This And That - Outdoors and In.

 Hello, I'm celebrating! 

This is because my laptop is now my own again as my youngest has bought himself a new device and therefore no longer needs to use mine for his homelearning, hurrah! This celebration comes in the form of a new blog post.

This is a little ramble about what's happening here on our little homestead, also know as #mylittlepatchofparadise, from the end of last month and into February. February! How did that happen? Also I'm talking about jobs and this 'n' that around the garden in the coming weeks.

February is a wonderful month really. Even though we are still having some wet and chilly days, with it comes the promise that Spring is just around the corner. It's also the time to be chitting seed spuds, if that is your thing. Not everybody bothers as you can see in February's issue of Grow Your Own magazine; Blake and Laura debate whether it's a necessary job to do. I always chit mine, I'm still waiting for my Charlottes to be delivered, as I think those early shoots give them a little kick up the garden path to a good start and a hopefully healthy harvest! 

As for existing plants/edibles and in garden, the frosts in the coming months need to be prepared for so make sure you have your closhes, fleece etc ready; our last frost should be in April, fingers crossed.

In February you may be able to spot Wild Garlic underneath hedgerows and in woodland and be lucky as English Country Life to have been to pick some already. (You can find them on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram plus their YouTube channel here with oodles of help and advice for the smallholder, budding or experienced.) If you are forraging for it always be careful to only take a small amount; we're lucky enough to have a good clump growing in the garden. 

However, last year we lost most of it to the chickens and orphan lambs nibbling away at it. This year I think I will take up and re-locate it to somewhere safer!

Whilst out forraging you may be lucky enough to spot the odd primrose or catkins on the Hazel branches and of course snowdrops are for a lot of people one of the first signs of Spring not being far away - their nick name is flower of hope as they bring that hope of lighter and brighter days to come.

Each month no-dig guru Charles Dowding - find him on Twitter, Instagram and here, too - has a column in Grow Your Own magazine dispensing help and advice so here are a few snippets ready for next month. At this time of the year he says it is too early to start tomatoes and best to sow them in the 3rd week of March to be kept on a warm windowsill then be planted out under cover in May. It is worth remembering that seeds need more heat when germinating than seedlings need for growing; windowsills are a great place for the first 7-14 days after you've sown your seeds.

Lambing is not far off now. We had the lambs scanned and we hope for 26 singles and 17 twins, no empty ones. 

In January Jon refurbished a trailer incase we need to transport ewes from the fields down to the barn should they be in trouble.

We have medecine, injections, tube feeders etc. ready if we have any mums or their lambs needing help. All set but fingers crossed for not too many problems.

Indoors now. I've never made Seville marmalade before - I normally go for a much easier 

all-in-one method which I took from I don't know where! I decided to give it a go and used the recipe, complete with this YouTube video, from Pam The Jam Corbin. I'm going to be honest and tell you I needed to do the dreaded "re-boil" as it didn't set the frist time! Consequently my batch is a good thick preserve but I'm very pleased with myself as we have a jar in the fridge and five more to add to the cellar stores. (An embarrasingly small store but you have to start somewhere.)

I was determined to start the year off with a bang and I will, hopfeully, continue to make and store as much as I can from things I've grown.

My new blog, Put That Light Out, is so much fun. I'm reading my books for research but also enjoy watching some TV programmes, often on the Yesterday channel, plus YouTube videos

to give me more detail for my posts but also just to extend my interest I have in the 1939 - 45 period.

To finish up, the weather here today, Friday, is damp and miserable. We've had snow this month

and the forecast says we can expect more this weekend....It won't make much difference as in Wales we are now into another three weeks of lockdown. We just continue our usual routine; I shopped on January 22 so I won't be going again for a week of more except our local fruit and veg cabin and meat deliveries from the butcher in the same town if we need them.

I hope you are all excited about the sowing and growing season being around the corner. By tomorrow it will be 5pm when the sun is setting so the days are defintely getting longer; before we know it we will be in our gardens, poly tunnels and greenhouses until all hours! My last post was about my own plans for next month and I'd really love to hear about what you have planned for the coming weeks and months. You can find me on Twitter @Goodlifeinwlaes and Instagram @livingthegoodlifeinwales.

Take care everybody and stay safe.

Bye, 

Lou.xx 

What a Sow and Sow - February.

Hello there, before I begin here is my usual greeting at the start of all my posts, just incase this is your first visit, so best wishes to everybody as we are once again in lockdown and hope you are coping well physically and mentally.

**************************

Right it's January 18th today and, as is the norm, I'm not getting up to much outside in the garden. Having said that I have begun some work in the polytunnel which is adding fresh compost in a couple of places. I also gave my compost 'daleks' a bit of a turning but if you have seen my recent super professional, 🤣 ,YouTube video you'll know I explained my plan of making two compost bays out of pallets. I really would like to get these made as soon as possible; Jon has access to as many pallets as we need so we can hopefully get this done by the beginning of next month.

Ok, seeds. These are the things we like to eat and that I hope to grow this year!

I may sow some Early Nantes carrots in the polytunnel in a container this month. However next month will begin the main sowing dates. As I said in my last post I'll be following advice from Charles Dowding and my polytunnel book; I've decided to keep sowing, keep sowing this year to make sure I have no gaps in the polytunnel or outside in the beds. I'm sometimes worried about wasting seeds but I often put things outside the front door in our egg house for people to help themselves to and hopefully I'll still be able to do that again should I still have some spare seedlings. During the first lockdown I enjoyed swapping lots of things, including plants, via our community Facebook page. 

Right February will begin with the following: (MS stands for multi-sow)

Turnips (MS) Purple Top Milan, the classic variety.

Spring Onions (MS) Ishikura, a mild flavoured bunching variety.

Khol Rabi Delicacy Purple tasting similar to stems of broccoli which I love in soups or stir fry.

Cabbage Greyhound, an early variety with pointy heads to harvest  from June/July.

Cauliflower All The Year Round, such a versatile seed.

Broccoli Matsuri F1 which is a compact variety, may be easier to protect from pests.

Aubergines Black Beauty which I'm trying really hard with as never been successful and so want my own ratatouille!

Salad leaves of various sorts, whatever takes my fancy really and these will go direct into the polytunnel near the door again so they don't get to hot.

Peppers including a Romano red one and one called Etiuda Orange, possibly a third that I may have ordered - more of that later.

Basil Red Leaved which is so very tasty and Sweet Green as it never fails.

I have some herbs in pots in the polytunnel ready to plant out when the weather is right.

Tomatoes are something I'm determined to keep improving on after last year's better efforts - 

Maskotka a bush variety to grow in pots, some outside and in the polytunnel.

ILDI F1 a lovely, small yellow plum type needing some support.

Marmande which are a large, fleshy, late maturing bush variety.

Big Mama Plum Large are good for soups, sauce and salsa - these I hope to have a go at bottling if I get enough!

Tumbling Toms which are not frost hardy so will be in hanging containers in the polytunnel.

Maghrebi are a fleshy, blight resistant variety.

Should be something to suit everybody out of that little lot.

In pots, not sure of the name but red, I have 60 sets in the poly house. Of those 20 are looking good but not so sure about the others. Here comes the order issues, I received an email the other day saying my order of Vulcan Spring planting onions are on their way! I don't remember ordering them but they may be a replacement as I've had a few issues with orders recently! Some space will have to be found for them along with something else. My seed spud order came but only half of it was right. I expected a 1st and 2nd early order but got the first and then some maincrop ones. I'd decided not to grow the latter as I just don't have room for the plants when they get to the full size and they are the only things I really like to rotate and that doesn't work well for me - where they'll go I don't know, probably growing bags as I do luckily have some of those in the poly house.

The MS items are the only things I will have tried this method with so far along with the leeks I'm still harvesting and we're really enjoying those in soups and pies just now.

Still on the subject of orders, I have coming in the next month or two Rhubarb crowns of  Temperley, an early harvesting variety and I'm also very excited about establishing an asparagus bed so have three crowns of Mondeo variety arriving in March - work to be done on the bed for those.

Flower wise I'll sow some marigolds to pop in between the tomatoes plus they look pretty. I have annuals outside the poly house and various perenials and others in the planters outside the Airbnb rooms.(Funny describing them as such seeing as we're not intending to take any guests throughout 2021.)

So that is my plan for February so far, quite a lot of work but I'm really looking forward to it. The weather here in Wales is quite wet and miz right now and I'm only inclined to get outside if the sun is shining a little bit, guilting me to get my wellies on and so something! I love it when I get out there, though, and here's why.

I'll keep you up to date when I get started but would also love to know if you are growing something for the first time and how you get on with it.

Bye for now, 

Lou.xx

 

My Little Patch Of Paradise.

Hello there. I'm here and we're back in lockdown, again! For fear of sounding like an old record I hope you are staying safe and keeping sane. I'll leave it at that.

*******************************************

As is my want with my posts I start I rarely finish them without some sort of interruption, like a day or two. My husband quite often tells me I try to do too many things at once, the same as when I try to carry too much if tidying up or putting away the pots - I do drop things! We're currently on day two!

Anyhow, I'm here thinking about the outside of our little homestead, my little patch of paradise althoug it isn't looking much like right now! We have had our polytunnel since April 28 2020 so I didn't have time to make the best of it but I was however quite pleased with some of the results; amongst others we had salad leaves all Summer into Autumn, a fabulous amount of kale even though only I eat it but hope to change that. My point is that I want to get it up and running as early as possible to maximise the space over this year.

Currently it is home to the following:

-    20 or so dwarf peas Meteor

-    spring onions

-    a variety of salad leaves

-    a small amount of garlic and onions left over from the ones planted outside

-    10 or so khol rabi

-    three small broccoli with teeny tiny heads

-    2 small kale 

-    pots of parsley, oregano and lemon balm 

-    sweet peas

Some of these are seemingly in suspended animation but look fairly healthy. I hope that once the weather starts to warm up a little next month they'll kick back into life. Something which has come back inside are the strawberry plants; these are about seven or eight I think which were runners off those I cleared out at the end of summer. I gave them a tidy up and have hopes they will develop nicely -  they are called Delizz which are a late fruiting variety.

So looking towards sowing and growing for 2021 I'm not keen on starting many things too early in the year, but I may put some Nante carrots in later this month as these will possibly give us a small crop before those outside. Mainly I'll begin next month when I'll be doing my best to follow Charles Dowding and his sowing schedule with more multi-sowing than I tried last year. My polytunnel book by Joyce Russell says peppers and chillis do well in an unheated polytunnel so I'm crossing my fingers for those to crop this year as I've never done well with either; the latter will have to be a mild variety with more flavour than kick! Any suggestions?

A job for in the polytunnel before much else is to clear some un-successful turnips out; shame about those as I love cooking with them. (Since beginning this I've had another look and there may be a couple growing better. Anyhow, they'll eventually come out and all along the back wall I'll add fresh compost and that is where the tomatoes will be this year. I think they will get more light there due to the way the polytunnel is positioned  to the rising and setting of the sun. I have compost I bought some time ago, which is great seeing as we are in lockdown and cannot get any unless buying feed or bit and pieces for the sheep or chickens.

I'm aiming to do a post by the end of the month about my sowing plans for at least the next two or three months, wiggle room allowed obviously, but I've also set myself a little challenge; check out my freind Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure, along with her YouTube channel, as she absolutely loves a challenge. Mine is simply to make a YouTube video where I speak as I'm not keen on my voice when it is recorded but I'll do my best; I want to show the growing area, polytunnel and poly house, oh prepare for some work in progress shots! No point not being honest, real life is what you get in my garden. I'm not good outside in the bad weather but I really am looking forward to sharing my plans for when I'm up and at it when a little of the warm Welsh weather returns.

Aaaah, I knew I'd sneak some in-house stuff in! I have some Seville oranges and will next week be turning them into marmalade to add to the stores of preserves I have in the cellar, some made by me and others gifts. My first time of making it so wish me luck; I'm a nervous preserver but very keen to have a go at things. 

NEWSFLASH - In my last post I showed photos of inside the polytunnel and poly house but I have just uploaded that video I talked about and you can find it here.. I watch a lot of YouTube and people are soo good at it, like Tracy and also Hugh and Fiona over at English Country Life. Me I managed to film the whole 11 minutes in portrait only realising at the end. Duh! Hope you still like what you see!

Bye for now,

Lou.xx

2021 - A Fresh Start.

 Hello! 

This is my first post since December 7! We enjoyed our quiet Christmas the same as we always do, so no change for us really. New Year's Eve, too, was quiet as normal - just the Hootenanny with a glass or two of bubbly then to bed.

To hope the coming year of 2021 will be an improvement on the last is an understatement for most people and for those I feel so sorry for all the loss, heartache, difficult times and challenges they have had to face. However I am and will forever be full of gratitude for our being safe on our little homestead, Jon still being able to go to work, our boys carrying on with their schooling at home (though challenging at times, too) not missing going abroad and just happy to be where we are on my little patch of paradise.

I wish everyone a healthy 2021 and look forward to sharing all your, and my, doings in the coming year, be it your sowing n growing, baking n making in the kitchen or craft projects.xx

***********************************************

Anyway, onwards.This is the view which greeted me at the back door this morning. We had a good covering of snow yesterday and a little more over night but the brightness of the day had already begun to melt it; beautiful sky anyhow.

Yesterday and today I took a few photos inside and out, in the poly tunnel, the garden and the poly house. However, the first photo is of the man who came to scan the pregnant ewes on the 30th. We had a fantastic result as out of  43 ewes we had 26 singles and 17 twins! Fantastic.

Back to sowing and growing. I have very little growing but here goes!

These are my leeks; I haven't harvested any from these tyres but plan to do so soon. I did take up a few from one of the other beds as they were the only thing in it and I wanted to cover it with some mulch; I'm going to try those this evening; they;re more like baby leeks but...

The onions are still coming along nicely...

and in the top of the toilet I have some annual flowers peeping through...trying to grow quite a few flowers this year for a change. Ooh, that reminds me I must make sure I've Marigolds on the list to go with the tomatoes...

plus the bulbs I planted last year appear to be coming to life once more.

Talking of coming back to life the Stellata Magnolia is showing some buds and ...

on the ground beneath it I think are the beginnings of the daffodils!

I don't have much going on the poly house but these are the red onion sets I planted a good while ago and so far 20 or so of them are springing into life;I intend to plant these out in February.

In the poly tunnel the sweet peas are doing ok, need to check when and where I'll plant those out. I was just way too late last year and I had none so fingers crossed I'll get a much better result this year.

I have a few pots of herbs just pootling along which are two pots of  Champion Parsley, some Oregano and then there is Lemon Balm. I'm still hoping to make a good herb 'garden' in the tall planters outside this year.

I'm very pleased that the three broccoli plants seem to be in suspended animation along with the dwarf peas and salad leaves. Apologies for the green algae stuff on the surface; need to clear that off.

So, that was the show now for the tell! 

I've made my list for seed sowing and I've been really thorough, I think, to really try and not have empty beds outside from about July/August time which is what usually happens.😖 Going to keep sowing and keep planting out to try and avoid that hungry gap.

I'm going to do my best to make the most of the poly tunnel as we were already getting on for half way through the year when we bought it in 2020, sounds weird saying that already. I have plans for starting things in there are well as seeds for germination then to be planted in the beds and areas outside.

As we're not intending to take any Airbnb guests for the whole of 2021, this gives us the chance to do some projects in the garden when we don't need to worry about there being some mess and upheaval. A lot of clearance needs sorting around the beds and tyres as I'd eventually like to have membrane and pea gravel down to make the area a lot more tidy.

I'm really quite envious of people with big compost bins so that's something I have room for and Jon has access to any number of pallets we need for the job. 👍

I'm sure there are lots of things I want to do, would like to do, need to do but we'll get to that at some point.

That is about it for me. I can't wait to hear about your plans for inside and out over the coming months so why not drop me a line in the comments? 😊

Bye for now, 

Lou.xx