Surrounded by Wild Flowers

After work this evening, I ambled down to the allotment enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. There wasn’t anyone else on site as I arrived and I pottered across to check on Maude and Mavis. Mavis seems to have joined Maude in deciding to shed her feathers all over the run. If they weren’t standing in front of me, I’d have been panicking that they had been attacked by an opportunistic predator. I threw them some weeds to keep them happy and headed off down to the main coop.

A lovely surprise greeted me when I opened up the Nest House – four beautiful eggs! It’s been a while since we had so many from the girls in the Main Coop. Flora was very keen to get first dibs at the sunflower seeds so I threw her a few before feeding the others. Rey and Polly are currently ruling the coop with iron beaks so poor Flora and Dora don’t get much of a look in so I always make sure to spread out the treats as far as possible.

I was greeted by friendly clucks as I arrived in the New Coop. Gertie and Foxy immediately began hogging the seeds. Elsie was not impressed that she wasn’t first to the treats. She leapt from the perch and charged at the food bowl and attacked the food like she has never eaten before. She’s such a greedy hen! Leaving them to their food, I headed off to check on the tomatoes in the greenhouse.

The jungle that used to be the greenhouse, contains massive amounts of tomatoes. Just a shame they are all green! After last year’s delayed ripening, I think it may be due to the position of the greenhouse. Everyone else’s tomatoes are ripe already and most are drowning in them. The perks of having the tomatoes ripen late is we will be able to harvest them into October like last year. If we get enough, I am going to experiment with making passata as we love using it as a base for pasta dishes. A couple of days ago, my husband managed to find one ripe one so we know they can go red. But for now, the waiting continues!

Before I left, I went to sit under the willow and watch the bees busy working with the wild flowers. Since I last popped down, there were new flowers – one a stunning pink and some delicate bunches of white flowers. They were so lovely that I spent a while watching them gently move in the breeze. There is something so peaceful about being at the allotment in the summer evenings. The plants in full bloom and the trees heavy with fruit (despite the lack of rain) hide the houses surrounding the site and deadens the endless drone of traffic.

The plan for tomorrow is to finish weeding the plot and harvest some of the blackberries which have ripened. It’s always a challenge to get them harvested before the birds work out they are ripe!