Valkyrie

Yup. Definitely diddy blue tit - such a cute photo.😍 Just like the one I rescued from the greenhouse then walked all round for it to find it's mummy. Chiffchaffs are little brown birds. I've not seen one down low - they like the upper tree canopy. I wonder if anyone has ever had them on a feeder? First time for everything - we have had long tailed tits on the feeders for years - apparently it's a recent thing for them to do, so maybe . . .

Oooh! I'm right! LOL! That's a first! Colourwash sounds like splatted paint! Watercolour sounds nicely blended! Am happy to wait for the exchange.

I agree - beans are very bleh but I've just sown some more in the greenhouse and they are popping up. I've grown Cherokee before and was quite happy with them - this year not one germinated, but I'm going to have another try. I also had Lazy Housewife which we liked in the past and I saved seed until they got quite earthy in flavour - might have been a bad year. This year I have a couple of Lazy Hs but the seed was totally different from the Heritage Seed Library - this year I got mine from Real Seeds at the potato day - same as the Cherokee, so I'm not sure if they are true to the name or not. Funnily enough OH has just made a ginger cake today! I'm indoors with all the windows open, listening to a chiffchaff and trying to keep cool! Was in the veg patch earlier and the Painted Lady butterflies are here. Well one is - on my comfrey flowers!

Plum - it's gorgeous. See, I did say you are The Artist! LOL! Hope you can get the abstract one done - then we'll need to compare, but methinks I'm already biased to the realistic ones - for anything! Ahhhh that's the one - watercolour, not colourwash! DOH! I was tossing up whether to use the walking foot on this rather than FMC. It's so busy that perhaps a plaid type of line work would be nice - out of the ditch. Perhaps continue with the 201 with that - she has lots of attachments, but I think it'll be easy enough to just wing it! The rest of the done pile are waiting for the super duper machine!

I think Plum has that title! LOL! Thank you. All sewn together and recently I found out that if you sew a sort of basting stitch (I kept mine the same length as I sewed) around the whole quilt top, it stops it from stretching and keeps the joined parts together as they were sewn and sliced before sewing together. I hope it stops the fraying too. So folded over the landing rail and the bed has been made ready for my visitor. I will do a 2 and a half inch cream border and then the squares again for the outer border. It's interesting in that the diamonds aren't really diamonds at all - they are rectangles. I guess they need to be as each is offset to make the chains continuous. I loved every part of this so far.

I agree - they haven't been growing in spite of the feed and tlc. We have finger tip sized ones but sort of fun to pop in the mouth DM. I wondered if Lesley will have raised beds in the polytunnel at some stage. I will be doing raised beds eventually just to ease the bending over to plant and pick. Yayyy M&M! I did see a little brown bumblebee in there this morning, but later I did some more tickling. Patricia - I did read ages ago on the old forum that people actually had chickens that chomped the bindweed - needless to say I was delighted to read it. Unfortunately not one of mine touched the blooming plants! Apparently you can eat the young leaves and stems also roots, but in small quantities because it makes you go to the lavvy poo poo Barney McGrew . . . !! Soapy - if only you could see how disorganised I am! It's all racing against time and elements. The spuds I was looking back and we planted them at the beginning of April so amazed that we managed to get a couple of dinners from them. Have to say I harvested 3 onions - they were only going to be bull neck ones, so made space for the others. Plus 2 more potato plants - this time Casablanca which yielded a bigger yield of 1lb 12 and a half ounces. The compost man did say that we might get eelworm as the ground hadn't been cultivated - and we did in a couple of tubers, but easily cut out. Flavour also very nice. Will grow these again too! Lunch today was totally home grown - left over cooked Red Duke of York with tomatoes, salady bits and fried eggs. That's a first here! I'm feeling happier about Sweetpea. I saw her yesterday morning but not today until this evening and there she was with her little upside down botty feather (plus I can get close to her now) under the bird feeders. Since Dudley went, we've had a new guy. He has much lighter feathers, a bit of a blondie. So I'm calling him Phineas Pheasant. He's been giving Sweetpea the nod, so clearly fancies her. I think she's happy to find company. I'm happy that they seem to be happy! Something has pulled off my little comfrey leaf from the little plant. It was fine yesterday - although I spotted OH pulling things up - and knowing he also can't tell the difference between weed and useful plant, I'm guessing him. Especially when he said oh dear the little one in the pot. No I have no comfrey in pots - they are all in the ground! He didn't own up to "weeding" and I reckon he thought he would help clear the gap for it - even though he knew I'd planted them all out - I showed him!!!! Arghhh! Although it could also have been naughty baby crows playing. The leaf wasn't eaten. I need a nanny cam! But funny old day here - rainy on and off and sometimes just in the air, very humid and the wind was warm - as was the rain. Actually quite a pleasant, dry evening, apart from no sunshine.

Sorry DM - I think the bees are all here! I sowed my toms in January - and then they were too big to go into the greenhouse which was unheated, but they survived and while we have great trusses, there have been very few bees in the greenhouse, so I've hand dusted the pollen. I'm guessing the lack of light and warmth has had a knock-on effect there.

Well nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let us know how it goes - because I'll probably do that later in the year.

They've changed their minds - the storms and torrential rain is now sunny. Still forecast for the early hours of Monday - looks like we are escaping the worst. Early night tonight and hope I sleep through any reconstructed 1812 Overture from the weather. Today started as it finished yesterday - cooler with total cloud cover - pretty blue/grey and pastel shades.

What a lovely tranquil spot you have made. Well done with the veg. Don't know much about horseradish apart from grating the roots and they can be invasive with huge taproots. With regard to pak choi - yes - you can do both. We have some in a packet of mixed Oriental seeds (which we like best) so have just picked as and when needed, although we have a small patch in the greenhouse we have been eating a lot of salad! I know it likes cooler temperatures and is now beginning to bolt, but not a lot else about it - so I looked up on Youtube and found this short film which is really interesting and something that I'll do in the future (although I think this is in a polytunnel) but could easily be under a cloche in winter!

OoohOW ooohOW! Er pretty but nope, not for here - Mistress Vixen would chomp that fancy tail off in seconds! Well I thought Frida was having a time-out but no, she was laying in the little green nestbox that I got for broody nestbox hogger. She hogged so much that Frida gave up! A nice little cluster of 5 eggs! OH said "oh noooo not that many!!!" But Goldie has seen the light and has now come out into the light. Still having issues with little Fudge, although she had a day outside - bed time and she was in as soon as I opened the door. The Force with her is strong! I gave up with the sin bin - it didn't work either! With Goldie I just let her stay although I pulled her out when everyone was yelling, and for tea and a general run around the garden with the others in the afternoons when everyone had laid. Inga only has one little bumblefoot bit left - the one on her toe came out today - it was huge but thankfully all in one piece. She was duly disinfected and trussed and what happened? She kicked it off. I managed to check it and it already looked like it had closed up nicely. Soooo the last remaining bit looks like it won't be long. It'll be easier for her too as I won't take hours to bandage her up, although I'm getting much better at it! We had our first crop of spuds - 10.5 ounces of Red Duke of York and they were really tasty. I think we'll do those again next year. We still have some in the fridge. I think a nice mini frittata for lunch is on the cards with onions freshly picked too.

Actually it wasn't as difficult as it seems - went really quick and it was a rainy project in between other things. I guess if I cut out the interference with life (hah!) then it probably wouldn't have been longer than a week. And thank you. All old fabrics - some pre 2002! I actually enjoyed this one because it stopped me hoarding the old things and it was a reward for tidying the fabrics into workable scraps and strips. Of course it's all messy in there again! LOL! But won't take long to tidy with the new organising regime. I need to finish the last 2 rows tonight because I need to make the bed for my old neighbour coming for a short stay. I also need to iron all the washing which is now piled under the ironing board. Hmmm maybe I need to vacuum first so the clothes don't get thready bits all over them!🤪

Goldie no longer broody so was off in the garden with the other big'uns. So I grabbed a chair and put it under the walnut tree and hoiked out the little'uns and they had a whale of a time scrabbling around where we'd cleared the grass and nettles. OH surprised me with a Pimms! So we both sat under the tree while the little girls had the best time in a long while! Just gone outside and it's a lot cooler and the sun has disappeared. Weather looks like storms late Sunday to Monday early hours then rain in the afternoon. Joy. Tuesday looks good but storms throughout Wednesday, particularly in the afternoon to evening with "torrential" rain. Big joy. Not amused!

I think you adapt to the weather where you live. In Florida we were in t-shirts while locals were wrapped up in thick coats! Same for my aunt in Cyprus - she says it's cold in winter - but where she is, it's like a nice spring day here! I wouldn't mind average weather - just not the monsoons! Planted everything in the veg plot that needed it, strimmed all across the field to the edible hedging and around those so that the mower could keep the grass down around the little plants. Even with sun cream slathered on I've caught the sun - not enough to burn but enough! So mad dogs and Englishmen as they say . . . so in with some orange juice and 7Up for a rest and a cool down!

Well with the summer solstice came the sunshine! It's been lovely and today is the same. Will have to dash outside and get things done pretty quick while we can. I think a lot of the bad weather has been blowing across from the USA - they have had odd weather this year, then looking at the satellite it then pootles back across the Atlantic and up the Bay of Biscay - then storms! But hey ho, it is what it is. So while I gave up with the parsnips, I planted out the beetroots. What happens? A day of sunshine and the parsnips put in another sneak appearance! A tad late! Grrrr! Sadly Dudley the pheasant has met his maker.😥 Am thinking Mistress Vixen as there was nothing to show but a few feathers and not the complete plucking session that the buzzards like to do. We are now down to the one Mrs P. I've called her Sweetpea as I can get quite close - like 2ft - for a chat! But that's nature - mustn't get too attached to the wildies. Although a happier ending for a baby blue tit that I found at the entrance to the greenhouse. Picked it up and gave it a cuddle to warm it up. Even OH got to stroke it. Then I went walking round the bird feeders to try and find it's family. When I got to the opposite end of the garden it perked up and flew out of my hand to join the others. Tears of joy that time! Ending on a good note - we have paid the deposit to the architect yesterday so we are actually making progress now. Photo is the stupid tardy parsnips!