Your tremendous drive and personal skills will create many opportunities this year, which should stretch you to your utmost. Channel your energy into these opportunities by all means, but do not forget to apply yourself to study.

Hm.  Food for thought there.

So, in the NW bed which has had brassicas in it last year and they’ll be there till Easter, probably, there will be root vegetables: the new root parsley (Hamburg Parsley), carrots, parsnips scorzonera and two types of fennel. That’s seven veg in a 4ft x 4 ft plot.  Sometimes I think I try to pack too much in.

In the Centre bed (overwintering lettuces and chard at present): sweetcorn and the new buckshorn plaintain, with various squash depending on what grows from some rather old seed.  I did this combination (squash and corn) very successfully in 2010 so I’ll see if it works again.

The Path bed is currently holding a little beetroot which hardly grew and a crop of winter tares as a green manure which is very successful.  I may need to trim back the tree nearby which is shading it too much.  This will get chard,two types of kohl rabi, pak choi, kale and cos lettuce this year and will be the one that gets netted against the butterflies.

The SE bed is currently still holding scorzonera regrown from broken roots from the year before, some fennel which can come out, the overwintering mizuna endive frisee, and the celery, but all of those will be gone by Easter. I’ve just taken out the last of the carrots and planted the Super Aquadulce broad beans.  A funny time of year to do it, either November or February is favoured, but it’s so mild and the soil is fine and I hope it does ok.  It’s the last of the packet, and if it doesnt come up there is still time to sow some of the crimson flowered that all ripens at once.  The penalites of an F1 hybrid, and not to be repeated.  Of course I could keep some seed from the Super Aquadulce…  That will be joined by French and Runner Beans, using the nice cane frame I got last year, hopefully with some cucumber up it too, and some beetroot and celeriac although the book says beetroot doesnt like growing with runner beans.  My beetroot is never very successful anyway, so we’ll see.

The SW bed which seems to be increasingly suffering from shade problems from a nice bush as well as the wall is still struggling to grow a decent crop of celeriac this year and I’ve started digging it up.  The chard wasnt much good in it and neither were the beetroot, although the rocket sown in desparation has done well during the autumn and mild winter.  It will be replaced by my salad bed, some more carrots and a later fennel.

And I havent put the sorrel anywhere at present as I seem to have missed it out of the calculations.  My new peas are going to go in the outside bed up the outside wall as they are supposed to grow to ten feet and that should be the right height for them.  Goodness knows where all the tomatoes are going to go – there are too many for the patio.

My friends and I had a lovely time, with many changes to our planned route, but still totted up 60 species.  Not the most by a long chalk.  The weather clouded over late morning and it seemed to us that most birds had gone to roost as early as 2 pm.  However we spent a little time looking in the area where a Great Grey Shrike had been reported on the bird networks, and followed the trail of birders from all over the region up a path to watch in a hedgerow in a field near Fakenham.  And found our most experienced team of birders in the club already there and searching for it.  After fifteen minutes, already twice as long as our timekeeper had allowed for us to look for it, we turned to come away, not quite emptyhanded as we had added a Green Woodpecker to our list (the only one we saw that day).

As we neared the bottom of the hill we scanned the hedge at the lower end of the field, and I saw a bird at the top of a dead oak.  “What’s that bird?” I asked, as it was a bit too far away for me to see it.  The others got their binoculars on it.  “Yes, it’s the shrike!” they exclaimed, happily.  Then we debated whether to tell our competitors about it.  I waved at them, and they came down and set their telescopes on it, confirming a beautiful bird, which Tony let me see through the lens just before it flew down and we lost sight of it.  Fabulous little chap, almost shiny in the light.  Most pictures of it make it look smart but a dull grey when it is a really rich smart colour grey!  I was so pleased to see it.

Oh, and Tony and his team won the day with 77 birds on their list, I think it was.  But then, they know areas that the rest of us don’t reach!

Thank you to The Drunkbirder for the picture.

This year’s seeds are:

• White beetroot
• Long Lisse de Meaux Carrot (to complement the Jaune du Doubs I got last year)
• Mantovano Florence Fennel (still in search of a fennel I can get to bulb up)
• Azur blue Kohl Rabi
• Tender & True Parsnip (never tried parsnip before since Fred & George didnt eat them)
• Atika root parsley (something new!)
• Minutina Buckshorn Plantain (a complete guess but I reckon it’ll be nice in salad and the boys should like it)
• Belleville Sorrel (another experiment)
• Amish Paste plum-type tomato
• Champion of England Tall Climbing Pea (grows to 10 foot high!)
• Double standard sweetcorn ( a bicolor variety reputed to stand variable temperature better than the one I tried last year)

If any of my friends would like a sample of seed (as in most cases there is too much for me), let me know which!

But allowing for these uncertainties, I reckon that I’ve used between 30 and 50% less fuel than last year, taking account of the milder weather.  Factors in this include: new boiler in November 2010; switching to a possibly more efficient burner regime of having the boiler on at a lower temperature for the whole day (I have the thermostat set and 17 or 18; it gives me a constant summer’s day sort of temperature) and also the additional use of my wood burning stoves once or twice a week since late October.

I’ve probably got enough data now to have a stab at calibrating my tank measurements.  I measure the depth of oil in the tank, but the tank is a cylinder of unknown diameter on its side, so the rate of reduction in oil level is not necessarily related to the amount of fuel burnt.  What I do recognise is once the level goes below 20 inches, it starts dropping quickly.  I may have enough data now to have a stab at a chart to approximate how much usage I have left in the tank for a given depth.  It’ll keep me entertained doing that!

Love from all of us here.

So they came home yesterday and were named Dylan and Dougall today.  And Vic seems to be quite happy in his new role of Uncle!

“Make energy efficiency the priority in a carbon-cutting future” was the banner headline as they tore to shreds the letter from Shell asserting there was a ‘Big role for gas in global energy mix’.

You can read the letters here (click on paper to enlarge).

It had a fair chunk missing, but was hard to photograph and by the time I could see it from my own garden it had barely a shadow left on it.  But still, it looked good while it lasted.

He had a minor tooth problem and wasn’t eating properly, so I took him to the vet, who needed to check his teeth under anaesthetic.  Now guinea pigs and anaesthetic are not the best of friends, so there is always a risk, but I thought he was a big strong boy and at 4 years, 5 months and 5 days (somehow the days listed on the consent form sort of leapt out at me as I signed it) I thought it was the best thing to do to make sure his teeth were in good shape for the future.  He came round from the op., he wobbled round the cage finding his feet, and the nurses phoned me to come and get him in an hour. Just before I left I had a call from the vet: Fred had gone.  Just lain down for a nap and gone.

He never really had a day’s illness.  A little fungal problem on his nose and top lip.  A mystery limp when George was ill that I swear was psychosomatic.  Always in charge, the perfect piggy and a joy and delight to me.  My first pig.  Top pig.  The most beautiful boy in the world.

Fred 13.06.2007 to 18.11.2011

He and George were so close and such a fun pair.  They were perfect gentlemen and rejoiced in the fresh veg and herbs and weeds I’d bring them from the garden.  I realise my garden is designed round their needs.  I wrote stories about them.  I hope they get published.  I suddenly had a vision of how he had been approached by George who asked him if he was ready to join him, so I wrote that too.  It helps a little to write.  But I just want him back. Him and George, and Hugo too.  The biggest characters and such wonderful friends.  Victor is left on his own, although Hector and Humphrey are chatting to him in their own way.  He keeps me company in the daytime too.

I buried Fred next to George under the lavender bush in the garden.  There is a Michaelmas daisy in flower above them, and strawberries growing over them as well.  Their own personal supply of strawberries and lavender, what more could a guinea pig want?