Meet The Neighbours

Getting An Early Start

Mmmmmm well pork cob Thursday came round quick enough again, and not a moment too soon. Knowing it wouldn't be long until John arrived, me and the Blur made our way to lotty at ten o'clock, with me feeling once again like I could eat a horse. I made myself busy by extending the frame for the first runner beans and just as I was finishing John turned up. I ran (yes ran) to the hut and had my cob out of the bag before you could say 'did I really just see Nicola run.' John always asks whats new and to be honest sometimes there is nothing really new. What I had noticed though was that greenhouse two looks absolutely fantastic at the moment, when I walked in yesterday morning I actually said 'oh my god,' it looks like the healthiest green you could imagine.

Six Foot Hedges

My plan for yesterday was to be digging a new patch, but after a comment from another plot holder it seemed the more pressing job was cutting back the hedge. Well the weather looked ok so I thought this wont be too bad, until the sun really came out and I hadnt thought to bring a t-shirt. It didnt take long for me to call the Blur to bring me cups of water every five minutes. Not long after starting Brian and Jackie walked up with their wheel barrows to collect wood chippings and window panes. 'About bloody time' Brian laughed. I must have looked like I was struggling (I was jumping up to reach the high bits) as he told me to go down to his car and grab the choppers. Now this was the help I was looking for. Extendable handles are a bit of a life saver. After demonstration on a nearby tree it was time for those choppers to get to work on our hedges. The Blur snipped off the lower branches whilst I dropped hedge all over us by doing the tops. It didnt take long for the Blur to wonder off and any calls for water after this point went largely unheard. I'll admit the choppers with handles extended were long, but not quite long enough. With stinging eyes due to the debris and suicide flys I did the last few high bits by jumping up with my eyes closed.

Rain Again

I did eventually make it to the end of the hedge, which meant there was only the tidying up left to do. Id already taken 3 wheel barrow fulls to the fire pile, and estimated there were another 4 to go. How wrong could I be. After 5 more I was still of the thinking I had another 4 to go. But the dark clouds rolled over and I made it to the hut just in time for the heavens to open, and open they did. My advice is if you've got a job to do, dont sit down. It felt so good to rest my feet, I wasnt sure id ever get up from the sun lounger again. So, Id had enough. Time to go home for shower, and get the bugs out of whichever holes they'd thought were a reasonable place to sit.

Johns Idea And The Extraordinary General Meeting

Having left lotty before John had finished work, he wanted to go and have a little look for himself. Tea nearly ready, he came home telling us that he'd had an idea. Melony melon outside had died, but the one inside was doing well, so what if we could create her a little greenhouse of her own outside. Good thinking batman. The extraordinary general meeting was at seven, so we decided to have a quick look in at lotty and a little bit of an experiment. John had already collected a few of the window panes and he set about creating little greenhouses around the peppers. Though i'll have to see how they fared during last nights heavy rain I think the possibility of an outside Melony greenhouse is high.

And so to the EGM. Well actually we never made it that far. I spotted a pigeon and threw a tomato at it which turned into a contest to see who could throw an apple the furthest which turned into who could find the best tasting apple. I dont feel too bad about missing the meeting (John says someone will tell us about it today) as I had much more fun playing with John and the Blur.

Just a quick ending here. Yesterday morning after eating my delicious pork cob I sat on the path whilst John was inspecting the sweetcorn and saw that the maize part was hanging down and looked pretty. I took a photo and am glad it came out as well as it did, so now other people can have the same view that I did. The other thing is the potatoes. Usually I pick from the patch that was planted first, but decided to try a different one for a change. What a surprise it was to find one in there that was equivalent in size to about 3 normal potatoes. Im going to look at patch 3 next time and see if they're just as big.