One year on

It’s just on a year since I first set eyes on Plot 124.

Looking back through nearly 60 entries that I’ve done here about it I’m well pleased with progress so far, with very few downs and plenty of ups.

So let’s take a wander round Flighty’s plot shall we…

1) is the view from the roadway half way along the northern edge looking down the poppy path with the stone feature roughly in the middle of the plot; 2) is the area to the left of the path with lot of grasses and vivid blue cornflowers shown in close-up 3).

1) 2) 3)

From the log seat at the edge of the pallet patio I can see virtually the whole plot. 4) is to the left with the blackberries, raspberries, runner beans, peas (just appearing) and broad beans; 5) moving to the right there are strawberries, beetroot, lettuce, more runner beans around the cane wigwam, potatoes, onions and the log pile at the top right; 6) looking west along the path dividing the plot with the vegetable, soft fruit and wild area to the left and the flowers to the right. The pond is well hidden in the grass to the top left and the stone feature just visible at the bottom right of the path.

4) 5) 6)

7) is the opposite view to 6) looking towards the pallet patio, is the Daffy’s delights area which I’ll show again once the plants have grown and flowered and 9) the Iceberg rose is at the top left, the ladybird log is well hidden at the end of the left hand path and the right hand, poppy path leads to another log and is the opposite view of 1).

7) 9)

10) is Nikki’s corner which as well as her lovely rose has 11) two lettuce and 12) lots of these thumb nail sized flowers, as well as some rye (?) grass and the best of the sweet peas which should be starting to flower any day now.

10) 11) 12)

This view is from the bottom south-west corner and shows most of the plot

Among the highlights have been Nikki’s birthday roses, meeting Frog Newton, the poppy header photo and this morning eating this which tasted absolutely delicious.

Sitting eating an apple I could see ladybirds, honey bees and even a couple of birds which just may have been garden warblers! only a few feet away!

It’s good knowing that my plot is a  haven for wildlife which I can share with in this way. It may not be traditional allotmenteering but it makes me happy.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed our wander round as much as I have showing you.

Next week there’ll be another special entry which will include anything I’ve missed here and feature my sentry box shed, which will be rather appropriate as it’ll be Shed Week 2008!

Happy gardening!

Frog ponderings (13)

Frog is obviously delighted with what the scroll has revealed!

and

Thanks to Glo (Porcelain Rose) for these images.

Flighty

When I started here on WordPress I tried Flighty as a blog URL but wasn’t at all surprised to find it already in use.

I recently looked at the blog to find that it wasn’t active and that it was being offered for adoption! Needless to say I left a comment, as requested, that I would love to have it!

The owner Ashan kindly responded with this comment and then relinquished the blog to me, for which I am very grateful indeed.

Having now got this URL it seems silly not to use it so I considered exporting Flightplot to Flighty but there are problems doing that.

So I’ve now got another blog Flighty’s fancies which will be secondary to this one with just occasional entries to keep it ticking over.

One definition of Flighty is frivolous so I think that the content there will be good fun and light hearted! As you can see the entries category is Fancy that and the blogroll Fellow fanciers!

Have a good weekend!

Next week looks like it’s going to be a no telly week for me as I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a single programme on that I want to watch let alone mention here!

So I’m doing this very brief entry just to say have a good weekend!

Pottering and pondering

is really all I did at the plot during the two visits that I made there last week.

The Valentine Heart rose, on Nikki’s corner, is now blooming profusely and smells lovely!

The Pretty Lady is not far behind but I can’t smell this one’s fragrance at all!

Yesterday’s Independent had this interesting article all about flower scents.

Joe gave me four runner bean plants that are growing well

Among the seeds Mildew gave me back in February which I mentioned here were broad beans and  runner beans Painted Lady

I think that this is a sunflower,  which as you can see has been nibbled by something!

I wasn’t the only one pondering on Friday afternoon as I found out when I checked the pond!

Frog ponderings (12)

I’m sure Frog Newton will be thankful that Snowy Sunday! is nothing more than a memory now!

and 

Thanks to Glo (Porcelain Rose) for these images.

One hundred and fifty

With the excellent Wild China ending last Sunday and the fourth of the Springwatch Specials tonight I suppose that it’s inevitable that there is really nothing about wildlife on terrestrial TV next week.

That is apart from Britain’s Lost World which is a new series of three programmes starting tonight on BBC1 at 9.00pm.  The three presenters atempt to uncover the secrets of St Kilda the remote archipeligo off Scotland’s north-west coast.

If you have a yearning to travel the world then how staying at an unusual hotel! I like the look of this one, but there is plenty of choice. Which one would you like to stay at?

Nearer to home and a bit more mundane, or perhaps I should say down to earth, is the Allotment Art site.

Lastly this entry title indicates that it’s the one hundred and fiftyth one on this blog. Goodness me, it’s only three months ago that I did the One hundredth one!

Have a good weekend!

Just one book

Some time back I was tagged by Uphilldowndale in her enjoyable entry Reading Between the Lines.

The meme is about books which are scarce in the world. They are illegal in some places. They are not easily replaced, if not impossible if lost in many, if not all, circumstances. If you can replace it or buy one it is usually through the black market at an astronomical cost that you cannot afford. Yet you have been able to maintain one of the best collections in the world. If your entire library was about to burn up and you could have just one book to take with you what would it be and why.

- Answer the questions.

- Offer one quote that resonates with you.

-Tag five others…[which I won't, so feel free to do this meme if you so wish!]

Like Uphilldowndale, but for very different reasons, I also feel somewhat of a charlatan doing this.

Although a lifelong book buff I’ve never been one to actually keep many books. I also very rarely read any book more than once so have almost never had, or have, any particular favourites.

One exception is which I have read several times, will undoubtably read again and is a favourite.

This Wikipedia entry tells what it is all about far better than I ever could.

What could of course have remained a formal relationship between New Yorker Helene Hanff and Londoner Frank Doel blossomed into a close friendship although the two never met. Remember that during the twenty years, from the late 1940s to the end of the 1960s, that it endured there were no home computers or cheap airline flights. Their distant friendship was maintained purely by writing letters.

Helene Hanff finally got to visit London in June 1971 which must have been a rather poignant trip as Frank Doel had died suddenly eighteen months earlier and the shop was by then closed and empty. Her story of that visit is The Duchess of Bloomsbury, which at around 130 pages is often included with 84, Charing Cross Road in a single volume.

I would choose this book as apart from being an absolute delight to read I can relate to their friendship and love of books.

As for a quote…maybe it’s just as well I never got there. I dreamed about it for so many years.

[The book was made into a film in 1987 starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. It is as delightful to watch as the book is to read.]

Whirlybirds and a Flypast

Anyone who remembers my original FlightBuff blog will know that I have always been fascinated by whirlybirds.

I usually see various civil and military helicopters most weekdays such as RAF Northolt 32 Sqdn’s sleek A-109E’s, or one of the Metropolitan Police EC145’s.

Northolt’s Charity Photocall last weekend included various helicopters of which this Polish Air Force Sokol W-3 was a nice surprise, being a first visit of type, and a colourful Netherlands AF AB-412SP.

This weekend George Bush is in London with his usual aerial armada. This includes at least two USMarines presidential Sea Kings and a handful of escorting USArmy Black Hawks, all operating from Northolt. They were flying during Friday afternoon whilst I was on the plot where I got good views of them in formation and at low-level.

Yesterday saw the Queen’s Birthday Flypast overhead Buckingham Palace at 1.00pm. The formation continued on to overfly Northolt and RAF Halton before dispersing.  This year an impressive 55 aircraft took part including two of Northolt’s 32 Sqdn BAe-125 CC3.

Frog ponderings (11)

Several months ago I put a few tiny tadpoles, and a small piece of pond weed, into the plot pond.

Since then I’ve looked out for these taddlers but more often than not only seen one or two of them very occasionally.

On Wednesday when I parted the pond side grass I was surprised, indeed delighted, to see the real Frog Newton!

He’s actually smaller than he looks here being little more than an inch or so long!

Thanks to Glo (Porcelain Rose) we have been reading about his imagined (?) adventures in the pond and on the plot here in Frog Ponderings, which will continue, as usual, next week.