Alan Williams's Blog, page 56

Quick Links 14 June 2016

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

A look inside a Bumblebee nest with Dave Goulson:

I’m a fan of chickens and dream of having some of my own one day, so I was interested to read what Bill Gates (of Microsoft fame) is up to. You can read abo...

Allotment Update & Tour 11th June 2016

The allotment is looking good at the moment, there are a few things that aren’t, in particular the radish and turnip, but that’s gardening. I’m already thinking about what I’m going to do with the area that is currently occupied by the broad beans, I suspect some more salad crops will go in one, and the other might just get covered by the courgettes. According to my notes, the early potatoes should be ready around the 3rd July, but they might be ready sooner, as it’s looking like they are sta...

Quick Links 7th June 2016

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

Every once in a while YouTube turns up a real gem on it’s homepage when I go there. This is one of those gems. Please note that the way the chainsaw is used from around the 3 min mark is extremely dangerous....

Algorithm Armageddon?

Sometimes Amazon’s algorithms make me smile, other times they make me cringe. Now I know that Amazon uses your purchases and those of people who have also bought the same thing as you to make recommendations. (I know I can manually “tune” my recommendations, but sometimes it’s fun to discover new things).

The other day I ordered some more plant clips (see picture above), they’re handy things to have in the potting shed and the allotment, but they wear out and break eventually. As I had seemin...

Potting Shed Update

The potting shed is now fully over to it’s “summer” set-up, with all the troughs for peppers and tomatoes full. I’m not growing cucumbers in there this year, as I’ve switched to outdoor cucumbers on the allotment this year as an experiment. I’ll have more tomatoes than I originally planned too, as I’ve lost the first trough of peppers to the snails!

I’ve sown some radish seeds in some of the spare space around some of the plants too. I want to see if I get better luck with a more frequent wat...

Quick Links 31st May 2016

Each week I’ll try and post quick links to things that I’ve seen, read or just sparked my interest in the previous week, with a little background and my thoughts and other things that I’ve been up to in the previous week. Mostly gardening, cooking and environmental stuff but not always.

So the first permission for fracking shale gas has been granted in North Yorkshire. I don’t think this is the right way to go for a sustainable future energy supply, I think the costs and potential risks are...

Planting and Harvesting on the Allotment

The allotment feels like it’s reached that point in the year where there is going to be a regular supply of veg coming from it. I walked around this morning, and was surprised to see just how much things have grown in just a couple of days. Leeks that were just looking like blades of grass a day or so ago are now looking more like stout reeds, and the runner beans have now all germinated (or at least there is one plant beneath each cane). I decided that I was going to plant out my pumpkins a...

All Work and No Play…

Sometimes I need to be reminded that all work and no play makes Alan a miserable sole. Here’s to a long Bank Holiday Weekend – go out and play ball!

Sometimes You’ve Just Gotta Eat Grass

The grass is getting pretty long around the edge of the local playing field at the moment. We often cross, to reach the woodland on the other side, and there’s a fairly well trodden path, which is handy in the mornings when the grass is wet with dew and I’m wearing shorts!

The dogs however will always grab a blade or two for a munch, if I’m not paying enough attention, they’ll even try and have a feast!

Goats Cheese, Feta and Pear Pizza

Now this may not sound like everyone’s idea of a pizza topping combination, but it is tasty!

You’ll need:

For the dough (unless you’re using a ready made base):

300g strong white bread flour (plus extra for rolling and kneading) 1/2tsp dried yeast 2tbsp olive oil 200ml warm water (about 25C) 1tsp salt A pizza tray or stone (do not place the base directly onto an oven shelf). If you’re using a ready made base, follow the manufacturers instructions!

For the topping:

1 tube tomato puree Lar...