearance for a while yesterday early evening.  The good thing is that it has warmed up significantly and no long are my fingers and toes cold, thank goodness.

In the end, Beth and I spent the whole of yesterday morning down the allotment and we managed to get a lot done.  We weeded (VERY necessary), mowed, sowed and planted.  All the mini-plants are now in their forever home (!) and, in the usual allotment way, Beth managed to swap our leftover borlotti beans for three cucumber plants which was jolly nice.

We also made the decision to cover a still very weedy part with tarp, which we did.  It's a relief to have that covered over.  It looks a whole lot better and it means those weeds will die back and the whole bed will be so much easier to deal with.

Finally we harvested some of the rhubarb.  There's such a lot there!  I gave some of my share to Mum and Dad and need to search for a rhubarb chutney recipe.  It would make nice Christmas presents.    I will also use some for my own strawberry, rhubarb and cranberry jam which is absolutely scrummy.

Talking of strawberries, mine are definitely starting to ripen now and some nice warm sun should speed the process.  That means Lathcoats will soon be opening.  Lathcoats, for newer readers, is our local PYO/farm shop and it's a very pleasant place indeed.  I am so looking forward to this year because in previous years I've only been able to go at weekends and often the best fruit has gone, picked during the week.

I look a good look at the fruit trees.  The redlove is definitely thriving which is great.  The plum has five or six fruit - poor but there's no dead leaves so it has survived the move really well.  The other apple hasn't any fruit but the leaves are intact and there's new growth.  The pear looks terrible but it's not dead, there's new growth, not only from the ends but also where the leaves died.  I think we can safely say that moving the trees was a real success.

The biggest problem (and it's not really a problem) is that the mower battery isn't quite long lasting enough.  To be fair, the grass was very long and very wet and it was all rather hard work but there wasn't enough power to do all of the grass so I am now umming and ahing about getting a second battery.  They are not cheap but, on the other hand, it will mean we can do the full job each time.

Enough of allotment.  In the afternoon I sorted out the rhubarb, chopped my share and bunged it straight in the freezer for attention later on and drove over to see Mum and dad with their share.  In the evening we went out to see a local production of Oklahoma which was most enjoyable although, yet again, it struck me how remarkably silly some of these musical story plots are!

As for today, I really have no idea whatsoever.  It is an adventure just waiting to happen.  I'm still a bit achey from yesterday morning and my dodgy ankle is dodgier than it was before but that's just par for the course really and not a problem.

It is time to make a coffee, I think, so I will love you and leave you, as the saying goes.  Have a great day.