Time for a coffee in the shade

What a morning - Those birds woke me again at 4.15am .... grhhhhh!!
Winter woolies, washed & on the line, second load washed & on the line. Toast with a slice of strawberry jam ... no you read it correctly. I think I might have boiled the jam for too long so it's set rather hard. Tasty nevertheless. My first task was to cut some more hazel for the tomato wigwams. The hazel coppice is at the back of Chudleigh Knighton heath. What a beautiful morning ..  I drove back to the allotment, picking up the trays of tomato plants from home on the way through, unloaded the car, gave it a quick clean, grabbed a coffee from my flask then set to. I gave the fruit bushes a good soaking, the fruits are formed on the gooseberries, even the small bushes I bought in Tesco's last year. They're really healthy. I think they appreciated the horse manure mulch. I cut the comfrey squashing it into a bucket, just covering it with water then put the lid firmly on. Apparently it's going to pong in a couple of weeks. Nice! I then cut the stinging nettles growing around the back of my plot & in the top of the hedge, squashed them into another bin, adding water. Both make good plant fertilizer. Then a lovely long chat with Nicky. A surprise phonecall, we talked plants. I was just about to plant the yellow toms which I've labelled Tomato 'Nicky', as they were grown from a tomato I saved last year when I was down looking after the late Ella the Wonderdog for Nicky. What a coincidence!
Time to crack on .. it was warming up.  I started on the tomato frames, planting & tying in15 small yellow plum tomato plants on two A frames. After planting I decided to give them a little protection, so used the plastic sheeting & bamboo canes. It makes a pretty good wind break.
Lunch time!
I cracked open a jar of homemade runner bean chutney made last year. The first time I've made this chutney. I liked it, hubby did'nt.
I watered a few plants that had missed watering, did the crossword sat in the back garden. Sent a plant grower friend a message about bedding plants for Jean. Nipped to see him, bought some bedding begonias, & had a chat about the plant/growing industry. He's been selling his plants on ebay ... Folks have been paying silly money for plants apparently. It's kept his head above water during Covid19.
Roast duck for dinner tonight ... oven on I thought I would use the egg white sat in the fridge awaiting a recipe .. no dessicated coconut to be found in either general store in Chudleigh. I thought meringue ... the 1 egg white which started out as a meringue ended up with the addition of sugar, then drinking chocolate powder ... OPs! Mistake ... not meringue then .. so SR flour + 1egg + oil + baking powder, & vanilla essence later, it became a pear, hazelnut & chocolate upside down cake. Very nice with cream :- )

p.s That's not a tub of Rose's chocolates by the way, it's been repurposed as my Jack's Magic plant food container.

Thanks to Rockarea for hosting Wide Wednesday. One of my favourite views of the Teign estuary, his blip for today.