Strange find at MacDonalds

We had a MacDonalds this week - we tend to eat there about twice a year - just to remind ourselves how bad food can taste. Anyway - I found these seeds on the counter. Little strips of carrot seeds in tissue. They have been planted - I am not expecting miracles.

Next week I will be .......

PICKING RUNNER BEANS!!!!

Looks like my early gamble with the runner beans has paid off and sometime next week I will be picking my first runner beans.

This week I harvested all my first earlies - some of which are huge, my first lettuces and some broad beans.

Marathon effort

Thanks to a weekend on my own (he was golfing in France) I got two mammoth sessions up the allotment over the last two days and tackled the weeding. The wet and warm weather had done it's worst and everything was covered in a carpet of weeds as you can see from my before and after picture of the brassicas.


I have always hand weeded my plot - I have never been able to manage the art of hoeing. But hidden in the depths of my shed I found a previously forgotten "claw" tool. It is part of a number of Wolf tools which are quite ingenious. I have a selection of different "heads" which are interchangeable and clip onto one handle - thus saving space. I removed the larger weeds by hand and then used the claw tool to pull out the smaller weeds and break up the soil.

Hopefully another stint next weekend should have everything looking ship shape.

I harvested broad beans, the courgette pictured last week which was now approaching marrow proportions, sunflowers and sweet peas. I also picked a few blackcurrants - and deliberated about digging the bushes up while I was doing so. The bushes are several years old - I have tried cutting back, but they never seem to give a decent crop. Maybe one more year.

PS - news about the Bastard Children. Apparently they have been visited by the local Police and will hopefully not be visiting the allotments again.