End of June and back garden is producing at last!

 Now summer is well under way, everything is growing well in the garden. Tomato plants have started flowering although of the 11 plants that have survived, I am unsure of the varieties, after planting three different types, so it'll be a nice surprise when they start fruiting.

Within a couple of week, the poor, sickly looking cucumbers are now flourishing. Three plants in the back garden this year, and using a technique I discovered last year, forming a cage around the plants and weaving the growing head in and out til it reaches the top. The method worked very well last year so looking forward to a good crop. I have a few plants at the allotment too, but they are not thriving as well, most likely as they don't get watered as often.

Having cleared a lot of weeds, the beans are now flourishing again. A mixture of yard long beans and Borlotti beans.

There's also a few beans in hanging baskets. I've not tried this method before, having stole the idea from my Dad. In theory they should start to over hang and grow downwards.
I also dug out the only potatoes growing at home, a decent crop from a couple of plants.

After an hour long Jostaberry picking session yesterday, I now have well over a kilo as well as some lovely redcurrants.

As well as a few crumbles, I've made some Jostaberry and Redcurrant Jam which I can confirm is delicious!

T-Shirts now available of Spectral's beautiful book covers

Those splendid fellows at Spectral Press have teamed up with the awesome purveyors of quality T-Shirts, Great British Horror to bring some of their outstanding book covers to the fans as Tees.

Currently they have Albion Fay by Mark Morris, The Hammer of Dr Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert, The Bureau of Them by Cate Gardner as well as Stephen Volk's Whiststable and Leytonstone.

Priced at £20 in the UK, £25 in the EU, and $50 for the US and rest of the world, these are not to be missed.

Get yourself over to the Spectral site and grab one of these beautiful shirts.

Harvesting begins!

The dry spell continues which means I need to get down to the allotment every couple of days, if not every day to get things watered. Thankfully my daughter loves going and helps water everything and picking berries.

I've pretty much confirmed that my plot contains Jostaberries, a hybrid of gooseberry and black currant. Not only are they delicious but we have tons of them, so every visit ends in a marathon picking session! Teaching the little 'un not to pick the green ones is a difficult task but they'll do just fine in a crumble!.

I also dug up the first batch of potatoes, which were dying down, I suspect due to blight. Still, we got a good enough haul for the three of us and as I've been promised a roast beef dinner for Father's Day this Sunday, they'll do just right!

Mid June and everything is flourishing!

 Another gorgeous summery afternoon so the little 'un and I went to check on things and give everything a much needed water.

Three separate plantings of lettuce are coming along nicely, as is the spinach,  surprisingly without a single sign of slug attack.

Sweetcorn has been doing well at last and the local greengrocer had some plants in, so picked up another 9 to add to mine, making it now 29.

I have more space coming free, so I'm tempted to grow another batch as it's something all of us enjoy , especially grilled on the barbeque!

The cucumbers are starting to flourish and grow up the cylindrical cages I've made for them. One has even popped a flower already!

The little greenhouse is doing well, mostly taken up with Jalapeno plants and some purple sprouting brocolli ready for planting out later. A solitary tomato plant is doing ok, though probably needs a bigger pot.

Most of the plot

Swordsman - First 30 mins of gameplay.

Having cut the cord with LOTRO, I'm now exploring other MMO's. Having dipped my toe into Archeage, the graphic style, distinctly Asian, reminded me of a game I tried some time ago, Swordsman, from Perfect World. Very much a martial arts game, your character gets to choose between ten fighting styles from Wu Tang to Shao Lin. 

Here is the first half hour of my return to the game, starting a new warrior from scratch. 

NB. It was recording using the new Raptr video capture so apologies for the quality.

Over 5 years later, finally cut the cord...

H1Z1 June Roadmap

Some fantastic plans ahead for H1Z1 this month, including the exciting news that Professions for characters are on the way! This will really flesh out characters and give them more of an element of inviduality. AND WALKIE TALKIES!

June 9th Update 
The stairs on the deck foundation have been removed. You can now craft foundation stairs and place them in multiple locations around the deck. 
Added a new recipe for a deck ramp that can be placed in multiple locations around the deck foundation 
Early Survivor Crate containing brand new items 
Items will continue to decay after server restarts and game updates

June 16th Update 
Party System – You will be able to join a lobby with your friends, from the lobby you will be able to join either an H1Z1 Survival server or a Team Battle Royale Server in the future 
New Weapon – AK-47 
Leaderboards for Battle Royale – Everyone will be ranked for now, in the future this will be part of a bigger system involving seasons which will be announced at a later date 
Added a new recipe for a Watchtower that can be placed in multiple locations around the deck foundation 
Radios (CB and AM/FM), Walkie-Talkies

June 23rd Update 
Team Battle Royale will be available. Join as teams of 2 or 5 in this new version of Battle Royale 
4 military outposts will be added to the current map.

June 30th Update 
Professions – When creating a new character you will be able to select what his profession was before the apocalypse. This will give your character different stat bonuses and other unique things. Note that this will be a very early pass at the Professions system and will launch with just a few to choose from. 

June arrives and with it Summer...almost!

Today's visit to the allotment has shown how the increased temperature is finally kick starting things. I planted out lettuce and sweet pepper started off in the greenhouse. French beans are coming along nicely and the corn is starting to grow again. I picked my first radish from seed planted less than a month ago (delicious!)

Left side of the plot

Right side of the plot

The fruit bushes are coming along well and it's now more clear which are which - Blackcurrant, Gooseberry, Blackberry and Raspberry. Sadly my strawberries that I transplanted haven't taken too well (thankfully I have loads coming through at home.)

Although I still have about a quarter of the plot covered in grass and weeds, I am running out of room for things I still want to plant so I can see how I can manage a full plot in years to come.

The Witcher 2 : Assassins of Kings

In my continued attempt to finish more single player games, I have dusted off my old copy of The Witcher 2, which I struggled to get into last year.

And it's AWESOME! The controls, that seemed very complex before, now seem very natural and the story and cut scenes are incredible. Having read some of the original books, I'm very familiar with the character and setting and this is an excellent rendering. I'm hoping I can keep up and finish the game and then perhaps try The Witcher 3 that everyone is talking about now.