Alan Williams's Blog, page 69
April 26, 2015
Catch Up
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve managed to post here and there are a few things to catch up with.
Allotment
It’s been a busy couple of weeks on the plot, with lots of the seeds I’ve sown germinating and coming along well. The potatoes have shot ahead, and are now earthed up in their final ridges. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we won’t have any hard frosts because they are a little exposed. I’m sowing and planting most weeks now, and by the end of May most things should be in, and th...
April 11, 2015
Allotment Update 11th April 2015
It was raining when I made it down to the allotment this morning, as the video above explains. The rain did clear relatively quickly but I didn’t add to the video. I did manage to get some weeding done, and get the plum tree in the ground in the fruit bed. I also managed to sow some more seeds, including; turnip, beetroot and carrot.
The carrot I split across a couple of different methods to try something new. Some I sowed normally into the ground as I have done many, many times. I also sowe...
April 6, 2015
Bullfinch
Its not everyday that something special happens to make your day early on, if at all; but this morning was one where that did happen.
I take part in the BTO’s (British Trust for Ornithology) Breeding Bird Survey. I have a set area which I survey twice a year and record all the birds I see and hear. As today was a bank holiday, I thought I’d undertake my early visit of the year (I’ll do another one after four weeks, and by mid-June).
The reason for such a great morning was three-fold.
There...
April 5, 2015
Seeds Are Sprouting
Radish Are Go!
The first of the seeds that I sowed a couple of weeks ago are starting to sprout. Great news!
So far; radish, lettuce, peas, rainbow chard and broad beans are all poking through the soil. Most of these are under cover, so I spent quite a bit of time watering them. The parsnips haven’t shown any sign yet, but they’re always slow to get going. The cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants are also doing well so far.
The wind was back again yesterday, although quite mild generally...
April 1, 2015
Throwback Thursday On The Allotment
Summer still seems like a time away, so here’s a look back to 2011.
Local Tour – The Gillies Allotments from tontowilliams on Vimeo.
March 31, 2015
Batten Down The Brassicas, It’s Windy Out There
It’s not often my sleep gets interrupted, but at 3am this morning I woke to the sound of the wind whistling around the house, it sounded quite wild out there. Today was also “bin day” and as I walked to the railway station it was clear it had been. Many bins were lying on their sides, their contents strewn around the street. I made a mental note to check on the allotment when I got home.
After work I walked down with the dogs, hoping my weekend preparations had stood up to the worst of the we...
March 30, 2015
Watching The Ironbirds
Chinook Riat 2013 by Airwolfhound on Flickr
We live close to both a private airfield and a number of aviation businesses. It’s a common sight to see a wide range of “Ironbirds” mixing in the sky with the feathered variety. Common sights are gliders (and their tow plane), the Coastguard’s rescue helicopter, a variety of single wing and twin wing private planes.
More recently one of the aviation businesses has a part to play in the chinook maintenance. This means that we are seeing the distinct...
March 28, 2015
March 25, 2015
Frosty Start, Sunny Finish
After a busy weekend on the allotment, with my early spuds going in the ground as well as shallots, radish, lettuce, parsnip and a complete set of brassica plants that arrived last Friday, I was hoping for them to escape any significant frosts. Knowing that to be unlikely I did make sure that they were all under cover. I made good use of the cloche that I built a week or so ago.
This morning I woke to a proper frost however. The roof of our house was white, as was the ground, I hoped that...
March 19, 2015
Watching The Birdie
One of last years blue tit fledglings
I’ve always kept a bird list. Birds I’ve seen etc.
Since we moved to our current home I’ve kept an exclusive list for the property. The rules are simple, only birds that I’ve seen on or from the property can go on the list. As it’s a small urban property the list is relatively short, 31 species in total; the most in any year, 24 species. It includes some great highlights though; merlin, buzzard, sparrowhawk and fieldfare. This year so far the count is 14...
