Spring is rapidly moving forward, blossom on the peach tree, swelling buds on the plums and leafs opening on the female Kiwi, the male however is still thinking about it, his buds are only just swelling. This is going to create a problem, with the female so much more forward she will bloom earlier than the male and we need the male flowers to pollinate the female. I just don't know why the male should be so behind, they are the same variety, grown quite closely together, so the same conditions. This is not the first time we have had this problem, it also happened to us in Spain with our outside Kiwi's. If anyone has a solution to this problem please let me know. Meanwhile I shall try to produce more warmth for the male vine and see if I can get him to get a move on. If memory serves me correctly the flowers bloom in May so I have time to try to advance him.
 |
| 1st rhubarb picking. |
I am always impatient for the first picking rhubarb, today was the first day, six days later than last year and the stems are not quite as long as last years but they are thicker, we had a colder February this year, which explains why it's that bit later. The Purple Sprouting broccoli is producing an abundance of spears, this should continue for at least another month by which time we should have plenty of spinach, early peas and maybe even some asparagus.
 |
| Frogs spawn, hopefully it will survive. |
Frogs have found their way to the pond, we have a load of spawn, whether it comes to anything remains to be seen as Daffy duck still likes to have her afternoon bath in the pond, but at least it has been visited by the frogs and found to be a suitable place to lay their eggs. If they don't survive we will have to exclude Daffy next year, we need frogs!
 |
| Hamonada |
Reading one of my blogger friends posts yesterday she made mention of a Filipino dish made with shoulder of pork, it just so happened that we were having a shoulder of pork joint for Sunday roast and I had the rest of the ingredients to hand,
 |
| Pork, roast potatoes, swede and spinach, 100% home grown. |
It's called Hamonada, there are lots of variations of this recipe on the internet, I kept to the recipe that she had described, it was delicious, certainly one we will do again. Many thanks Linda.
For desert I made Crèma Catalana, more or less the same as Crème Brulee, one of our favourite deserts.
 |
| More willow sculptures. |
We have discovered even more willow sculptures, I would love to know if they are the work of just one person or if there is a whole network of willow sculptors in the area. They are all lovely and real works of art.
 |
| Geese enjoying the grass. |
On our way back from delivering eggs on Saturday we spotted several small flocks of geese all enjoying life around Lake Gara, not near any farms or houses we wonder if they are wild geese or escapes, we were unable to identify the breed, so maybe someone is missing a gaggle of geese, in all, there were over twenty over a distance of a mile or so, lovely to see and they would be safe from foxes with such a large lake to escape in.
Tomorrow the early potatoes have to be planted, St Patricks day is the traditional day to do this, the main crop will follow in a couple of weeks at Easter. With all these potatoes being planted we will have to get pigs to eat them all, Simon has given up eating potatoes due to gout, in the two weeks since he has given them up the condition has improved, now he has to come to terms with eating no sweet peppers or tomatoes and that will be hard for him.
 |
| A river running into Lough Gara. |
Are you seriously asking why the male species is behind and why it requires more attention to perform???? I would have thought that this would be a given.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you need frogs?
Happy St Patricks Day (its here already, today) Ive been out to the factory and greeted our giant sized resident Irishman. He tells me the green beer thats in all the pubs here is an American thing, not Irish. Oh Well. Some days hes full of Irish wit and charm and others hes just a miserable sod. Probably just a male.
I'm with you there Lynda, have you heard the phrase 'needs a kick to start him?', I think it applies to many males of all species, they are fine once started it's just getting starting that's the problem.
DeleteFrogs, the gardeners best friend, they eat slugs and large quantities of them, do you have slugs in your garden Lynda? Hedgehogs are also welcome visitors but unfortunately they are becoming very rare, if you do see them they are normally squashed on the road. Do you have them in Australia?
Nope, no frogs in suburbia unless you have a pond and also no hedgehogs in Oz. I use coffee grounds and egg shells to keep snails and slugs away and if that doesn't work, then some dreaded snail killer.
DeleteOy Lynda, with your downer on the males! :-) You'll be pleased to know that it is the females being tardy in OUR frog population. The boys have been in situ for ten days or so now (including that recent freeze), but not a lady have they been able to charm in with their 'ribbit' siren-song. Not a blob of spawn do we have. Ah well.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your male frogs have lost their charm Matt and have refused to turn into princes.
DeleteBeing male I guess you don't share Lynda's or my options then?
In my normal Aussie way i was "taking the piss" out of Anne, and yet i firmly believe that the male species was God's prototype and that he out did himself with the next model. He stopped after that..... well why wouldnt he. LOL
ReplyDelete...... and still i ask the question, what's with the frogs. What functional service are they providing for your garden that i am not aware of that has you all ga ga over their sex life. Here in Oz they are very helpful in eating the mosquito larvae but since i have no water on the property, its not such a problem. My neighbour does however and so i have to close the doors at night so that i am not eaten alive.
I agree Lynda, He saw what He had done wrong on His first attempt and knew He could do better, He stopped when He realised he had made perfection!
DeleteFrogs= slugs eating machines.
I really like the willow sculptures. I think there use to be a giant (not made of willow) dinosaur in one of the fields next to the M5 on our way to Cornwall for our holidays.
ReplyDeleteFunny Dave, you didnt comment on Anne and my take on the male species. We are just joking. Cant live with em, cant live without em.
DeleteI've heard of problems with kiwis producing their flowers at different times before. There's a self fertile plant, Jenny, available but that doesn't solve the problem if you want to keep the plants you've already got. Rhubarb already? Mine's nowhere near ready yet.
ReplyDeleteWe are a week later than normal with the rhubarb Jo, it was a cold February. I'm going to give the backward Kiwi a little TLC, extra food and water.
DeleteRhubarb! I bet you are chuffed! I remember taking a bunch in our Ryan Air hand luggage, a long with a dozen eggs! That hamonada looks so delicious, much more appetizing than my lunch today...there were chicken's feet floating in my soup xx Lauren
ReplyDeleteI eat most things as you know Lauren, but I think I would draw the line at chicken feet. There should still be plenty of rhubarb when you come.
Delete