Bank Holiday Weekend Work.

Good morning.

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I'm going to start off by saying that I absolutely love living in such a rural place but it can be challenging at times regarding the circle of life. We all need to make sure we are keeping to rules and regulations and respect everything around us.

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Hi everybody, how did you get on over the Bank Holiday? Obviously another strange one but didn't stop a lot of us getting outside I am sure. However, I started off the weekend on Saturday by catching up with Gardener's World - lovely start to the day but still a little sad not seeing Nigel. I decided to do a bit of planning for work in the garden so I knew what needed doing for the next few weeks. Love doing that, makes it very exciting knowing what it coming up, in more than one sense of the word!

Sunday was a great day outside. I planted kale in the poly tunnel and broccoli outside. 

The broccoli are the plants in the middle of the bed (radishes at the far end and courgettes closest in the photo). They will have a frame to protect them as I've never managed to grow it without getting eaten by something other than us! We're utilising this which was over the bed behind the poly house and our eldest and I made a good start but just needs the netting putting on it now.

I did some potting on outside the poly tunnel in the sunshine.

This involved cabbages Greyhound, a Black Beauty aubergine (always have trouble germinating those but keep trying) and a sunflower to hopefully have outside the tunnel if the lambs don't eat it!! Oh and what I think is the last tomato plant.

The eldest also helped me put up my bunting in the tunnel, need a little girly-ness in there.

I have now moved the Brown Turkey fig tree into the poly tunnel and it is going great guns already. 

A couple of other jobs included earthing up the first early spuds; these look to be recovering from the frost damage with plenty of new growth showing.

I've been saving woodash from the Rayburn and read somewhere that it is good for onions when they start bulbing so I'm giving it a go - can't do any harm.

Finally I cut back the oregano in the herb sink and it is now drying nicely in the conservatory and will be added to our box of herbs in the kitchen; 

this is something I really want to keep doing when I can this year. It was the last job of a really satisfying day and the best thing was we had another day to do it all again!

Yesterday morning, after a lovely brekky of scrammbled eggs, I set to deciding on the jobs for the day. These were partly helped by watching the latest YouTube video by Kev here at An English Homestead; he gave us a great tour of his garden and poly tunnel and I took a few hints and tips along the way. 

I got outside and sowed the following:

Dwarf Bean Speedy in a tray of 15 cells

Dwarf Pea Hurst Green Shaft the same

Beetroot Bolthardy, again in a tray of cells 

These have gone, along with a pot of Sweet Basil, into the poly tunnel so I can pick them at the same time as salad leaves.

The bed shown here is from where we took the old frame to use for the broccoli protection. It was going to be for parsnips but I've changed my mind. I found a number of weeds that seemed to have something like rizehomes but it wasn't the dreaded ground elder as far as I could tell. Anyhow, it is all prepared as I covered it over with cardboard, which I luckily still had, and then covered in fresh compost no dig style. I'll add some more when I get it but this bed is now going to be for cabbage or cauli, not decided which yet. 

I'd already started putting down cardboard around it so hopefully nothing nasty will get in.

My tunnel is coming along well but there are still has a few spaces as, obviously, I'm starting from nothing so don't have a full year of sowing and growing happening. 

Here is a butternut squash Spaghetti given to me by a friend. Funny, she says mine is doing better than hers!

However, I'm chuffed how things are working out but we did have a little visit from a mole the other day - I check today and all seems well, fingers crossed.

This year I am sooo late with my sweet peas but have a few called Bright and Breezy that germinated. I planted up three in a fairly big pot plus wigwam then in the top of the herb loo I've put a couple to brighten up the poly house area. The only other things I potted on yesterday were half a dozen All The Year Round cauli.

We're still feeding the youngest of the lambs who is really taking time to bulk up but I fed him a good 400ml of Lamlac this morning which is great.

After we came in from the garden I did some of my papercrafting. I've just started on my second junk journal. I think you can tell I love the vintage look and feel of things when I'm in a creative mode. I love finding anything from old sheet music and magazines, old adverts, books, paper, letters, labels, stickers, you get the idea. So... should you come across anything like this you know to give me a shout.😀

Ok, time to get on, after one more cup of tea. Not a lot on the agenda today but maybe a little bit of baking later on and deciding what will be on the menu for today and the rest of the week.

Hope you enjoyed the Bank Holiday and that you are just keeping on keeping on and managing mentally. With restrictions starting to change here as well as things in the news I've been feeling rather anxious. I've had to delete my Facebook feed since the weekend as too much negativity going on that is affecting my anxiety, plus I've muted some things from Twitter for the same reasons. Here, we are just concentrating on simply staying home and staying safe so I hope you are doing what ever you need to do wherever you are.

Bye for now,

Lou.xx

In And Out Of The Garden

Hello?!

I'm still here. It has been a while since my last post but I thought it was time for me to have a bit of a ramble. I have some good things, hopefully you agree, to share. (Apologies to those who follow me on Twitter who may have seen some of my ramblings there.)

Of course let us start in the garden. (I'm doing the wordy bit first then will add the photos so if it looks a bit skew apologies but just want to get something down!)

Right, the veg patches are coming on well plus we've have had some good things to eat. These are the views from each end of the growing area a few days ago I think. I'm sure you can see the potatoes in the middle of the main patch; very pleased with these after total failure with maincrop last year.

The onions have been taken up and,along with the shallots and you can see they are now in the cellar drying out and will be ready to store very soon. I did see Darren Lakin, I think, on Twitter talking of pickling shallots for Christmas; I'd would be interested in trying that.



Other yummy treats we have had from the garden have been the early spuds, courgettes, cabbage, dwarf peas and I can't forget about the sweet peas (obvs not for eating).



However, one of THE most exciting things in the garden is this. People say they are very hard to grow and I have to say I have taken super good care of them and look -  a cauli!!!!!

And I have 4 of them I think!

Other seemingly successful edibles this year are cabbages,

garlic is now drying in the poly house due to the rain,not a massive harvest but enough for our needs,

and we are picking red and green lettuce bowl daily - this is my BEST year yet and proves I should not really bother trying to grow it in the poly house, much better result outside.

Also outside I have celery for the first time; these are looking healthy as are the other two plants in the bed outside the poly house. Growing this for Jon.

I haven't taken up any carrots yet; they've not been the most successful of edibles in the past and not all have taken this year but will take a look at them soon.

There are lots of flowers on my dwarf beans but nothing else yet. I did well with a smaller number of plants last year so I really hope to have a good yield this year.

Ah finally the PSB. Was very grateful to be given these plants, along with the celery.

Into the poly house now and the two Marketmore cucumber plants at the back are just flowering and the Butterbush squash is doing well, too. 

I have some seeds which have germinated, on the left are some more cucumber which I'm going to chance my arm with and plant out shortly where the onions were. Top left are cabbages and Kale at the bottom, again to see what they do outside over the next couple of months.

My basil posts continue to thrive. I've given some away and put one in the kitchen but I just like taking a leaf off when I pop into the poly tunnel, especially from the purple one which is delicious.

Tomatoes have, again, not been good for me this year. But, I have two fairly healthy plants - don't ask me what variety they are!

Lastly I have been given three red currant bushes and a goji berry one. I have them in the poly house as there is no way for me to net them; hope they survive.

Outside my wild flower chimney outside is proving very pretty. 

I've been working hard on the flowers outside the Airbnb rooms and have taken new photos to put on the listing details. The hanging baskets have wowed me and the planters are now full to the brim outside the first two rooms.

I'm going to have a brew now and then turn round the room from guests who left earlier this morning. My bookings have gone crazy; so good, so very busy for the next three weeks at least and it isn't even August yet!

Right, I think that is enough of a ramble for the day. Apologies again for those on Twitter who may have seen some of my progress.

Bye for now. 

Lou.xx

BBQ, Brakes and Boy What a View!

Friday afternoon saw a change to the meal plan as the weather was soooo nice we threw together a few things for a bbq and outdoor eating just had to be done. Yum!

On Saturday we were around the house with Jon starting on the job of changing the brakes on his car and we need to pop to Aber for a certain tool he needed.

I did some jobs in the garden including planting out some of the sugar snap peas in the sweetcorn patch and sowed more, too. I also added a few rocket seeds to fill in the gaps in my salad leaf drainpipe in the Poly House. And talking of lettuces I am so pleased with my efforts this year as last year they were very poor. Almost ready to use and I have a good more growing in the sink so we should be able to have them regularly soon. Eeeek!

On Sunday we had a quick lunch and then went into Aber as it was such a glorious day. We had decided to climb Constitutional Hill from where you can look down on the beach. Personally I wasn't looking forward to the climb very much but in the end it was fab, with the reward of an ice cream for all at the top. What a view!

We walked down, too, instead of taking the cable car.

On the way back to the car the boys tried to find their way through a maze!

Today we are blessed with yet another glorious day. Jon fixed up the hosepipe to the garage inside tap for me as I had to fill the water butts and all my bottles and water cans. 

So pleased to report that FINALLY my sweet corn is making progress and the few carrots I sowed in the Poy House are also doing very well; hope the ones outside do as well.

The spinach that was very small on April 21 is big enough for me to have picked a little - that will be for my tea tonight, probably just a garnish!

Lastly to report, my first attempt at growing basil is great and my summer cabbages are doing better than I could imagine. I am keeping a close eye on slugs on these and the broccoli but all well so far.

 

There, I think I am all caught up. A few jobs to do now before the boys are home from school no doubt in need of a cold drink and a snack.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Where To Start?

This post is one of those catch up ones where things are not necessarily in the right order but at least you know what has been happening! Yes, yet again, I am all to cock!

On Saturday we bought all of these - the apple and pear tree came from Tesco, £6 for two, 

and the raspberry canes (thank you Dawn!) and two blackcurrants were £1 each, from Poundland. If they don't work out it will be no great loss.

This morning we have measured out the space for the fruit patch but also decided we can fit in a second, smaller greenhouse if we come across one.

Jon cut into disks another tree which he took down this morning to log and add to the woodpile next week. He has just begun work on the extension to the chicken enclosure to accommodate the ducks, with the boys helping by moving the big pile of branches to the right of the picture for burning at the bottom of the garden.

Here you can see the area before we cut one of the very last bamboo bushes down and trimmed back the pond...

and how it looks now; so much more space and so much lighter, too.

Jon is starting with a couple of the fence posts as the perimeter of the enclosure will begin at the left of the duck house, then come down towards where he is in the picture. He will have to move the gate of the chicken enclosure, too, of course. There is now a ramp into the pond and Jon is part way through converting Jake's old Dog House into another poultry palace for the next incoming flock, including putting a door at the back so we can reach any eggs; I'll post a picture when all is done. Does anybody have an suggestions for the best kind of ducks to have? We have a poultry supplier we are going to see at Bronant maybe next weekend.

Talking of eggs I've put our our first eggs out to sell! It is rather wet today so I have had to protect the basket a little; this is a bit of an experiment to see if they are visible as people drive past - Jon says he will build me a box on a stand, when he gets round to it but knowing him it won't be long!

Whilst putting the eggs out Alfie and I found this little snake - only about 6 inches long.

Also this morning I have sown seeds for radishes and basil in the Poly House.

Ok I think I am now caught up. We have all just had a snack to keep us going and I have prepared the veg until we have roast chicken this afternoon before Alfie goes to piano - two weeks on Thursday until his pre-test so lots of practise happening.

Bye for now and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Lou.xx