Ethel's first egg

A very exciting day today on the allotment as Ethel laid her first egg - not her first ever, obviously, as even I, who fainted in any science lesson which dealt with reproduction, know that the egg comes before the chicken - but this was her first in my incapable hands.

I was very pleased that I'd worked out her constantly clucking, worrying and weird 'looking at walls' behaviour meant she was looking for a nest box. Alan was less impressed, pointing out that the fact I'd deduced that a hen might want to lay an egg as the first option wasn't really all that amazing.

She seemed more than happy with my makeshift 'Haribo' sweets cardboard box, filled with lovely soft hay, and rewarded me with a gorgeous turquoise coloured egg (see above). I was lucky enough to be at the shed right at the 'egg laying moment' (insert small fanfare) and, judging by the racket she made afterwards, she was equally chuffed with the whole affair.

I thought I'd take a few general shots of the beds to show how we're progressing, and a lot of the hard work on planting and weeding is literally bearing fruit now. Evidently the docks are well and truly into the paths and burning/salt had little effect. You can see above the difference in the hand weeded path to the left of the picture, but that took about 4 hours and was backbreaking. I think the chances of me wanting to do it again or finding anyone else mad enough are pretty slim.


I have a new volunteer, Maria, who is looking to do something practical after work, and she's already proved herself to be a brilliant digger/weeder on Wednesday evening so I hope she'll come back again soon.

We've got more leeks in and the potato and brassica beds have been weeded. At their last Greenfingers Club of the year the children sowed some sweetcorn, hung up their flower pouches (and made a few more which are now in the polytunnel), helped with weeding and also planted some more brussels sprout, which apparently most of them like to eat! We also had a bit of a taster session, with fresh picked rocket, peas and spinach going down a treat.

A few more adventurous (and dare I say it, slightly mad) children decided the various different mint plants might taste as good as they smelt. Needless to say, they decided it was much better to stick to sniffing them.


A hen having an afternoon siesta.

Bird on a wire

Far from being a balmy June here in the North East, it's a blinkin' cold one: last check on the barometer read a measly 9.4 degrees...and to add to the joy, it's tipping down, and has been pretty much solidly for about the last seven hours.

So, what's a girl to do but tidy up in the polytunnel? The sweet peas are now in a container (not going to risk them outside, they'd probably curl up and die) and I've transplanted nearly all the lettuces into the border soil, as well as tying in all the tomato plants and pinching out their side shoots.

The weather was a little better yesterday, and Alan, Jimmy and I made a start on the chicken run fencing (above and below). Apparently, I won't be receiving my NVQ in hammering or stapling anytime soon.


Before the rains came, the chickens had a wander around the allotment, while I transplanted some broccoli plants. They like to weed around the edges, which is fine by me, but they do occasionally have a quick nibble at something else (like the pea shoots the cockerel has his eye on in the photo below) so they have to be supervised.


They're getting pretty good at following me around as I work now, and had me in stitches yesterday when they flew/ran/flapped like mad things towards me when I shook their corn pot.

The state of the paths is still getting me down (the pictures show how rough and weedy it's getting), and I was hoping to get the weed burner out today but obviously the weather had other plans. It's going to be a real challenge to get them ready for top dressing at the end of the week, but I'm determined to do it.

Of course, if a proper membrane was put down as I was promised, it would be in a much better state, but that's another story....

There's no place like home

The chickens now have a new, spacious home - complete with a rather fetching perch. Now the hard work has begun making the permanent pen (they're in a temporary one attached to the hen house for the time being).

It's getting a bit chilly out now, but it's my favourite time to be on the allotment; just before the sun sets the light is beautiful, the birds are singing and somehow a rosy glow descends over the garden, making me forget all the weeds and the bits that still haven't been done.

We've achieved quite a lot in the last few days: Peter sieved some of the compost (which is beautifully crumbly by the way) from one of the large bins, which we used to sow some more peas and beans and I've planted up some more perennials in the butterfly bed, which is starting to look pretty good, with the roses coming out and the mallow growing by the minute.

I've also got a new volunteer - Victoria - who made an excellent first impression by offering to do some weeding, and went on to make a really good job of the asparagus/strawberry bed. She wasn't even fazed by my talk of dandelion coffee - I've just done an introductory to medicinal herbs course and I've been busy roasting dandelion roots which do, surprisingly, smell just like coffee, but with a twist: I actually like to drink this stuff and it helps your liver rather than hinders it. More about the many benefits of 'weeds' in a later post...

The Greenfingers Club planted out some pumpkins and squashes in their bed, along with some onions and lettuces, and we made a start on clearing the area around the fruit trees, laying down a mulch membrane to keep down the weeds and give the trees a bit more of a fighting chance.

Alan and I planted out dozens of the many leeks I've got waiting patiently in the polytunnel, and sowed beetroot, swede, carrot and leaf beet seeds in the same bed (where the chickens have been hanging out over the past few weeks, helping to get some of the weeds down and adding a bit of manure at the same time for me to dig in).

I've also planted out a few squashes down the side of the polytunnel, along with the globe artichokes; weeded both the rhubarb beds and mulched with grass cuttings and sowed some sweet peas.

Garden with 'great potential'

If the garden was a house for sale at the moment, it would be described as 'having great potential' due to the fact that it needs so much work. Some warm weather and a good dash of rain have proved the perfect recipe for a weed invasion, and they're taking over the paths and the beds. Me and the chickens are both doing our best to keep on top of them, but they just keep coming....

The potatoes are finally growing well though (they have a mulch of newspaper and grass cuttings to keep down the weeds), and will have to be 'earthed up' soon. I'm growing a mixture of Ambo, Charlotte, Cara, Maris Peer, Nicola and Pink Fir Apple this year all over the allotment, so hopefully that will see us through the whole season.

I've potted on the chilli plants, while Peter washed out loads of pots which he used to pot on the courgettes, squashes and pumpkins. We've also risked putting the broccoli plants out, although I think I will have to put down some of the organic 'slug pellets' I've just found if I want to have any plants left by tomorrow morning. They do seem to be hanging out in the 'slug pubs' (containing the watered down dregs of David's home brew) at the end of the beds though, so that helps a little.

Alan kindly donated some plug plants for the Greenfingers Club to put in their hanging baskets, which we planted up yesterday afternoon, and they will add a nice bit of colour to the fence behind the seating area.

The club's members (only six this week but we seemed to get more done than we usually do with twice as many!) also dug up the tulip and daffodil bulbs and replaced them with giant sunflowers, which we'll be measuring every month.