You can see for miles at the top of Jeffrey Hill

On Friday night, for some crazy reason, I thought it would be a good idea to start tidying out the box room which is full of clutter.  I didn't get too far - apart from taking all the boxes out of the room and making a right mess of the rest of the house!  I need to go through the boxes and it's going to take some time to do a proper job of it.

We nipped to the garden centre on Saturday morning.  I was looking for some baby winter veg plants to fill the gaps left behind after picking the potatoes.  They didn't really have anything apart from some wilted leeks, so I bought 3 pots and they reduced  them to £1 for all 3 - bargain.  Once I got home I gave them a good water and they've come back to life again, so I'll get them planted asap.

I picked some sweet peas.

The flower in the back garden are looking good.

Steve's been enjoying sleeping in the long grass we've left uncut for him.  It's his own little jungle.

It was hot and sunny on Saturday so in the afternoon we nipped to the allotment with a beer, with the intention of just having a potter and enjoying being down there.  I had a tidy around and checked everything was doing OK.  One of the cucumber plants has wilted.  The melons are growing but there aren't any fruit, yet in the greenhouse at home I've two melons coming along nicely.  Melons are a hard crop to grow - not one for the beginner. 

I remembered that I'd sown some cut flower calendula, I was wondering why they'd grown so tall in the greenhouses, then I realised they’re tall because they're meant to be cut and placed in a vase.  I picked a bunch full and they look great in a vase in the shed.

Some of the garlic tops had died off on one variety so I harvested these.  The garlic was so lovely and white once we peeled off the top layer, and it tastes amazing too!

On Saturday night Chris treated us to a meal out at the local Italian, which made a nice change.

We went to the car boot sale on Sunday again.  I got some fabric and 2 cookery books - Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, which is surprisingly pretty good and would make an ideal gift for someone new to cooking.  I also got Gino D'Acampo's the I-Diet which is great as well - I paid £1 for them both.  Chris got some books and some wood for carving.  After the car boot we stopped off at a local river and had an ice cream.  Then we had a drive to a viewpoint called Jeffrey Hill, we could see for miles, and as far as the sea.

I went to the allotment with my mum on Sunday afternoon to pick some ingredients for a Thai green curry.  We got some broad beans, garlic, chilli and peas, and she took some peaches, a lettuce and some spring onions.  On the way out we nipped into Barbara's plot which she's recently taken on since the last plot holder passed away.  She has a few DIY greenhouses, one of which houses an amazing grape vine which is absolutely full of bunches of grapes.  Someone said the vine started off as a cutting from my Dad's vine, as he was really into growing grapes, to the point were they called him the 'vine man'.  I wish I'd have seen his vines.  Barbara's done me a cutting and as soon as it takes I'm going to get it growing in one of our greenhouses.

Sometimes it drives me a bit mad at work.  I work with four other girls and one is pregnant so they go on about babies all the time.  And if it's not babies it's weddings and wedding dresses.  They also eat lots of rubbish food e.g. diet coke, msg crisps, ready meals, ready made mash.  I suggested someone baked their own fairy cakes the other day and they said they'd rather just buy them from the shop.  Ohhhhh.  I really feel like the odd one out.  I mentioned it to a friend and she said they're just muggles, but it doesn't help.  How can people not care about the food they eat, what's in it and where it comes from?  It doesn't make sense to me?  It such a contrast to the people I know at the shop, where they understand about food and green living, at least I feel like I fit in there.

Anyway, on a brighter note, I've ordered a new bike!  My employer has signed up to the cycle to work scheme which means I'll save about 40% off a bike.  I visited a few shops before I settled on the Giant Revel 3.  I just need to wait for my voucher to come through the post then I can go and pick it up!  I'm going to cycle to the allotment then come home the long way round - it'll help me get fitter if nothing else.

My mum came across this potato which has a face!

The first rule of Jigsaw Club

It was chucking it down (again) on Saturday, which is always a bummer at weekend.  So we went to a local model shop and Chris bought some model equipment from the model train set section.  He got some moulds, some little bushes, tiny people, tiny traffic cones and a bunch of other stuff.

My Mum was back from her holiday in Spain, and she brought me back a mosaic owl, a cool beaded bracelet and some saffron.  I need to find some recipes that use saffron now.

I bought the first gladioli of the year.

The wet back garden.

Because of the wet weather I decided to do some knitting and made a start on these ‘owlings’ gloves.  I’m building up to the owls jumper.

We bought the Trailer Park Boys box set so we’ve been watching those – they’re sooooooo soooooo funny. 

We also watched Lee Mack’s latest comedy stand up DVD (not as good as the first one), and the best of Victoria Wood DVD (also not that great).

I had a play with my flash and experimented taking some shots of our living room.

We nipped to the allotment on Sunday and watered in the greenhouses.  We also picked some potatoes, peaches, a garlic and some onions.  The peaches may be small but they’re absolutely delicious!

On Tuesday night I went to ‘jigsaw club’ at my friend’s house.  This is basically a chance to get together and have a catch up whilst doing a jigsaw.  We did a glow in the dark Harry Potter jigsaw which was only 500 pieces, but pretty tricky due to lots of plain black areas.  I’m enjoying the parallels between jigsaw club and my favourite film Fight Club.  So we’ve come up with the following jigsaw club rules:

- One jigsaw at a time.   

- Jigsaws will go on as long as they have to.

 - If this is your first night at jigsaw club you have to finish the jigsaw. 

  

But I think we should forego the no shirts, no shoes rule!

We nipped to the allotment on Wednesday night to feed the plants in the greenhouses.  I also stripped off the leaves below the first truss on all the tomato plants to help ventilation.  We picked lots more goodies - onions, spring onions, more peaches, Emilie cucumber, blueberries, beetroot, carrots and the first few tomatoes – sungold and sweet million (I left one for my Dad). 

The sweetcorn is thriving and the cobs are swelling.

I had toast, organic cheese (from the shop) and a sungold tomato for supper.

As for the tomatoes, the choc cherry is doing well, the Ildi has loads and loads of flowers, I’m expecting it to produce crops of cherry tomatoes like bunches of grapes. 

Ferline and alicante are doing well, as is sungold.  Marmande is not doing as well (not as tall).  I had to pick off some rosada in greenhouse at home as they had a black bottom, maybe due to the damp weather.

I woke up on Thursday morning and took some scraps of cheese and some seed out to the bird table.  Imagine my shock to see the bird table knocked to the floor and a large pigeon dead on the floor next to it.  The poor thing has been attacked and killed by our cat Steve.  It was only a matter of time before he caught a bird, he's always stalking them.  Chris is going to make a taller bird table to help keep the birds safe.  What a shame for the poor pigeon.

My sweetcorn growing tips (how my sweetcorn became the envy of the allotment site)

Thanks again to my Dad for passing on these great sweetcorn growing tips.

• First of all I grow my sweetcorn in the border soil inside a greenhouse – it performs much better here than it does outside.
• I sow 2 sweetcorn seeds into a large peat pot and place them into a greenhouse propagator (you only need a propagator earlier on in the season when the temperature's cooler)
• Once the seedlings pop up and are about 2 inch/5cm high remove the weaker seedling
• Once the seedlings are about 6 inches/15cm tall plant them into the border soil
• Plant the peat pots directly into the border soil (sweetcorn doesn't like its roots disturbing)
• Remove the top part of the peat pot (it can act as a wick and stop water getting to the plant), ensure the pot is buried under the soil
• Plant the sweetcorn 12 inches/30cm apart in a grid pattern
• Position the plants so the leaves are parallel to the greenhouse path - otherwise they'll take over your path when they’re bigger
• Watch out for slugs when the plants are small (use some organic slug pellets)
• If the plant tilts when growing straighten it out gently by supporting it with soil around its base
• Be careful not to damage the roots when hoeing - sweetcorn doesn’t like its roots being damaged
• Feed weekly with liquid seaweed
• When tassles (strings) appear on the cobs tap the plants to ensure pollination takes place (dust/pollen will fall off the top of the plant onto the tassles)
• Feed with (organic) tomato food once the cobs start to swell
• Once the cobs swell keep them well watered
• Pick the sweetcorn when the tassles go brown - don't leave it too late or they will go off
• You can tell when the corn is ready by inserting your nail into one of the niblets (can't think of the right word!) and if the liquid comes out milky it's ready
• Only pick cobs when you are ready to eat them - the sooner you eat them after picking the sweeter and fresher they'll be
• Grow one variety - don't mix varieties as they'll cross-pollinate and you'll get strange results
• My recommended sweetcorn variety is Lark
• Grow some squash underneath the corn (they grow well together) and squash help to suppress weeds.  You'll need to hand pollinate squash under glass and watch out for the flowers rotting the baby fruit.  Squash plants get huge in the greenhouse so space them out well.
• Place the cobs in boiling water and boil for 7 minutes.
• Eat with plenty of butter, salt and pepper.
• Buy some of those corn holders to help you eat your corn.

My sweetcorn always ends up taller than me and tastes amazing, so much better than supermarket corn, it's also a very easy to maintain crop, when compared to melons or tomatoes. Happy growing! I hope you found these tips useful. Please leave me a comment if you have any of your own tips to share.

The sweetcorn is taller than me!

We had a shop board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.  Since the disagreeable director has resigned things have run much more smoothly.  This is how it should have been all along -  the current directors are all diplomatic and reasonable and no-one throws a huff if they don't get their own way.  One rotten apple can spoil the batch, or however the saying goes.

We treated my Mum to an Italian meal out on Wednesday night.  She normally cooks for us on Wednesdays so we thought it would be nice to give her a break and take her out for a change.  The food was yummy, I had garlic mushrooms stuffed with cheese and sundried tomatoes, followed by tuna and onion pizza, and chocolate fudge cake for dessert.  Mmmm.  We all seemed to enjoy it.

We visited an organic cheese dairy on behalf of the shop on Friday afternoon.  We got a bit lost on the way - it was about 15 miles away in the Forest of Bowland, right in the middle of the countryside set amongst lovely scenery.    We had a brief tour of the facilities and we got to sample their cheeses.  The organic cheddar was particularly good.  We placed an order for the shop and the stock should arrive this week.  The new fridge is really boosting sales, so hopefully the cheese will help push things along even more.

My sister and her family came to stay in the Forest of Bowland again this weekend, so I was back there again on Saturday.  They booked a week in the same cottage they stayed at back in April.  I arrived on Saturday afternoon and we went to a local farmers show.  We saw some prize winning horses and cows.  We looked at lots of stalls selling locally made food and crafts and I bought a hand made ceramic squash leaf ornament.  My nieces took part in an origami workshop and made a paper frog.  They also made some sand art in bottles.  In the evening we had a meal out at a local pub, and I had scampi and chips (the veggie selection wasn't great). 

On Sunday we went to a storytelling fair at a local school.  I watched some local women spinning wool and a lady making a rag rug.  There was a hog roast for lunch and no veggie option whatsoever (unless you count cakes and sweets)!

When we got back from the fair we went on a drive into the Trough of Bowland. Driving through the winding narrow lanes we saw pheasants, rabbits and a bird of prey flew out of a hedge - I wish I'd have taken my bird book so I could have identified the different birds.  I should have taken my binoculars too, as well as taking more photos, I wasn't on the ball.  Further on into the trough it gets quite hilly and high and the views are amazing.  We stopped off next to a stream and had a paddle.  Then we drove home past the Inn at Whitewell, which looks like a wonderful place to stay.  I must save up and treat us to a night there, if I spent a little less each week at the supermarket we coud afford to stay there for my birthday. 

Outside the cottage there was lots of wildlife too.  I saw dozens of swifts, a woodpecker, and lots of other birds I didn't recognise. 

On Monday we went for a walk near the cottage and waded up a stream in our wellies. 

I also played table tennis and darts with my nieces, and we borrowed some bikes and went on a bike ride.  It's made me want to get a bike, I used to love cycling when I was younger.

I took some goodies from the allotment with me - rhubarb, gooseberries, new potatoes, cucumbers and a few broad beans.  My sister made a rhubarb and goosebery fool.

When I got home the garden seemed to have grown loads, even though I'd only been away for a few days.  Apparently people at the allotment have been commenting on how well the sweetcorn is doing, it grows so much faster under glass than it does out in the open.

I was hoping  there might be some tomatoes ready but there's only one orange one on one of the sungold plants at the allotment.  I've been taking it easy with the tomato food, I've a feeling that over feeding can encourage magnesium deficiency (leaf yellowing), and so far (fingers crossed) I haven't got any yellow leaves.

The sweetcorn is taller than me.  The onions are swelling.  Some of the broad beans are ready.  When I got back from my break there was about 8 cucumbers on the cucino plant - I would definitely grow this variety again.  In fact, I'm tempted to say it's the only variety I'll grow.  I guess I'd better give the cucumber Emilie a chance first, they're still not big enough to crop yet.  There's flowers on most of the peppers in the greenhouse.  I'm still loving the sweet genovese basil, it tastes so fragrant and strong compared to the stuff you can buy from the supermarket.  This is the only variety I'll grow next year, the other mixed basil plants aren't anywhere near as tasty,

I wish I'd have sown more night scented flowers - there aren't any ready yet.  But the sweet peas have just flowered, so I can enjoy their scent instead.

Anyway, I've nothing planned this weekend which makes a nice change.  I can relax and do my own thing, without any social commitments!

I ordered another Joe McNally book.  I got the 'Life guide to digital photography'.  It's pretty basic stuff, but it's good to hear the basics from Joe's point of view, I've already picked up some good tips and I'm only a few pages in.

I've also been reading Joe McNally's blog, and Scott Kelby's blog, both of which are great.

Thoughts of knitting

It's at this time of year I almost wish the weather was getting colder, because it gives me an excuse to knit. Knitting has sprung to mind because I've come to work in sandals and my feet are freezing! I wish I had a lovely warm pair of socks to put on. I don't like having cold feet. Patons are apparently discontinuing their eco wool chunky which is a real shame, it's such a lovely wool. My friend has sourced a yarn made from banana trees which is very soft and fluffy. I've just spotted cascade do an eco wool in loads of brill colours, but I'd need to check first to see how soft it is, I don't like scratchy wools. The Freedom eco wool was very scratchy and I wasn't too impressed with it.

I really want to make this owl jumper. I would treasure it forever and it would keep me sooooooo warm.

Ice lollies in the garden

It's been another lovely sunny weekend.  On Saturday we sunbathed in the garden and listened to the radio, had ice lollies, played with the cat and generally chilled out and made the most of the nice weather.

On Sunday we went to a local car boot sale.  I bought a Ladybird book that I owned as a child, called 'The Night Sky', which inspired my interest in astronomy.

I also bought some more owls and 2 fishermen ornaments for the shed at the allotment.  

After the car boot we popped to a pub called the 'Swan with Two Necks' for some lunch and a quick bevvie.  Then we drove up Pendle Hill, stopped to look at the view, and called in at a garden centre before heading home.  It was a fun trip out. 

On Thursday night I went to the shop's annual general meeting which was held at our local library.  Quite a few members attended.  All the directors had to address the group and say their name.  Luckily this is the only time I was put on the spot as I hate talking in front of groups of people!

On Saturday night my friend had a summer garden party.  I baked some brownies to take with me.  We drank mojitos and ate some delicious African stew and pilaf which my friend had made.  She got the recipe from an ace African cookbook that I recommended to her.  We had a bonfire and music outside, and most of us borrowed a poncho to keep us warm.

I booked Monday off work.  I spent most of the day at the allotment tidying around and weeding and trying to keep on top of things.  Blackfly has attacked the broad beans - it's my fault for not nipping the tips off once the first beans appeared.  I've taken the tips off now, but it's probably a bit late as the blackflies have already made themselves at home.  Whiteflies were also on the beetroots, as well as whiteflies/greenflies on the marigolds in the greenhouse, as long as they stay on the marigolds and off the tomatoes then that's fine by me.  Maybe all this hot weather has woken them up.

I picked the first new potatoes, some beetroot, lettuce, rhubarb, spring onions and gooseberries.  I got home and made a gooseberry, rhubarb and cinnamon crumble.  I followed the recipe in the 'Garden to Kitchen Expert', which is an ace crumble topping, it's a bit flapjacky and it tasted delicious served hot with cream.  Mmmmm.  For tea we had new potatoes and fresh mint, (tinned) garden peas (the allotment ones aren't quite ready yet), roasted beetroot with thyme, and fish fingers (because there was nothing else in!). 

The greenhouse at home is becoming more like a jungle - I always try to fit too much in!

I finished the 'one ball wonder' gloves in the purple/green Patons eco wool chunky.  I wish I'd have taken my Noro leg warmers to the garden party because my ankles were freezing by the end of the night.

I ordered Scott Kelby's digital photography books v1 v2 v3 - they're great, and I'm making my way through them pretty quickly.  I also got his digital photographer's guide to Adobe Photoshop CS5.

The fridge has arrived in the shop and takings have doubled!  I bought some scrummy smelling houmous which I can't wait to try.

I've been getting into BBC Radio 4's food programme.  I listened to an interesting show about sustainable fishing, as well as one on milk.  We're trying to find a milk supplier for the shop, but we've only found a raw milk supplier so far.  I'm off to visit a local cheese dairy with the shop manager next Friday, which I'm really looking forward to.  We need to source a good egg supplier too.

I watched the film Neds, it was pretty good, a bit harsh in parts, but worth a watch.

Finally, it's officially summer!

It was the summer solstice on Wednesday but it was a wet and miserable day.  I hope it's not a sign of things to come.

The weather was pretty much the same on Saturday, and we couldn't decide what to do, so we nipped into town because we wanted to get out of the house.  I bought some seeds from Wilkinsons, they had 75% off, and I saved £18!  I got the tomato 6 pack again (usually £4, but only £1 after the 75% discount), American land cress (meant to be like watercress, which I love), rudbeckia Irish spring, old fashioned sweet pea, dill, night scented stock, a fancy variety of geranium, and 2 packs of spring onion elody (which you can plant as late as September).  We came home and watched Robot Chicken Star Wars and fell asleep on the settee.  Then we ordered a curry and watched Family Guy Star Wars (which I thought was better than the Robot Chicken version).

Instead of taking photos this weekend I read Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Book 1.  I read it cover to cover and I loved it.  It's full of loads of brill photography tips.  I would highly recommend it and I can't wait to read 2 and 3 (I ordered the box set).  I also ordered Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure, which looks good, but I haven't started it yet.  I must stop reading about photography and start actually taking some photos!

It was boiling hot and sunny on Sunday.  We nipped to the flea market in the morning and I got a crystal owl and frog for only 40p, and Chris bought a mini birdhouse (too small for a real bird) with wind chimes underneath.  They've all gone in the shed.

We weeded the squash and pea beds - the weeds were getting out of control.  The outdoor squash aren't doing too well, especially compared to the ones in the greenhouse which are huge now.  I hope they pick up soon, otherwise there'll be no courgettes and marrows this year, which would be a real shame.

The peas are coming on well and a few baby pods have appeared.  I picked the first 4 spring onions - they were very crunchy and tasty.  We've harvested lots of strawberries and red and black currants too.

There was a huge frog in the pond, it made us both jump.  I spotted a tiny baby frog in the squash patch when I was weeding, so Chris carried it over to the pond.  The tadpoles are massive now and look like mini frogs with huge tails (a bit lizard-like).

I planted some kale and cauliflowers in the empty spaces near the squash and peas.  I also planted out 28 leeks - 7 rows of 4.  I made a 6 inch hole using a dibber, then trimmed the roots of the leek to 1 inch, and trimmed the tops off too.  I dropped the leeks into the 6 inch holes and then filled each hole carefully with water, about 1 inch of leek was peeping out of the holes once I'd finished.  I've used this technique for the last 2 years and had really good results.  I normally grow the variety called 'Bandit', but when I got to the seed packet this year I'd run out, so I think this time I've grown Musselburgh.  I hope they do as well as Bandit did.

All the beds are full now, and it's just a case of weeding, feeding, watering and harvesting.  It's been easier this year than it was last year, we had a lot of structural work and digging to do last year, which really added to the workload.  I'm looking forward to everything being ready to eat, especially the tomatoes.  Speaking of which, I'm worried that the weight of the tomato plants (once they're full of fruit) might be too heavy for the greenhouse (the tomato strings are tied to a wire along the roof of the greenhouse).  I don't want to risk damaging the greenhouses.  I might replace the strings with canes instead.  There aren't that many tomatoes on the plants yet, so I've got a week or so to decide what to do.

Here are some pics from the allotment.

I ordered Miranda series 1 off Lovefilm and watched it all in one sitting - she's very, very funny.  I can't wait to see series 2.

Goodbye to a feathery friend

My Mum's pet cockatiel Toby dropped dead this weekend without any warning whatsoever.  The poor little thing, he'd been off his food a bit recently, but we never thought he was going to die, he was about 8 years old, so we thought he had a few more years in him.  My Mum found him dead on the floor and she was quite upset, it was a shock for her, and it brought back memories of when my Dad died.  It was my Dad's bird initially, so he'd have been really upset if he was here.  We buried Toby at the allotment next to my Dad's garden and I bought a lemon coloured poppy to plant above his grave, the poppy should flower at this time each year, and Toby was a yellow coloured bird so I thought it was fitting.  We buried him with his little tweetie pie toy.  RIP Toby Mac.

Cats have been causing a mess in my garden pooing and digging up flowers.  One of them has dug up the cherry pie plant that I'd planted near my front door, I wasn't impressed!  So I bought a purple veronica plant and planted it in its place.  Cats love bare soil, and we need some sun to help the plants grow faster and cover the exposed soil. 

I walked to the shops on Saturday, I'm not getting enough exercise, I mean, I do my bit at the allotment but I still feel like I need to do more.  I park on the car park outside work during the week and because of this I'm not walking enough.  

I picked up the long black flowery skirt from the vintage clothing shop in town.  It's really cool but I think I need to wait until autumn/winter before I can start wearing it, it's not that summery, but will look brill with my black leather boots.

On Saturday afternoon I swept and tidied the back garden and moved around some of the pots and made it look a lot better.  I also fed the front and back gardens with seaweed to try and bring everything on a bit. 

On Saturday night we went for an Indian for our friend's 39th birthday.  We bought him a small bottle of Jura whiskey.  It was a nice meal (not a great choice for vegetarians), but the meat eaters enjoyed it.  Everyone we went out with smoked, so they kept going out for a ciggie and leaving me sat on my own, I'm not used to being with so many smokers, I felt like the odd one out.

The troublesome director has resigned from the shop.  His letter of resignation was a big guilt trip and blamed people for picking on him.  I've not much sympathy really because he brought it all on himself.  We've a business to run and his tantrums over nothing in particular were a distraction from the task in hand.

It was father's day on Sunday and I spent some time at the allotment.  I tidied around my Dad's garden and left a calendula on top of the plinth.  I watered everything and weeded the bean bed.  The weeds are really picking up at the minute, I think it's all the wet weather.  We need to try and keep on top of them before they get out of control.

We ate the first cucumbers of the season.  The mini 'Cucinos' (Thompson and Morgan) were ready and I picked 3 off the plant in the greenhouse at home.  They were very tasty.  I had a spare plant which I gave to my friend Emma.  They're a great size, and one cucumber is just enough for 1 or 2 people, and it doesn't leave you with half a soggy cucumber going off in the fridge.  I would recommend them.  The gooseberries are ready and my Mum made a tasty gooseberry crumble.  I also picked the first beetroot which my Mum is going to pickle.

I made some more cinnamon swirl muffins on Sunday evening.  They're so quick to knock up and very yummy.  Mmmmm.

I've signed up to Lovefilm because they offered me a free 1 month trial and a £15 Amazon voucher.  The first film that arrived was 'Taken' starring Liam Neeson and we watched it on Sunday night.  It was alright, plenty of action, but a bit far fetched and if you looked at the plot in too much detail it wasn't that feasible.  Not an intellectual's film choice really.  I prefer something with a bit more substance.

Chris made a small chest of drawers over the weekend - they're really cool.

I ordered 'Of mice and men' off Amazon, and I've started reading it.  It's going well so far, but the book is a lot shorter that I expected, so I should have finished it soon.  I asked my friend to recommend some fiction for me to read and I've a long list of recommendations to work my way through.

My recommended UK off camera flash kit / strobist equipment

I finally bit the bullet and bought an off camera flash stand, umbrella and flash/umbrella holder to go with my Nikon SB-800 flash.  It took me a while to decide which equipment to order.  There are so many different choices, and not much advice on what to buy, not in the UK anyway.  There's plenty of advice about US kit (especially on the excellent blog Strobist), but not all of the US kit is available to buy here in the UK.  I opted for the Manfrotto 5001b nano stand.  Verdict - good, very pleased with it, feels high quality and like it will last. A bit pricey but it's worth it and I'm glad I paid a bit more and opted for this.  Flashes are expensive and the last thing you want is a cheap stand that falls over.  I also got a Westcot 43" white brolly with removable black cover.  Verdict - good, a bit large, but folds down nicely to a portable size.  Apparently larger brollies diffuse the light better, so the larger size should help with this.  And finally I got the Interfit Strobies tilthead flash head with umbrella holder.  Verdict: cheap and nasty and it didn't fit on the Manfrotto stand properly.  It felt insecure and scratched my brass spigot. So I sent it back for a Lastolite flash tilthead with umbrella holder which is much better, it's made of metal (not cheap plastic) and screws securely onto the Manfrotto stand.  I also got a set of Rosco Strobist gels for the bargain price of £10 off eBay, much better than paying £25 for the official Nikon ones, when you don't get nowhere near as many.  So I'm a happy strobist now.  Just need to take some good pics!  I'll post them here when I do.  I did a few test shots and the light looked great.

I ordered Joe McNally's photography book 'The Moment It Clicks'.  It's brilliant.  The book's got mixed reviews on Amazon, but I read it in 2 days - not cause it's short, just cause it's hard to put down.  It's very readable.  Mostly in the format of a photo, with an explanation of the how the shot came about, and the technique used.  If you want to learn about f stops and shutter speeds, this isn't for you, you need a book aimed at beginners.  This book is for people who already know all that kind of stuff, who want to learn real tips from a guy who's been there and done it for many years.  It's a really interesting read.  Forget the comments about poor quality print - the photos looked fine to me for the purpose of this book.  I've also bought Joe McNally's 'Hot Shoe Diaries' too, which I'm really enjoying as well.  At first I didn't really like Joe's style.  But now he's one of my photographic heroes.  Just goes to show, first impressions can be way off mark.

I went to the shop's board meeting on Friday morning.  A couple of directors are thinking of resigning - they tend to be the people that don't agree with the rest of the group, I think it might be for the best really as they seem to cause lots of tension between people, whereas everyone else gets along.  You see, they want things their way, but it doesn't work that way when it's a co-operative, everyone gets a say, and they don't seem to like that.

Our telephone at home had broken and I waited in all Saturday morning for the engineer to come and fix it, he came right at the last minute too, just as I was about to give up on him. 

We nipped to Annie's cafe on Saturday afternoon, we both ordered the same food as usual, it's getting to be a bit of a habit now.  We popped into a local vintage clothing shop afterwards and I saw a long flowery skirt I really liked, but it didn't have a price tag on and the shop manager had gone home, so I have to go back next week to buy it.  But I really wanted it there and then!  I'll have to be patient.

After Annie's, and with a full belly, I weeded both greenhouses at the allotment.  I'm trying to keep on top of it rather than letting it get out of control.  I've been nipping out the side shoots from the tomatoes and winding them around the string supports.  In hindsight I should have make the string supports a bit slacker as they already seem quite tight around the stems.

The first pot marigold has flowered in the greenhouse at the allotment and there's a few baby green toms appeared on the tomato plants.

I gave everything a seaweed feed, but I haven't started feeding with tomato feed just yet.  I also planted out the second sowing of sweetcorn.

Chris spotted some aphids on one chilli plant, so he snapped off the affected bit.  I hope they don't spread!

I swept out the shed as it was a bit untidy and the cobwebs were coming back. 

The salad bed looks nice and tidy.

The rose that my Mum bought for my Dad's garden has flowered.

I also tidied around the rest of the plot.  Chris bought a strimmer last weekend and he's trimmed back all the grass and weeds on the paths.  It looks so much tidier now.  It's made a massive difference and was a sound investment.  I think he enjoys strimming, he finds it fun.

The weather's been wet yet again (sick of saying that now), and there's not been much sun.  We could do with a bit of sun to bring things on a bit. 

I had a lie in Sunday morning.  Then I got up and pottered about and read some books and watched the Victorian Kitchen Garden DVD.  In the afternoon I baked Delia's old fashioned cherry cake.  It turned out well.  I think my oven runs a bit hot though as a was a bit overcooked on the edges.  Then I went to my Mum's for green Thai curry.  Yum.

Frazzled myself in the sunshine

I had too much to drink on Thursday night and paid the price on Friday - I felt awful and I was sick.  It was really sunny so I sunbathed in the back garden without sunscreen for about 2 hours and burnt my chest and thighs to a frazzle, they were soooooo, soooooooo sore for days!  I'll not be drinking for a while put it like that, tee total time for me. And I'll be wearing sunscreen in future.

I concentrated on doing the back garden this weekend and planted out all the perennials, as well as the annuals including the sweet peas, cosmos and rudbeckia.  Let's hope Steve doesn't dig them all up!  I tidied up in the back garden too and took the cold frame down until next year.  The flowers that were left over have been shipped off to Chris's boss's wife and daughter, and I gave my mum some sweet peas and morning glory.

It was pay day so I treated myself to an Origins order, I needed some more Origins balanced diet moisturiser.  I've got greasy skin with dry bits and this is the only moisturiser which doesn't give me spots as I'm really prone to break outs.  I also got a face mask and some anti ageing moisturiser and they sent me a load of freebie testers too.

My Mum works in a charity shop and she spotted loads of little owls for our owl display in the shed.