Cats and Dogs

It hailed today.

Blossoms

The sight of the Columbine (Aqualegia vulgaris) more than made up for the fact that the day down the allotment was spent weeding and cutting grass.

We use shears, rather than a strimmer, to clip the grass to give the critters a chance to move out of harms way.

The promise of plenty! We can't wait.

Lemongrass

The off-the-shelf, supermarket lemongrass that we potted in February has sprouted. We simply firmed the shoot into moist potting compost and secured a plastic bag over the pot with an elastic band to create a mini 'greenhouse' propagator.

Sorrel

Inspired by the sorrel recipes in The Weekend Magazine we nipped down to the allotment to pick some for our brunch.

The 'creamed sorrel with poached egg on toast' recipe went down a treat.

A Small Copper butterfly spotted at the allotment today.

Bluebells

We braved the threat of May Bank Holiday rain and took the train to Wendover to see this year's bluebell show. Oh sublimity! The Ridgeway path was a sight to behold.

Not to take second billing, the Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum), Wood Anemone, Dog Violet, Wood Sorrel, Primrose, Cowslip, Bugle, Ramsons and Spurge were out on display too.

Our homemade picnic of sushi and gingerbread kept us going on our expedition up and down the Chilterns

A Quick Brown Fox

Since the rain has kept the plotters away, the critters have come out from hiding.

The allotment fox warming itself on a compost/manure heap, ain't she a beauty.

We took the Channel4 Foxes Live fox survey and recorded our encounter with her on the sightings map.

We planted out our French Beans as we couldn't keep them indoors a moment longer. We've built them a fleece tent to try protect them from the predicted frosts.

The list of allotment jobs is growing: paths to be mowed, peas to be weeded, broad beans to be staked, grilles to be lashed... but it being soggy we took the responsible decision of let alone and scurried home.

More rhubarb baked in a pie to warm the cockles.

Something Lurking in the Salad Box

We found this Dot Moth caterpillar loitering with intent - we left it where we found it to watch it grow.