Nuclear Cucumbers and Melons

Charlton Heston

Ever since we saw the writing in the shed saying 'Charlton Heston, Planet of the Apes 1968' there have been a few strange coincidences surrounding it. Firstly, John went to watch the film in 1968 just before he turned ten, and we found the message just before the Blur turns ten. Secondly we have just found out that Charlton Heston died this year. For anyone else this may not seem odd, but its been a bit of a talking point. All these little things that seem to have coincided with each other. Its just a shame we'll probably never know why it was written there in the first place.

Seeds At Last

I had waited for over a week for the postman to bring me the new seeds and finally they arrived yesterday. I opened the envelope and pulled out the two little bags, and then the growing instructions. Its not as simple a process as I was expecting but none the less im giving it a go. The first thing on the list is to place them in a bowl of hand hot water for twenty four hours. Now they are sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to get on with the next step this afternoon. From these instructions I have learned that germination may take anything up to five months, so a little patience is in order. In the meantime I have two other projects which should keep me busy and stop the itchy feet.

Those Cucumbers And Melons Again

I know I have talked about them quite alot recently but while some things take time to grow the cucumbers and melons are sprouting up left, right and centre. When Brian popped in the other day to see the chickens, he looked at the melon plants and pretty much said they didnt have a chance. Well just yesterday I found another big one. Not eating size just yet, but at the rate they're growing it wont be too long. I cant wait to be able to take one down and show him that it can be done. We have three big ones inside, with many more going the same way, and one even bigger one outdoors.

Since sitting the cucumber plant in a big bowl of water the cucumbers have swollen visibly day by day. Im sure it wont be long before we're giving them away as there are so many on the plant, that if they ripen at the same time we'll be over run with them just like we have been with the courgettes.

On the pumpkin front, there are now an abundance of them. Philip has four good sized fruits with lots of new ones growing all the time. Patrick, after a slow start is growing into a monster just like Philip. Though the fruits may be smaller for now they have turned out to be just as enthusiastic as the ones on Philip.

Our Girls

We have had the chickens for nearly two weeks now and they seem to be enjoying their new lives at lotty. Most days we have arrived to find that at least one has escaped from the run, this is usually Cairo, although Alison has been regularly joining her for an adventure in the big wide world. Rita has escaped once or twice, but I thinks she knows where she is better off. We are getting an egg a day now, but were not quite sure if Alison is laying or not. The general routine when the girls escape is for one of us to hold the gate open and one to round them up. I have had to do it alone once, and on finding something to prop the gate open with and being sure that Rita was happy to stay in the run it wasnt so hard. Yesterday John put a net over the gate posts and the gate, as their preferred method of escape is to jump up to the gate then exit. We arrived after that to find all three girls safely in the run. I have got my coop cleaning down to a tee now, its not the nicest job in the world, but its lovely when you put your head in after and it smells of fresh hay and wood shavings. The shed we moved over the weekend has now become a mini barn, and its far easier to get everything in and out.

Putting the chickens away at night has become easier. Cario and Rita go in first, the Blur taking Cairo and me taking Rita. Then once Alison has realised the other two are in she'll hop up in there herself. Im pleased that Alison has worked that out herself as it gives her the little bit of personality that has until now been a bit lacking.

Chicken Run

A Beautiful Sunday

Slightly later than our normal Sunday mornings, we didnt arrive at lotty until half past eight to let the girls out. As John usually does this on his way to work it was a little treat for me to see them getting up in the morning. John has been telling me all week about how Cairo escapes the run every morning, but id never seen it myself. Well now I have. She was not too hard to round up as she didnt appear to actually want to be out of the run and all it took was to follow her around the fence and back in through the gate.

We picked a few apples so that I could make apple sauce for our roast pork dinner and some runner beans, which seem to have a new crop every day.

In The Wars Again

It was back to lotty in the afternoon with a charged drill battery to do a bit more work on our new/old shed. Not having much to do on it, I made a start on improving the Blurs swing. As the steel wire was not so flexible I removed it and replaced it with some material that we'd found in the old shed. Both John and the Blur looked dubious as they thought the material wouldnt be strong enough. But I told the Blur that I would test it first, and that if it could hold my weight it would definitely hold her. Early on in this task John came down from the shed and told us a plank of wood had just fallen on his head. I took a look and there was a big red blood spot under the skin. It looked nasty but John assured us that he was ok. He had a little rest and watched the chickens before resuming his task. After her bee sting and falling over on Saturday the Blur won the award for having the worst war wounds. Sunday was Johns turn. I hope they are both feeling better, and that today will not bring any more injuries.

Swing finished I tentatively sat down and hoped it wouldnt snap. Luckily it was safe and the Blur sat down for her turn. I did make a few adjustments, like putting a plastic strip around the branch it was hanging from to stop the majority of friction, so the rope wouldnt be slowly cut through.

Glass Roof

That done, I went up to see if I could help John in any way with the shed roof. Now we dont always have exactly what we need at lotty, but we have become adept at improvising. We didnt have enough planks of wood to make a shed roof, but what we did have was a whole pile of old doors. So after picking three very similar ones, John hoisted them up and screwed them to the top of the shed. It may sound like an unusual idea, but with a glass roof it has the potential to be a semi greenhouse, as we will soon be needing more room. It still needs a door, but we did well by getting most of it fixed in just two days. When we started it on Friday, we noticed some writing just above the door. The first bit was obvious and said 'Charlton Heston,' but after that it needed a bit of guesswork. I thought it said Charlton Heston plants ?something? the aps 1968, and as there were no other suggestions we decided it must be something cryptic. When we got home I googled Charlton Heston 1968 and came up with Planet of the Apes. Mystery kind of solved, other than why exactly did someone write it there in the first place.

Another Chicken Run

When John has told me about chickens escaping its always been Cairo, but not this time. After getting Rita and Cairo in (they're easier to catch as they both assume if the Blur and I are in the run we have something for them and come over.) So as the Blur and I converged on Alison she took a good run up and sat on the roof of the coop. After a few bouts of arm waving at her she flew off over the fence and into lotty. The Blur did try and catch her first but ended up driving her the wrong way so that going in the gate was less of an option. So telling Blur to hold the gate I went after Alison who thought her escape would come through the hedge. Fortunately in all her dithering I was able to grab her and put her to bed for the night. But thank you Alison for providing John with an amusing few minutes of watching us chase a chicken.

Moving And Swinging

Up Early Again

Once again we were up and off to McDonalds for our traditional team cheeky monkey Saturday morning breakfast. Before this whilst the Blur and I were still getting dressed John popped up to lotty to let the girls out, and brought us an egg home. So with our bellies full it was time for us to work it all off. John got busy repairing the floor of the shed, and I got on with cleaning out the coop. After the first clean out we decided to put down a bit of tarpaulin in the coop so as to just pull it out along with the hay, wood chip and a few unmentionables. After the first run carrying wood shavings down from the hut I changed method and put the next two bucket fulls in the wheelbarrow, and unsurprisingly managed to tip it up. Luckily it just missed the new rows of herbs we planted last week.

Brian came in for a look at the girls and devastated John by ruthlessly pulling off the unwanted leaves from our tomatoes. The next task for me was to pull apart an old pallet so we could use the planks of wood as a new floor for the shed. I did manage to hit myself in the wrist a few times with the hammer before I get the hang of it and was pulling the boards off within seconds after that. As with the hammering it took a while to get the knack of pulling the pins out of the planks, but i got there in the end and it didnt take long for us to have a brand spanking new floor for our shed.

During all of the work the Blur was stung by a bee. After a few seconds of flapping she gave me her arm so I could pull the stinger out and she let John suck the rest of it out. I was very proud of her for not crying and in no time she was over it all. When we'd done what we were going to in the morning John and the Blur made a swing in the pear tree, using an old stool seat and some steel wire.

After a bit of dinner at home, giving us a chance to get a flask of tea and a change of clothes (at least for me because it was more dress than jeans weather). Then back to lotty to do what we could on the shed. As it may be used as a green house in the future we put a glass roof on the shed and there are plans for a glass door too. With not much else for me to do there other than bandage up the Blur who's been in the wars today, I took myself into greenhouse 1 to start making up pots of compost ready for the arrival of my special project seeds which should be with us by the beginning of next week.

We had a bit of a play around by the fire, throwing on all the bits of netting we found while we were clearing out the shed, and I found a little blue/green flame and John told us we'd thrown on some copper wire which burnt that colour. John the secretary came in with his two grand daughters to see the chickens and told John he was a bit of a celebrity now. We must have the best hens in all of the allotments (but we already knew that).

With nothing much else to do without a charged drill battery, we headed of to the Chinese, to pick up some food and it was mine and the Blurs chance to learn how to use chopsticks. Took a bit of getting used to but we got there in the end.

Thank you John and Blur Blur for a lovely day at lotty.

Worms Glorious Worms

Doddy Little Egg

Running to the coop yesterday I told the Blur not to tell me if there were any eggs in Ritas nest site. She managed to keep a straight face until I got my head in and pulled out the tiniest little chicken egg that I have ever seen. It took me a while to stop laughing and thank Rita, though I dont think the Blur found it as amusing as I did. I showed John when he arrived and he gave more of the reaction that I did. Never the less its an egg and were grateful for any that we get.

Still with all the sun and rain were getting in roughly equal measures our fruit and veg are doing great. The melon (outside) is soon going to need support to hold the fruit up, and the runner beans seem to spring up from nowhere over night. As cucumbers are marsh plants we bought a big bowl, stood the plant in and filled it with water. It seems to be enjoying it and the fruits are swelling slightly faster now, so hopefully it wont be too long before were having some with our salad and in our sandwiches.

A Fun Afternoon In Tommy Cooper

Yesterday John sliced off a corner of grass to give the chickens the start of a dust bath. Rita was straight in there and loving all the bugs she found. John also put the lumps of grass back into the coop and Rita very quickly made both corners hers. Whenever Cairo or Alison came near she was chase them off. Watching her trying to protect both of her territories was very funny, but what was funnier was when she found a huge worm and ran as fast as she could, closely followed by Alison who wanted a piece of the action but without putting in the hard work. So, knowing that they enjoyed worms John and I set about digging up a few and giving hand feeding a try. Well obviously Rita was the first to get the hang of it (the second she saw one hanging out of my hand) and ran over. She even realised they were in the tin I had and started poking her nose in there. Cairo was slightly more suspicious to begin with, but was soon clamouring against Rita for a piece of the action. Alison, being slightly dormant most of the time wasnt too fussed. If one was thrown her way she go for it and even tussle with the others but she wasnt prepared to take one from either mine of Johns hands.

It was a fun half an hour, in the afternoon and I wouldnt have missed it for anything. We did have to wait a while on arrival for Rita to get out of her nest to see if she'd laid, and eventually after a bit of a snooze, she ventured outside into the rain and revealed another egg to us.

Eggs

A Lovely Surprise

Having had the hens for a few days now there has been lots of sitting and watching them. On Sunday we took a blanket into the run and had an hour just watching the girls. They already have personalities showing through. Rita is the mother hen and doesnt concern herself too much with the others, unless they're pecking the bit of grass she wants and then she'll give them a good peck on the neck to get them to move. This usually happens when Cairo has her head in the feeder. Alison, still the most elegant seems to be lost in her own little world sometimes. She does like to peck alongside Cairo sometimes though. Cairo is the greediest, although I think she may just grab as much food as she can whilst the other two aren't looking, she also likes to stick her big feet in everywhere which leads to water and grit being spilt.

After John let the girls out on his way to work yesterday, I wasnt too far behind and was happy to see the girls outside going about their business. Even happier I was when I took a look inside and found our very first egg. It was very small, and I carried it carefully in my pocket all the way home. Popping in again later that day to my surprise there was another egg, in exactly the same place as the first. Im not sure which hen they came from but I think it could be Rita as she seems to be the most fully grown. Im looking forward to more eggs soon, and once Cairo is a bit more developed im hoping we'll gather at least three or four eggs a day.

More Jam Than You Can Shake A Stick At

Whilst the Blur and I were watching the hens, John went off and started gathering plums from our trees. With a good thirty in the tray John left them in the shed at home ready for me to make more jam. This time the recipe was slightly less complicated and within twenty minutes we had two and a half jars of plum jam. From the look on Johns face and the noises he was making I think it went down pretty well.

Im just wondering now how many more types of jam i'll make before the summers over.

Another little surprise for me is how well one of the melons outside has done. She has the biggest melon on her already despite the bad weather we've had the last few days. The rains not all bad. With relatively sunny day times and the downpours mainly restricted to the evening, all the plants are getting a bit of what they need, and they are flourishing for it.

Chickens At Last

Our Girls

Once again we were up early this morning, and when I asked John what he'd like to do today, his reply was 'well Id like to get some chickens'. So after a quick search on the Internet we had a few phone numbers of chicken breeders. The first one said she could have them for us by Wednesday. We had two more numbers and decided to see what they could offer. So on to farm two, and this time we were not disappointed. After giving us some rather complicated directions it was off to lotty to pick up a box. Once again we were off into Leicestershire on our search for chickens. After a quick detour into another farm we eventually arrive at Goldsmith Grange, and welcomed by an over excited dog. Within ten minutes we were saying goodbye with three point of lay hens in the boot. It was like Christmas, waiting to open the box and get a better look at what was inside.

Tommy Cooper Gets Occupied

Arriving at lotty, John took the chickens down to Tommy Cooper, whilst the Blur and I quickly filled the feeders and drinkers. Once we were all within the safety of the run the box was opened and with a hand from us the girls took their first look at their new home. As soon as they were out we decided which was to be called what. The hen with the biggest crop was named Rita, the next down in pecking order is Alison and the youngest (the Blurs) is now called Cairo. John pulled the bench closer to the coop and we sat for a good while just watching them go about discovering all the goodies concealed within the grass. Being at the bottom of the pecking order Cairo was given a few stern pecks by the other two. Rita was the first to discover there was food other than grass and bugs and took a few pellets from the feeder. Cairo found the grit and made it her own little patch by constantly standing in the dish. Alison is the most elegant of the three. She has a slightly glossier plume and seems to walk with more care than the other two.

They didnt stray much from where we'd taken them out to begin with but after being put into the coop and then unceremoniously removed they strayed slightly further. They had to be put in for the night when we left and the job of rounding them up fell to me and the Blur. The first two went reasonably quietly, but Rita put up slightly more of a chase.

We did manage a few jobs around lotty, John mowed the grass, while I strimmed the bottom end which had become a bit of a nature reserve. I did have to mind a few frogs, and urge them out of the way. Eventually the strimmer decided it had worked enough and gave up for the day, and we too called it a day at that point. George and Mildred popped in for a look at the girls, and gave us a few tips on looking after them.

Its been another long Saturday, but after the hard work we all put into building Tommy Cooper its great to see it being put to its proper use. Thank you John and Blur, for all the hard work you've put into making the coop, and for being with me to enjoy what we have achieved, I love you both very much.

Sunshine After The Rain

Finally Some Sun

The last few days have been pretty wet here, and as much as we'd like to we havnt really spent so much time at lotty as we may have liked. But the suns now out and it means a proper chance to have a look around. Already the pak choi has started to appear, which given the weather is a bit of a surprise. Although it was a little late to be planting them out the tomatoes, peppers, chilis and aubergines have done amazingly well, all have new growth and are looking healthy. We did notice after having to bend one of the inside tomato plants that the stem had broken and the top looked as if it were dying. Im happy to say, as with our poorly tomato a few months ago, it has healed and the top is now looking better than ever. We did have to pull up one of the tomato plants as it had stopped growing, but another aubergine has been planted in its place, and were keeping our fingers crossed that it has time to grow.

A Good Feed All Round

Yesterday was the first pork cob Thursday without the Blur as she has now started at a holiday club and was probably having alot more fun there. By the time John had arrived the veggies had all been given a good feed and with cobs in hand we had our daily walk about. The one thing you cannot fail to miss at the moment are our pumpkins. John tells me the previous pumpkins he has planted never grew as big as the ones we have now. They are like monsters. The largest of the plants is roughly 15 feet long, and with the second one quickly catching up they are threatening to take over the whole allotment. We have been pleased with the broad beans which after only a week or two (taking into account the weather) have grown to 5-6 inches already. Not only have all our melon plants got tiny little melons growing already, but greenhouse 2 now smells like melons, which makes it an even better place to be.

Blackberry Jam

Around the edges of lotty we have a number of blackberry brambles. We picked a few not long ago for an apple and blackberry pie, but John asked if I could make some blackberry jam. Im trying anything I can with our lotty hauls so off I went to find all I needed. Annoyingly all of the best blackberries are at the very top, so I grabbed a stool from the greenhouse and started my search. Half an hour and a few scratches later my plastic tub was full and it was off home to make a mess (im not the tidiest of cooks). The recipe was simple enough and within twenty minutes there were two jars of our very own jam cooling down in the kitchen. John spied them almost immediately when he got in from work, but as they were still hot he still had a bit of a wait before the sampling could begin. It seemed like a long wait, with me checking every ten minutes, but the second it was set out came the bread. We dubiously took our first bites, and I at least was pleasantly surprised. The Blur was offered some when she got back from her club and after tasting a bit from the spoon asked if she could have a jam sandwich. So there it is, my first try at jam was a success. Im now wondering what else I can make. We have a few plums which are ripening, and iv never had plum jam before, so there is an idea if we manage to harvest enough of them.

And finally. I would like to thank John and the weather for a lovely morning at lotty.

Woo Hoo More Planting

Planting Time Again

Although spring time is when the most sowing of seeds is done, we have found crops suitable to be planted now. After pulling up the radishes on the weekend we had a new plot to plant in. In the now vacant onion patch all dug over and covered in blood, fish and bone we planted a row of spinach, and half a row each of basil and chives. In the other free plot we have two rows of lambs lettuce. We'll soon have another free patch which we will be planting a few cabbages in.

The new peas that John planted just a week or two ago, have some very tiny but fully grown pea pods on. Unlike the pods from the older ones we pulled up last week which usually had 7-8 peas per pod, these ones have just two or three. Far from it being too late to plant out, everything we've put out these last few weeks have done really well.

A Windy Sunday

The wind yesterday was playing havoc with certain areas of lotty, though some were easier to rectify than others. The door which we used to cover up a hole in greenhouse one was blown over, which is no mean feat (I should know as I had to carry it into lotty). A few panes of glass from our makeshift cloche were knocked over. But the worst damage was done to out bottom runner beans. Part of the frame I made for them to grow up was snapped along with the end plant. Its a bit sad to see and as the plants are entwined and im unable to remove the broken one, but we still have an abundance of runner beans so alls not lost.

We added a new frame to the tomatoes which now as they are so big has to be trained along the roof and possibly out of the window. Apparently David who is a bit of a tomato expert hasnt had much luck with his this year, so we really must be doing something right. We have noticed courgettes propped up against Davids gate. We thought he must like them and added a few to the line. It wasnt until the other day we found out that he's the one who leaves them out for others to take, im keeping my fingers crossed that he'll leave some of his amazing strawberries out one day.

Although sometimes it seems like theres not much to do around lotty at the moment we have had a very productive few days there lately. Everything we've done theses last few days we have done together, which just goes to show that the cheeky monkeys really are a great team.

A Wet Day In Lottington Stanley

Cucumbers And Tomatoes

The two cucumbers that the Blur planted a few weeks ago are now thriving. The inside cucumber is now about a meter high and already has fifteen tiny cucumbers growing. The outside one, although not as tall or fruitful has taken to the outside world after an initial wilt and aslo has a few tiny cucumbers on it. We now have a daily supply of ripe tomatoes which we have been using in recipes and sandwiches. We are now just waiting for the plum tomatoes to change colour which if the others are anything to go by it wont be long.

For the first time today we will be cooking with our runner beans from the bottom patch. Unfortunately the runner beans in the top patch have a disease which I think is possibly chocolate spot (its sounds better than it looks) theres nothing we can do about it other than to burn the plants at the end of the season.

The sweetcorn is as always doing great. They are on the verge of drooping which indicates that they are ready, though we did pick and eat a few in the week which were lovely. We have an abundance of chilis and soon it'll be the same with the peppers.

Wet Feet And Onions

So today hasnt given us the best weather, especially as we had planned on a lotty BBQ, but none the less we were up bright and early once again. After a McDonalds breakfast it was off to homebase to get a few bits and then on to lotty. The Blur had decided that she was ready for more planting an settled herself in greenhouse one with a few pots, packets of seeds and a watering can. She'd brought a few GU chocolate pudding glasses from home and started by sewing a few cress seeds, and then went on to planting three pots of basil. We have basil growing in two other places but it seem to be one of the few things we use regularly so the more the better.

In the meantime John set about mowing and strimming the grass and sorting out the compost heap, which involved dividing it between two water butts, and emptying the big white bag back into the pile. I planted a few rows of pak choi and a row of garlic. By this point my feet were wet and squelchy, and the Blur and I took ourselves back off home. Returning an hour later with hot coffee, sandwiches and biscuits.

Yesterday we pulled up all of our onions and shallots and left them out to dry. Considering the weather today they were not going to get very dry led out on the soil and we decided instead to string them up. John did the first lot, but soon we were all at it. We all found our own methods that worked for us and it wasnt long before we had at least 7 or eight strings of onions. Apparently stringing them up the French way is more romantic than sticking them in a pair of old tights (according to Alan Titchmarsh.)

Abandoned BBQ Plans

Well as you may have gathered it was slightly too wet for a BBQ so plan B had to be thought up pretty quickly. John offered to cook pasta and the gathering of food began. A few tomatoes from greenhouse 1, a courgette, a few peas, a leek and some of our very long runner beans. Whilst on our way down the a butterfly (im scared of them) with its erratic flying style collided with my face and I shouted in my girlyest voice 'argh, argh, it hit me in the face, which the Blur found very amusing.

Water, Watch And Wait

Cucumbers Already

The Blur planted a couple of cucumber plants a few weeks ago, one of which is in greenhouse 2 the other outside. They're still very small, but to our surprise they already have tiny little cucumbers on, even the one outside. The Blur has been getting more and more interested in what were doing and has recently been trying to find herself little jobs to do (other than picking fallen apples off the carrots, swedes and onions,) so im pleased she can already see the results of her work. Knowing how fast cucumbers grow, its not going to be long before we can add them to our growing list of things we no longer need to buy.

Waiting

As I said before its now a case of watering and waiting. I'll confess I have now looked in our mushroom boxes, and was a little disappointed not to find much happening, other than a few silvery looking weeds popping up. I know your not supposed to get the spores wet once they have emerged, so I am trying to think of a way to get water into the boxes without a watering can.

We now have an abundance of red tomatoes and they seem to be changing colour over night. Having sat in the greenhouse for ten minutes I decided to pick one off and let the Blur have a taste. Somewhat dubious she tried to bite the very least amount of skin off as she could until I told her to take a big bite. It all got eaten so I am assuming she enjoyed it.

Our pumpkins have gone mad and between them are threatening to take over the whole plot. But it looks like we'll have one pumpkin each by the time halloween comes around, if not two. Its amazing to see how much something can grow in a night.

The hardest thing to wait for by far is the chickens. We only have to wait another three to six days, but its feeling like a lifetime right now. We have paint for the coop, so that task should take our minds off the hens for at least ten minutes. Both John and I had the same thought this morning, in that the chicken man could ring today, and we'll be off like a shot. But until then i'll be bouncing up and down in anticipation.

A Busy Few Days

Canes And Apples

Its been a few days since I last wrote as we have been pretty busy. Now that summers here (ok some semblance of summer) we have put out everything we can. After taking up the dying peas we have replaced them with the final tomatoes and peppers, which also meant putting up new frames. Luckily we had a few canes left to do them, but not quite enough for the sprouts. Its was a lovely evening and when all the work was done it was off to have a look at the apple trees. Well it seems we cant just look at the apples, there has to be some sort of game involved. This time it was to see who could hit a oil tin that had been left on the fire patch. First place went to John who must have gotten into a good rhythm and hit the tin a fair few times. Second was the Blur, who had the advantage of being allowed to stand slightly closer to the tin. Lastly it was me, who never really got into the rhythm.

And Back To Tommy Cooper

Its been a while since anything was really done to the coop, but come Friday it was off to B&Q for a few of the last bits we needed to complete our hen house. Back at lotty, John set about covering the roof with shed felt, and fixing on the opening side with hinges, while I finished putting up the fence and making pegs to fix it into the ground. It really didnt take long for it to be finished. So with nothing left to do building wise we did the only thing left to do, which was to pick up hay, food, grit and feeders and drinkers from a farm not too far away. Not stopping there we drove to Liecestershire with a couple of boxes in the boot. Unfortunately the farmer didnt have any quite ready yet, but we now have point of lay hens on order and should get a call in seven to ten days to pick them up. The chicken coop looks absolutely fantastic now that its finished and its been great having so much to do on it, only a few more days and we'll be having our own fresh eggs.

And Now For Some Updates

The sweetcorn is on the verge of being ready, like everything else they are growing noticeably every day. The outside melon plant has a definite melon on it, and the cucumber has picked up after it had a bit of a wilt from being planted out. Philip the pumpkin is now threatening to take over the first lot of sprouts and sunflowers, and even Patrick pumpkin is starting to stretch out its leaves. After a thorough weeding last weekend the purple carrots have decided its now suitable ground to grow in. Every day we're finding new red tomatoes now, and it wont be long before we have too many to use at home and give some away. Both the inside and outside chilis are covered in fruits and the peppers are going the same way (I think another go at fajitas are in order.

Now for something not seen very often at lotty. Whilst working on the coop I heard a bird that didnt sound like the ones we normally get around lotty. It wasnt until I heard something fly over that I looked up and to my surprise the noise was coming from a cockatoo. Well its come to the right place if its wanting something to eat (hopefully from someone elses plot though,) and it makes a nice change to seeing bloody pigeons.

Now if ever iv felt the need to say thank you the need now is even greater. Thank you so, so, so much John for all your work on the chicken coop and for helping to make one of my little dreams a reality, I love you.