About Me

Hi I'm JAMES 60 and married with three daughters all left home now, daughters that is not the wife.I enjoy Gardening /Football and working on my Farm.The picture above in the header slot is where i live and work.

Sunday 26 October 2008

A good solid base

It's been a weekend of extremes with torrential rain on Saturday, you may have heard about the local marathon where the runners that came unstuck in the downpour, silly b***rs i say for setting out in it. Fortunately i had an invite to watch one of our local rugby union teams and was able to view it from the comfort of the sponsors lounge how they managed to play a decent game in the weather i don't know, but as i would have been unable to get outside and get on with some jobs at home i was able to relax and enjoy the game.
That said today Sunday has been mild and dry and it gave me the chance to to get a bit more done at leveling the base for sighting my nine Carrot and Parsnip drums, i think you might be able to tell just how steep it is from the picture, it is now ready for back filling as soon as i can find the time and fill material, all the blocks were recycled from an old building that we knocked down on the Farm so it's an economy job but thats the best sort as far as i'm concerned.Hopefully i will get it finished by mid- late November leaving it plenty of time to bed in before setting up the drums early March. They should get at least 7 hours of sunshine a day next year which is more than double what they got in the old site.

Thursday 23 October 2008

Some pictures of work











I've been suffering from bloggers block these last few days so i thought I'd just put up some pictures of my farm and and surrounding area, i didn't take any of the photos myself just nicked them of the Internet but as they are all of my farm i think i can get away with it. I don't actualy live on the farm anymore as my daughter and son in law live their now, but it's not a bad place to spend your working day allthough it was a bit testing today with the storms and driving rain.






Sunday 19 October 2008

How's your week been

I was glad when the weekend came as we have been busy working among our sheep all this week dagging, showering and sorting them into their breeding groups ready to let the Tup's (Ram's) go at the end off the month. It,s all well planned and organised you know, it isn't a matter of just letting them get on with it like a lot of visitors think, so i didn't mind the rain to much this weekend as it gave me an excuse to take it a bit easy,i did make a start on leveling the new site for my Carrot and Parsnip drums but it got a bit to slippery in the the rain on the step ground i was working on so i had to pack in half way through and so i collected up my saved Runner Bean seed and put them in store,10 should be enough to see me right next year it was surprising just how much bigger the fresh seed were compared to the ones that are carrying over from this year just extra moisture i suppose so i will give them a dry dark airy place to dry down a bit more.

Thursday 16 October 2008

N V S District Meeting

Last Tuesday night I went to my first meeting of the local N V S District Association held just down the road at Endmoor with guest speaker Mr David Hampsey giving a talk on solving your growing problems, it covered most of the usual problems and some that were a bit more in depth but it was certainly enlightening and you always learn something useful. Their was quite a disscusion also as to whether the new N V S policy on not cutting Beetroot for judging was a good decision, on the whole most people thought it to be the right decision but some still do have doubts, personally i think it better that they are judged uncut as was pointed out if you give them a good soaking in salty water any white rings disappear anyway so what the point. The speaker at the next meeting in November is Graeme Watson who will be talking on how he grows and shows his Shallots so that should be interesting. I will just have to make sure i get my hands on some decent shallot stock to try out what i learn next year. Back at home I have decided that i need to move the drums that i grow my long Carrots and Parsnips in for next year as i'm sure that they just don't get enough sunlight were they are at the moment the only problem is that my plot is on a very steep slope and i am faced with having to build quite a bit of retaining wall so as to create a level site to set the drums level on, so that takes care of my weekend .

Saturday 11 October 2008

An Away Day






............... Have been away most of the day today visiting my youngest daughter Susannah who you might have guessed lives in north Manchester. I couldn't resist taking these pictures of Old Trafford it is some stadium from the outside, impressive sure but not as homely and friendly as Brunton Park, the Statue of the United Trinity of Best, Law and Charlton reminded me of when i so them play in a cup match at Preston N E in the late sixties they won 3-0 if my memory serves me right.
What with the newly built Lowery Art center and the Imperial War Museum and the dockland regeneration scheme it seems an area that is slowly turning the corner and starting to pick it self up.

Friday 10 October 2008

Studying Catalogues

Yesterday a couple of seed catalogues came in the post (D T Brown and Unwins) so i was able to settle down planing what to grow for next year, I have good mind to order some Kelsae Onion plants from D T Brown at £5.95 + postage for 40 they seem a good buy compared to what i have paid other years i just wonder how strong a plants they will be, hopefully they should be well grown as any thing Browns have supplied me before have been good quality. Last year i collected plants from Robinsons late April and i think they were a bit crowded and were just beginning to suffer a check in growth as a result, they never really came to much over the summer, but then it was a difficult year for Onions locally so perhaps that was the problem. Plus I will order some Cavalier peas from Browns as well not that i know a great deal about them but they do come recommended buy a well known top Parsnip grower and blogger . My Broad Beans from Medwyns were top class this year so i will get the same again along with my long and stump carrots and beetroot seed which all so did well. I have collected plenty of runner bean seed for next year from my own plants. I have been looking to buy some Hative de Niort Shallots as they seem to win everything at the shows locally, but I can't find them anywhere, this year i grew Red Sun but they weren't really suitable for showing. That just leaves me to decided on which Leeks to get i have a thought to try some Bulbils but as i have never had them before i'm not to sure how difficult they might be to grow on . Then all i have to decide on is Parsnips,Tomatoes and Marrows i'll see if i can get them from Unwins as i won a £5 voucher from them and it would be ashame to not use it.

A new workmate

Hi we have taken on an extra helper on the farm his name is Tan and he's 9 month old and just learning how to work sheep, but he is very keen to work all day and all he's wants is some biscuits and a tin of food and a pat for wages so he welcome to stay. He wouldn't smile for the camera as he was concentrating hard on some sheep just out of the picture. Our old dog Rob is now 8 year old and is going into a well earned semi-retirement

Sunday 5 October 2008

A weekend of extremes

Cracking day (Sunday) today giving me the chance to get on with some back end jobs like clearing out all the Tomato plants out of the greenhouse and sweeping out all the rubbish that seems to accumulate through summer hidden behind the pots and benches, if i get the chance this week i will get the scrubbing brush out and clean all the glass and spray some disinfectant about then I'd like to leave it empty for a week or more to give it a break . Also took up all the bamboo canes that have been on the plot wiped them over and left them to dry for a couple of hours before storing them away in the garage till next spring, it's surprising how long they last if they are stored in a dry airy place, Still a bit to do but it was a good start, Saturday was a day to forget with driving rain from beginning to end, you no when it's bad when you can't go out and are reduced to watching Football on teletext and that was pretty grim too with United losing to Tranmere 1-2 the only Bright spot was Leeds losing 2-0 to Peterborough, Scunthorpe managed a draw but unfortunately Leicester City sneaked a jammy win in extra time at Huddersfield. Supporting United is just slightly better than being a Spurs fan this year

Thursday 2 October 2008

Carrot and Parsnip growing Plans

As I found myself in town last week with the trailer on i thought I'd just pop round to my local scrappy for a couple of your bog standard blue barrels as i need a couple more so as to grow a few more long Carrots and Parsnips next season. Simple request you'd think but oh no Environment wont allow them to deal in them as they have to go to Warrington now for shredding and recycling. Next i tried the local brewery that has empty ones stacked up by the hundreds and another local warehouse. Same answer if you havent got a waste disposal liecence you cant have em, we have to pay thousands to send them to Warrington. I was never keen on Warrington anyway but by now I'm sick of the place. Mentioned my problem in passing to a farming friend today and he said i just picked some up that were dumped you can have them if you want. Success at last.