The day after Dave came

Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for another lovely picture from his front garden (possibly a contender for our nicest view from a front garden award). He told us yesterday “It’s a fairly nice day today, wind has dropped and only a sprinkle of snow on the highest hills.”

During the storm they did have a power cut which lasted as long as it took them to find the candles and torches, light in comparison when during past storms they’ve had them for up to 5 days. Blimmin’ eck!

Good to hear Storm Dave didn’t kick off too much or create much trouble (as some Daves do when they get angry.)

Happy Birthday Rich and good luck to all gardeners if they’re doing some Bank Holiday gardening today.

Disclaimer: * We are not getting at any Dave in particular and have mentioned it for purely humorous purposes. We know a few by the way (Mad Dave, Tai Chi Dave and Dave across the road) and all are lovely Daves.

Northern beaches and birds

Many thanks to Rich in the Lake District for sharing a couple of photos he took from his recent break in South West Scotland, where he visited Gatehouse of Fleet, Portpatrick, and the South Ayrshire coast. As he put it, “Spectacular, but cold.”

Above is a great picture of Ross Bay, while below is an ace shot of a red kite in flight, showing its distinctive long, deeply forked tail (we have just read about the tail so didn’t have a clue about it before). More information about the red kite here.

Weather report from the lakes

It’s been damp and overcast down here in SE23 today so the gardening we were planning to do was confined to repotting some seedlings indoors. Thanks to Rich R in the Lake District for letting us know about the weather up there. “Still some snow on the hill tops this week. Biting winds but lovely sun and it’s light until nearly 6.30pm.” Great stuff Rich and ta for the picture, we can’t wait for spring.

A view from the lakes

Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for sending this lovely snap today and don’t it look great up in the background? “A lovely day here, freezing and sunny.” It wasn’t bad here in London today either, bright and sunny. And no rain for a change.

Do you reckon sping is on its way? Or not very far away?

 

Things that appear in your front garden (a new series)

A big cheers to Rich in the Lake District again, for sending this picture of what appeared in his front garden the other day. Wow, that is one mad “male Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), also frequently called a Ring-necked Pheasant.” as AI told us. Cheers Rich, anything else mad that turns up as mad please let us know.

New beginnings

Thank you to our mate Rich in the Lake District for sending us photographs of the newly formed community allotment in his area. They had a generous farmer donate them some land earlier this year and now the space is a work in progress (above and below). As Rich said “The allotment is in a very special spot and we are really enjoying having a go” (look at the scenery in the background!) and that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about just cracking on, learning by any mistakes, enjoying the many successes and going with the process. Go with the (gardening) flow!

The report so far from Rich: “We have set out loads of small plots and planted all kinds of stuff. Spuds, carrots, rhubarb, turnips and squash. We had lots of donations from others. Apparently there are 2 herds of deer in neighbouring fields but so far nothing has eaten our stuff, which is not only growing nicely, but also not dying! We have planted in about 75% of our huge patch and will be delighted if we manage to get a meal out of it in the end!” That’s great news Rich!

Also Rich told us that his neighbours saw a giant Stag in his back garden the other day. We’ve had reports of Wild Boars in gardens in France from Debby H and now Stags in the Lake District. Blimmin eck, crazy stuff.

We remember a few years ago going to an allotment not far from here and one of the allotmenteers (you can call them that can’t you?) had one big cosy shed with a dartboard, football table (and supposedly a bar but we’re not sure if we were being wound up) and a big BBQ grill outside. By all accounts it was in use as a clubhouse type socialising hotspot from 7am till well after sundown during summer (we’re sure it had outside lighting and fairy lights adorning it too). How the owners and their neighbours had time for actual allotment maintenance we don’t know.

As we reported at one of our Steroid Abuse nights many moons ago (above), allotments are fast becoming the new nightclubs/social clubs/pubs! And why not?

We look forward to more pictures of this horticultural development and to hear about how people have got on with it all there. Thanks again for sharing the pictures Rich!