I thought I would be planting like mad as this is the time to really get stuck into the garden for our best growing season but we have had tropical storms and driving rain for days and the ground is waterlogged. I stuck in the big fork and heard an unmistakeable “squelch”. Not a good idea to plant seeds into that.
On a lighter note we had great fun at the allotments the other day when we held our Easter morning tea and ran a Scarecrow Competition.
Here are some of the entries.
My friend Di with her entry “Costa” – if you watch Gardening Australia it might give you a clue.
Narda, my allotment neighbour, entered “the schoolteacher”. Can you see the little children in blue uniforms at her feet? Must have taken her hours.
Then we had the french theme from Celine (who is french) and James (wearing the cardboard moustache). The three of them in french berets. They carried the theme through with the french wine on the table and french music playing. Impressive. All the cameras came out at this scene.
So far no crows have been scared by these entries but they are great fun, and heaps of work went into them.
My neighbour on the other side, Bernice, entered “Stone the Crows” using a leaf rake for a face. She is holding a catapult ready to fire at the crow sitting at the other end of the allotment.
Here is the crow. Rather a sad and resigned expression I thought. I’m still laughing just looking at it. Bernice won first prize.
We had many more great entries in this competition – but there was one rather pathetic entry – mine. I cut up my son’s clothes to dress her. I made her skirt from one of his pair of trousers, a shirt for the scarf round her neck, and he donated an old pair of shoes. I stuffed a pair of my tights to make her legs but after I had stuffed them with straw she had a bad case of varicose veins. With that pink blouse and big red smile I don’t really think she will be scaring many crows. If it was marked I can see the result “Jean needs to try harder.”
She is standing in the corner of my allotment, you can tell by the undisturbed straw mulch that there is not a lot of planting going on at the moment.
It’s Easter Sunday here already on the east coast of Australia …. Happy Easter.
Allotment Adventures with Jean 
Apr 05, 2015 @ 07:45:18
Jean I loved ALL of the scarecrows, yours included; all very clever creations! Such a fun competition! Don’t know whether they still have it, but there used to be a Scarecrow comp at the Ekka too. Happy Easter to you too xx
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:12:46
Hi Maria. The scarecrows are cute aren’t they? And I didn’t photograph them all.
Not sure if they have them at the EKKA these days. But I don’t go every year.
Apr 05, 2015 @ 08:04:08
I hope that you dry out soon and can get to work. Thank you for the scarecrow show.
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:13:21
The weather is drying out now Mr Tootlepedal. Planted a few more seeds this morning.
Apr 05, 2015 @ 08:46:33
What a bit of fun to kick start the year again. Well done all.
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:14:20
It was a lot of fun Barb. And the rain clouds parted just for a few hours so we could enjoy the walk around the farm for the judging.
Apr 05, 2015 @ 20:21:07
Jean those scarecrows look amazing….I am not that inventive but they all looked great including yours…great job and sounds like a fun day. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:17:56
Thank you for your kind words Kathy. I was over at the farm this morning and the scarecrows are still going strong, despite the weather we’ve been having over Easter.
Mind you, it’s beautiful today, Easter Monday.
Apr 06, 2015 @ 03:15:21
Happy Easter Jean and cheers for sharing the scarecrows. Not a lot has been going on in many gardens at the moment. I think 2015 has been a very strange year so far. We only got about 3 weeks of “summer” and the grass never even turned brown this year and all of the plants got very confused and the pests went into overdrive with the excellent growing conditions and ate everything. Oh well, back to the drawing board! 😉 Here’s to your summer garden when the weather lets you plant it that is! 🙂
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:21:27
Hi Narf. Sounds like you have had a very short summer. Like us, we get the pests in abundance during the summer and in these northern climes the heat (and pests) seems to go on and on. I checked out my very small kale seedlings this morning and already one tiny little caterpillar had decimated one completely. So I have planted more seeds. Always optimistic!
Apr 06, 2015 @ 17:18:05
I think you have to remain optimistic or you would go mad Jean. Can’t wait to read more about your “winter” garden while we have our feet up near Brunhilda. It’s been pretty cold here, quite early, maybe we will get snow?! 😉
Apr 06, 2015 @ 10:01:20
Your scarecrow dresses better than I do for sure Jean 😄😄😄😄
Apr 06, 2015 @ 14:10:26
She also dresses better than I do when I’m over at the allotments. I was over there this morning and I had my eye on that pink blouse of hers I bought from the op shop, it’s my size!
May 23, 2015 @ 14:22:16
Fantastic scarecrows Jean…the Costa one is my favourite! I’ve had the pleasure of working with him before and he is so amazing, a real hero of mine. I’ve got to say though, regardless of who the scarecrows are meant to look like, that always freak me out a bit 🙂
May 23, 2015 @ 16:05:04
Jem, ‘Costa’ is still there to welcome newcomers to Beelarong Community Farm at Morningside where I have my allotment. We get together every Wednesday morning from 9am to 12 noon, morning tea is at 10am and we all sit around the table outside the shed, that’s allotment holders and also the volunteers in the community garden area. Lots of tea and cake is consumed and all visitors are given a warm welcome, let me extend an invitation any Wednesday morning you are free.
P.S. The scarecrows are a bit freaky, but not to the crows it seems!
Jul 23, 2015 @ 23:58:10
Looks like sooo much fun!
Jul 24, 2015 @ 06:36:47
It was Sarah. Thank you for visiting my blog.