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....further one hundred and fifty thousand new houses in Dorset

What ethnic origin will be located there?

Copied on the water. As Alison says, err, I make it about 5,000 miles. how much would it cost for a 5,000 mile long hosepipe? It is all down hill so should not be a problem. We will chuck you a fiver a year to pay half your costs.

Edit, have worked it out: £80,467,200. OK if we save up and flog a few veg we could probably pay for it. Probably get some discount for bulk.

What ethnic origin will be located there

Cockneys in the main, fleeing from London.

Heavy rain has done the allotment the world of good, I have strimmed the bushes and cut the grass, both compost bins are now full of stuff, I will mix some horse manure in to help the process. We returned from holiday to find that Fergus, our friend in the field, is no longer with us, he managed to reach 37 so not too bad. I used to feed him windfalls in exchange for droppings, but my supply is now dried up unfortunately. I don't buy manure because I can't be sure what is in it.

I have produced far more veg than we can eat, so I intend to use part of the second plot to create an asparagus bed and also have a strawberry bed.

This year's crop will be very small, as I am concentrating on building work. Onions, tomatoes, and I've planted an edible cherry tree which is growing like mad. It's only been in the ground 2 months (before and after shown). I plan on getting another 4 next year, which will make a fine extension to an existing treeline, add privacy to the house deck, and fit in well with the Japanese garden I am planning for the future.

Surprised your cherry trees survive the winter Fox. Also look very exposed.

OM15 we would like to try asparagus here, Sandy soil is ideal but maybe too hot. Biggest concern at the moment is water. We may have to abandon all veg beds.

They grow well in Japan also, which has similar conditions to here as you may remember from Yamagata Ken's posts. It's my experience that the better nurseries (which are the only ones I go to) only sell stuff that grows here - they all have a one year guarantee for trees, which is great, though I've never needed to use it. This tree, which is the only self-pollinating edible cherry, cost me $45, which I am very happy with. I plan on 4 more next year.
You can't see from these pictures but there's actually good protection from all angles from the trees and barn not in the pictures. Indeed, looking at the historical aerial photgraphs one can clearly see that small groups of trees have been planted around the house over the last century to ensure this, and they are all mature now. I went out in blizzards - various over the past couple of winters to find out the windy spots and there are basically two very narrow lanes either side of the barn which get drifting, from the northwest only. The house is about 400 feet from forests in all directions except the northwest, which keeps the general windspeed down. Maximum here has been 90 km/hr, even when other places in the area have had 110 km/hr. Southeast backing Northeast is the strongest and coldest winter wind for any length of time, so this tree and the others I will plant next year extending southwest should be fine. I have put low shrubs only in the narrow wind lanes.

The problem we have here Fox is that they bring all the trees from S.A. and it is a completely different climate up in northern Bots here. Just reading up on cherries. Apparently they need a certain number of chill days for them to bloom. Will not get that here. Even deep winter it gets to 30 mid day as it is now. I am wondering if this is the problem with our orange trees. Loads of lemons but no oranges. You would think citrus is citrus. Anyway if anything we are going to have to cut back due to the water situation. Our chap was up to his knees today, in mud, digging a channel into the deeper part of the lagoon.

I understand lemon trees are a lot more tolerant of conditions than orange trees. I am thinking of getting a lemon tree or two in pots for my sunroom. I am lucky to have three excellent nurseries right here on the Island, one of which exports seeds all over North America. Thus I know that anything bought will grow here. We do of course have a limited choice due to the amount of snow we get, but what is sold always grows. I've had over 95% germination on all seeds, and 100% success with trees and shrubs.

Egton, England
Graeme Watson, 59, holds two gooseberries, including his world record winner, left, at the annual show of the Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Society. The winning fruit weighs 64.87 grams, beating the previous record of 64.49 grams

Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

The website hasn't been updated yet.
But I calculate that Graeme Watson is now 10 times show champion.

Ian, I have it on the best of authorities that I was found under a goosgog bush.

We have lemon tree in a plastic pot (bad) a free years old now. We brought it from Woodhall at sea level where we wrapped it in fleece and kept it under a lean to. We moved to Grantham (300 feet) last year and over wintered outside unprotected. It survived, just. Now covered in fruit though I don't think they will be very large.

Agree with Fox about nurseries compared with garden centres, even big ones (like Belton). In Scotland we used a nursery in Forres. He knew the soil and recommended the appropriate Apple and Pear. They were all perfectly sized and heavy croppers. Our next house had an orchard. In this one we went to a nursery at Little Bytham. Before he sold us a tree he asked us what Apple we liked. Then he brought some to taste; the ultimate try before buy. You don't get that at B&Q.

We were given a Lemon tree when we moved in in 2009, it was about a foot tall. Over the years it has struggled and then grown. We have not had a single fruit.
Strangely outside the garden on "The Land" we have a fig tree. It has no irrigation. This year it is producing an abundance of delicious fruit, first time ever.
It can be seen at 36°46'07.9"N 3°58'04.8"W.
The Lemon is at 36°46'06.8"N 3°58'04.9"W

We have a new fig, survived the pruning inflected by our Scots terrier beaver cross. Kept it well watered last summer, good fruits now.

Nearby, mature fig, in the dry spell and heat last summer it shed all its leaves. This year, plenty of leaves but no fruit.

Cousin's fig is also sans fruit this year. Perhaps it's in the 'dead' year as damsons and most apples have feast and famine cycles.

Cousin's fig is also sans fruit this year. Perhaps it's in the 'dead' year as damsons and most apples have feast and famine cycles.

My goosgogs cropped in June. One year the birds were so desperate they not only cleared the cherries, strawbs and raspberries but also the gooseberries.

Which suggests that Fox should trim the leader on his cherry trees so that he can net them and also reach them to pick them.

For years we had a heavy crop of cherries but the black birds would get there first. They seemed to like them before they rippened.

When we netted them we had a great crop to ourselves.

We are approaching a very difficult decision of which fruit and veg die and which get water now that we are struggling for the wet stuff. The rape is doing very well and produces for many months so that stays. I think that tomatoes and peppers may be off the menu. Squash seedlings have been eaten by francolins, But they do very well and take little water so may reseed and move some netting over them from the tomatoes. The sweet potatoes have gone into winter remission. Can't decide about those. The lemon trees have to be given water. I am so reluctant to lose the orange trees but they are not producing, as mentioned earlier. Think that we will persevere with those. Bananas are producing so them as well. But they do take a lot of water. It has taken 5 years to build up the plantation. May have to reluctantly let them go. Not planing new potatoes or beans this year. It is all very sad. Years and years of work down the drain. Still, there is always the supermarket unlike in many other countries in Africa.

I have a cunning plan for the netting of the cherries.

It has better be good. Once the black bird or thrush get in the net they are not worried about being trapped in the pantry.

Sounds grim Ex A, is the drought a seasonal event that will pass or an indication of climate shift in your part of the world? either way it is a shame that your work and dedication have come to this.

Had a glut of some things this year, for some reason I am getting 10 or so large spuds per plant, so is everyone else, also onions and cabbages have done well, greens have bolted due to weather, have a big job next week digging up spuds and fighting back nature with all the weeds, I intend to have a rethink next year, missus om is patient by nature but a continuous diet of cabbages and potatoes is straining things rather. The Brussel sprouts are doing very well, with lots of fruit, but again this may not be met with too much enthusiasm.

Spent all day at the allotment working with another plot holder to repair the gate today, the post had rotted away so we had to dig out the post and fit a new one, took us all day, we fitted a 7 foot by 6 inch round post, concreted in with four bags of post mix, on completion the gate was square, the post vertical and the gate opens and closes with only finger pressure.
We enjoyed speculating that in about twenty years after we have passed on someone will have to replace the post and our memories will be tarnished due to the amount of concrete that we used.

Raspberries have done poorly, lots of green growth but not much fruit, possibly I overdid the manuring. I have mentioned that my friend and droppings provider Fergus has passed away, the field behind the house has been empty for a couple of months, but a former occupant, (Dolly) and a small pinto pony have moved in today, so I have another supply of manure. I buy cheap sacks (four for a tenner) of manure containing who knows what for the roses, but in food beds I am very careful only to use local manure and home made compost.

Still a bad situation here. No OM we have had a bad year. Forecast is for good rains over the summer. We just didn't get the rains last year. Trying to hang in with the bore hole. Letting most veg go just keeping the fruit trees. The bananas will not produce but should survive. Wot ho.