Man of the Match; wild flower meadow; Karcher again, etc

Well hello! It's been a long time - ish...


Busy, busy, busy, but no excuse for not doing this since February. Biggest, most important thing that's happened since? Finlay, age 6, Man of the Match against Bovingdon on Sunday and he didn't even want to play in defence! He was class, even going on a couple of David Luiz style raids forward. Proud parents is all I can say.


As to gardening, well where to start. Karchered my way round Rebecca's in Quainton:

I know I have an obsession with this contraption, but it does do a superb job, but please wear waterproof trousers if you ever attempt to do a job on this scale...

Also, made a really good start on the meadow area. Cleared away lots of weeds and rubbish from under the trees and will hopefully get the OK on hiring a turf stripper/cutter which will mean I can clear the area out in the open in just one day. This is the area shown from both ends:

The area I've cleared is the far end. This is fairly late in the day so does not show the full effect of the sun on the open area. It's a long term project, which I love, because it means I am going to be here for some time to come. Love it!

And, finally at Quainton, here's the hellibores I moved from the proposed tennis court area, plus a few ferns and such like. They have settled in beautifully, but then again they're not my favourite flowers for nothing, they're just so easy...

Over at Buckland and the pond had some visitors the week before last, couldn't believe it!

Yes a duck couple, unfortunately you can only see the male as this was taken on my mobile and the camera isn't that good.

A view of the pond from the top, delightful!

And finally a quick look at the allotment:

The digging is coming on a treat, I will be putting on some compost this week. Sowed the cabbages at the weekend, awaiting the potatoes, sowed five different varieties of tomatoes, put in some salad leaves in the greenhouse, as well as salad onions and some onions too - eat your heart out Tesco!

And absolutely finally for this blog, the new chicks arrived three weeks ago and they are very cute, as you can see:

Tallulah - who has a "gammy" toe on her left foot, she hobbles a bit but seems in no real discomfort - she chirrups all the time bless her...

Tilly, very robust!

Clarrie, Harriet, Bridie (hidden somewhat) & Betsy - all laying! We had 12 eggs last week, so basically now they are in full flow, so to speak, we should start getting well over 20 eggs a week from them. Half dozen Murray Eggs anyone? £1.73 to you!

Happy laying!