New Camera!

Hi!

This post is a little self indulgent as I wanted to properly try out the new camera we have just bought, Ebay bargain for a great point and press - suits me just fine.

I decided to take photos of the Poly House to give a good outing. 

These are the three main varieties of tomatoes I have growing.

Cuor di bue, an elongated beef variety

The above are beef toms, obviously, but not sure if they are the Costoluto Fiorentino or regular beef! Monty is growing Costolutos.

These are the Capriccio F1 variety I am growing for bottling but leaving them as long as possible, keeping an eye on them not splitting, before I pick them as want to do as many as possible at once.

Onto the beans and squash. The beans are growing really well so hope to harvest some of those in a week or so as would like to have some to go in the freezer but I only have about four planted, I think, so not sure what the yield will be.

The squash was really overgrown and no light was getting to the underneath so.......

....I gave it a good haircut and there was a pile of leaves for the chooks.

Next up is the corn. I checked back and ;ast year I was harvesting the small amount I did manage to grow at the end of September so this has a bit of a way to go, but looking good.

Here is something which is off the shopping list; these are looking good....

as the gherkins continue to do, too. I have pickled some but we are using them in stir fry and I hope to dehydrate some if the weather is good over the weekend. Talking of dehydrating, I have dried this oregano for the kitchen and today put some sage leaves in.

These are something I am chuffed with, look at my piquant peppers! Dawn, anybody, what colour should they be as I did not have a packet; the seeds were a gift from Dawn.

I am very confident my Sweet potatoes will be a much greater success than last year. They are getting watered well and having had a little root around I can tell they are a good size at this point already; I LOVE Sweet spuds.

I usually say that I only grow things which we can eat, however I love the sweet peas and even more the freesias I have managed to grow!

Finally my broccoli Raab is coming on well...

as are the Spring Cabbages.

Yesterday i spent some time preserving some of the damsons by making jam, courtesy of Marguerite Patten.

All the damsons were put in my preserving pan along with the water - soooo excited about using this as I had it as a present last Christmas!

When the fruit had gone quite soft.....

I added the sugar.

I had to fish out stones, did get most of them but won't be entering this in the preserve section at this year's horticultural show!

Then it went into jars...

and I have a few to keep in the cellar store room and one has gone in the fridge.

That is about it I think. I love the camera and it is super easy to use. I just put the card into the laptop and download really easily instead of having to plug my phone in or email them to myself. I just have to get out of the habit of grabbing my phone when I want to photograph something!

By for now.

Lou.xx

Bank Holiday Bonanza!

Hello. Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.

We did and we were also able to get a lot of things done in the garden along with having some guests in our Airbnb room.

On Friday the boys were helping Jon get rid of the bamboo roots we had been keeping in the far left corner of the garden. Now was the time to get them down to the field to be used there as a barrier and to make good the land they had been sitting on. Get ready for some before and after photos.

This is how they had been for what seems ages, on the left of the photo..

 

there are the boys helping Jon make mincemeat of it - axes, saws and chainsaw in hands...

and finally how it looked today when Jon had cleared the last of it and raked it all over. Fab!

This is a really important thing in the garden as the bamboo has been a real labour to get rid of and make the ground usable. There will be some new fencing at some point but for now we are super pleased with the result. I may put some roses in this spot, too, not sure yet.

I made a start on the rabbit proofing as the little blighters had been nibbling my climbing peas.

I also had to top and tail the room as we had guests booked for Friday evening arrival.

On Saturday we gave the boys a day off as they had been very helpful, Jon continued with the bamboo of course. 

I got some good jobs done in the Poly House and outside. I planted out some of the broccoli and did some more rabbit proofing. This was finished by Sunday with some help from Jon and it now runs the length of the picket fence and they really should not be able to get in anywhere now.

I also sowed the cucumbers, again; do hope they take this time. Between wanting to be in the garden I had to get the room ready again as we had Saturday evening arrivals! We decided to take a drive out as the weather was sunny if a little windy. We went to Borth and had a walk on the beach followed by ice cream and cake.

On Sunday morning we were expecting Jon's dad and his wife as they were staying over and then taking to boys to theirs the next day for a few days away. I managed to get two rows of the beetroot planted out and weeded a second spot for wild flowers near the new veg patch. 

I also had to top and tail the room, again, for the in-laws and they arrived after lunch then we had a lovely day and evening with some yummy roast pork.

This morning the boys had left with the Gramps by about 10.30am so Jon and I headed outside. We did some work then went to Aber to buy more compost - hopefully the last lot - and a couple of other things and also had some lunch and a walk along the sea front before coming back and getting stuck back into a few more jobs.

I managed to scatter the second lot of wild flowers, planted up three pots of freesias,

and the sweet peas to go at the front door.

I re-sowed the pepper bonetas, as the first lot did not take at all, sowed some more beetroot and beef tomatoes (a variety called Marmande). I potted on the gherkins and the Cuor di Bue tomatoes and hoed the main veg patch.

The raised bed in the Poly House is now full and ready for planting.

Jon made this chair for me last week so I can sit and admire all my hard work in the garden.

When we got back from Aber I did my Poly House bits and pieces whilst Jon made a start on the little verandas that will be in front of the rooms. There will be steps up to them with room for a table and chairs. They will just extend the space for each of the rooms.

I'm really pleased we got so much done. I still have a list of things to be done by the end of the month including last lot of spuds to be planted out.But, with Jon going back to work tomorrow and the boys away I am going to try and find a little me time. I am working my way along my craft bench in the cellar cleaning and tidying it up, a lot! I've made a good start and really want to finish that and I may do some baking to put in the freezer, too.

We'll see what I can manage.

Look forward to reading what everybody has been getting up to over the weekend.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx