Garden Bears' World - A Trip to the Allotment

Last week, we bears had a serious chat about how we could help humans and human cubs while the coronavirus is causing them problems and worry.

The first thing we decided was that we had to be extra good bears, and help Polar and Grizzly at home, and not grumble about not being allowed to go for nice walks in the countryside.

Hanley and Endon said they would go on duty in an upstairs front window to wave at any human cubs being taken out for walks.  I was going to help them, but Polar said they would take one bear at a time on allotment trips, and were going that morning.

I jumped into the trug and brought a spare bottle of shower gel with me, to remind my human guardians to wash their hands after opening the gates at home and at the allotment.  Hanley and Endon waved from the window upstairs.  They looked very small.

It was sunny but quite cool at the allotment, which looks extra-smart, because Polar has been home to help Grizzly dig it over.  Down by the front fence, I was pleased to see the autumn-fruiting raspberries coming through.

In some of the beds, a plant called phaecelia is growing.  Polar says it is a 'green manure', which means it is grown to protect the soil and collect nutrients, then is dug back into the soil at the end of the winter.  Polar plans to let a couple of beds flower for the bees.  I saw a ladybird on one of the foxgloves too.

About halfway up the plot are the beds where the garlic and onions are growing.  The garlic has been in since the autumn and we planted the onions a week ago, and they all look very good.

There is now a nice small greenhouse on the allotment, built by Grizzly and Mr Steve the allotment man last autumn.  Polar plans to grow tomatoes and peppers and chillies in it, but it is empty for the moment.  I thought it would be a good place to sit and stay clean while Polar and Grizzly did their digging.

After a little while, I was very, very hot!  Even after taking off my hat and jumper, it was too warm for a furry creature in there!

'Come out and sit on the deckchair instead,' said Polar, and Grizzly gave me a drink of water.

I enjoyed sitting in the sunshine but didn't want to be a lazy bear, while Polar and Grizzly were working hard.  But I didn't want to get muddy paws either, because it is still rather cold for a proper bear bath.

'Perhaps I could gather up some weeds if I borrowed Polar's gardening gloves?' I thought, but they were far too big for me to use.  Polar and Grizzly laughed when they saw me wearing them.  Polar picked me up and carried me back to the deckchair.

'You enjoy the sunshine, little bear,' she said.  'We're almost done here.  You can help us plant potatoes in a week or so, or the broad beans.  We only brought you out so you could have a change of scene.  We know you're missing Uppie and going boating.'

That was very true.  I miss our boat very much indeed, as do all the bears, and our human guardians.

When they had finished digging, I went to have a look.  The beds were clear of weeds and all ready for planting the second early potatoes when it is a little warmer.  Yay!

Polar was cross, because she had found some old potatoes where she was digging.  She says you shouldn't grow the same crops on the same site two years running, so you don't encourage diseases, but she is trying out a new crop rotation system and, to get it started, will have to grow potatoes in the same place twice, just this once.

The old potatoes were big 'Pink Fir Apple' ones and were in good shape, so when we got home, and the small bears came back downstairs, we had them with veggie sausages for tea!

Garden Bears' World - Planting Early Potatoes

Polar and I have been busy planning for some early vegetables.  A few days ago, we sowed some carrot seeds in a deep pot of compost, while today we decided to plant some new potatoes.

Polar gave me three potatoes to plant at the bottom of a big tub.  I dug some holes to plant them a little more deeply, with the sprouting leaves - called 'eyes' - upwards.

We covered them over with some more compost, keeping a tub of extra compost to top the tub as the plants begin to grow.  Polar says we will start another tub next week, and a final one the week after and, when it warms up, we will help to plant the second early and main-crop potatoes in the garden and on the allotment.

After that, I was allowed to play in the greenhouse, climbing Polar's big exercise hula-hoop, then sliding down it.  

Then I went to check on the vegetable patches.  Polar and Grizzly are growing rainbow chard under frames to keep pigeons off.  The pigeons have been pecking at the purple sprouting broccoli, so I helped Polar to put some disused CDs on sticks to scare them away.

Our rhubarb is growing well, so hopefully we will have nice desserts soon!

In the cold-frame, the lettuces are doing nicely.  In the other half, we still have the broad beans and some more onions.  We planted the first tray of onions on the allotment last week, but Polar forgot to take the camera.  Some of these ones are for Polar's friends and for the local school, so she will have to find a safe way of delivering them!

Then it was time to do some more climbing.  The wisteria is my favourite, and I get a nice view of the herb garden from up there!

One of the other bears or I will be back soon with more Garden Bears' World soon, but now it is time to be a Window Bear and wave to our neighbours and any human cubs who are #GoingOnABearHunt.

Busy Baking Bear

While Endon has been busy in the garden, Hanley and I have found other ways to help.  Hanley has been engineering on the model railway with Grizzly, while I had a baking day with Polar.

Polar makes bread using a sourdough yeast mix, which she started fermenting, from just rye flour and water, over a year ago.  She feeds it with extra flour and water every other day, so there is always some ready for bread-making, but stores it in the fridge or freezer when we go boating.  These loaves had been 'proving' in the fridge overnight.  We bears can't really help with bread-making, as we would get sticky paws or, even worse, get fur in the dough!

But we can make cakes, and I wanted to make one ready for Grizzly's birthday.  First, we lined the tin with grease-proof paper.

Then I checked that the fruit for the cake had soaked up all the whiskey Polar had put in the jug with it.  Since he was poorly last year, Grizzly isn't supposed to drink spirits, but he can enjoy the taste of whiskey in a fruit cake.

The next job was to weigh the sugar and the flour.  Polar uses some scales she decorated many years ago, when she and Grizzly lived in Hampshire.  Hanley Bear is proud to point out that they were made in Staffordshire - you can just see the little knot emblem in the middle of the balance.

My next job was to whisk the sugar and an egg together, then Polar carefully added some oil, with a little of the flour to stop the mixture 'curdling'. 

I carefully stirred in the rest of the flour and then the fruit.  I could smell the whiskey and started to feel slightly giddy!

Once we had spooned the mixture into the tin, Polar let me lick the spoon.  It tasted lovely, but I had to go and have a little nap after that, while everything was baking.

Last week, when we made marmalade, there was some orange pulp left over.  Polar doesn't like to waste things so, while I was mixing the whiskey cake, she mixed up some more basic cake mix, with sugar, egg, rapeseed oil and flour, and added the orange pulp to it, along with some ground nuts.  She put this into two small loaf tins to make two more cakes.

Here's how everything looked once it was cooked.  

Polar has frozen three of the loaves and one marmalade cake, for eating later, but we had fresh bread and some marmalade cake for tea, and we are looking forward to trying the whiskey cake on Grizzly's birthday, which is tomorrow!