Update and the Allotment Song

Following on from my last post, I went along to the pruning course, it was really interesting and has given me a small amount of confidence for when I need to start and prune all those new trees we are waiting to be delivered for the orchard and my own four trees for my plot. But due to the snow, there hasn’t been any progress made with preparing the holes for the impending trees, nor with any of the winter jobs that I’m so keen to get on with.

I think that the very cold weather is affecting Mrs Pepperpot, she hasn’t laid any eggs for a week now, it says in one of my magazines that when the weather is sooooo cold they use a lot of the nutrients from their food to keep warm and it’s been recording as low as -10 at times during the last week or so. I can’t blame her really.

So as there has been nothing more done at the allotment, due to the mass covering of snow here in Middlesbrough, I thought I’d share with you my son’s allotment song which he sings to me. I love this song but can never get the words right, which really annoys Caleb, so I’ve jotted it down and now I’m going to share it with you:

Down at my allotment there are vegetables and flowers,
I planted every one of them and stay there hours and hours,
I have a little shed where I can make a cup of tea,
Down at my allotment is the only place for me.

Carrots, Cauliflowers, Onions and Beans,
Courgettes, Brussels sprouts, Squash and Wintergreens,
Tulips, Daffodils, Marigolds and Phlox
Sunflowers, Violets, Daisy’s, Hollyhocks.

Hope you liked it. But for now, I guess it’s time to get the books out and start planning what is going to go where and what new seeds I’m wanting to try.

Eggtastic!!!

Well you wait all this time for an egg and two come along together just like buses. I went to Edinburgh for the weekend, Samson went to the kennels and I left the girls to their own devices, the hut and run is predator safe so I put enough food and water in to last them the two days and left them too it. I checked the nest box the next morning after my return to find an egg there; I was chuffed to bits but then also disappointed as I’d missed the actual event. When I went home that lunch time to take Samson for his walk and to give the girls their afternoon corn I found another egg which had obviously been laid that morning after I had left for work, so Caleb and I were both able to have Egg and soldiers for our tea last night and truly enjoyable they were too.

I think it is Mrs Pepperpot who has laid the eggs so far, they were brown in colour, which is the colour she lays (although Hazel supposedly lays brown eggs) but Mrs Peppperpot has the reddest wattle and comb so I think she is slightly older than the other three and has now started her egg count. For ‘stocktaking’ purposes I am going to keep a little running tally of who has laid however many number of eggs. That is providing I am able to tell the difference between Hazels and Mrs Pepperpot’s eggs. The other two should be easier as they are different colours.

The weather over the coming weekend seems to be forecast nice and fine so I’m hopefully going to get a few more winter jobs done.