Saturday 18 April 2020

Saturday

Good morning, everyone.

Mean Queen, Ilona posted this link yesterday, all about what constitutes a reasonable excuse to leave the place where you live.  It's so helpful (thank you very much, Ilona) that I thought I would reproduce it here for your information with Ilona's permission (because I got it from her blog).
What constitutes a reasonable excuse to leave the place where you live
This applies to England - it may be different in other parts of the UK.

A lovely time was had down the allotment yesterday.  I got the rest of the smaller bed finished and ready for little plants/seeds at the right time and now just need to keep the weeds down.  It took a chunk out of the morning but I really did want to get it finished.
I spread manure under the rhubarb and also on some of the prepared soil.  I've decided that if I do two buckets'-worth every visit, not too time consuming, it'll be done in next to no time.
I got the watering done.
I didn't get the stronger ground cover on.  You see, I will need to move all the planks we put on to keep the cover from billowing up in a wind, plus the ground pegs (it seems daft to use double the amount of them), spread out the cover and then put back the pegs and the planks.  It's really the main task for a visit.

A few photos:
Taken from the back.  It looks (and is) ready for action now, the earliest it's ever been ready.  Taking it one section at a time has really helped me.
That nice, clear patch with the potato trenches to the right will have some wigwams of runner beans and a square of baby corn plus a courgette or two, if there's room.
I will be working on a bit of the covered-at-the-moment ground anyway, for courgettes and squash.


Strawberries for Beth.


The baby pears are very cute.


















The other main thing was personal training.  It wasn't as good as last time because Lindsey kept breaking up and then my internet dropped (it's doing that a bit at the moment) but it was fine and nice to have a chat.

Today is really more of the same.  It's interesting how my life has settled into a fairly regular routine now.

Something energetic:
Weather permitting, I start the day off with a visit to the allotment, although today I might not as we've had rain overnight and the forecast is for more rain and, possibly, thunder too.  No complaints from me - the ground needed a good soaking.  When it stops, I might get that cover down or I might just leave it until tomorrow.
Also, there's PT, Lindsey's daily clips and PE with Joe which I haven't done all week so I have a few sessions to catch up.  I will modify them - some of his sections are hard on the shoulders and mine is not 100% yet.

Something for house/garden:
I didn't get any response from the garden company about poor little baby tomato, unsurprisingly, but I will be talking nicely and encouragingly to mummy tomato that seems to be sending out a pair of  freshleaves.  Her chances look better now.  I have ironing to do and I 'm trying out two new (to me) recipes.

Something social:
I'm popping a bit of shopping round to Beth so we'll have a distance chat and we might have a longer online chat later on.

Something entertaining:
Annoyingly, I couldn't get YouTube to open on the telly yesterday evening so didn't catch Phantom.  It's on the list for today!

Something creative.
After leaving the side seam to hang for a few days, it doesn't look too bad.  I'll get the other side seam sewn and maybe the sleeves tacked in.  Once they're done, it's nearly finished.

I'd like to get a bit of study done, especially if rain stops play at the allotment, so I won't be bored today!

Have a good day, stay safe and stay well, everyone.  xx

12 comments:

  1. You have the blooms now we have to hope the bees do their job. We had some rain overnight not much and not enough I am hopeful of some more.

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    1. The forecast is for more this morning so my fingers are crossed too. We need a few good downpours, don't we?
      xx

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  2. Amazing to see the pears forming already and flowers on Strawberries - what a difference being a whole county more to the south must make!
    have a good day

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    1. It worries me a bit that it's very early, but it is generally mild here (we rarely get snow, for example) and it has been warm recently. I think the baby pears are so cute.
      xx

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  3. You have flowers on the strawberries! Mine haven't reached that stage yet, although my quantity of tomato seedlings doubled overnight.
    It's lovely to see the allotment in the sunshine.
    Enjoy your day. X

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    1. I know! I suspect one hard frost will sort them out but there will be more to come.
      I love tomato seedlings - the promise of many a delicious meal in the future.
      xx

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  4. I'm just so glad I can still drive to the allotment. It's only 2 miles from the house but as I don't have a shed yet to store my tools etc I have to keep them in the car to take daily. Otherwise I'd cycle there and back getting tons more extra exercise into the bargain.

    My strawberries don't have any flowers yet and the apple trees and 1 pear tree I have don't have any blossom yet. But we're a full growing month behind you up here! xxx

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    1. WE have a shed but it isn't secure and thee's no way I'd keep the mower/strimmer/etc in it. Als9o, I use some of the tools at home as well.

      I think we're more ahead than I can ever remember it but I'm very aware that a good old frost would change things quite significantly. We had two this week but they weren't hard.
      xx

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  5. Thanks for the clarification on reasons to leave home. I saw this immediately after puzzling through something with a friend and this answers it so I've sent her a copy.

    Your allotment is looking good and thanks for the photos.

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    1. Advice has not been that clear and there's been a lot of huffing and puffing on social media so this really helped me. Basically, it is sound common sense and very reassuring. There's always going to be a few that try to besd things to the utmost, but really as long as I can get to the allotment and to Morrisons, I'm happy!
      I'm very grateful to Ilona for posting the link.
      xx

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  6. I love the little pears. Manure is fantastic for the garden.

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    1. I guess we're very lucky that the allotment association provides it free (included in the rental, anyway) as well as bark chippings, for our use. I think the soil does need some treatment and that, plus the slow release pellets, should help quite a lot.
      They're very cute, aren't they, and the grown up pears will be lovely too!
      xx

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