United are on a roll now

United 3 Brighton 1 things are looking up should be back in the promotion hunt by Christmas, well maybe playoffs, and Leeds got stuffed by Huddersfield as a Bonus.

On the road back

I haven't mentioned United for quite a bit preferring to suffer in silence but today after a ten game losing streak we managed a impressive draw in the cup against Grays Athletic whoever they are. Is this the start of a great fightback under our new manager Greg Abbott, lets hope so. Our new stand must have been rocking, that stand is all we have to show from the days when Micheal Knighton was in charge, were is he now i wonder ?

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.

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

I nearly forgot to mention

Great win for United 4-1 against Yeovil, Danny Graham gets a hat trick last year he couldn't hit a barn door even if he was sat on the handle. Now gone equal top. Bring on Southend next week.

Please let it rain

I hardly dare i say it but we are in need of a few wet days, it's been very dry with just one wet day since the beginning of May and with temperatures in early may reaching 80 degrees plus things have dried out fast and i have had to do quite a bit of watering to keep things moving on. The short Carrots have come through nicely in the past week though the wild neighborhood Rabbit has eaten one or two, plus it takes a short cut through the Onions flattening some as it goes to and fro, still I'll leave it be as it's a bit of a favourite with my next door neighbour who feeds it porridge oats every morning, the Beetroot is also starting to show but as yet not a sign of the Parsnips which were planted at the same time. Last weekend I was even tempted to plant out some Dahlias and Runner Beans and surprise surprise tonight's weather forecast is predicting an overnight frost so its been a case of rushing round covering what might be at risk with a bucket, luckily i have an endless supply of old buckets that come with high energy feed for my farm stock during the winter months. The Broad Beans and Peas are coming along nicely in their pots and will soon be planted out I used to sow them direct but mice seem to bother them and i always had a lot of gaps so now i just start them in pots they were sown the same time as the Runner Beans which have just romped away and needed moving on so as not to give them a check. I decided to try growing some Brussel Sprouts this year and have got them well started and last weekend potted then on , it's been a bit since i had any Brassicas as i had some club root in the past but i have found some hopefully clean ground and splashed a bit of lime around to help so fingers crossed things should be OK.

Today Monday on the farm we have been dehorning and tagging the new born calves it's quite a fight with them as they don't like been handled and even though the are still young they can kick hard and fast and some of their mothers can be quite aggressive and protective of them so you have to have your witt's about you, thankfully it all went well and we should get the rest of them done tomorrow.

On the football front United lost out to Leeds in the promotion play offs which is a pity but it's still been a good season, hopefully they can kick on next year and get automatic promotion.

Bird Nestboxes and all the rest

Just like most of the country we have had some fairly severe winds to contend with, luckily we have avoided too much damage just the odd tree blown over and a couple of wall gaps blown down where they are next to trees that have been rocking in the wind.

Last night (Tuesday) managed to get to see United play Luton we won 2/1 but saying that Luton put up a good show especially in the second half when the wind seemed to play havoc with Uniteds play, as they say decent teams grind out a result and that's what they did. Following on from wins away at Crewe and Nottingham Forest it keeping promotion hopes well on track.

Tonight i planted my first lot of potatoes in a barrel in the greenhouse just to have a few just that bit earlier than the main batch, very seldom do i grow potatoes in open ground i prefer to grow them in barrels as they seem to have a lot cleaner skins and i don't have to bother lifting them in the autumn i just cut the tops of end of August time and lift them as i need them when the weather gets a bit colder and we might get a frost i just pop the barrels in the greenhouse and put some old sacking over them it's a bit like having new potatoes from June to the end of February the main thing to do if growing them this way is make sure you water them a lot and i mean a lot.

The council have started resurfacing the main road this week near to my home and never wanting to miss a bargain i have managed to get about 20 Tonnes of the plannings that were being removed prior to resurfacing to provide some hard standing base it is really good stuff if you can get hold of it because it packs down like the original road surface in about a month but as it is planed and relaid also free draining.

I have spent most of this afternoon putting up some bird nest boxes on the farm we have a couple of small wooded areas and as part of our effort to help the local environment this years plan has been to try and help and encourage more of the local wild bird population. We tend not to use any or very little sprays or fertilizers in habitat rich areas and so are hopeful that they will soon move in, the species that are most likely to take advantage are Chaffinch/Flycatchers/ Robins/Blue Tits etc plus one box for the local Tawny Owls. (see pics)