The tomato plants in my greenhouse have started to produce plenty of fruit.  This year I am growing x3 plants of a F1-hybrid variety called "Gourmande"   
Here are the first 5 fruit,  the largest weighs 774g,  next 555g, then 490g, 318g and 257g.


( Read more... )

Yesterday I baked pitta bread. 1kg flour produced 8 @100g and 10 @80g breads. They freeze well; an alternative to a loaf of bread.


( Read more... )

In England a great many ash trees (g. Fraxinus) have contracted a terminal disease. These are being felled but there is now no market for this timber. Landowners put it to good use, such as in my picture, using it to prevent road vehicles leaving the road to park, camp over night, illegally deposit refuse and other anti-social activities ( Read more... )

The roof of No.2 New High Street, Headington, a suburb of Oxford is adorned with a large (7.6m, 200kg) fibre glass shark. It was put in place on August 9th 1986, the 21st anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. It has become something of tourist attraction, though to be fair, not one of the most visited.


( Read more... )

I have waited 7 years to grown damsons in my garden ( Read more... )

I enjoy growing vegetables in my garden and greenhouse, but have never been enthusiastic about flowers, though of course I appreciate their beauty. Years ago I saw a beautiful rose flowering in a churchyard in West Sussex. I tried to find its name by searching the internet, but there are hundreds of rose varieties and I never found the one I'd ( Read more... )

I have lived in my house since 1989 and this summer has been the first time I have seen a species of day-flying moth Callimorpha dominula (in English known as Scarlet Tiger moth). Friends living locally and in a village 20km away have also seen this species of moth.


( Read more... )

The UK government has kept dithering over the use of face masks in public places. It has been compulsory to wear face mask on public transport since June 15th. Some politicians appear on media telling us they (face masks that is, not politicians) are not necessary, some say it would be "good manners" to wear mask in shops, others tell us ( Read more... )

With Covid-19 restrictions, my entomological fieldwork was restricted to a few days mostly in June when the restrictions were eased. Overall a very frustrating year so far - UK experienced the longest, warmest spring in living memory but C-19 restrictions prevented me getting out into the government forest areas I have been studying, even ( Read more... )

After screwing the Junior Doctors, withdrawing student nurse training bursaries and devising a tax system that sees Consultants paying more in tax than they earn by working extra hours, politicians now think the NHS and its staff are wonderful. (With a General Election so far away, I cannot see reason for this about turn, unless playing to the ( Read more... )