5.30 am
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Monday, 30 March 2020
Onions
Things are happening out there in the surrounding fields . I can hear tractors !
I decided to pull up the last remaining leeks .Time to sow more . In fact mine are already germinating and I have potted on some of them .
With all that is going on right now I am planning to sow even more to help feed my daughter and son in law's young family too if I can .
We have enjoyed having our own Leeks . These , the last of them are on the small side but I need the space now for other things and if I left them in the ground , would probably bolt now anyway .
So I pulled them up , gave them a swish and a tidy up and took them in to the kitchen .
Time to plant out those lovely onion sets .
I had got them started in these module trays so the roots get a head start and when I have them all planted , the roots fast get a good hold and don't get pulled out by birds who think the new shoots are worms .
Bobbin the Robin watching me as I plant the onions out .
Planted and put the grids over them and a wind flapping thing to discourage the birds from pulling them up .
That's another job done !
Bobbin the Robin had quite a feast as I worked .
I stood up to stretch my back and have a chat from a good safe distance with my next-door neighbour .
Bobbin the Robin again .
Nope ......just four . A bit disappointed .
So I have sown some more , different varieties . Fingers crossed .
In the potting shed I pricked out and potted on some of the lettuces, coriander and dill .
My back was seriously beginning to hurt now so , time to go in .
Except I still had to put everything away and that always catches me out .
Half an hour later after lovely hot shower , I made a mixed vegetable cheese and onion flan with new potatoes and salad . The flan will do us for several meals .
I do the washing up , then flop !
I,m doing some embroidery at the moment , nice and relaxing before sleep .
Monday, 23 March 2020
Spuds
A sunny day with a cold Easterly breeze . I got the first lot of my potatoes planted . One small quantity of Pink Fir Apple , nice for salads and the other ones are Maris Bard I think . I lost the label and cant remember the name , but they are first earlies . I am still waiting for some Charlottes to be delivered .
I was delighted to see three Red Kites flying over into the next field where a local farmer had just been muck spreading . Magnificent bird of prey ! Not a terribly good picture I,m afraid , but now I know they are here again , I will be ready with my camera for next time they fly over .
My daughter is getting interested in Herbs and wanted to know which herbs I am growing . So I promised her that I would have a bit of a tidy up in my herb garden and see what might be coming up .
I had quite a difficult job of pulling up those blooming Stinging Nettles , my hand is quite sore with stings .
I am glad I cleared them away though , as coming up beneath them is my lovey Variegated Lemon Balm . Held overhead in the shower to release it's scent or make a refreshing Lemon Balm Tisane .
Also Sweet Woodruff is showing her pretty leaves . This is also spreading fast amongst everything , but it is another herb that I love , for as it's leaves begin to dry , there comes such a lovely fragrance of almonds . This is very nice to stuff into tiny herb pillows , to put in drawers or for sweet dreams placed under my pillow .
Oregano useful in so many recipes I love this fragrance !
Thyme !
I could not be without this in my garden , for both culinary and medicinal use .
Five clumps of Thyme , because the bees and I love it so much !
Spearmint running free ! I love it and cant get enough of it !
Elsewhere in the garden I have Peppermint , Pineapple mint Corsican Mint , Bowles mint, Penny royal mint , Chocolate mint . I love them all !
Variegated Artemisia or Mugwort ...why the hell did I ever buy this thug of a plant ? Oh I know , it looked so pretty with it's variegated leaves in it's tiny 3"pot at the garden centre ! They shouldn't even sell this wretched plant . I will have another go at pulling it all out again tomorrow !
Every year I try to get it all out , it is a real nightmare of a plant !
In fact it can actually give you nightmares . I tried it ! I put some under my pillow and it's true , it does ! Horrible !
Some people say that it can help you remember your dreams , I would rather not have this herb in my garden at all !
Rant over .
More lovely Oregano and a very sad old lavender bush .
It needs to be replaced now , it's just become way too straggly and woody.
In amongst the Mint, Oregano and Lavender is a beautiful old variety of a rose .
This is how it looks in the summer .
I really have to get in there and tidy up my herb garden.
The rope ? Oh ! That is there to slow me down as I go up that path to the greenhouse . It can be slippery at times . I dash about far too much !
I love Rosemary and have it growing in several places in my garden .
Verbascum Mullein has found it's way into the herb garden. I will leave it , because once again the Bees and I love it so much .
We started to get a bonfire going , but decided the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and didn't want to annoy our neighbours .
No risk to harming hedgehogs , as we started the fire from scratch, from the ground , bringing in branches and as I said , we changed our mind and let it go out in the end .
This is where we are going to create a much better and more productive Fruit bush zone .
I,d love to have a proper Fruit cage over it all too . Something for the future . At the moment we have three or four Blackcurrant bushes and Raspberries which are just out of control popping up all over the place . I love Blackcurrants , the queen of English fruiting bushes in my opinion .
I have a couple of Gooseberry bushes waiting to be planted out , they will have to be put into bigger pots and be planted out next Autumn hopefully as I cant see this being ready anytime soon !
The Cowslips are flowering , so pretty and Primroses down the lane .
Saturday, 21 March 2020
Paint the Whole World with a Rainbow !
The schools have closed and the children are not able to go and play with their friends , but they are able to go for walks with their families .
The children will have school work to do at home on-line now.
Good to get out into the fresh air and get some exercise too .
A lovely idea was suggested by a lady on Facebook to everyone in Mullion . Put a rainbow in your window for the children to find on their walks .
The rainbow being a symbol of hope , I think it is a wonderful idea .
I pulled out my paints and thoroughly enjoyed a very therapeutic half an hour painting my rainbow .
Hunt the Rainbow ! See how many you can find !
Friday, 20 March 2020
So the next day ........
The sun came out and I pulled my wellie boots on !
Grabbed the mop and bucket and set to washing the greenhouse and potting shed windows .
I decided to try and do one section from the inside too .
As the weather was so nice , I was able to take all the plants outside while I did this . Surely all this stretching and bending will be whittling away my waistline !
Izzy wizzy , Lets get busy ! Now who was it that used to say that ? :)
What a beautiful day , not the slightest breeze, warm t-shirt weather !
I threw lots of rubbish into the incinerator and got it going .
Then , more exercise !
Sparkling clean windows !
More bending and stretching to put the plants back in .
My peaceful place .
I sat and watched the smoke curling up into the sky, mesmerising . I took far too many photos of that !
Ran indoors to fetch my two pots of Cucumber seedlings on the windowsill upstairs .
Time to prick them out and pot them on into the next size pots.
Other seeds beginning to germinate . It will be good to have our own salad leaves again in the coming weeks .
No sign of the Tomatoes yet though .
I tidied up the shed and thought while I,m feeling energetic I,ll take a look at the African Key-hole bed .
I had covered it over through the Winter with cardboard to keep the weeds down.
I will be growing my squashes here this year . Butternuts, courgettes and maybe a Pumpkin or two .
I had recently prepared a bed for my potatoes , which I am going to plant out next week , depending on the weather.
The potatoes are presently chitting on the study windowsill .
I lifted the cardboard and put it temporarily onto the new potato bed , just to keep the weeds down .
The earth under the cardboard is just gorgeous and the Robin flew in and had a feast .
Potato bed covered with cardboard to keep the weeds down until I come to plant them out .
The keyhole bed looking good again, I just need to re-weave the basket around the watering hole in the middle and make a sun hat to go over it to help prevent evaporation . ( expecting a heat wave any time soon ! )
On my way in, I pulled a few leeks for Leek and potato soup .
Also checked on the Redwood Tree seeds . Hmm...is this a Redwood Tree seedling or something else ? We'll have to wait for it's first true leaves to know for sure .
Came in and enjoyed a nice cup of tea with a slice of Marie Rayner 's "Family Favourite Banana Nut Bread", spread with Nutella . You must check out Marie's wonderful recipes on this link - https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/
Mmmmm...yummy ....it was such a good day ! I got a load of washing dry and husband painted the garden table and chairs too .
Well , that deserves another slice ! :)
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