and not here...
Doing a lot of these...
but not doing much with these...
Spending my evenings in here...
but not much time in here...
although on the plus side I have made quite a few of these!...
So its not all bad!!
Friday, 30 January 2009
Here & There
Yes, I'm still here, sorry for the quiteness over the last 2 weeks or so, but Ive been spending a lot of time here...
and not here...
Doing a lot of these...
but not doing much with these...
Spending my evenings in here...
but not much time in here...
although on the plus side I have made quite a few of these!...
So its not all bad!!
and not here...
Doing a lot of these...
but not doing much with these...
Spending my evenings in here...
but not much time in here...
although on the plus side I have made quite a few of these!...
So its not all bad!!
Monday, 12 January 2009
Fruitcages and Roast Dinners
Yesterday was the first day in about 3 weeks where the temperature hasn't been hovering just above freezing, I've been wanting to get outside and dig a bit of the compost into the beds but the ground has been so frozen it was impossible to get the spade in.
So I took the opportunity yesterday to get out in the garden and do a job I've been wanting to tackle since before Christmas. At the bottom of our very long garden is what we laughingly refer to as the mini orchard (4 trees and several fruit bushes) 2 of these bushes are the Blueberries I planted last year, they have done very well in their new home and managed to produce a very healthy crop of lovely fruit end of last summer, however they did get slightly swamped by the long grass and invasive clover we have down there. Another problem was the persistence of the local bird population, with one of our neighbors having to rescue several birds who had got stuck under the netting we used and which where being eyed up by the equally persistent local cats.
This year I have resolved to make a better more substantial fruit cage. The idea was sink 4 posts in a rectangle, they nail side panels of wood basically creating a small raised bed area for the Blueberries that could be easily netted and weeded. Sounds great right! I really wanted to get this under way while the bushes are still dormant and don't mind Rich and I brushing against them, that is until the subzero arctic weather parked its self on the UK and the ground has become as hard as iron meaning no knocking in posts.
Until yesterday! It took me nearly a hour to knock in 2 posts on my own ( and they are slightly wonky) Rich came out to see how I was doing and proceeded to knock in the last 2 in 5 minuets flat. Damn my weak girly wrists!
I just need to cut down the side panels of wood and nail them in place then its done!
I also set my first early potatoes to chitting this weekend, their Home Guards, I have grown them before and they make nice new potatoes if lifted early, I'll probably use Desiree's as my main crop same as last year as their a good all-rounder.
I cant wait for the warmer weather and to get planting!
While I was busy doing all this planning and straining my wrists, Rich was being a sweet heart as usual and cooking us a beautiful Sunday Roast, a pretty perfect Sunday really!
So I took the opportunity yesterday to get out in the garden and do a job I've been wanting to tackle since before Christmas. At the bottom of our very long garden is what we laughingly refer to as the mini orchard (4 trees and several fruit bushes) 2 of these bushes are the Blueberries I planted last year, they have done very well in their new home and managed to produce a very healthy crop of lovely fruit end of last summer, however they did get slightly swamped by the long grass and invasive clover we have down there. Another problem was the persistence of the local bird population, with one of our neighbors having to rescue several birds who had got stuck under the netting we used and which where being eyed up by the equally persistent local cats.
This year I have resolved to make a better more substantial fruit cage. The idea was sink 4 posts in a rectangle, they nail side panels of wood basically creating a small raised bed area for the Blueberries that could be easily netted and weeded. Sounds great right! I really wanted to get this under way while the bushes are still dormant and don't mind Rich and I brushing against them, that is until the subzero arctic weather parked its self on the UK and the ground has become as hard as iron meaning no knocking in posts.
Until yesterday! It took me nearly a hour to knock in 2 posts on my own ( and they are slightly wonky) Rich came out to see how I was doing and proceeded to knock in the last 2 in 5 minuets flat. Damn my weak girly wrists!
I just need to cut down the side panels of wood and nail them in place then its done!
I also set my first early potatoes to chitting this weekend, their Home Guards, I have grown them before and they make nice new potatoes if lifted early, I'll probably use Desiree's as my main crop same as last year as their a good all-rounder.
I cant wait for the warmer weather and to get planting!
While I was busy doing all this planning and straining my wrists, Rich was being a sweet heart as usual and cooking us a beautiful Sunday Roast, a pretty perfect Sunday really!
Friday, 2 January 2009
Post Christmas Randomness!
Its that's lull after all the festiveness is over, all those months of preparation and organizing...all over in what seems like 5 minuets! I really hate the first few weeks of January, all the Christmas telly is over, I can no longer justify eating chocolate for breakfast, no ones got any money left and most annoying of all there's not much happening in the garden!
Its a bit early for planting any of my little seeds up, most have to wait till next month or early March, so I'm stuck doing the boring jobs. So far I've given the Raspberries a good hard trim back...
...and planted the Garlic out in one of the sinks.
Rich has been working his way through the small mountain of gash wood we got given for free by a local builder, most of its old 2x4 bits of pine from ripped out stud walls, Rich has been chopping it up into usable lengths for out stove, one of our neighbors very kindly lent him a bench saw so he's been able to make a really dent in the pile ( and keep us warm for nothing!)
One of our jobs for the new year is to get a proper wood store sorted out (and so I can have my greenhouse back) we've got an old coal bunker next to our shed so Rich is hoping to temporally convert it for logs, at the moment its made of old breeze blocks and is not particularly attractive, eventually we'll replace it with something nice made of wood but for the time being we'll make it usable so we can be drying out enough logs to see us through next winter.
Now as there's not much for me to blog about in the garden, I though I'd do the meme I got tagged to do back in November by Lucy.
I've been meaning to do it for ages but Christmas got in the way, so here it is now: 6 Random Facts About Us...
1. Old Cars: Rich and I have some what of an obsession with old cars (although I have been seduced in resent years by the lure of good fuel economy and a car that starts on a cold morning!) When we where at Uni together we both had our dream cars, mine was an old fire engine red Citroen 2CV (god I loved that car!) and Rich's was a bright yellow Mark 3 Ford Cortina (ever watched Life on Mars? its the car out of that in case you where wondering!) we had these two for most of our 3 year degree, they lived happily parked nose to nose out side our little terraced house in North Wales, the neighbours (and most of our friends) though we where mad. Sadly Both Blodwyn (2cv) and The Yellow Peril (ford) have both since had to go, mine couldn't cope with the steep hills of Bath and Rich's need huge amounts of money spending on it. They are both sadly missed.
2. Kilner Jars: as with bricks in the garden, I have another slight thing about Kilner Jars in the house, I cant seem to stop buying them when I see them a boot sales, if fact I am now running out of things to put in them. I think I must have some sort of recessive hording gene in me somewhere.
3.Cast Iron Animals: this is quite a resent thing, it started with Rich buying me a little white cast iron bunny last Easter, he always buys me something silly and random and I'm glad to say this Christmas was no exception...
...who wouldn't want to find a rusty iron Pigeon in their stocking! I'm not sure why but this seems to have become one of our 'Things', I wonder what I'll get for my Birthday?
4. We Lived In The Same County For 20 Years But Met On A Train: we even had friends that knew each other and we went to the same art collage 2 years apart but ended up meeting on the train to uni, proving that the railways in this country are good for something.
5. Shoestring Wedding: I should start another blog about this! We're getting married in September, we're both really excited about it but as Rich and I have literately no money right now the whole thing is being done on the tightest of shoestrings ( I brought my wedding dress of ebay for £37!) but quite frankly even if we had money I thing we'd do everything pretty much the same as we are right now, I hate the idea of spending more on a dress that I would on a car!
6. Squirrels: ok, before I tell you this I must remind you we are not mad. Another one of our 'Things' is squirrels, I have no idea why but it's a sort of in-joke from when we first started going out, we have now got to the point that every occasion is marked with a squirrel card or squirrel related gift (both being artist's this gets quite creative!).
Well thats it, I could go on but fear the men in white coats will be banging on the door any minuet now! as ever if anyone fancy's having a bash at this meme go for it (and let me know, I love seeing other people are as strange as us!)
Its a bit early for planting any of my little seeds up, most have to wait till next month or early March, so I'm stuck doing the boring jobs. So far I've given the Raspberries a good hard trim back...
...and planted the Garlic out in one of the sinks.
Rich has been working his way through the small mountain of gash wood we got given for free by a local builder, most of its old 2x4 bits of pine from ripped out stud walls, Rich has been chopping it up into usable lengths for out stove, one of our neighbors very kindly lent him a bench saw so he's been able to make a really dent in the pile ( and keep us warm for nothing!)
One of our jobs for the new year is to get a proper wood store sorted out (and so I can have my greenhouse back) we've got an old coal bunker next to our shed so Rich is hoping to temporally convert it for logs, at the moment its made of old breeze blocks and is not particularly attractive, eventually we'll replace it with something nice made of wood but for the time being we'll make it usable so we can be drying out enough logs to see us through next winter.
Now as there's not much for me to blog about in the garden, I though I'd do the meme I got tagged to do back in November by Lucy.
I've been meaning to do it for ages but Christmas got in the way, so here it is now: 6 Random Facts About Us...
1. Old Cars: Rich and I have some what of an obsession with old cars (although I have been seduced in resent years by the lure of good fuel economy and a car that starts on a cold morning!) When we where at Uni together we both had our dream cars, mine was an old fire engine red Citroen 2CV (god I loved that car!) and Rich's was a bright yellow Mark 3 Ford Cortina (ever watched Life on Mars? its the car out of that in case you where wondering!) we had these two for most of our 3 year degree, they lived happily parked nose to nose out side our little terraced house in North Wales, the neighbours (and most of our friends) though we where mad. Sadly Both Blodwyn (2cv) and The Yellow Peril (ford) have both since had to go, mine couldn't cope with the steep hills of Bath and Rich's need huge amounts of money spending on it. They are both sadly missed.
2. Kilner Jars: as with bricks in the garden, I have another slight thing about Kilner Jars in the house, I cant seem to stop buying them when I see them a boot sales, if fact I am now running out of things to put in them. I think I must have some sort of recessive hording gene in me somewhere.
3.Cast Iron Animals: this is quite a resent thing, it started with Rich buying me a little white cast iron bunny last Easter, he always buys me something silly and random and I'm glad to say this Christmas was no exception...
...who wouldn't want to find a rusty iron Pigeon in their stocking! I'm not sure why but this seems to have become one of our 'Things', I wonder what I'll get for my Birthday?
4. We Lived In The Same County For 20 Years But Met On A Train: we even had friends that knew each other and we went to the same art collage 2 years apart but ended up meeting on the train to uni, proving that the railways in this country are good for something.
5. Shoestring Wedding: I should start another blog about this! We're getting married in September, we're both really excited about it but as Rich and I have literately no money right now the whole thing is being done on the tightest of shoestrings ( I brought my wedding dress of ebay for £37!) but quite frankly even if we had money I thing we'd do everything pretty much the same as we are right now, I hate the idea of spending more on a dress that I would on a car!
6. Squirrels: ok, before I tell you this I must remind you we are not mad. Another one of our 'Things' is squirrels, I have no idea why but it's a sort of in-joke from when we first started going out, we have now got to the point that every occasion is marked with a squirrel card or squirrel related gift (both being artist's this gets quite creative!).
Well thats it, I could go on but fear the men in white coats will be banging on the door any minuet now! as ever if anyone fancy's having a bash at this meme go for it (and let me know, I love seeing other people are as strange as us!)
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Merry Christmas from Shoestring Garden!
Just a quick post to wish anyone who's been reading my pearls of wisdom ( or nonsense ramblings, which every way you look at it) a very Happy Christmas!
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Christmas Come Early!
A few weeks ago I got a very nice comment on my blog for Stephen Shirley over at Victoriana Nursery Gardens, Stephen had a proposal for me, he would supply me with some free packets of seeds and in return I would review how I got on with growing them! I'm a seed Guinea Pig!
So I had a happy few hours reading through their very nice web site and made these selections:
Onion Seed - Shirleys' Giant Exhibition
Spinach Seed - Little Grandad's Original
Squash Seed 'Crown Prince'
Sweetcorn Seed 'Seville'
Tomato Seed 'Giant Delicious'
Tomato Seed 'Sungold'
Artichoke Plant 'Imperial Star'
And on Saturday these showed up!
Ooooh thank you Father Christmas...I mean Stephen! So over the coming spring and summer I shall be testing my gardening skills (which lets face it are enthusiastic if not always fruitful), I am especially looking forward to the tomatoes, I've never grow them from seed before (usually I buy them at the local carboots!) also I cant wait to get the Artichoke plant ( which will be arriving around April/May time)
In the coming weeks the greenhouse will be getting a good tidy and clean out, seed pots sorted and hopefully the compost bin will provide me with enough of the good stuff that's been decomposing in there for the last year and a half! I will try to keep the post on my progress regular and as ever with plenty of pics, So a huge Thank You to the Shirley Family, I hope to do their lovingly produced seeds proud!
I do seem to be a very lucky girl at the moment as the seeds weren't the only prezzies I got early, over the weekend we went to Shropshire to see family and as we wont see most of them on Christmas Day we had ours with them on Sunday instead. My banging on about my blog and our veg patch has obviously payed off and Rich's Mum & Dad brought me these...
They gave us a few penny's to go and spend too so a quick trip to the garden center saw us in possession of a little lemon tree that is now happily sitting on our front room window sill...
Its all feeling very cosy and festive around here right now, Im really looking forward to next week, although Christmas Day may find me in the greenhouse playing with my presents!
So I had a happy few hours reading through their very nice web site and made these selections:
Onion Seed - Shirleys' Giant Exhibition
Spinach Seed - Little Grandad's Original
Squash Seed 'Crown Prince'
Sweetcorn Seed 'Seville'
Tomato Seed 'Giant Delicious'
Tomato Seed 'Sungold'
Artichoke Plant 'Imperial Star'
And on Saturday these showed up!
Ooooh thank you Father Christmas...I mean Stephen! So over the coming spring and summer I shall be testing my gardening skills (which lets face it are enthusiastic if not always fruitful), I am especially looking forward to the tomatoes, I've never grow them from seed before (usually I buy them at the local carboots!) also I cant wait to get the Artichoke plant ( which will be arriving around April/May time)
In the coming weeks the greenhouse will be getting a good tidy and clean out, seed pots sorted and hopefully the compost bin will provide me with enough of the good stuff that's been decomposing in there for the last year and a half! I will try to keep the post on my progress regular and as ever with plenty of pics, So a huge Thank You to the Shirley Family, I hope to do their lovingly produced seeds proud!
I do seem to be a very lucky girl at the moment as the seeds weren't the only prezzies I got early, over the weekend we went to Shropshire to see family and as we wont see most of them on Christmas Day we had ours with them on Sunday instead. My banging on about my blog and our veg patch has obviously payed off and Rich's Mum & Dad brought me these...
They gave us a few penny's to go and spend too so a quick trip to the garden center saw us in possession of a little lemon tree that is now happily sitting on our front room window sill...
Its all feeling very cosy and festive around here right now, Im really looking forward to next week, although Christmas Day may find me in the greenhouse playing with my presents!
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Decembers Freecycle Goodness
Its been a busy few days around here, what with Christmas rapidly approaching and me not being organized as usual! We've also made some decisions about what we will be planting next year but I'll talk more about that in a later post.
We've had some good luck on good old Freecycle over the weekend, on Friday we drove to a very pretty house out in the woods to collect a car load of chopped wood offered to us by the lovely Michelle. We had burned most of our stock pile so this new stuff is drying out in our sunny greenhouse and should be ok to use in a couple of months!
Then this morning we drove out to another very lovely village on the out skirts of Bath to collect a Belfast sink, if you have read this blog before you will know my slight obsession with Belfast sinks, apart from anything I have found they are prefect for growing salad leaves in (which sort of explains why we have quite a few now!) Anyway when we eventually arrived at this gorgeous old chapel we found a cute little Butlers sink waiting for us, then the lovely Laurel who answered the door said they had another one we could have too! Hooray!
Rich managed to manhandle them into the back of our poor little car (We're seriously considering swapping it for a van!) and tried to avoid the many pot holes on the way home!
Here he is adding it to the 2 we already have on the veg garden.
Yay, now we have 3! These are going to be used to grow various salad leafs (mostly Spinach as its our favorite) each sink will have staggered planting to last us through the spring and summer.
The little Butlers Sink has been put up on the patio by the front door, I may grow herds in this or possible Sweet Peas for cutting.
Ooooh its like Christmas come early round here!
So a huge Thank You to Michelle, Laurel and To for being so generous to total strangers!!
We've had some good luck on good old Freecycle over the weekend, on Friday we drove to a very pretty house out in the woods to collect a car load of chopped wood offered to us by the lovely Michelle. We had burned most of our stock pile so this new stuff is drying out in our sunny greenhouse and should be ok to use in a couple of months!
Then this morning we drove out to another very lovely village on the out skirts of Bath to collect a Belfast sink, if you have read this blog before you will know my slight obsession with Belfast sinks, apart from anything I have found they are prefect for growing salad leaves in (which sort of explains why we have quite a few now!) Anyway when we eventually arrived at this gorgeous old chapel we found a cute little Butlers sink waiting for us, then the lovely Laurel who answered the door said they had another one we could have too! Hooray!
Rich managed to manhandle them into the back of our poor little car (We're seriously considering swapping it for a van!) and tried to avoid the many pot holes on the way home!
Here he is adding it to the 2 we already have on the veg garden.
Yay, now we have 3! These are going to be used to grow various salad leafs (mostly Spinach as its our favorite) each sink will have staggered planting to last us through the spring and summer.
The little Butlers Sink has been put up on the patio by the front door, I may grow herds in this or possible Sweet Peas for cutting.
Ooooh its like Christmas come early round here!
So a huge Thank You to Michelle, Laurel and To for being so generous to total strangers!!
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Garden Jobs For Winter
I finally managed to get in the garden on Sunday, good job too as I have a list of winter jobs I need to be getting on with, unfortunately most of them require the use of our greenhouse, which at the moment is housing a small mountain of stuff to either go to the recycling center or the local charity shop (this is what happens when you finish decorating your cottage that's to small for all the wonderful treasures you try to cram into it!)
Anyway, one of the first task was to trim the apple trees, I didn't do it last year as they hadn't long been planted and there wasn't much growth so I though I'd give them another year to really settle in, however they got a bit leggy over the summer so this winter I have trimmed them quite hard back to encourage them to thicken up a bit and hopefully improve next years crop.
I have stored the off cuts to dry out in the greenhouse to we can burn them on the stove, we didn't get much more that a few twigs off them but I hate to waste anything so on the fire they'll go.
Unfortunately my Cauliflowers have bitten the dust this year, it was the first time I had attempted to grow them so was hoping at least one of them would make it to the table. Sadly the sharp night frost's in October seem to have finished them off before they where big enough to do anything with! I'm gutted as I was really looking forward to eating fresh Cauliflower, I should have had some sort of cold frame over them but could stretch to buying one and didn't have enough stuff to make one, I'll know better next time!
Anyway they had to come out and go in the compost bin, the Broccoli on the other hand seems to be surviving ok and has put on more growth. The trouble is we're quite exposed being on the side of a hill facing south, great in the summer for the sun but we cop the wind and ice in the winter.
Other winter jobs include...
Tiding the greenhouse
Planting up garlic in pots in greenhouse
Digging up Blueberry bushes and moving them into a raised bed to stop them being swamped by grasses and weeds.
Scrubbing brick paths clear of moss (so they stop being so slippy)
Working on Rich to let me have a few chickens ( I suggested asking for them as a wedding present!)
Ordering seeds for next season, planning where everything will go!
I'll be making up my list of plants for next year in the next couple of days so I'll post as soon as I've decided what we'll be attempting, I really want to give Sweet Corn a try and some sort of Squash although I don't know which one? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Anyway, one of the first task was to trim the apple trees, I didn't do it last year as they hadn't long been planted and there wasn't much growth so I though I'd give them another year to really settle in, however they got a bit leggy over the summer so this winter I have trimmed them quite hard back to encourage them to thicken up a bit and hopefully improve next years crop.
I have stored the off cuts to dry out in the greenhouse to we can burn them on the stove, we didn't get much more that a few twigs off them but I hate to waste anything so on the fire they'll go.
Unfortunately my Cauliflowers have bitten the dust this year, it was the first time I had attempted to grow them so was hoping at least one of them would make it to the table. Sadly the sharp night frost's in October seem to have finished them off before they where big enough to do anything with! I'm gutted as I was really looking forward to eating fresh Cauliflower, I should have had some sort of cold frame over them but could stretch to buying one and didn't have enough stuff to make one, I'll know better next time!
Anyway they had to come out and go in the compost bin, the Broccoli on the other hand seems to be surviving ok and has put on more growth. The trouble is we're quite exposed being on the side of a hill facing south, great in the summer for the sun but we cop the wind and ice in the winter.
Other winter jobs include...
Tiding the greenhouse
Planting up garlic in pots in greenhouse
Digging up Blueberry bushes and moving them into a raised bed to stop them being swamped by grasses and weeds.
Scrubbing brick paths clear of moss (so they stop being so slippy)
Working on Rich to let me have a few chickens ( I suggested asking for them as a wedding present!)
Ordering seeds for next season, planning where everything will go!
I'll be making up my list of plants for next year in the next couple of days so I'll post as soon as I've decided what we'll be attempting, I really want to give Sweet Corn a try and some sort of Squash although I don't know which one? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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