a quiet time….

Just a note to let you know I haven’t forgotten the blog again! All work on the plot is at a standstill – hard to get stuff done while my foot is still so bruised and sore… annoying as now is the time to get the digging done!

Garlic and Onions..

Wow.. another post! lol!

Planted 50 more onion sets today - red this time so that is 100 in total and have put the garlic in as well - 3 bulbs worth of cloves - so not many but I'll see how we get on first!

What is everyone else up to? Let me know xx

Update at last!

It's raining (and the sun is shining :o) ) so I don't feel guilty about sitting down and catching up with oh so many missed posts! Where do I start?

OK - first a quick catch-up with life in general - NG is now working for himself and is sort of back at college, we are very very money-concious at the moment which I have to say isn't pleasant! Neither of us were real money-spenders, we watched the pennies and I have become a real "old-style" sahm (thanks MSE!) but if we and the UG's wanted a treat of some sort or we needed something then that was fine... now we have to justify every little thing - even a magazine or a treat of a chip shop supper and it is not nice.. not nice at all. But we'll get there eventually.. just need to plod on for a while longer!

We now have no tv! The house is so quiet.. all the time! Must get in to the habit of putting music on - I forget! We are not really missing it but have all agreed that is just a trial and we can have the tv back if we all really want it but.. we have to give it a try!

The weather is just starting to get chilly.. we are lucky that our house holds the heat well and we can generally manage without heating until november. The only downside is that this house is so well sealed that we get mega condensation so windows are still open unless it is very windy! It's that or horrible mould... guess we should invest in a dehumidifier but for now that is a unjustifiable expense :-(

UG's are both at school now! UG1 is in Juniors and loving it! UG2 has just started reception and has made lots of new friends! I, on the otherhand, am really missing my chatterbox helper! I am having to make cakes *myself*! *laughs!*

On a real *I am a pratt* note.. yeah ME *rollseyes* just before UG2 went fulltime so 5 weeks ago... I tripped and wrecked my foot - not broken but badly bruised and possibly a ligament torn... yep... I am a pratt! Was very painful for the first 3 weeks but has gradually started to ease - still very bruised and sore but I can walk short distances and drive short distances so not as housebound as I was for the first 4 weeks.

As for internet access... my poor laptop was consigned to the bin over the summer.. I borrowed a small notebook for a little while but it was so slow... I kind of gave up with it but my lovely DF has let me use his old laptop (he has a new one so it was just sitting there) so I am back online proper-like which is good :-D but am missing lots of my 'favourites' which is not so good!

Right.. moving on... into the garden and lottie!

Front garden is fairly cleared now and I managed to get the first sets of japanese onions in yesterday, I have got red onion sets and garlic to put in hopefully soon. There are a few small chard plants still in - hopefully they will grow a bit bigger before the frosts. Obviously sage, chives, rosemary, thyme and rhubarb are still in place. Out of the front garden crops - courgettes did not really do well this year - we have had several golf-ball sized courgettes but nothing bigger and no glut at all :-( Quite a few people have had similar results so maybe not a good year for courgettes? Leeks were attacked by leekmoth which was really depressing! I pretty much lost them all.. salvaged a few which we used in soups. Beetroot did well as did the red cabbages - suprisingly! I was sure they were completely caterpillar eaten but once the layers were peeled back (to give to the hens) the inner cabbage was intact - and yummy! Peas and Broadbeans did very well this year - even with the black aphid infestation. Spinach/Perpertual chard also did fairly well but I think the front patch is maybe a little dry - I tend not to water too often as it means bringing cans and hence 'mess' through the house. Radishes and lettuces also did suprisingly well, spring onions not so good (but I think that is a me problem!).


Back garden a bit mixed this year - chard is still in and doing really well, I have one brussel sprout plant - the rest got chomped(!) Cabbages completely chomped but the walking stick cabbages are still going strong and I'll leave them in till next spring I think. Blueberries gave a bumper crop this year, as did the raspberries (and I even have a 'volunteer' raspberry popping up in one of the beds!!). The gooseberries did well despite being attacked by sawfly. We also had beetroot and 3 pots of potatoes and at the start of the year broadbeans. Pumpkins/gourds didn't do well at all - attacked by slugs and snails - grrr! The sweet peas did brilliantly - I was picking bunches everyday - the house smelt lovely! Unfortunatly our week away in the summer was not a good move.. our chicken-sitters forgot to pick any so the plants went to seed really quickly. Our 3 clematis plants (2 put in this year and 1 last) did well - hopefully they will do even better next year, the new passion flower didn't grow much but I hope next year will be more successful. Pear tree - we had one fruit and lost that in the 'june drop' - starting to be an waste of space that tree.. I am struggling to know what else to do. Apple tree - we had 2 apples - I didn't expect that with it being a new tree, plum tree and the other 2 apple trees have grown well, we seem to have lost the 4th tree (but I have left it for now just incase it grows back next year). Crab apple tree has really shot up - maybe we will get fruit next year and UG1's acorn tree is also doing well despite being in a pot!

Greenhouse has done well - 1000's.. well seems that many! of chillies - we have dried some and frozen loads. I have to say... I have a knack with chillies.. I wish that would transfer to the peppers - zilch... I don't know where I go wrong! Tomatoes did way better than expected considering we got blight so have been quite pleased :-)

Lottie has seen the biggest changes I think - runner beans have been fantastic! I have just picked a small handful for tea but am leaving the rest to dry. We have had good beetroot, turnips, carrots, not so many dwarf beans but lots of borlotti beans which we have dried (still hanging up in the garage!!). Kale, brussel sprouts and sprouting broccoli are still in the ground and we have had some broccoli and kale already. Cabbages have been a bit mixed - plot 1 have done well - some caterpiller damage but not too bad, plot 2 have been written off and fed to the girls much to their delight! I am intending to invest in proper netting for next year and I hope NG will give me a hand with sorting some cages out (so will post on that when we hopefully get there). Butternut squashes - we got about 6 altogether so not many but have only picked 2 smallish ones - the others succumbed to blossom rot. Plot one is still in use - I hope to get that tidied up and weeded after that last 5 weeks of not being able to do much but otherwise those plants will be in place for the winter and I hope to put potatoes there next season. Plot two I had hoped to clear fully and manure by christmas but due to a change - what I have cleared will stay in use but the rest will stay grassed, I keep my compost bins here. This plot is not so good soil - very stoney so am not sure yet what I will do with this area next year. I have now got plot 3 (to take over from plot 2) in the main veg area - the soil is pretty good and workable having been used for many years, it is not such a huge area which is the downside but can't have everything! It is fairly clear but needs to be weeded and dug over ready for next year.

This year has had it's ups and downs.. it has been difficult at times to do as much as I needed in the veg plot with preschool and school runs, the rain and general holiday time with the UG's. I am hoping next year will be better as I will only be dashing back for the 3pm pick-up so will have the whole day to get stuff done in the garden (along with housework, cooking, dog walking, chicken-house/run cleaning and hopefully some crafting!) - my time should hopefully be more managable chunks rather than little bits here and there. Holidays will always be difficult but I'll just have to work round that more and maybe do more work in the veg plot in the long summer evenings - but that depends on NG's work and being able to be at home with the UG's.

I think I have caught up and I will try not to miss posting for so long again! YG xx

I'm SO sorry!

I never did make it back to write a post... I will get myself sorted, start writing an update and hopefully post asap! If I disappear.... please give me a nudge!

bbs! YG x

Still here!

Just a quick post to apologise for my absence... my laptop proved to be unfixable :-( t'was a heart-breaking moment as I realised how much I actually rely on my laptop! I am now set up with a tiny diddly little notebook - good job my fingers are no bigger otherwise I would never cope with typing! I shall be out in the garden and down on the plot taking photos and updating the blog with how everything is going very soon!

YG xx

Still plodding along..

I am still here but struggling to get pc access and time to sit and write a post. Fixing my laptop for the moment has dropped right to the bottom of the list.. NG has been made redundant - yet another casulty of the credit crunch so belts have been tightened and un-necessary spending has been curbed.. so for the moment I am just going to have to "manage"!

Veg plots are doing well, everything is taking off and I am pleased with the results! We are eating radishes and lettuce, the peas and broad beans are nearly ready to pick - can't wait! Spinach, rocket and last years chard has bolted with the hot weather so I am slowly clearing that and the chickens are delighted! The lottie plot is doing well - i have finished (today!) digging over plot 1 and have the last few brussel sprouts to go in plus butternut squashes and maybe a couple of courgettes (or I might fill the gaps at home). We have started clearing plot 2 and I have sown cabbages, dwarf french beans, dwarf borlotti beans and beetroot to get in there as soon as I can. I aim to get more photos soon and will pop them up here as soon as I can. Greenhouse tomatoes are doing well - flowering so I hope the first few fruits will come soon, peppers and chilli's are growing fast the aubergines were pulled out.. they just didn't take off and I figured it was a lot of space for a veg that tbth.. only I eat! Probably a good example of growing what everyone likes to eat rather than spend money on seeds for just little ol' me!!

Right off to look at my seed packets and see whether I can squeeze any more sowings in! I will do my best to pop back soon!

Connection Problems

Sorry folks... my lovely laptop screen 'died' the other week and I am computer-less.. I have to fight with NG and UG's to get access :-( Hopefully NG will figure some solution out for me soon but for now... please bear with me!

Aching bones….

my back is so sore! hopefully the photos will show you why!

last week:

to the end of today! See? I am working hard! 10 ‘free’ bean plants are in, plus kale, walking stick cabbage and golden acre cabbage. I have sown more kale and brussel sprouts since I have the space.

I am having a bad bad bad year with tomatoes…. Have decided to go and buy some plants from the local garden centre… oh the guilt!!!! **laughs**

right must go and rest my back before the next bout of clearing and digging!!

Photos…

UG2 and I made a trip to the ‘lottie’ today and started the laborious job of lifting turf and digging the soil over..  We I did a 3-4m long x 1.5m wide strip while UG2 sat on the blanket and “rested” as it was such hard work (!)  **laughs** 

Plot One – surrounded on 2 sides by a stone path, the 3rd side by fruit bushes (small gap will be left between plot and bushes to allow access to the bushes) and on the 4th side by a tree.

Plot Two – surrounded on 2 and a bit sides by a wall and on the 4th side by grass/orchard. This is plot will be dug over/rotovated later on once plot one is under control!

Raised bed/Cold-frame – this is also a later project – to dig over the raised bed area and fill with soil/compost and to redo the plastic of the cold-frame so that it is usable. I can put my compost bin on the other side of the path opposite these.

We also made a trip to Lidl and picked up a passion flower plant and some what looks rather heavy duty garden netting. UG2 had a new spade and rake too (will keep them going until I am able to get them some proper real children’s sized garden tools!).

Garden update

The weather has been beautiful for the last few days, that and the heavy rain we had at the end of last week has caused weeds galore!  Sunday was spent weeding – especially in the front garden and I have been hoeing/pulling up new seedlings every time I go out.

UG2 and I sowed lettuces, salad leaves and spring onions today plus more tomatoes – I think I have 3 out of about 12-16 sown left.. they are all dying on me and I don’t know why :(  it’s only the tomatoes..nothing else is affected!  The peas and 5 cabbage walking stick plants (rest will go to the lottie) were planted out on Sunday, all the cabbages were surrounded by homemade cabbage collars (square of cardboard with a hole in the middle!). My 3 new mini fruit trees arrived today – 1 Gala apple; 1 Golden Delicious apple and 1 Conference pear. I also picked up loads of pots and seed trays from freecycle today – way more than I can use so I will be taking all the pots to school tomorrow.

I think I know why I am not seeing any birds on the bird feeder….  there were some birds in the bush against the fence in next doors garden… I think 1 had tried to land on the bird feeder… my eagle-eyed girls saw and perched themselves on the pots of the fruit trees immediately below the bird feeder… waiting for titbits that might fall their way **rolleyes**   I wish I had had my camera at the ready! **laughs**  Reckon this means I need to move the bird feeder?!

Well….

it looks like I have a “sort of” lottie!!!!   :-D  :-D  :-D    

Why the “sort of”?  Well it isn’t officially a “lottie” – those of you in the UK will have heard of ‘Landshare’ – a scheme set up by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall to try and find land for growers – some of this land might be from farmers or businesses (such as the National Trust) and some from people who have gardens that they are happy to have turned over to veg!     The website went ‘live’ at Easter and I immediately saw someone local to me offering land, got in touch and went to visit last week.. and it seems to be sorted!

The plot is in an old kitchen garden – run down now from it’s heyday as a kitchen garden of a large farm. It is mainly turned over to grass but the elderly owners use part of it and some is an orchard.  I can have the use of 2 areas plus if willing to fix up, a large cold-frame and “raised” bed where the old greenhouse used to be (one wall stands plus raised beds – you can even see where the heating pipes used to be!). If I get on well then I could possibly expand later on.

I am going back this week and will measure up and take photos of the areas and all being well making a start! The site is clear of weeds pretty much – turf needs to be lifted and then dug or possibly rotivated over.. one area has slight couch grass so obviously no rotovating there! but the other area is clear.

The site is enclosed by hedges so quite protected and surrounded by fields mainly. Rabbits are not a major problem but pigeons and badgers are! That will be a totally new experience for me!

I have sown more kale and sprouting broccoli this week and already have some seedlings that I can take up once the first bed is ready. I will still be keeping my own gardens going (if all goes well then I may consider turning my garden over to fruit or even have an asparagus bed but for now.. I will be going cautiously). I won’t be able to get potatoes in for this season – there is no way I can get a bed cleared in time but there is still plenty I can plant and I can start planning for the future months.

I am so excited as are the UG’s!  I hope this will be the start of a new episode in the Kitchen Garden!  I will post photos as soon as I can!

bear with me…

secret goings on behind the scenes… need to be sure of facts before discussing….. ;-)

:-S

Keep your fingers crossed today.. will I have good news? I hope so… am feeling very nervous and even apprehensive!

Home Sweet Home!

UG’s and I arrived back home today – tis lovely to go visiting but just as nice to come home again.. unless the house and garden is not as clean and tidy as you left it that is……  grrr(!)  My lovely garden is all a mess… someone started but didn’t finish a job, the painting inside wasn’t finished and I don’t think the kitchen/dining room floor was swept once.. I haven’t seen so much dust and dog hair since I don’t know when  **rolleyes**  next time NG is coming with us.. at least the house will be as tidy when we get home as when we left it!!

Well I had a productive trip and came home bearing cuttings/shoots of 3 types of comfrey, apple mint, oregano, feverfew, woodruff(?) and something else..  I hope to get out in the garden tomorrow and get them potted up.. the herb garden is growing!!  **laughs**

Was nice to see the garden again after a few days away and a heavy rain shower or two..  the crab apple is covered in leaves as is the plum tree, the apple tree is just opening up with beautiful pink tinged flowers, the 2 “are they? are they not?” raspberry canes have shown little shoots peeping through the soil so I am mega excited about that!, the clematis is flowering lovely purple flowers, the acorn tree is bursting with buds of green leaves. NG did remember to water plants in the greenhouse and my slowly being hardened off tomatoes/chillis/aubergines.. we seem to have lost 3 though :-(    Tomorrow I need to try and investigate the front garden… I have seen the weed seedlings though… argh!

I may have some news… only ‘may’ and I am not going to discuss with you just yet….. I am not going to jinx myself.. not after last time!!  Just hold on, wish me luck and watch this space!!!

Happy Easter!

NG has been busy with work meetings and courses all week, UG’s and myself have been here there and everywhere so today is our designated lazy day   I like being able to retreat away from the busyness of school, work, shopping etc.. It’s nice to be able to shut the door on the outside world and concentrate on our own hobbies or doing house/family stuff.

The sweetpeas are in the back garden beds – some on either side of the garden using the oblisk and wigwam for support (see pics in last post). Peas desperately need to go out but I am taking the UG’s away for a few days and I know NG will not remember to water them if the weather is dry! The peas will have to wait till we get back! Kale and cabbages are getting to point of needing go out as well… I’ll need to sort a net cage for butterfly protection.. better get thinking about that!   Had to make some bottle collars for my brussel sprouts – I have lost 2 or 3 to slugs *grrrrrrrr* so have made collars to protect them.. must get the net cage sorted for those too… 

I dug the 3rd compost bin out this morning – was only 1/3rd full as it was in an awkward place, so now I have 2 compost bins in use – 1 full and 1 2/3rds full…  nowhere to put my 3rd bin… what am I going to do?! Lets hope I can get a lottie this year… I keep asking!!  I hope that making a pest of myself might get me one sooner rather than later *laughs*

I picked up a water butt yesterday – a friend didn’t use it and didn’t want it so it has come my way :-D.. I have put it at the side of the greenhouse – tucked out of the way.. need to be fitted up to the greenhouse guttering at some point. I could do with getting another water butt to go the other side of the greenhouse but it will need to be a slim-line one as the space is very small.  Nice to see plans starting to come together and to know that I will be able to conserve water use!

Whilst doing all this… I had to move my neatly stacked pots out of the way – NG is taking a pipe from the outside tap by the house to the other-side of the garage – makes it easier for washing cars and stuff! We put the pipe in the ground when we renovated the garden and dug the beds 2 summers ago.. so now we have to attach the pipe to the tap and then put more pipe in the garage to take the water to the new tap… well I say *we* I mean *he*  !!! *laughs*

HAPPY EASTER everyone!  Hope you all get a relaxing bank holiday weekend – whatever the weather!

busy busy busy…

I might be quiet but I am busy in the background!!!!

Spending a lot of time “pottering” in the garden:

The rest of the leeks have been transplanted into the front bed, the strawberry tower has been moved (took NG all of 5 minutes! Superman!!!) and the brussel sprouts planted in the back.

Peas, Sweet Peas, Kale (and I can’t remember what else) went into the cold frame and finally have been moved out in their pots into the garden, I hope to get the peas and sweet peas transplanted into the garden at some point over the next 2 weeks (Easter hols are here so time is spent with the boys doing “stuff” rather than housework and gardening until I pick them up from school or nursery! *laughs* ).

More seeds have been sown in the greenhouse – sweetcorn, sunflower, pumpkin, courgette, butternut squash to name but a few. Tomato, pepper, chilli and aubergine seedlings are still inside – they will be potted on hopefully this week or next but will stay inside for at least another 2 weeks before I start hardening them off.

UG2 and I visited Jekka’s herb farm open day the other week and picked up some Lemon Balm, English Lavender and an unusual Rosemary ginger. We then visited another garden centre where I managed to pick up some Spearmint, Apple Mint and a Lemon Thyme. So today we potted these all up into small terracotta pots with a ‘mulch’ of gravel. They will all eventually be moved into the front garden along with the 2 fruit trees but for now, they are sitting on the edge of the raised beds making the back garden look deliciously green!

We also picked up 2 Clematis plants – a ‘Markhams Pink’ and a ‘Harlow Carr’ – if I remember rightly one flowers in spring and is full of buds and the other flowers June to September. I have one planted to grow over the arch and the other to grow up the trellis over the garage (which covers the window). I’m hoping these will add a nice splash of colour to the back garden.

Another of today’s jobs was tidying the back – sorting the pots, sweeping up etc etc etc!

Photos taken from my bench.. you can see the strawberry tower top left, gooseberry bush 1 by Molly and bottom left the bars of the old stair-gate protecting the cold-frame contents from the chickens. Yeah.. the roofing tile is *still* there(!)

Gooseberry bush 2 is next to the arch, you can just seen the clematis on the other side of the arch and the pots of herbs along the edge of the bed. Behind the arch I hope to put some more trellis with another climber to cover the horrible wall..

The bottom right of the pic behind the chicken house is an obelisk – I will plant some sweet peas to grow over this.

Molly and Iggle enjoying the sunshine :-)

Spring is here!

have you noticed the daffodils and crocuses showing their beautiful flowers? have you seen the buds on the trees? have you seen the bright fresh green of new life?  spring is most certainly here and haven’t we had a few days of gorgeously warm sunny weather??

Nature has a way of helping you realise that life goes on.. kind of handy when you are wallowing in the memories of a ‘lost one’'…  :-(

Also kind of handy when you realise that you do have lots to do..

 

 

The water-pipe and fleece tunnel was really easy to do – 6 lengths of pipe pushed into the soil, covered with fleece and secured with pegs. Will be interesting to see how it stands up to the unpredictable weather and possible “fingers”…

Inside are carrot and radish seeds plus beetroot seedlings..plenty of space left for cabbage or spinach seedlings. JG1 and I also planted out a block of broad-beans.  In the greenhouse, the tomatoes/aubergines/chilli’s/peppers have all been re-potted and popped back on the warm windowsill.

What??!

not again(!)   grrrrrr

tv licence fee

tv licence is going up again by £3 … do we really get our money’s worth from the beeb? Personally I don’t think so.. NG does agree with me but won’t give up the tv….  why? We watch maybe 2 hours a week…  only 1 hr of that is on the beeb.. and tbth… i could live without my Saturday fix of Casualty  **blush**     I could rent an awful lot of dvd’s for £142.50….  maybe I should work on this again…

Anybody out there successfully got rid of the tv? I’d love to hear why and how you are getting on!

I have a dream……

a fantasy

to help me through reality

and my destination makes it worth the while…

(ABBA ‘I have a dream’)

 

This song is playing through my mind rather a lot lately..  I do have a dream…  a dream of a house or a cottage with 3 maybe 4 bedrooms, a large kitchen, sitting room, bathroom (extra rooms a bonus but not important!)..  a shed/garage for NG and most important of all… land… minimum 1 acre but more would be nice.. some space for a veg plot, greenhouse and polytunnel, space for a huge chicken run, space for the UG’s and dogs to play… possibly enough space for some animals – animals that will earn their keep… a smallholding dream…. 

 

Will my dream ever come true? I don’t know.. at the moment I feel it won’t but I keep going in the hope that it will…….

 

There are some interesting discussions going on on the MSE gardening forum here and here…  drop in, have a read and maybe give us your views..

Peas!

Starting the March sowings… sowed 90 pea seeds, 9 cabbage walking stick seeds and some spring onions, the sweet pea seeds are soaking (as per packet instructions and thanks to friend T who gave me the nudge to read the packet!). More to be done tomorrow!

Broad bean seedlings have been moved out of the cold-frame and protected away from the chickens under a piece of glass which is leaning on the raised bed edges. The chives have been moved out of the greenhouse into the cold-frame and then moved promptly as the chickens thought the leaves were yummy so the chives are now sat in the outside sink covered with fleece **roll eyes**

Tomorrow I must ask NG to get the blue water-pipe…  i need to get that front garden going!!!!