Starting August 24th, we haven’t heard the Sparrowhawks and we have wondered if they have left the area. At the same time the small birds seem to have returned with bluetits, great tits, long-tailed tits and coal tits at the bird feeder and great spotted woodpeckers in the trees. It will be interesting to see…… Continue reading Sparrowhawk Saga – Continued
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Sparrowhawk saga
Those of you who follow us on twitter or facebook will have seen a number of posts about our local sparrowhawks. To summarise: Back in May we saw a pile of sticks in our oak tree and noticed a sparrowhawk sitting around and carrying twigs to (what we assumed was) its nest. We’ve seen sparrowhaks…… Continue reading Sparrowhawk saga
Recipe – Cucumber Relish
2025 seems to be a good year for cucumbers. We’ve already made our usual cucumber pickle so we’re making cucumber relish as well. The ingredients are very similar to the pickle but you end up with something that is a bit like piccalilli, thicker than a pickle and suitable for using on sandwiches and as…… Continue reading Recipe – Cucumber Relish
Another Courgette Chutney
The courgette glut means that we have many meals with courgettes but, the glut doesn’t last long and everybody needs to spread out their consumption of courgettes. Chutney is one way of storing courgettes and there are many different recipes. This is a very simple one with few ingredients which tastes fine and keeps well.…… Continue reading Another Courgette Chutney
Spinach Harvested
For many years I’ve tried to grow spinach but it always seems to bolt and go to seed before it’s ready to pick. So this year I chickened out and bought some plants from the local garden centre. I also put a good helping of garden compost on the vegetable bed which may have helped.…… Continue reading Spinach Harvested
Tomato – Alice’s Dream
A medium sized Black/Orange tomato on Regular Leafed Indeterminate plants. Description New to us in 2025, also from a new source of seeds so we’ll see how they grow.Their described as Black with Orange stripes. Its of Polish origin from one of many accidental cross (we’ve all had them) between Blue Gold and an Indigo…… Continue reading Tomato – Alice’s Dream
Tomato – Evil Olive
Mid Season green olive shaped fruit on indeterminate, regular leafed plants. Fruit have dark green undertones but can be tri-coloured. Description A new one for us in 2025. We grow green tomatoes just to give a variety of colour but this one also sounded as though it would have a “zingy” sharp flavour. Its often…… Continue reading Tomato – Evil Olive
Sowing Tomatoes 2025
Slightly later sowing this year than usual, trying to see whether sowing later actually makes a difference (other than hopefully reducing the length of time I spend carting the seedlings in and out). I’ve also reduced the number of cultivars (we’ve still got lots of tomatoes in the freezer from last year). Only three new…… Continue reading Sowing Tomatoes 2025
Tomatoes for 2025
It has got to that time of year again when making decisions about what to grow. My plan this year is to significantly reduce the number of cultivar’s, probably only around 10 different varieties. The main reason is that we’ve still got a lot of tomatoes left over from last year, we’re not eating anything…… Continue reading Tomatoes for 2025
First Snow of the Year
After weeks of dull weather, last week we saw the sun again. It didn’t last long as this morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow and overnight temperatures below freezing for the first time. Over the garden, it looks quite pretty but the roads are turning to slush already.