Flighty's plot

It’s always nice…

when friends who haven’t blogged for a while start again, and over the past few weeks several people have done just that.

There’s Blue Pixel who has started a new blog Pixelations In Blue and divine Diva is now blogging here as Divastar.

We have Plane Jane, who blogs here as BlueAndTigger, to thank for persuading Mylozmom to start blogging again, which she has happily done with A Place For Me…..

Unlike the others Pandy is still to be found at her old blog home Panda_eyed.

Disgruntled has done just the opposite with her Disgruntled Commuter blog. As you can see she’s quit her job to become a writer. Having read all her excellent entries from the first one nearly three years ago I shall miss her regular musings on the tribulations of daily commuting.

There’ll be more on Sally as I’ll be reading her first novel Out of a Clear Sky, which will be published in May, and doing a review entry here. Apart from anything else I think that is a great title and I like the front cover!

I’m a happy Flighty

This morning was glorious, being sunny with only a light breeze. I went to allotment early to do my Birdwatch and did reasonably well. Mind you if I’d seen all the birds that I could hear chattering and twittering in the trees then it would have been a lot better.

There were the usual Crows, Magpies, Seagulls and Woodpigeons. I stood and watched a Robin perch on top of an eight foot bamboo cane when another one appeared on the ground nearby. A little later I saw one on top of my shed. The Blackbirds and Starlings flew in and out of the trees. There was a tree full of Blue Tits and/or Coal Tits, and a lone Song Thrush(?) at the top of another tree singing away. To cap it all I was nearly back home when I saw two Jays, one under a large shrub and the other flying away.

I warmed up with a cup of tea and some toast then went to the horticultural society’s hut for some bits and bobs. Bonemeal for the roses, grass seed for Cally at the bookshop and peanuts for the birds.

After chatting with the others and asking about what potatoes to grow I decided to get some Majestic early maincrop for general use and Charlotte second early which are a good salad variety. I shall now have to read up on what to do with them!

I then went back to the allotment and spent a very pleasant couple of hours doing some work for the first time this year. I lightly dug round the roses and gave each a couple of handfuls of bonemeal as recommended by the supplier I got them from. I twice filled a bucket with surface weeds and added them to the compost heap. Then I lightly forked over the vegetable, herb and wild flower areas. Considering the amount of rain we’ve had I was surprised at how easy going it was.

The bulbs I planted are all now showing well above ground, and some of the seeds I sowed last autumn are beginning to grow.

It was good to see several other plot holders making the most of the good weather, and walking round I even came across a few daffodils in full flower.

It’s little wonder then that I’m a happy Flighty!

This weekend…

is The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.

I’ve enjoyed doing this the past few years, although I’ve not actually seen many birds, or little of real interest. Perhaps this year I’ll get to see one, or more, of these which I sometimes hear but have only seen once !

This year I shall be doing it from the allotment site on Sunday morning. Thankfully the weather forecast is looking reasonable for London.

If you enjoy getting out in the countryside then it’s well worth taking a look at When to Watch Wildlife. I think that it’s an excellent site full of useful information for any time of the year.

Tomorrow evening’s Natural World on BBC2 at 8.00pm, and repeated on Sunday at 6.10pm, is Tiger Kill. In it Simon King travels to India, where he’s never been before, to see his first wild tiger. I like big cats so I shall be watching this programme with great interest.

Sunday evening will, I’m sure, see many gardeners settling down to watch the first, of ten, programmes in the new series Around the World in 80 Gardens. Starting at 9.00pm on BBC2 we’ll see Monty Don travelling the world looking at at a wide range of fabulous gardens. This week he’s in Mexico and Cuba so expect to see plenty of colourful and exotic plants. If you miss it it’s being repeated next Tuesday on BBC2 at 7.00pm.

Have a good weekend !

All a bit seedy!

Whilst clearing Plot124 I spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to grow. Early on I’d decided that much of the plot would be flowers.

I also read A Garden from a Hundred Packets of Seed by James Fenton which is a delightful little book in which he relates a simple, refreshing way to start a garden from scratch.

I’ve also been given various packets of seed, mostly by Nikki, including Cosmos, Hollyhocks, Poppies and Sweet Peas.

During December I received a copy of Chiltern Seeds Grow something new from seed Catalogue 2008 which I’ve been looking through with great interest. I’ve ordered some 20 packets of seeds, mostly hardy annuals which are easily grown and of the sow and forget varieties.

They include Nasturtiums Tom Thumb Mixed about which it says If you can’t grow these you’d better give up gardening as a hobby! At the other extreme height-wise is the Sunflower Autumn Beauty which grows to 6 feet with flowers 6 inches across.

In the catalogue are these words…Sometimes we make too much of the chore of gardening! There are so many plants that make no demands on us. We have a supplier in Holland who has a trial ground on which he raises more than 1500 varieties of plants each year. All he does is till the soil, roll it, sow the seeds and that’s it – no thinning out, no weeding, nothing, and if they don’t flower?…!

It can’t be that easy…can it?

I came across this brief, but hopefully apt, poem…

Gardeners who are old

It seems that gardeners who are old

Are best at making the flowers unfold.

I also couldn’t resist borrowing this from Louise’s This is my patch blog

You’ll have noted that I’ve not mentioned herbs or vegetables, which will be the subject of a future entry.

An even greener Flighty

Over the past few years I have endeavoured to become a greener Flighty as I’ve become far more environmentally aware, thanks in part to various blogs that I’ve read on the subject.

At Christmas I was given a copy of Reduce Reuse Recycle by Nicky Scott which, although small (5″ x 6 1/2″) and slim (just less than 100 pages), is packed with good ideas for cutting consumption and reducing rubbish.

The bulk of it, some 60 pages, is an A – Z guide which answers most recycling questions. Reading through it there are plenty of things that I haven’t been doing but will, which means that I should become an even greener Flighty.

Earth Pilgrim – a year on Dartmoor is tomorrow’s Natural World programme on BBC2 at 8.00pm, which sees world-renowned ecologist Satish Kumar exploring the ancient woods and rivers through the changing seasons.

It’s being repeated on Sunday on BBC2 at 6.10pm, immediately after Wild Wensleydale which takes a half hour look at James Herriot country.

Have a good weekend!

Marking time, again!

My last Plot 124 entry was Log pile which as you can see was three weeks ago! The reason for the long gap is that there’s very been very little to write about due mainly to the seemingly continual wet weather.

Regarding the log pile it’s now looking rather more substantial as I’ve added some logs to the few I started with. It’s about ten feet or so down the plot from the pond and the patch between the two is going to be the wild flower area which should attract bees, seed-eating birds and butterflies.

Last Thursday I met a good plot neighbour John, and his lovely dog Jodie, on the site. He was just checking round as it had been rather windy the day before. During our chat he offered me some blackberry plants which he’d dug up a few days before. As you know I love blackberries so the offer was gratefully accepted. I planted them yesterday, which was dull but dry, finding that the ground was very sticky indeed!

I’m pleased to see that the three roses, and most of the raspberries, that I planted in December are showing slight signs of growth.

The birds are using the feeders, the seed one more so than the peanut one, and I’m topping them up about once a week.

With the ground being as wet as it is and the forecast for the rest of the week being yet more rain it looks like I’ll be doing nothing more on the plot until at least next week. Never mind I’ll carry on compiling my seed list which I think I’ve now nearly sorted out!

I have a spare copy of the hardcover Royal Horticultural Society Diary 2008. If anyone would like it then please leave a comment. If there’s more than one of you then I’ll pick a name out of the hat and let you know who it is. Once they’ve emailed me an address I’ll post it to the lucky winner.

Three Awards

On Friday I was delighted to see that VP had very kindly tagged me in her entry C’mon make my day giving me this She gave it to me for letting her lounge away on my lawn, which incidentally is green, soft and always has the sun shining on it! [I wish!]

Yesterday I got home to see that dear Daffy in her entry Nelly Award had been equally generous, and thoughtful, in giving me this Her kind words made me smile, and yes I’m well pleased to be given it.

My thanks to you both for these wonderful awards!

Just so as nobody feels left out of things I’m giving this to all Lawn Loungers and everyone else who has kindly commented on this blog. It’s to thank you all for being good friends and having such friendly sites !

Tea time

I was pleased to see that Angelfeet did a new entry on her Bless the Weather allotment blog yesterday as the last one was way back at the end of August. I’d taken her off the Lawn Loungers list but have reinstated her I’m happy to say. She’s also got another blog, Angelfeet’s 366, where she’s going to post a photo a day throughout the year. You’ll note that it’s a leap year hence 366 rather than 365, and the link to it can also be found under Tea time.

It was good to see that last week’s Big Cat Diary finished in an upbeat way for all the animals featured after all their various trials and tribulations.

This week’s Elephant Diaries have been wonderful viewing, although last night’s programme ended sadly with the news of the totally unexpected death of the captivating young blind calf Ndololo. Being the big softie that I am it even had me reaching for a tissue! The series continues tomorrow, next Monday and Friday on BBC1 at 7.30pm.

I will be mentioning it again a few days beforehand but please note that the Big Garden Birdwatch is on 26 and 27 January. This year I’m doing it from the allotment where I hope to see more birds than I usually do!

Have a good weekend !

Lawn Loungers

are all my good blog friends here on Flighty’s Plot. Mind you at this time of year I think perhaps I should change them to Sofa Flyers!

It’s been ages since I’ve done a round-up entry where I mention friends, and others. I’ll try to do one occasionally as they always seem to be appreciated.

Sadly yesterday Nikki said her last goodbye to her beautiful cat. She has my heartfelt sympathy, and I can guess how she feels as for many years cats were always part of my family.

On the last day of 2007 Fabulous finally got to say hello to her beautiful daughter. Congratulations, and isn’t she a real cutie!

I’m endeavouring to be an even greener Flighty this year so I’ll be looking at Polythene Pam’s Leave Only Footprints blog regularly from now on.

It’s always nice to get a comment from someone new. That happened last week on my Log pile entry when fellow allotmenteer Veg Plotting stopped by.

Sonrisa, who will be familiar to some of you, has set up a new home here on WordPress with her unforgettably named Box in a Monster blog. Why not stop by and welcome her.

That’s it for now as it’s a gloriously sunny, but not too cold, day here so I’m off for a stroll round the allotments before lunch. Now where’s my camera!

The wild side

Firstly a couple of reminders.

Big Cat Diary continues this evening and tomorrow on BBC1 at 5.30pm. This has proved to be the usual mix of uplifting and heart stopping viewing.

Tomorrow BBC2 at 8.00pm is Natural World Snow Leopard:Beyond the myth, which is being shown again on Sunday BBC2 at 4.55pm.

Next week sees Elephant Diaries on BBC1 starting Monday at 7.30pm, continuing on Wednesday and Friday at the same time. This series comes from a Nairobi charity that cares for calves that have lost their mothers.

These wonderful creatures are caring, clever and cute so it’s little wonder that many of us, such as Daffy, find them so endearing.

Bill Oddie’s Wild Side is another new series which starts next Wednesday on BBC2 at 8.00pm. In it Oddie hopes to open our eyes, and ears, to the quirkier side of the wildlife around us.

Have a good weekend!