A Short but Productive Day

This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to check on the chickens and do a few jobs. When I arrived, I found Steve and Phil and joined them for a chat. As we were chatting, a small juvenile robin landed briefly on Phil’s knee before perching hopefully on a chair. Steve really must be going soft because he went off to find some treats for it. As Steve went off, I popped to the shed, opened up and let the Weed Destroyers out. On impulse, I grabbed Roxy and put her up on my shoulder. To my surprise, she was quite content to sit there as I walked back to Steve’s plot to chat to Phil. Steve rolled his eyes so loudly I could hear it from twenty foot away. Roxy enjoyed perching and being petted. When she got restless, I put her back with Trixy and Foxy.

In the main coop, everyone was hungry and made quick inroads to their sunflowers. Two eggs collected, I pottered across to the new coop. Yet again, Leia had decided to ignore the beautiful nest box and laid her egg in the middle of the run. Lilja clearly has more brains, having laid her egg in the nest box like a sensible hen. Treats given and water bowl washed out and refilled, I stopped to look at the pond in the Community Garden.

The weeds and especially the bind weed, has begun to take over. I checked the bees were relatively quiet as I walked into the garden. The bind weed was pretty dreadful and it was growing over the sides of the pond. During the next fifteen minutes, I lost count the never of times I got knotted in it as I pulled and tugged it out of the ground. It was only when I had worked my way to the wooden fence that I realised I had forgotten there was a small path between the edge of the pond and the bank. Moving on, I began to excavate the slabbed area which was made for the hives. Most of the weeds came out pretty easily but some weed killer is definitely needed to make sure they don’t come back immediately!

My last job was to start weeding the chippings. Working backwards and forwards across the ground, I managed to clear quite a large section on one side of the garden. However, as I approached one of the hives, a sentry bee on duty took exception to my being there and chased me off. Whoever weeds the area around the hive will need to do in full bee gear!

Due to being chased off and not wanting to add another sting to my collection from last year, I didn’t manage to take any photos of the weeding in Community Garden. But there’s always tomorrow…