Reflections

Watching the new BBC version of the triffids last night while reading a great garden book which was a Christmas Present led me to thinking about what to grow this year. I thought I would do a recap of the varieties I planted up and how we got on with what must have been one of the dryest summers for a while. 2008 we had far too many courgettes and beans, this year we had one small courgette and enough beans for one meal! We did very well with potatoes, onions, shallots, tomatoes and carrots which had all been inadequate the year before (2008), so here is a recap of what we planted and wether it worked.
 
Potatoes
- Early Crop - Charlotte's - Blooming marvelous, tasty and had we watered more regularly i suspect we would have had an even better crop. We used potato growbags/trug with hole drilled in and overall very successful. This year we will make a heavier mix of compost/soil which we hope will retain water more effeciently.
- Main Crop - Rooster - rubbish - we got the dreaded scab and the slug problem finished them off. Again this was due to sporadic watering and also down to us just not knowing how to treat the new stams. Massive crop - just inedible sadly.
Peas
- Kelvedon Wonder - they grew & something ate them! One day they were there and the next they were gone. This year i am going to build a plot within my plot for broccoli/carrots/salad and line with fine mesh to keep away caterpillar/mice and the bloody great pigeons we have round here.
Beans
- Runner - Celebration - I went with Painted Lady instead and although the seedlings grew quickly they became very susceptible to slug damage and under watering. This year I will be creating a wigwam and the 7sisters technique to retain moisture.
- Broad - Masterpiece - I went with Aquadulche and they started very promisingly but these were a very early victim to my over enthusiastic planting up of the plat and a salutory lesson that by squashing in more crops they get mould and rot. This year I have planted up at the correct spacing in a different section of the plot!
Sweetcorn
- Sunrise - Great fun to grow - need to be planted in a grid not a line which i did and i prepared the bad but the water issue was a real problem, the cobs did well but overnight went from being edible to dry and i just didn't have the experience to judge when to pick.
Onions
- Red Baron - These did really well and then one day just stopped growing so we started to use them and even though they were little they were fiery! Wow they have heat - will be growing these next year as well.
Shallots
- Jermor - One of the best crops & pretty to have in the bed as well - we companion planted with the Chantenay carrots and both did exceptionally well.
Carrots
- Atlas - These didn't in all honesty get a fair chance as they were used as a sacrificial plant to protect our Red Barons (which they did brilliantly). I will try these again but probably under protection.
- Chantenay - Again - one of our very best crops - planted with the shallots these cropped for months. We will definately grow these again this year.
Leeks
- Edison - Like the atlas these didn't get a fair chance - the wedding was around the time these fellow should have gone in the ground and they held on for a while and then one day i realised they were only going to be good for the compost so on they went.
Courgettes
- Black Forest - a small compact bush! - RUBBISH! We didn't get even one courgette! And all 8 plants germinted but nothing happend which after the glut of last year was just crazy. We did try them in tubs and i suspect that their roots need much more space so don't try these in containers!
- Midnight - Tub based climber - RUBBISH AGAIN! And this one was really purchased as a pot plants and yet although we got fruit they grew to about 3 inches then the ends tunred brown and dropped off. This year I will be trying something more robust.
Butternut Squash - in a pot this year! We didn't in fact grow butternut - somewhere a sensible voice inside my head suggested space might be an issue! We did try a pumpkin but it got attacked by aphids and died over many weeks which was heartbreaking.
Tomatoes
- Growbag & Greenhouse - Gardeners Delight - In fact we grew Harlequin which took a while to get started in the greenhouse and just like my neighbours they took ages to go red this year but my god we were harvesting them for months and months - we had the last lot in a salad for 10 people on Christmas Day so we will 100% grow these next year. The ones outside suffered from a lack of water as i tried an organic growbag which just didn't hold any water at all - but the bees liked the flowers so we did well in that respect.
- Hanging Baskets - Garden Pearl -  Again I changed my mind and grew 'tumbling toms' which were a vine like tomato and we grew them with marigolds in hanging baskets around our pergola. It was so successful that we will be doing exactly the same thing again this year.
Cucumber
- MarketMore  Not hugely successful, I think that again the lack of water was an issue as both the plants were grown in the organic grow bag which simply refused to hold onto water.
Lettuces
- Cos & Salad Mix - Never got round to these!
Spring Onions
- Guardsman - I can't remember what we grew but I think it was white lisbon, I'll check but they were damn hot little onions!
Peppers
- variety tbc depending on greenhouse - we got some free yellow peppers - only 5 of teh 8 germinated but all gave us a pepper which sadly failed to turn yellow but i think this was feeding incorrectly!



I did plant for bees in a big way this year, the spectacular mistake was BORAGE - it actually took over my entire veg patch and used many of the nutrients that the beans could really have done with - my neighrs borage grows to about 18 inches - mine was topping 6 foot. The bees it did have to be said absolutely loved it. I successfully grew honesty (Lunaria), Limnanthes (Egg Plant) and Marigolds from seed which i was pleased with. I also grew Sweet Williams (though only 3 of the 12 germinated), Aqualigia which was vaguely successful and managed not to kill the geraniums.


The factor which increased productivity was the greenhouse which was totally brilliant although the November gales have left it a bit holey and I will have to upgrade to much stiffer polycarbonate sheeting this year when the weather warms up. The wood needs attention in places and one of the structs needs bracketing. The tomatoes totally took over causing the damage to the wood, this year i will be stricter and nip the sideshooots but i just wanted to see what would happen if i didn't snip them. The aubergine I bought failed to do anything other than becaue haute cuisine for the local slug population who devoured it. 


The factor which we hadn't considered was a dry start to the year and I think that most of our plants suffered from a total lack of water. This year we are going to put in another cheaper butt. I also intend to grow hardier crops and mulch. Watch this space for a proper herb garden as herbs might like to be dry but in pots they simply need so much water they become more expensive than shop bought herbs!

Winter Preperations

This weekend saw the start of the flu season in our house. Which was a real shame because it was a beautiful weekend for getting out into the garden and i had veg which i wanted to get on the ground. I decided that fresh air would kill me or cure me and proceeded to cut down the grasses (they spring up in the spring), empty the hanging baskets and have a general tidy up. The general tidy up also led me to dig up the last of the Chantenoys for my sisters dinner party (7 guests including us = much potential for carrot eating), prop up the wonderful cornflowers so that they don't rot and get another large pot of Harlequin tomatos from the greenhouse. And compost all the old sweetcorn stands

After the carrots and two 'balls' of shallots had been dug up I thought about the green manure we bought and decided that as I was still standing I should plant up the winter veg. This took a bit of planning and eventually after reading the instructions properly and spacing things as they should be to reduce the risk of moulds I got the 10 Jermor shallots planted up. Along with the Aquadulche broad beans, garlic and winter peas the veg patch does look quite organised. I also put the cloche up to get the soil ready for some winter salad leaves and late carrots. If I find any which I haven't totally nissed the boat with! Will also be planting up some sweet peas to over winter next weekend.

And after that I felt really  ill!

Pinch Punch first day of the month

1st October.....a good day for anything which moves as it is apparently Wolrd Vegetarian Day - and by total conincidence I haven't eaten anything non-vegetarian today.

1870 The first official issue of the post card was made in Britain by the Post Office together with the introduction of the halfpenny postage stamp.
1908 The first Model T Ford was introduced by Henry Ford.
1974 American fast-food chain, McDonald's, opens its first British outlet in London.
2000 Last commercial Hover Craft flight across the English Channel.

I can't really believe the nights are creeping in already! However they are and there is no getting away from the fact that if I don't get those springies and potatoes started soon they won't get the soil warmth to germinate. However it does have to be said that we are still heavily cropping the greenhouse tomatos and carrots. The crab apple seems to be quite happily settling in (finally) although the elstar is startingt to lose its leaves. The Christmas I would really like an outdoor tap fitted so we can water the garden - i know we are on a meter but the garden can't go through another dry summer like last year.

wordle

Lazy Sunday

Sometimes domestic bliss appears from the most unplanned sources.

This morning we got up late - we haven't for ages and when we did eventually stir we discovered just enough ingredients in the house to make a pretty decent brunch which even included fruit juice and fresh coffee.

Then we headed out to find pine cones, (part of my christmas craft endeavors) and went up to the plantation by Wyevales garden centre where we wandered through the trees and again i really wished I had my fast camara to capture the birds and squirrels which were everywhere. The trees were amazing and it was very peaceful - leading me to conclude my tranquillity research was right describing even small places can truly be oases of calm.

As is happening so frequently at the moment I saw something amazing in the woods. Picking pine cones is a very peaceful activity and involved scouring the ground carefully but also moving carefully so as not to cruch any good cones. I noticed a squirrel jumping down a tree which seems to be moving oddly so I watched a little more carefully, in the mother squirrels mouth was a small baby squirrel with small ears and a little tail which was waving around as the mum bounced along the ground before bouncing up another tree. Lovely.

After collecting a few cones (will photograph tomorrow) and after he'd nibbled at a few sweet chestnuts we headed to the garden centre round the corner where we spent an hour browsing and eventually bought some cut price flower seeds, and some shallots, garlic, winter peas and green manure for the veg match as well as a fleece cloche. I am hoping to spend the next couple of days tidying and preparing the garden for winter.

I then had to go off and run a few errands and he stayed at home to wash the car and managed to fix the oven too. Getting back I put a beef casserole on and made a crumble from mums apples, did some recipe hunting, and checked on the sloes before we make sloe gin & sloe vodka tonmorrow evening. It really is the little things which count - fresh food & good wine!!!

Tomorrow I promise - I will spend some time in my garden!

Perfect Day

We have spent the last few weekends exploring Norfolk and avoiding the city centre crowds, we didn't really need anything and with the heat of the summer gone then September has been very pleasent for bike rides and general outdoor things, not much gardening has been going on but that is all about to change. However there comes a point where work shirts need to be purchased and we had to source some borax to improve the ecoballs.

We headed into Norwich to attend the Japanese Day at the forum which was a tenting and also really good fun. We watched a sushi demonstration and got to eat some too, and 'he' was lucky enough to actually get his food at Wagamama while in actual fact they forgot mine which I wasn't too impressed with. I do think that Wagas is a great place to eat but the Norwich franchise is appalling and i seriously recommend that people try Shikis if they are after a traditional Japanese menu.

The lunchtime hiccup was forgotten once we got on our bikes and headed 11 miles out of the city to South Burlingham for afternoon tea with family. The ride was glorious and fairly traffic free, cyling through Brundell, Strumpshaw and Lingwood I realised I had never ever visited these villages. After tea and cake and looking at wedding pictures we headed home through reds and oranges, it was a truly fabulous sunset and I wished I had my camara with me.

Stopping at Thorpe St Andrew by the river we ate fish and chips watching the sunlight fade and as the houseboats started up their woodburners a pall of pale smoke weaved across the river. Cycling slightly more slowly home we made it just as the light went completely - looking on the map we worked out that we had in fact cycled 25 miles!

Carpe Diem

Following my redundancy in April, I have been re-employed in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft - the 12 hour days were starting to get too much so I now only work three days a week and today was one of them. I leave at 7am and get home at about 6 if I work through my lunch hour, it feels as though I lose touch with the outside world and so enjoy the walk to and from the station through the city up through the Cathedral. Today however we decided that we would walk the 'Riverside' walk which starts by the Complete Angler and winds its way under willow trees to Cowgate past Pulls Ferry.


The first section was peaceful, but the often forgotten section from Bishops Bridge through to Jarrolds mill past Cow Tower (seen above) was really beautiful and it made the whole world ok and was a wonderful start to teh weekend - we saw a family of swans and found a fabulous hidden pond which i never knew about. Turning to take the photo above we thought we were having something thrown at us when we realised we were standing under a conker tree! Never one to look a gift conker in the mouth we gathered a few up and i might try to use them in Christmas decorations. Seeing as how my hunt for pine cones is going really badly, they used to be everywhere when i was little, where oh where have the little cones gone?!

CPRE Food Event

We spent yesterday evening at a very fascinating workshop about local food and the impacts it has on the area which was hosted by the CPRE at the Workshop on Earlham Road - its all to do with Mapping Local Food webs click here for more info!.

This was partly a tenting in terms of us getting out and doing things together, but it was also very interesting to meet people who might think along the same lines as us and my lil sis came along as well so it was great to catch up. There were structured activities to gauge people opnion on how local food affected the environment, society and economy and the buffet was stocked with local produce. Which was delicious.

Indian Summer Part II - Sloes!

Today we (nearly) lept out of bed in search of the elusive sloe. We have come to the conclusion that we will be having a traditional Christmas and celebrate all we love about Norfolk & English winter traditions. My Sarah Raven Christmas book has been well read and we've decided that we would try and make sloe gin & sloe vodka for Christmas, and having been told in some quarters that they were over, and other quarters that they wouldn't be ready yet we weren't sure if we'd missed the Sloe boat.

It was a cool start to the day but by the time we got up to Itteringham where we had asked a friendly farmer to help us to locate some sloes it had got really quite warm. In fairness I didn't know what a sloe looked like and so once the townies had been dropped by a hedge bursting with sloes we were left to get stung, scratched, prickled and generally made to work for our sloes. I was really surprised by the size of the little beggars and also the tenacity with which they clung to the hedge, the sheen on them was translucent and they are really pretty.

After picking some rosehips (not enough as I discovered when we got home) we headed up the Wolterton Park Harden open day where we immediately sought out lunch. The garden is rented out by the owners to a couple who grow enough to run Barker Organics. After lunch we toured the organic garden learning quite a bit about biodynamic gardening in the process. Growing up we were taken to almost every estate kitchen garden in England (well it felt like it sometimes) and while the Barker garden does not resemble one tiny bit the traditional national trust tidy type kitchen garden I can honestly say I have never been in a kitchen garden with so much wildlife. I saw a goldfinch for only the second time, robins, bees,(honey and bumble), and the various sunflowers were amazing, although they didn;t have any black ones like we grew this year.

After wandering around the stalls where we saw a whole host of amazing produce and crafts made in Norfolk we meandered home to an amazing supper of organic sausage, apple (mums tree), and Norfolk onion casserole. With it we had mustard mash made with our potatos - i can honestly say it was the best mash I have ever tasted! We had carrots plucked from the ground moments before going in the pan - he has to go and pick them by torchlight as the evenings have started catch us unawares.

By next weekend I hope to have my cloches which i'll need for winter growing - because of the veg patch dimensions then I have to cut accross my normal beds but if thats what it takes to get veg over the winter then so be it!

Oh and the sloes? 2.85KG - about 6 75cl bottles worth - Roll on Christmas!!!

Indian Summer Part I

We have had a lovely day relaxing with the amazing weather which I feel is giving us a second chance to get a crop out of the veg patch, I have decided on Carrots, Potatos, Onions, Garlic, Shallots, Broad Beans and early sowings of a few companion flowers. I spent the morning on a few errands, stopping at the HFG (Horstead Farm Group)Farm Shop at Beeston where I bought some Pinneys Smoked Salmon for a few luches, some blueberry lemonade (which was 'interesting'), cheese scones for him and some corn thins for me which are truly delicious. The food is good value and we like to buy local, it will be this which I think pushes us into getting a freezer.

When I got home we ate lunch in the garden, and surveyed the last of our crops. The tomatos are still going strong, as are the carrots, and the onions are storing ok in the ground. I picked up the last of the shallots to keep indoors and discovered that teh sweetcorn should probably have been eaten last weekend as they have now started to turn. Never mind - they did remarkably well given how little water they had and we got 9 cobs which could have been eaten. The beans, courgettes and peas were a HUGE dissapointment this year and next year I intend to keep a much closer eye on them.

The day was rounded off by an early evening BBQ at a friends - local food at theirs too and it tastes just so good. I know scientific studies have shown that there is no difference between organic and non-organic but the taste is just outstanding. And its noce to think it hasn't had to travel. Had we been a little more organised we would have biked over there but perhaps another day.

Splish Splash

After yesterdays outing we had a lazy morning sorting out food for the week (which we have found significantly cuts down on food waste) and deciding on plans for the day. Plans for a paddle on the river in my cousins canoes were decided upon and I went off in waterproof trousers to do a couple of hours on the River Bure down river of Belaugh.

The river was a nice height and we had decided before setting off to try and find the entrance to the Crostwick Beck but this was twarted by gates accross the entrances to lots of interesting inlets. We did however discover Nortons Broad which had very unsportingly had a huge gate instaled accross the channel to stop us reaching it. We are fairly certain that tidal water cannot be owned so I might write to ask the Broads Authority and ask about Dobbs Beck.

On the trip we saw a kingfisher which was so very beautiful and two herons which were remarkably tolerant of our presence. We saw fish glide under us as we set off and as we paddled closer to Wroxham we duly thanked the fishermen who pulled in their lines so we could pass. Canoeing is a very eco friendly way to travel - and so quiet that even the most easily spooked wildlife will allow one to paddle quite close.

Green Build

The dawned bright and dry and after getting up early to make the picnic we set off for the 10.45 to Sheringham from Norwich station with our bicycles. The train was very busy & we were pleased we had booked our bike reservations yesterday.

Getting off at Roughton Road we were struck by the incredible peace of the station (the platform is effectively a bridge over the road), and checked the map before heading off to Felbrigg. We met up with family when we arrived and toured the event discovering a HUGE tomato, owls made from milk bottles and after checking out the norfolk food stall we decided it was lunchtime and sat down to eat some cheese rolls, pepper crisps, homegrown tomatos, fresh fennel tabbouleh and REALLY delicious cakes!

Post lunch we investigated the owls and after discovering the bird box stall we decided to make some bird boxes for £3 each. Then we asked some pertinent questions at the Edwards cob tent (we both love cob/glass deisgns) see http://www.edwardscobbuilding.com/, and spoke to a lovely person on the NNDC pledge tree who is currently building her own house and had useful ideas as to how we could get the land we want to live in. We saw recycled wooden kitchens, picked up some really fun cardboard cut outs which I'll post the link up for when I pick up the leaftlet http://www.mini-scrapbox.co.uk/.

Pedelling back to the station I was struck by the surrealness of the platform, I put a few ladybirds who were in danger of getting squashed on some bramble bushes and 'him' was so struck by teh quiet he stated that it was this kind of quiet he wanted. There were birds singing and I suspect roughly twice an hour the silence would be broken - but it was a glorious day out and definately a tenting. Coming home we tok the last of the tomatoes for dinner and I think we'll have the last of the carrots tomorrow.

Next week - foraging!

Pictures to follow :)

Historic Moveable Feast

Was a feast indeed!

Autumn?

The weather has changed this week - it is cooler and has been wetter but most noticeable is how windy its been. In addition our food has changed, we have had a couple of casseroles and tonight we had our first crumble with the apples foraged from my mums garden - I picked them from the tree at mums we used to have a treehouse in, and the bramblebries from the railway yesterday.

However our crab apple is really greening up with even a few blossoms, and i'm going foraging either this week or at the weekend after Green Build 2009. This is a fabulous source of information for green builds and although I've not been to it at Felbrigg I hope it'll be reasonable weather and we'll be going up by train.

Foraging by Bike (Not really a gardening post!)

We went on a bit of a cycle ride today..


35 miles!

We decided to get out for the day and explore some of what Norfolk has to offer using the old Marriott's Way line from Norwich - Themelthorpe - Reepham - Aylsham then Bure Valley Cycle Path from Aylsham - Buxton - Colishall - Wroxham. This was definitely a tentings expeditiona to get out and enjoy the countryside and I am pleased to say it was really fabulous.

Starting out at half ten (the result of a few beers the night before) we joined the Marriotts Way proper at Halfords Roundabout at ten to eleven, a bit later than planned! We were amazed at the clearness of the river at the first crossing and only the fact that we were meeting someone further west stopped me from some serious poohstick fun. Cycling on we quickly left the traffic and at twenty past eleven we stopped for a drink on the bridge before drayton to admire the conservation work on Costessy meadows.

We then had quite an adventure of getting the bikes up and down on and off the old railway to navigate gaps where the line had been built on, this didn't pose any serious problems but care did need to be taken on eth stony slopes up and down from the trail. The stretch through Thorpe Marriott was really a wide tree lined avenue, the feeling of being in a forest with the ghosts of trains going past seemed more real here and all the way through to Attlebridge where the line came to an abrupt halt opposite a campsite set up in the old station. The map we had was the OS 134 25000 and not detailed enough for us to realise we had to go slightly north, then west to rejoin the trail, signage wasn't good at this point.

Coming up through Lenwade there was a real feeling of landscape conflict with wide open lakes next to massive industrial sites with vast gantries and enormous waste tailing's. Pushing on we stopped for a drink and to meet up with my cousin at WHitwell Station just before the "Themelthorpe Curve" . By this point we had almost cycled halfway and my legs were really beginning to tire, after another couple of miles on reasonable track we stopped to eat lunch in a field, the tomato's I had picked from eth greenhouse this morning were delicious in our rolls. Although it was indeed warm in the sun, there was a cool breeze and most of the railway was covered in green making the cycle way something ever so slightly mystical.



Moving through Reepham we came off the trail for a few meters before cycling a very diferent landscape up to Aylsham, the ground was much sandier and we could tell we were crossing between river valleys rather than up or down one. Looking around the hedgerows were groaning under the weight of sloes, berries and rosehips (AKA sloe gin, sloe vodka, rosehip syrup & bramble wine) and had I been better prepared I would have brought much more back with us. Getting to Aylsham my cousin left us and we took a slightly reduced pace around Aylsham before suddenly arriving at Tescos where we stocked up on more liquids.

We then started on the Bure Valley, we just missed a train as we were leaving and kept hoping for another to pass us but as the miles were eaten up this seemed unlikely, I used to live at Burgh and we paddled the river from Dunkirk in Aylsham to Mayton Bridge for my hen day so its a stretch i know very well. I spent much of this section looking for familar buildings and really enjoyed the totally different perspective we got from being high on the embankments. We crossed the mermaid and looked down on its clear waters where fish could be seen basking, and we admired the little station at Buxton. There were lots of butterflies and dragonflies and just past Haubois we saw a train - wow they move!

Soon after we stopped for a breather, although the Bure Valley section was shorter we were quite tired and so I collected bramblebries and he sat in the shade and watched me! We decided to then really push on to try and catch the 16.27 from Wroxham back to Norwich, riding the bikes back up from the station was done cautiously as we were both a bit saddlesore by this stage!



It was a lovely day which was even better for my cousin being able to join us for part of the route and we also managed to find a whole tub of bramblebries - or blackberries to the uninitiated, these were intended for a blackbry and apple (from mums garden) crumble but after resting for a bit there was no way on earth i was fit for cooking. I shall instead cook them for supper tomorrow evening - a reminder of our day on the railways.

The C word...

Yes - I'm sorry - I have already started to think about Christmas - its four months away and yet I am beginning to think about veg we could have with our christmas dinner and how I can best use the space which I have to grow some winter crops. Part of this comes from the Rocket Gardens winter Veg plants - but the other comes from a great book called "The Diggers Diary" in which discussions are had about growing potatos for Christmas dinner. The main concern seems to be frost damage and insufficient shelter, the Guardian Organic Spetember allotment diary is well worth a read.

The orange potato bags we bought to grow the charlotte earlies in seemed to work very well and they would fit inside my greenhouse which with some fleece lining would slmost certainly be frost proof. I think it would be fun to serve up homegrown potatos on the (almost) shortest day of the year - along with the cabbages, kale, sprouts and maybe carrots. Apparently "Autumn King", Berlicum" and some Nantes varieties can be planted in early autumn ready for winter but need overwintering under cloches when the temperature drops. Beans are also apparently possible.

This has got me thinking about the veg patch & ways in which i could perhaps make it more seasonally suitable. There are still plants growing in it so I can't make too many changes just yet but I am wondering about changing the access onto the plot & putting up a better 'fence' which would give more wind shelter - also which I could use to build winter protection in the form of fleece cloches.

And I haven't even started on the things i want to make for christmas such as chutneys, jams and preserves, cushions and recycled gifts. By which I don't mean giving away presents I've received - I mean making things from other things. I really want to decorate the house and I dont want to use lots of plastic and paper - bit of a spoilsport really!

Tentings and Tagines

While on our honeymoon in the deepest darkest depths of Cornwall we decided that we should come up with 10 things (or Tentings) which we each wanted to do, and then a seperate list of things which we wanted to do together. The speed with which we arranged our wedding was amazing but it had meant everything else (including the garden) was put on hold for 5 months. That pretty much meant civilised conversations about anything other than weddings wer a thing of the past as well.

It was fun coming up with the ten things, one which 'he' put down was to try a new recipe every fortnight - this started out quite hard but in fact became easier to the point that we now only repeat a recipe if we really really liked it rather than becasue we couldn't be bothered to look up a new option. This has meant we have been getting the most out of our fabulous tagine which it would be fair to say has revolutionised the way we eat and big bonus is that 'He' has really got into cooking as well. The tagine has been used on average five nights out of seven, a lot of mediterranean dishes and british stews/casseroles do very well in it. So much so that I am thinking of asking for another ornate ones for Christmas this year.



Another upside of the tentings has been our visits to museums and places we wouldn't normally go. We are off to the Norfolk Heritage Moveable Feast in a few weeks which should be awesome, not least because the first course is served at Dragon Hall where we tied the knot 3 months ago today. We have planned picnics and cycle rides and we have at long last sorted out the junk room into a TV den where we can relax and chill out. WE took an afternoon off last week and went to Wroxham Barns, amazing locally sourced food for lunch, followed by a trip around the Junior Farm where we watched calves be fed, eyed up the delicious piglets, looked after the breeds of chickens, talked to the donkeys and stroked the sheep. The highlight was cuddling a guineau pig which was ginger and adorable, so much so even he stroked it!

I recommend it - sit down with tea, cake and no distractions and write a list of ten things you would like to do. They don't have to involve changing your entire life, (from small acorns mighty oak trees grow), i have put on mine that i want to bake an edible loaf of bread - at the other end of the scale I want to travel Japan. We are overall more positive and moving in a better direction due to that rainy afternoon in Cornwall where we hit upon the idea of tentings. We have new cusions in our TV room and a table runner with gorgous beads to match (handmade), we have ruby sunflowers brightening up the dining room and a fresh spiced banana cake which was made today for afternoon tea. I have red, pink, blue and purple fowers in the front garden along with a myrtle which symbolises Love and Marriage.

Where did August go?

When I started this blog I was decided that I would try and write in it as much as possible and that the time spend it my garden would be documented and I could then use this to show progress over the year. Ho Hum! Haven't been up to much in the garden in July and August other than just keeping it ticking over. We have have a few successes along with some failures this year. mainly because of the dryness and also because my office moved to Suffolk and teh travel has been wiping me out. I did make teh grand decision as of teh 1st August to go freelance two days a week and this has been working well but in fact I have been rushed of my feet so where my husband and I though it would reduce working hours they have actually increased!

Apart from the success of working for myself a few days a week at least, Garden Successes are the regrowth of the passion flower, the amazing growth of the Vine and rose around the pergola, the random squash which a collegue gave me to grow and tomatos - not the big fat moneymaker tomatoes but the rich sweet delicious harlequins which have done even better outside than they have done in the greenhouse - this is the same variety which sainsburys sell at £1.99 for about 10 and we have tonnes of them. They don't keep so have to be eaten quickly and I have been wondering about making some into chutneys. The little tumblers have also done well perched up above the ground in hanging baskets.

We have also done magnificently with our shallots which are potent little fellas, the red onions are scrummy if a little small and our Spring Onions are also on the hot side, the early charlotte potatos and carrots (Chantenoy not Atlas) id well and were delicious. The sweetcorn have grown well having about 12 cobs on 8 plants, I only lost one after planting out.

Definate regrets surround other plants where the lack of water was a problem. The Roosters potatos have done better in the tub than in the ground where slug damage and scab took their toll, a similar problem with the beans which had only a few flowers although they are another story. The Acer and Crab apple have not done as well as we had hoped, and the pumpkin never really recovered from a terrible aphid infestation. The leeks never made it into the ground and teh courgettes have been appalling! Afetr they are supposed to be teh easiest things to grow and yet i have no use for the courgette recipes I have put together after last years glut. Very odd - I think I'll leave 'fancy' varieties alone next year and stick to the basic varieties which i think can cope better with less experience, water and poorer soil.

We have been very Bee friendly this year, part of the reason for the garden being neglected was the quanities of bees we brought onto the plot with our borage (big plants - 2m tall!) and the hyssop. The poached egg plant brought hoverflies and the cornflowers have been a continual remider of our wedding as they were a big part of my bouquet. The led to it being rather difficult to get access to the plot as we had bordered it with all the bees favourite flowers.

The digging over of the plot happened today when husband got the fork out. With many of the spent plants taken out we realised that to leave it fallow until next spring would be a cruel waste and so we're going to get a Winter Rocket Garden, although I could start off many of the plants my greenhouse is rather stuffed with toms and peppers and so we'll give this method a go.

The other positive which has been evident of late has been the development of ten tings (I'll do a seperate post) and us really finding our feet with cooking. I am beginning to realise how unusual our little family (2 at present but watch this space over the next year) is in that we sit down to a home cooked meal every single night. Admittedly there was a very delicous portion of chips and scampi one evening last week however that was all the more delicious for it being unsual! Helpng us in the kitchen is a fabulous book published by DK called Healing Foods for special diets. Ignoring the fact that it is for special diets it is awesome! Full of quick and interesting foods, most of which go very well in our tagine which is another fabulous kichen cookpot. In fact thats another whole post! Maybe I'll catch up woth my postings this weekend!


http://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/

Down to Earth with a Bump

wow its been a long time since i posted, over six weeks - and what a six weeks they've been. The wedding was lovely, the weather was gorgeous and apart from a couple of hiccups then it all went as we'd hoped. The weather in Cornwall was fabulous and although it took a couple of days for us to chill with the still we did have a great time and the luxury of the first week blended into the holidayishness of the second week really nicely. We went to eden again which was even better this time, and it reaffirmed my feeling that to be happy and healthy and in love are so important. Anyway there were a few spritual moments as we wandered around cornwall and the eden project on the last day was entrancing. I even adopted a lobster called star :).

Back to the garden, our very loevly next door neigbour kept it going for us so when we returned the plants were all doing well. The peas have overall been a dissapointment and teh broad beans haven't given me anything like eth crop i had hoped for. The runner beans i started in teh greenhouse are now doing well, but i'm pleased i planted some additional ones as well. The carrots are so far ok, can definately tell that there are two types in there, springie are almost ready to start eating and teh courgettes are doing well - they had a ucky break before we went away when i planted them ALL out - 8 courgette plants, what was i thinking!!!

potatos are a bit of a mystery. the roosters in the ground have flowered & produced ball shaped fruit. The roosters and charlottes in the tubs however have produced no flowers and look 'thin' which is the only way i can describe it. Neighbour suggested dugging one or two up - might just try that. Note to self - BORAGE - grows BIG - like really really big! Bees love it though, they are buzzing away everywhere!

the other surprise was returning to work - the company started up again just before we got married but we have had to relocate to lowestoft which is over an hours travel away and £40 a week on the train. It'd be cheaper to car share but my car is now pretty much dead after its amazing road trip to Cornwall and won't make lowestoft and back - although we're getting a new car i don't want to have to put such a heavy milage on it in such early days. so train it is - choo choo.

Unemployed.

The plug was pulled on my company last Thursday, we were given a few days grace and expected a rescue plan which had been promised but it seems that isn't going to happen for some time if ever and so as of about half past four today I don't have a job.

Three weeks before the wedding.

I got very very stressed about it over the bank holiday and felt very odd about everything, as my little sister will testify to. I think now that I'll put all my energy into the wedding because there are a hell of a lot of things to sort out, and also into the house and garden which now needs to really pay for itself.

All very strange. At least we had rain today and I'm going to be brave and leave the greenhouse roof open tonight to try and harden some of the plants off a bit. Going to plant some beetroot tomorrow, I know its late but reading my Victorian Farm book last night the pickled beetroot recipe looked oh so good!

A Hard Days Work

Sun was shining today but it has definately been cooler overall, the beans, pumpkins, cucumbers and honesty had a good night outside. It was just as well that I hardened them off because there is a ground frost predicted for tonight and I only discovered this after I put half a dozen in the ground to mark out a line between beds.

I have had a busy afternoon - after we went up to the garden centre for lunch and to get a few pots (Acer and Hibiscus were potbound) some more compost and some other bits and bobs then we HAD to do the food shopping which I did as fast as I could. Got home and wrapped wire around one of the pergola posts and then trained the rose up the post (annoyingly found a much better rose pot up at the garden centre today) which was a painful exercise as teh rose did not want to be trained! While we were up at the garden centre i did get some organic slug pellets because they are decimating my crops. I am pretty certain we don't have hedgehogs and any slugs i do find i put outside the garden under a cherry tree and few doors down where the birds tend to gather. I saw a female blackbird on the fence the other day so I know we do have birds in the garden.

I needed a polytunnel for the salad bed but being an awkward gardener my beds are not 3 meters long and 1 and a half foot wide, therefore i decided I wouldn't spend fifteen squid on one of those extendable cloches but try to make one at home. When I got back I delved around until I found three old curtain tracks (the plasticy sort) which when bent have a nice dome shape to them and then spend a happy hour constructing a cloche which is tied at each end, one side is buried in the soil and the other side weighted down with rocks/wood. I've planted more Chantenoy carrots, Springies, Niche Salad Leaves and orange radishes underneath, I might use it as a halfway house for some of the veg to harden off. Will have to be careful to water enough.



And also repotted the Acer, the Hibiscus and the Camilia which through my own faukt has not had a good year. I was bought it in Jaunary and I think it had been very sheltered in its previous home, it was doing ok then caught a frost so as the greenhouse was finished by then i put it in there. This seemed a good plan until one day it got scorched and then when i put it outside we had a very severe frost - the one which killed off my stunning trellis passion flower. So the plant doesn't really like me! I managed to leave the garden centre with just 1 living addition to the garden - An Aubergine - which i managed to drop on its head as i got out of teh car - so it probably doesn't like me either!!!

Don't Water the Dandelions!

I love this picture! It reminds me of Alice when she was gardening rather than being in Wonderland. I found it the other night when i was trying to find a cartoon to illutrate ny thirsty plants when they had got back in from a grand day out. I did ask the authors permission to link to it and he (Craig Houghton) has said yes, so enjoy the detail and remember that although they are weeds Bees and Hoverflies think they taste great.

A Grand Day Out

Woke up this morning with a little headache, the result of spending last night drinking to drown my sorrows. Well - the fact that I don't know wether i'll have a job this time next week anyway, which four weeks before my wedding is fairly interesting timing. Its more important now than ever before to get the garden producing food for us to eat.

The onions and potatos are coming along a treat, the second row of peas in the potato patch seem to at least have started, the ones the other side of the garden are a washout. We have a real ant problem, the full scale of it only just hitting home, i think they might be the reason why we're getting such dire germination rates. The Spring Onions and Carots in the veg bed are doing badly, have resown some lines today after spending a few hours weeding the veg patch. I also potted out the Yellow peppers from their seed try into individual pots where they can grow much bigger. Broad beans are infested with ants which i'll try to get rid of tomorrow with cinnamon and talc (works apparently)

One evening last week I potted up the herbs i had bought when i got the trees, which incidentally have just lost their petals, and they (the herbs) seemed to be doing ok. Today however i noticed many of teh oregano leaves have turned brown. My next door neighbour who knows everything looked it up in his vegetable growers book and seems like it was frost damage. I thought I'd covered the plants every night there was a frost forecast but it seems that one hapened which i didn't realise. Luckily the Acer is ok.

The tomatos are getting bigger and stonger, although next year i'll start them in teh greenhouse rather than indoors because they get a bit spindly - it'll be another three weeks before the tumblers go out methinks. The seeds started in the greenhouse are all very big and strong, the pumpkins and courgettes in particular. In fact today as it was such a nice day and i wasn't at work (see first p for explaination) I got all the seedlings from the greenhouse (except the toms) and sat them in the veg patch so that they could start to harden off, midday the sun got so hot i had to cover the greenhouse and when i put all the seedlings back in again they were all veeeeery thirsty but it was good for them overall. They will have to get used to coping without water on tap, after all we've had no rain in weeks and my butt (so to speak) is empty.

Have discovered the borage is coming up nicely and I have lots of honesty plants to put in the border, tonight half of them are being left out to harden off. The sunflower seeds from last year have a stupendous germination rate and are now being dug out as they are Giants and i have rescued half a dozen or so to pretty up the borders but that veg patch is for veggies!!! The sweet peas are coming up around the old dead willow and I have high hopes that they will do well. Just need to keep eyes peeled for frosts. All of the sweet peas which i grew indoors have given up and died. They just weren't strong enough.

There'll be a trip to the garden centre before this bank holiday is out, i need more compost and some cinnamon and other (organic) anti slug measures. A few big pots for the pumpkin and courgettes are also required. My runner beans are doing great but something is munching them in the greenhouse and my moneys on a slug! In the garden (as opposed to the veg patch) the chinese laterns are coming back in force, the hyssops are doing well, the fennel has gone bonkers - as has the fuschia but it doesn't have the shape it had before.

Mucky Gardener now off to bed! Wish I had more pics but I'll take some tomorrow, I found this which made me laugh - kinda how my plants felt when i watered them :)

Tree planting

Here is my fabulous tree, I'm very very happy with it, we dug a big hole and lined it with ericaceous (!) compost and then watered the hole well and put the tree in. Admittedly I had spent quite a bit of time twisting the tree to get the best aspect - we have resown the lawn with meadow grass to get better coverage.

Vegetable wise the onions are doing just grand, and the carrots are coming up to. Poor germination rate on the peas although my grandma told me tonight that i should plant four for me and one for the mice. I don't mind having mice although I'd be surprised if we did have any due to the high number of cats in teh area!. I think the broad beans are safe from the cats now although they do seem to be under slug attack. The greenhouse is positively buldging at the seams and the lovely grasses from Kew Gardens have also germinated. I am going to wrap the sweet williams and aqualigia seeds in more fleece and move them to teh warmer end of the greenhouse.


Tomorrow is another day in the garden.

That was the holiday

and I think I have done some stirling work in the garden - covered a lot of ground you might say. Didn't get anything done yesterday of note, other than have a gentle wander around when I got home last night. Today dawned grey so I decided that B and Queue was where I needed to be, we did need a new mower because the old one was very heavy (it was my grandfathers) and couldn't cope with the circles, it was on lend only so I did feel it was time for a more lightweight version.

Being female a decision like that obviously wasn't mine to be made (heavy sarcasm here) and 'he' vanished off to get one - I browsed for insect net to keep the carrot fly down, and on my travels found a nice organic chilli plant and six fat geraniums which will add a bit of colour to the garden, they're currently in the greenhouse waiting for a few more weeks before i put them out under a bit of fleece.

On getting home we had lunch and before the last crumb was finished the mower was 'in construction' and I decided that I'd go up to Wyevales to investigate Red Sunflower seeds and herbs which i never can grow from seed. When I got up there I got some parsley, lemon verbena, oregano and my sunflower seeds. I also got some more bamboo canes and another long greeen tub for putting the rest of the onions in. I didn't bargain for falling in love.

With a tree.

Two trees to be precise. An Elstar (eating apple) and a stunningly beautiful Japanese crab apple which is going to be delivered tomorrow and I am crazily excited. The two trees together with the herbs and other things were quite expensive and I definately spent my entire garden budget for the year!



So I got home with Elstar, who might be nicknamed Ellie, and sheepishly brought her outdoors to show him - didn't admit to the crab apple until a bit later. Decided to pot up a dozen runner beans after seeing the ones in the garden centre have already got started, and then potted up a dozen of the red sunnies, and then cursed the neighbours over the way whose party was thumping bass for hours and hours. Then I had a stirling idea, having seen the amazing (expensive) oblisks for growing things up I noticed that the twisted willow which died ages ago but which has a great shape would be great for growing sweet peas up. Decided to plant up the rest of the Emerald Ladies round the old willow and i'll see what happens.

Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny was obviously impressed with my efforts last year in the garden and so along with a chocolate tractor I got a very picturesque book called "Grow Vegetables" - I recommend it :)

Tirsty Garden gets more than it bargained for!

Well this morning rolled by and when I opened the back door was hit by the smell of spring - that fresh sort of smell where everything is growing. I checked everything had made it through the first night of being outside and got the seed packets out to see what else I could grow now. Tomatoes seem much happier in bigger pots, the Harlequins are definately going to be bigger plants than the 100's and 1000's, already they are sturdier and a much deeper green.

The honesty I planted has finally started to show up, and the leeks have too - the ones I planted three weeks ago to the day, the ones i planted a week ago inside have also started to appear. I don't know wether its temperature or compost type which has made teh difference. A hasty move in the greenhouse resulted in one of the cucumber seedlings getting dropped and I can say with certainty now it won't be long before they appear as well. The onions are racing ahead, and teh Atlas carrots have finally sratde to show although the Chantenoys in the veg patch itself haven't apeared yet.



I decided that a few more plants could be started so sowed the Kew Garden Grasses, Heligan Sweet Williams and Heligan Asters and Heligan Aquilegias, all covered in teh greenhouse to raise the temperature and start them growing big and strong. We need some flowers to replace the daffodils when they start to die off. The Fennel is growing bigger and better this year, I also planted out some summer & autumn bulbs which I had left in eth bottomn of my trgu from last year - I've no idea if they'll germinate!

Also decided to sort the Acer out - It has a bad case of aphids and being a young plant i was a little concerned it wouldn't cope - plus it encourages ants. 'He' sprayed it yesterday but when I checked it this morning then there were still just as many. Decided to follow mums advice and found an old toothbrush and one by one brushed them off and into a pot of soapy water - if I do that every day for the next few days it should give the plant a break. Downpoyr this afternoon gave everything a really good soaking which is exactly what the doctor ordered, have discovered a possible engineering problem to ensure water from teh greenhouse roof drains off in the direction of the ever thirsty potato plants!

Good Friday

I have been getting more and more tired as the past few weeks have gone on and so I purposefully decided not to plan anything for Good Friday and have a 'day off'! When I woke up I saw the sun was shining and decided that a little pottering around the garden was the order of the day. 'He' helpfully offered to go and get the food shopping leaving me free to potter.

The little tomato plants have been getting very spindly upstairs so I decided to repot them and put them in greenhouse along with the leeks which have started to show up - they take a long time to germinate! The potatos have also started to peel above the soil in the tubs and this was the sign i need to heep some more soil on top of them - 2 inces at a time apparently to get the best crop. Although opinions do differ. I also put the sweetcorn and sweet peas out - the sweet peas have bolted sadly including the old variety from Heligan so I doubt they will produce many flowers. I have a few extras which i will sow in the garden to attract the bees and hoverflies after the soil has warmed up enough for them to be sown straight in.

Then I decided that the sweetcorn bed really did need tending to, I dug down to about a foot and sieved the soilthen top dressed with about two inches of compost - then found all the worms i could and pu them in that area, hopefully by teh time corn is big enough and strong enough to go in eth soil will be much richer. The potatoes in the ground are coming up as are the shallots - seem to have a very variable germiniation rate with the shallots, the onions are running ahead but theres no sign of the spring onions or carrots yet. Anyway - now very tired, and still bowled over with the progress we've made in less than a year :)

I have also discovered that something (money is on the sunflowers, Courgettes or B'nut Squash) has managed to self seed from last year, the little sprouts are doing very well and i decided today that such determination couldn't be rewarded by killing them so rescued them and repotted them as if they are any of teh above they'll be taking up way more space than i have rom for! And theres loads of them!

More Planting

Got home from work and it was just too nice not to get out into the garden. I got the seeds out and decided that it was high time the courgettes (both varieties) went out, so i planted up four of each. I am trying out Midnight which is apparently a compact variety but I'll believe it when i see it, and Black Forest which is a vine or climber. I also planted out four cucumber seeds, have gone for a standard marketmore variety and will try three outside and one in the greenhouse. I also planted out my secret seed present which was bought for my birthday and is apparently a GIANT variety - that will most definately only be allowed into a pot to grow!

I am now seriously toying with the idea of growing on top of the pergola, it is quite sheltered up there and i could easily reach the plants using a stepladder, I could grow the pumpkin up there on a slatted system. I was also considering growing the peas in guttering and allowing them to drop down rather than grow up. I really want to sedum roof the bathroom, although that can't happen until after the repairs to the paint are done. It seems that this is the year I will need to repaint the back of the house.

Oops

Peas....

Plamted them as well yesterday - about 50 of them up and around the garden but damn me if I don't have oodles left! Will have to find a way of growing them elsewhere too. DId wonder about in pots on top of the pergola with nets hung accross that they could grow through. Would give us shade and a HUGE square area of extra planting!!!

I could have used that hour!

I was supposed to working on our wedding all day today. We had to go 'up city' to sort out a wedding list and then when we got home i felt it would be sacraligous not to spend a few seconds in the garden, i was supposed to be doing our invitations but thought i'd just spend an hour outside.

SO I donned my wellies and started by planting up the rooster and charlotte potatoes in the tubs and also in the ground - i hope that we get a reasonable crop, our soil is still improving and potatoes are such a hungry crop. Then I planted the shallots, and the chantenoy carrots to go around them, following this i sowed some spring onions in the next bed and sowed more chantenoy around those. Then I sowed some atlas carrots in teh onion bed as there are one or two of the onions just peeking through the soil in the tubs.

Not content with this i decided to sow some companion plants, Borage, Limnathus and Cornflower in the veg patch and then decided to try getting the honesty and thistles started in the greenhouse. The temperature was 22 degrees when we got home today, quite a lot higher than it was outside! The seeds indoors are ok although I am concerned the tomatoes are getting leggy even though they are in great light. The sweetcorn have put in an appearance(funny looking things) and the sweet peas have a mixed germination rate.

Then I discovered it was quarter to seven and very much past the time when i should have been sticking things together and writing addresses - gulp. Still - at least we won't starve!!!

And the winners are

The Marigolds! Which have sprouted in the greenhouse, i think i have about half of the seeds showing so far, I'm pleased that they have started to come up because there was a harsh frost two nights ago and obviously the greenhouse offers just enough protection. No signs of the leeks yet, or any of the sweetpeas, sweetcorn, tomatos or peppers.

Fingers crossed. Oh - no signs of the broads beans either, I think I might have to start some off in pots. This is the veg patch waiting for its veggies to go in - this weekend I promise.....

Fish Friday

We were allowed home fifteen minutes early today because of the great weather so I got home in time to check the temperature in the greenhouse. It was about 4 degrees C warmer than outside which when I block up the gaps will hopefully keep the frosts out. I decided to remove the fleece on the garden because i want the top dressing to work itself in, it helped to just get things tidied up and made the imminent planting seem so much nearer. This weekend is very busy with wedding arrangements and Mothers Day so I don't think I will get out there to do much.

After I got the veg patch tidied up a bit I sowed the leeks which i have put in the greenhouse to get started, I only sowed about a quarter of the seeds and it will be interesting to see how they get on, I'll plant the next lot in about 4 weeks and the next lot 4 weeks after that to get a really good crop. I bought Edison leeks which can be used as baby leeks and as maincrop which means I need lots! I also got eth marigolds sown and put them in greenhouse too.

After that I turned my attention to the sweetcorn and three varieties of sweet peas, I am growing all of them in individual fibre pots as they hate their roots being disturbed. I'm not convinced some of the fibre pots aren't too small but if nessecary then I'll put them in bigger fibre pots ir in eth ground and cloche them. We are halfway through March now and so eth APril sowing season is nearly upon us.

Then I went and cooked poached eggs with smoked haddock, fabulous food for a hungry gardener. Currenty watching BB2 Vertical Gardens programme, very pleased that I have decided to try growing climbing courgettes, hanging basket tomatos and will grow beans over teh trellis again to give depth to the gardem. Our new climbing rose has started to come into leaf and the wonderful Acer is budding with promise, but the daffodils are just teasing me now!!!

Wheeze....

Was the sound of me appearing around the gate this evening, I rode home silly fast to get back before the light went and get started on seed planting. No time to get the sweet peas and sweetcorn done but I did get 8 tomatos sown of each variety (Harlequin and 100's and 1000's), I also got the Golden Bell peppers planted as well before I lost the light.

Bzzzzz BUZZZZZ Buzzzz

Cycling to work today was really glorious, still a bit nippy on the extremities but the birds were singing and buds are appearing. There are lots of daffodils around and everything smells so much more alive. It makes me realise that a whole year has passed and winter is over. I am sure that it is cycling which has brought me so much closer to the seasons passing, when the clocks go back next Sunday I am sure that will be the moment at which my body clock feels normal again.

Saw a bumblebee today wallowing through the air, I moved out the way sharpish but hadn't realised how early they woke up. I cycled home so quickly from work and managed to get the tomatoes sown but the soil isn't very warm, hope it sorts itself out as i need happy strong tomatoes. Have bought a thermometer to go in the greenhouse but realised tonight i have to get the drill out and so thats a job for the weekend. I need to be certain that the g'house is frost proof before i put eth sweet peas out there.

Great News

Was leaving this morning early and realised that a bee was getting very excited around our Japenese Cherry in the front garden which is just starting to bloom. Made me smile that all is right with eth world - or at least our small patch of it.

Day in the Garden

I am sitting in my very grubby clothes waiting for dinner to settle before I go and have probably the most well earned bath this year. The Greenhouse is (bar shelf painting) finished and it took not a few hours as I expected but over seven and a half. 'He' has been responsible for feeding me today and lunch was pasties and dinner was pizza! I am really pleased with the finished product but wish I had leant to cut in a straight line with a saw in both directions! Heres a picture of it, realised that i need to get some more seed trays (don't know where they've all gone) to go on the shelf.



This is from inside the shed - it will look really lovely when we have plants growing inside.



While I was building my greenhouse, 'He' weeded the lawn (we have a sycamore two doors down and the seeds have a phenomenal germination rate), we then weeded the flower beds - doubtless the cats will now have a field day - and then 'he' set out the beds in the veg patch. I was really hoping to get the tomatoes and sweetcorn started today but just ran out of time. We did top dress the soil in the veg patch and that needs a week or so to settles in so perhaps not such a bad thing. I've been through my ample seed collection and decided that as companion plants I'll do Honesty (Luneria), Limnanthus, Cornflower and a couple of globe thistles. Not to mention the sweet peas! I have three types, Grandiflora from Heligan which I'll grow in the front garden, and Elegant Ladies and a shorter variety which I'll grow in the back garden and in the veg patch. I have lots of flower seeds from Heligan which all require growing under glass before being replanted in the garden, hence another reason for the greenhouse.

I'm off to play with my rubber ducky.

Painting in the dark.

Last weekend I was just too tired and very busy to bring the blog up to date, plus the weather changed so I couldn't take photographs of the work I did. I finally started work on the Greenhouse spending all of Saturday and half of Sunday (after an excellent lie in) buying, measuring and constructing the frame for the greenhouse. I built the roof frame, one side and the front out of pine, it stands about 65cm deep, 1.8m wide, 1.2m high at the front and 1.6m high at the back with a corrugated plastic roof which lies the wrong way and which may need

So - where did painting in the dark come from? As I mentioned the weather changed last weekend on the Sunday afternoon and the downpour meant the weather proofing paint wouldn't dry so I had to leave the frame in the dining room. I also painted it in there and we now have green on our carpet to go with the red when I painted the walls! I did put paper down but clearly not enough. We have visitors tomorrow evening and I knew I needed to get the frame outside but I could only do that if I built the other end of the frame and got the whole thing painted and outside.

I abandoned cycling today and left on very good time, got home, grabbed the tools and made the other end. I made the end frame and got one screw into the main structure and the damn drill ran out! Put the drill on charge and started to paint the unfinished wood, by this time i was losing the light but managed to get every bit of wood protected. Picked up the drill and then had to start trying to get the screws in to bolt the frame together and also to the shed in the dark! Then had to touch up the paintwork but couldn't see what was and what wasn't wet - hence ended up very mucky!



The final piece of the puzzle was to protect the roof frame by reattaching the corrugated plastic. To do this I had to detach the solar movement light and balance it on the shed roof and then wave at it whenever I wanted to screw a roof bolt into the frame. I didn't get all the bolts in because I ran out of drill battery AND patience!!! Now I have to buy more wood to make the shelves although I want to think about where they are going to go for best effects.

March the First!

Happy to say goodbye to January and February, I always find them difficult months to get through and find March a very positive month for getting things done around the house and garden. I knew i needed to get the broad beans in as i was late enough anyway, and that a bean trench was the way to get a good yeald. So dug a deep trench and lined it with cardboard, backfilled with compost and soil then planted the broad beans and netted them. Dug the trench for the runner beans as well but they won't go in for a little while yet, hopefully the trench will help save water some the hot summer we might get this year. It was majical standing digging out in the garden, the air is invigorating, I was amazed to see that even after the digging we did last year and a season veg growing I had daffodils from the old lawn growing through the fleece!

Given that the weather is set to be cold for the next week i'm holding off on the planting of the sweet peas, I'm redoing my garden plan for planting because i'm going to grow the climbing courgettes up trelis in the main garden, and the Kelevedon peas will also be liberally sown. We love peas! After all the digging it was nice to sit down and set the potatos up for chitting, we are truly returning to the victorian farm as the boiler has broken and we have no hot water (or heating) so its a case of boiling loads of water for a much needed bath.

The greenhouse hasn't progressed a huge amount this weekend, partly due to the wedding plans taking up time and also my relucatnce to take the car out today to buy more wood. I wanted to have a home day to get things done, i even got round to sorting out my overcrowded wardrobe and doing my sewing homework. In five weeks of the dressmaking course this is the first time I have managed to do any sewing outside of the lesson!

The bulbs are beginning to appear now in the back, but I think I have a low success rate overall. There is just one tete-a-tete out the front where there would normally be lots and lots, I seem to have something eating most of te bulbs as they are coming up - Mice?

Potato Problems Part Deux

The forlorn looking potatoes (Charlotte earlies and Rooster Main Crop) were carefully put in bags this morning and taken back to the suppliers, the roosters being much worse than the Charlottes. After being told that they had been kept somewhere too warm and that the stock they had on the shelves was perfectly ok I meekly pointed out that there were in fact no instructions on either pack for storage, this seemed to do the trick as the nice man told me to go get a couple more off the shelf.

Whereupon we discovered over half of the roosters had sprouted pale white shoots just as mine had, the charlottes were ok and we eventually found a good bag of Roosters so I went home a happy bunny. It really does pay to return seeds and sets if there are problems as garden centres (this wasn't a big chain) are there to help and should have staff knowledgeable enough to answer most questions. Both bags are now sitting in the dining room waiting to be chitted tomorrow.

Bad start to the potatos

Activity on the garden has been slow, mainly because of the upcoming nuptials but also due to long days at work although the fact that its light when I get home in the evening is great. Last weekend we went to B&Queue to get the ingredients for a greenhouse, i had no idea how much wood i would need and so have to go back this weekend as i ran out unfortunately. Bad Planning. Took me a day just to get the roof sorted out. going to build the rest this weekend hopefully and then do the doors teh weekend after.

Anyhoo onto the potato saga. Knowing i was leaving it late to get my potatoes chitted i got them out yesterday morning and to my complete horror they had sprouted thin pale wobbly shoots in all directions which had gone through the nets they were kept in and they are all pathetically squishy. I have rung the place where I got them from and they've said they shouldn't have done that and to bring them in - i hope i get to swop as theres over £8 of tatties in tatters!

Getting very late to put the broad beans in but going to try this weekend to get them in. The bulbs are beginning to come up (no sign of the snowdrops this year), but my beautiful rosemary and french lavender at the front are already suffering from rosemary beetle which has stopped both from flowering last year and left them pathetically straggly. Very sad. I'm have resorted to using a bee friendly pesticide just to try and give the plants a break.

Haven't dared check the weather yet for this weekend, i might carry on regardless!

Waiting Game

Well it has been a while since I had a chance to do anything in the garden so have been concentrating on my upcoming nuptials. The snow over the past few days has been lovely, although cycling to work through it has been a challenge and meant I'm missed most of the photogenic opportunities in my small patch! My Thompson and Morgan seeds arrived this evening, I ordered everything on the 24th Jan but the Marshall order hasn't arrived yet and I'd really like to get my leek seeds in.

My birthday present went up a week ago - its an amazing snail weather vane, I absolutely love it!





I got a book for Christmas called the diggers diary - its brilliant & i read it every night before bed to remind myself of what i'll be doing just as soon as the sun comes out and the seasons turn.

Vegetables Investments set to grow...

We ordered a climbing rose "Alexander Girault" from Peter Beale's about 2 months ago and the bare root plant turned up yesterday. After my first wedding dress fitting (very exciting) I bundled a slightly hungover fiancée into the car and we zoomed up to the garden centre to get "a pot" and "some compost".

Over an hour later we left with a car full of very useful things and a substantially lighter purse, (we did get a deal on the compost as we needed lots). We are going to try and grow our potatoes in trugs and large potato sacks. In total we got a thin deep pot for the rose (which is what we went for!), two long narrow containers to grow the onions and atlas carrots in and a ceramic frog to scare the snails and slugs (i did put all my christmas vouchers into the cash till, so felt this was an ok purchase!). In addition I got some sweet peas (as they really need to go in) some charlotte and rooster seed potatoes, some onion and shallot sets, some red hot pokers for 'him' and a garden thermometer (still want a soil thermometer).

Was really amazed at teh people who were buying seeds today, I try not to stereotype people who garden, but some of the people i saw getting veg seed today surprised me! And I really loved how children were getting involved, listening to one little one choose cat grass because he wanted to grow a cat was a highlight!

Then I came home and ordered the rest of the required veg from Marshells. If I can then I'm going to string the veg patch tomorrow - seems so long until i can really get started!

Swish

Nothing to do with gardening but Ice Skating was fantastic - so much fun and i met up with a friend who I hadn't seen in months and months, hopefully going to make it a fortnightly occasion with various people joining in when they can.

So - in the words of Frank Turner - "Get up, Get Down and Get out there" - pick an activity you have always wanted to try and find a friend or two and just go and do it - I've waited 25 years to try Ice Skating. It doesn't matter if you fall over as I did or if you find you don't like it - just try it and they you will know. (Here endeth the lesson lol)

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday has rolled around again - this year I decided that with me wanting time off in the summer I would go to work - hmm, that wasn't fun! I am going ice skating tonight and over the weekend I intend to spend my birthday vouchers on timber for a greenhouse, which I can then start to build. I have some ground preparation to do first which won't take me long at all.

Have been bought some fabulous books, one called the Victorian garden, another self sufficiency book which is very good and a green website book for the wedding and life in general. I don't get my other presents until the weekend but I think one of my vouchers sent from relatives north of the border might be spent on a soil thermometer as I think that could prove to be very useful. I need to repair the net around the veg patch as well as I found a cat on it yesterday morning trying to get to the soil and when I shouted it ripped another hole.

Last of the cake

Well the Christmas cake is finished! It doesn't seem to last long but it is lovely to have a slice for afternoon tea or as an evening snack. This year I used the apple and ginger jam that we made in October to stick the marzipan to the cake and I think it added an extra bit of spice. Mum has such a glut of apples every year that I bought my sister (who is very seriously into wholesome food) a book called "The apple source book" which has lots of fab apple recipes and storage ideas.

I bought the first packet of seeds today - Broad Beans - which I am going to plant out just as soon as this cold snap lifts a bit and I can dig a bean trench. I'm going to keep a close eye on how much I spend on seeds this year and work out how much money we save. I stopped at two garden centres on the way home and found some greenhouse material options for construction at the weekend - just going to raid the salvage yard first.

Snow!

I haven't seen a weather forecast for a few days, and my next door neighbour looked over the wall yesterday afternoon as i was oiling my bike and casually mentioned that it was forecast to snow - i confess i checked the veg patch was covered and then forgot the warning. Apparently its important for the soil not to get too cold.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I got up to cycle to work in time to unlock at 8 to find a reasonable covering of snow on the ground. I checked I had enough grip and proceeded on my way up the hill - oh it was cold. Halfway to work a snow storm descended and by the time I got to work I had snowdrifts in my elbows and looked like the abominable snowman. It took hours for me to warm up!

Just three days and it'll be my birthday, now if i could have some snow on my birthday I'd be very happy!

Headstart

I decided that after almost crippling myself digging the veg patch that i should get on with planning what to grow this year. Having spent hours thinking about which vegetables will be best suited to which area of the ground based on light, shelter and trying to stick to the companion planting guidelines and surfing various seed sites I have a few ideas. So - in no particular order I've looked at what we had too many of (courgettes and beans) and not enough of (potatoes, onions, shallots, tomatoes and carrots and come up with these varieties.

Potatoes
- Early Crop - Charlotte's
- Main Crop - Rooster
Peas
- Kelvedon Wonder
Beans
- Runner - Celebration
- Broad - Masterpiece
Sweetcorn
- Sunrise
Onions
- Marco
Shallots
- Jermor
Carrots
- Atlas
- Chantenay
Leeks
- Edison
Courgettes
- Black Forest - a small compact bush!
- Midnight - Tub based climber
Butternut Squash - in a pot this year!
Tomatoes
- Growbag & Greenhouse - Gardeners Delight
- Hanging Baskets - Garden Pearl
Cucumber
- MarketMore
Lettuces
- Cos & Salad Mix
Spring Onions
- Guardsman
Peppers
- variety tbc depending on greenhouse

To help bring in the hoverflies and bees I'm also going to be planting chives, honesty (Lunaria), Limnanthes (Egg Plant) and Marigolds.

Took me all day that did. It also made me realise that seed companies are missing a trick, its all very well having 2kg bags of seed potatoes to sow up 35m stretches but I don't have that much room in my plot! I wish they sold smaller amounts of chitted potatoes and onion sets - rocket gardens have the right idea but the combination of plants isn't quite right for what we will use. Here is the plan for my lean to greenhouse -

Lest I forget

I saw so many birds today, the chirping was constant the whole time I was outside, nice to know the cats haven't got them all!

First day of the new year

and I spent it in the garden, absolute bliss, after waking up with a mini headache I started to clear away the sunflowers from last year which I had left out for the birds. I dug, I weeded, I planned my planting and I repaired my net fence which had suffered badly from cats and uncoordinated boyfriend. This year I'm planning to replace the hastily erected net fence with some timber and wire panels, light enough to lift but robust enough to keep out the cats. I left plenty of sheeting over my well dug soil, but I bet that won't keep those damn cats out.

I came across the concept of square foot gardening today on another blog "A Kitchen Garden in the Suburbs" - sounded brilliant and I think I'll adapt it slightly for my plot. Worked out my plot is 12m squared so a nice size, will probably try and plant in metre plots rather than rows this year. Also found a use for the huge concrete slab which we dug out of the garden, I'm going to build a simple cold frame onto it - insulated of course - but that will allow the first plants needing protection to grow while I take my time finding materials for the greenhouse. I'm trying to decide whether I use polycarbonate double wall stuff, or glass, or corrugated plastic for the hinged roof - much to think about. I might go off to the salvage yard and see what I can find for inspiration.

Planted the rest of the daffodil bulbs today, a few had started to sprout so I don't know how well they will take given that its been a month since I put the first batch in. There was a note on the back of the snowdrops packet saying that they can take a full year to establish so be patient, that would explain why none of the ones I planted at the front came up last year.

Happy New Year!