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.

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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

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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

And So It Begins!

Yes, the weeks are flying by and with outside jobs dwindling there is lots to do, prepare, get on with indoors and, ultimately, enjoy come the big day. YES, I'm getting ready for the Big Ho HO, already my favourite Christmas CD is on a loop and I love the preparation as much as the result to which it leads. I LOVE Christmas; my aim is to make it as yummy a cosy, family time for me and my men as I can. Bring on the snow as we all love the idea of having to stay home by the fire!

Therefore I'm starting off in red as I'm in really in full festive swing because yesterday the decorations started to go up. I normally wait until today but the weekends fall a bit skew this year, plus we have guests to stay next weekend and I want to be totally tinsel central by the time they arrive. Eeeek! I can't wait to get a pan of Gluhwein, cranberries, orange and cinnamon bubbling away so I have a lovely festive smell in the back ground, too. I'm about done apart from a few table decorations. I like to have some of those around but this year I'm trying to make it easier to dust things by the decorations being easy to move if you understand me.

As you may have seen on an earlier post my preparations began about three weeks ago, I think, when I ordered a few craft items as I normally do at this time of the year. I began, as usual, by making some new tags; these are given as gifts, for decorations for people or to go around the house. I have to say I'm totally addicted to making these; I definitely have my own style when it comes to these and this year I've used some fab vintage paper I found last year. A couple of things have come out beautifully including this fab card and then I'm very pleased with the tags. 

When Jon had gone to work and the boys were away to school I began with the paper chains in the living room as these go corner to corner and need to be in place before the tree is brought into the house; I think the tree will be here on Tuesday. Then with the festive tunes blasting out I was bobbing between the kitchen and the living room putting the other decorations up.These are the perpetual advent calendars, the 1-24 garland on the sideboard above the drinks tray, mmmm. and my mantle piece items which include more paper chains and decorated jars. In the kitchen I have the paper chains Alf and I made from some more of the vintage paper. I LOVE the dresser now as I made the banner, too, and I always have a couple of the cards on there which the boys made when they were tiny.

I really enjoy bringing the greenery into the house and always like to have it sit in a bucket for a few days to give it a good drink. This year I'll be decorating with some for our visitors but doing the main lot a little earlier, too, due to us going away for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year. (We have an Airbnb booking for NYE so will be back in time for that.) It is just a gorgeous thing to have in the house and on Boxing Day when we have a little get together with the neighbours I love draping the table with holly, twisted willow and ivy from the garden plus pin lights, of course, between the tasty goodies. Can never have enough pin lights!

A couple of new additions this year will be a pompom wreath and a rag-and-pin-light garland. (There they are again!) The wreath is for the TV room, which has a purple wall along with Marvel and DC comic pictures, and can take something a little less traditional as you see by the colours I'll be using! I began making the pompoms when we lived at our previous house! They were meant for a rug but.... so I'm giving this project a go using a glue gun so will hopefully last a few years. I'm also interested in making some pompom bookmarks as gifts. 

The garland is something I've wanted to have a go at for ages.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and for once I have something on the banister.

Christmas cake and mincemeat are made, sloe gin is sitting in the cellar brewing nicely (I'm sure that isn't the right word) and I'll hopefully make the first mince pies this afternoon. I've decided on the teacher presents to make this year - some seasonal biscuits and rum truffles - and the calendar is already filling up with school activities. 

Lists and my planner are helping remind me that we pretty much know what we are having on Christmas Day and Boxing Day...

and we're having our mini Christmas this coming weekend full of tasty treats, including mince pies, of course. The boys have their Christmas jumpers, Jon needs a new one and I have festive leggings!

As I sit at the kitchen table I can see this at the window and I feel very festive. Fav word!

Ok. Time to get the brekky sorted, boys out of bed and then later this morning I'm out at our village Winter Fayre which is always a fun thing - Alf love the bottle stall and I get a cuppa and maybe a mince pie.

Lou.

Back To Basics

Good morning.

The weather has changed quite dramatically over the last couple of days. We were having monsoon-type rain ie. wet and warm but this weekend it has turned decidedly chilly and we succumbed to lighting the woodburner in the living room on Saturday evening. This morning is a might chilly also but a glorious morning all the same.

The shifting of the seasons brings most gardeners and growers of their own around to planning for the next growing season, and that includes me.

I have some overwintering plans in place which I'll update another time but just now I have a few other bits and bobs to share. To this end I have just received some new seeds. 

The first of which are Nantes 2 early carrots. I plan on sowing these in either the greenhouse or poly house, maybe in containers or one of the raised beds in the greenhouse once the sweet potatoes have been harvested which should be some time within the next four weeks or so.

I also have plans for dwarf pea Meteor; these are very hardy and only grow around 16-18" tall so don't really require any support. I can put these outside or in but probably the latter space willing.

I admit to getting into a bit of a panic recently as my harvests have not been the best this year so....

I'm going back to basics for the next growing season. My aim is to grow plenty of what we all eat as I really want to see how much we can avoid spending money, on vegetables at least, examples being spinach beet and chard. I am the only person who eats either of these so I'm keeping these to a minimum as I had already sown some but these can be grown in the houses without taking up a lot of space. I have never done too well with spring onions so these are on the back burner for now.

So, along with the above new additions, this year I will mostly be growing - 

carrots, cabbages, broccoli, potatoes, onions, garlic (though not masses), cucumbers
NO gherkins this year, aubergines, tomatoes (hopefully a MUCH better result) peppers 
salad leaves, courgettes but probably just the one plant, dwarf beans as they were great this year so more of those, leeks, swede, turnips (not huge this year due to spacing I think but very tasty) and probably NOT climbing peas this year as for a really good harvest I think I need more space than I can allow.

More to the point with all of this I do need more space to grow enough of what we eat for it to make a real difference.

Currently I have the following space to use:
19 x 6 ft veg patch 
4.5 x 10 ft veg patch
3 x 3 ft veg patches, 3 of these including the one in the poly house
1.5 x 6 ft approx. raised beds in the greenhouse, 2 of these...

and this weekend Jon has built me one of three new raised beds which are 1.5 x 4 ft each; there will be three in total.

I like raised beds because at times I struggle with my back and the size of them may look a bit overkill but they are solidly built to last and hopefully make my back last a bit longer, too!

I've been thinking, but not overthinking as Jon thinks that is half my problem, I should be able to make a good go of it next year. I have literally just measured the new beds so really don't know what will go where but they are about a foot and a half deep so would be good for carrots, turnips, garlic, onions but not the brassicas as they will need more planting out space than that.

I look forward to using this new space in the coming months and sharing with you how I get on. I'd be interested in plans others have for the next season of sowing and growing.

Along with all of this I don't think I've yet shared the photos of our new ducks; 1 Khaki Campbell called Crispy and 2 Muscovy and the other are Duck-chess and L'Orange, as in duck a L'orange! They are not laying right now but the entertainment value more than makes up for them being freeloaders when it comes to feeding!

Oh and O M G, major excitement in the house is that we FINALLY have a quad bike.

Everybody in the family are extremely excited about this. It means we can get our pigs next year as Jon can get in the field to prepare things, we can get the trailer in the field to cut down trees for logs to store and the boys are just excited about getting to drive it! Get in!!!

I've just had to stop to put a match to the fire - really quite chilly and it is my birthday so I think I deserve to be warm!

That's all from me for today.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx