{"id":24512,"date":"2024-03-23T15:52:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T15:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/?p=24512"},"modified":"2024-03-25T10:03:25","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T10:03:25","slug":"nesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/susan\/nesting\/","title":{"rendered":"A battle between the wind and the sun"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our weather continues to set us a challenge. We have had glimpses of brightness but these are usually accompanied by strong, bitterly cold winds. It’s reminiscent of the Aesop’s fable<\/a> which tells the argument between the wind and the sun. As far as we are concerned the wind is winning,<\/p>

At the allotment, we\u00a0had an increasingly huge pile of debris that was due to be burned in November, The wet weather put paid to that plan and the pile continued to grow. Last week after a couple of dryish days and the threat that more wet weather was forecast, we decided to try to have a fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

The fire was set up on an empty bed and the debris was transferred onto the fire once it was set alight. Not only did we get rid of the pile shown above, but a similar amount from elsewhere on the plot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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It’s always amazing how such a huge pile is converted into a small pile of ash.\"\"<\/p>

This will be spread on the bed.<\/p>

As our allotment rules state fires shouldn’t be lit until late afternoon, before he started on the fire, Martyn roughly dug over the front of the long raspberry bed.\u00a0<\/p>

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Whilst, he did that I did more work on the strawberry beds.<\/p>

A video of our afternoon’s work is posted here.<\/a> It also features two little creatures that were spotted while working on the raspberry bed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I also dug up the last of the parsnips from the muddy, overspill bed.<\/p>

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At times, it is difficult to remember that it is now spring but the buds and flowers of the fruit trees give us a gentle reminder,<\/p>

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On our second afternoon at the allotment, we tidied around the thornless blackberry and erected new posts and wires.<\/p>

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The new blackberry canes were then tied in. This is a much easier job than it would have been had the blackberry been a thorny variety.<\/p>

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The cherry tree now has buds so we had the difficult task of covering it with a net to protect it from the wood pigeons. Given free access they would strip the buds and young leaves. As the net may prevent insects from pollinating the flowers, I will have to give them a hand.<\/p>

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At home, on the patio, we have a small camellia. This surprisingly was the result of sticking some prunings in a pot to see what would happen. The pot was just tucked away in a cold frame and forgotten about until one day I noticed a flower. It was then potted up and has spent a few years on the patio. I think it deserves a bigger pot this year.<\/p>

Martyn has been busy in the greenhouse. He has posted about this in his blog<\/a><\/p>

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At Nostell, the swans are now sitting on the nest.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The nest is situated in the reeds, somewhere around where the cross is in the photo below.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

We did have some disturbing news regarding the swans. Nostell posted on its Facebook page that, earlier in the week,\u00a0 one of the swans had been in difficulty. It had a canvas bag stuck around its neck. The staff couldn’t help it so they called The Yorkshire Swan and Wildlife Rescue<\/a> who managed to free it. How the bag came to be there is a mystery but it just shows how ‘litter’ can affect wildlife.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The swans aren’t the only birds with nesting on their minds. A crow was busily preparing some nesting material.<\/p>

A video of the nesting activity is posted here<\/a><\/p>

As usual Ruby found this to be very fascinating.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Finally, I used some of our onions, garlic and frozen green beans in a Thai chicken curry.<\/p>

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Into a turkey tagine, went a red onion, garlic, carrot and parsnip.<\/p>

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I also made a vegetable rice dish using our onion, carrot, garlic and from the freezer, sweetcorn, peas and red chilli.<\/p>

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Our stored onions are now beginning to shoot so I prepared and froze some to bridge the gap until our overwintering onions are ready to harvest.<\/p>

That’s all for this week so as always stay safe and well.<\/p>

This week courtesy of the muddy parsnips I am joining Dave’s Harvest Monday post on his Our Happy Acres blog.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our weather continues to set us a challenge. We have had glimpses of brightness but these are usually accompanied by strong, bitterly cold winds. It’s reminiscent of the Aesop’s fable which tells the argument between the wind and the sun. As far as we are concerned the wind is winning, At the allotment, we\u00a0had an 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