fennel and kale

Planted 1 row (left) of fennel and two (centre, right) of dwarf curly-leafed kale in the little bed by the gate in the allotment.

Lola and Neve”s flowers are coming up nicely around the squashes. Bindweed continues to enjoy life to the full. Four of the beans have found their poles. Will the first earlies be ready soon?

In other news, the mattress for the new bed is ready; will need to go to Londinium by car on Weds to fetch it. Can’t think of a better way than parking in Crouch End; going to be much time wasted, though.

Our ton of playsand might arrive today; it’s going to be fun barrowing that around from front to back. Need to line the sandpit and make a frame for the lid. And need to go and get turf for the adjacent dirt.

And don’t forget it’s Lola’s party on Saturday — for which rain is currently forecast. Grrr.

courgette flowers

2011-06-20 05.53.22.jpg

Three of the courgette plants were flowering this morning. Maybe they appreciated the compost that Lola and I took out there on Saturday. We also put some on the tomatoes and cucumbers. This was our own compost, which I also put around the tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Stuff in the allotment is coming on; beans growing, though they still look a bit pale, tomatoes look settled. Potatoes coming on well though no flowers yet and really need weeding every day. Found bindweed wrapped around one this morning.

In other news, this weekend saw me angle-grinding the three steel washing-line poles down and putting up the new rotary line. The view down the garden being dramatically improved in the process. Then finished off the decorating of the corner of the spare room, erected the bed and cut the slats to length. And made some mint syrup.

Stefi and Sofia arrive Friday – still loads to do.

And Danny of next-door-but-one fell off his bike outside our house and broke his arm. Very painful but a simple fracture and he was his usual cheery, albeit somewhat monodextrous, self the next day.

planting out

Poppies, beans

Planted tomatoes in greenhouse borders: 5 San Marzano on the right (Ali’s side), 4 F1 Incas down the left. Should bung a bit of my compost around them; nice foody mulch.

This morning, planted 6 of the Incas in the allotment. The beans, courgettes and cucumber are looking healthier, greener. I put a general food in their water; also sprinkled some blood, fish and bone on them yesterday. Beans are starting to throw out climbers, though they have yet to find the canes.

What is that weed that I am pulling out every day only to find it reappearing by the next morning? Oh, it appears to be Field Bindweed. So I’ve got Hedge Bindweed down with the potatoes, and Field Bindweed up the top with the squashes. Super.

Neve nostalgia

Is beginning to bite already. She is so adorable and funny and loving at the moment and the emerging language thing just adds to the effect. I really hope I remember her in this phase.
Yesterday, she kept standing up on her chair during dinner and shouting, “that is tam-po-line” while pointing down the garden. Later, it was, “that is gonga click,” referring to the star hairclip she was wearing. At bedtime: “no giu, Daddy – sit here”.
Tell her we’re having pasta for dinner, or that we’re going out in the car and she’ll yell, “Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah” at a phenomenal volume.
There’s much more but, predictably, it fails to be recalled on request.

squashes and beans

Planted out the courgettes and cucumber in the bricked-in beds at the top of the plot. No support at the moment; must add some cane later for them to clamber up.

Lola and Neve help plant the courgettes Planted out the beans: two rows of the Italian bean (Fiocco) and two rows of the French (Blue Lake).

Back in the greenhouse, I repotted several of the San Marzono and Inco tomatoes. Left some of them in the trays, as they were a bit small and, anyway, I have plenty.

Also planted the clematis down by the fence by Anabel’s house.

happay-doo

What a lovely chatty girl Neve is. “Happy Doo”, as she kept singing on her birthday. Complete with candle-extinguishing puff after the last line.

Other stuff that Neve says:

“ciao-ciao my daddy”

“no sit heeya daddy”

“daddy bear [beard] – yeeesss
Mummy beer – noooo
Lola beer – noooo
Me beer – nooo”

(many variations of the above)

“tedaaa!” (ie tadah!) – said when almost anything is accomplished or revealed, with accompanying open-armed flourish

“Shuuz daddy, on”

“up! daddy. up!” — telling me to get up (probably to giver her a snack

Daddy jump!

Nani! Nani here! [tapping pocket]

Mention the word aeroplane and she’ll stick her arms out and make engine noises.

Mummy na-na ba-BO! [if she sees Isa lying down. Also said of Lola, Daddy, whoever]

She gets excited when she sees Tony from next door. “Look: Tony! Tony!”

She’ll wave goodbye and shout, “ciao ciao!” to anyone who comes to (well, leaves from) the door.

She’s potty-trained now — has been since Good Friday, though the excremental aspect took longer to stabilise than the widdling, which was sorted by day two. She took the whole thing very seriously and got very upset when needing a poo. Not sure if that’s because she was more aware of the feeling and freaked out by it, or that she was frustrated trying to control the mechanics of it. Anyway, she has it now: “Papa’: cacca!” she said to me the other day. So I put her on the loo and she did a poo. Hurrah!

She loves jumping on the trampoline and is very good at it. A natural. She loves playing with her cuddly toys and especially, at the moment, the washable, vanilla-scented baby (“be’be'”), taking it everywhere, putting it to bed. She loves to eat (“yum-yums”, “‘nack!”, “wova!” [uova], “dabta!” [pasta, her favourite]) and gets very excited to see things cooking; loves to help Isa prepare stuff.

first courgettes planted in allotment

Planted three courgette plants in the allotment today (in the 1st bricked bed next to the old shed).

Strange to see the soil looking dark and moist after yesterday’s rain. That’s possibly the first real rain (more than a ten minute shower; and we’ve hardly had any of those) we’ve had for eight weeks.

Excitingly, I also witnessed a rat fight this morning: a big, healthy-looking pair of grey rats in the run between the neighbours allotment and the bramble patch.

Potatoes coming along well — almost as well as the weeds.