<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/sown-broadbeansgarlicNov19.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-5913" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/sown-broadbeansgarlicNov19-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>As I wind down from my duties as Chairman of the <a href="http://www.westwoldsu3a.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">West Wolds U3A</a> and I've backed away from dating (going solo or is that so low?) I have a lot more time on my hands to do the things I want to do like writing this blog and keeping the WW U3A website updated.

If the weather is fine or at least not raining then I can get out into the garden. At the moment I'm tidying up the vegetable plot and sowing seeds that should have been sown in late September or early October - I've been distracted and the weather has been very wet. I planted out garlic sets using the corms from some of the garlic I grew last year. I'm not sure how successful this will be but I'm told it should work. A friend also gave me some broad bean seeds saved from last year so they have been sown. I've never grown broad beans and I'm not sure how I will use them - I need to explore recipes that use them. I pulled up the last of my carrots. They have been eaten however I plan to use what I can and make carrot and coriander soup. I made a batch a couple of months ago and it is very good.

The bees are very quiet as they should be when the outside temperature drops below 10 degrees and I'm debating whether I should feed them more fondant to get them through the winter. There is a risk that if they continue to fill the comb with honey there won't be room for the queen to lay eggs when it warms up in the spring. There are as many opinions  about this as there are beekeepers.

Thankfully the last of the leaves have fallen around my part of the site so no more sweeping and raking the paths and lawns however I do need to clean the gutters again.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/piglet-rechargingsep16.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3937" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/piglet-rechargingsep16-200x150.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="150" /></a>And finally Piglet has developed a problem. It has a waterproof keypad under the cover for security purposes and some of the keys have stopped working so I cannot get into the system to change its operating times. It is currently at the garden machines centre being repaired. Considering it has been running continuously for over 3 years I'm not going to complain if it starts to develop problems.