Another week. David has had 9 days off work so I’ve been
enjoying being a limpet while he’s been at home. I think he is looking forward
to being back at work! We have had the first rain in absolutely ages this week
which was very welcome. We also had a couple of hail storms.
Week Nine:
Homelife
I only have two rows worth of squares left to sew together, before I start sewing the rows together, for my granny square batternberg blanket. I sewed three rows of squares together whilst on a work related conference call. This blanket should be finished within a couple of weeks which I am quite excited about. I just want to get it done now! I started it last year sometime (March, actually). I have sewn the first half of the blanket together and it is looking good.
I only have two rows worth of squares left to sew together, before I start sewing the rows together, for my granny square batternberg blanket. I sewed three rows of squares together whilst on a work related conference call. This blanket should be finished within a couple of weeks which I am quite excited about. I just want to get it done now! I started it last year sometime (March, actually). I have sewn the first half of the blanket together and it is looking good.
We are eating lots of healthy homemade meals. David did a veg
loaded pasta sauce and also put a load of fresh herbs from the garden – thyme,
mint, sage, bay, and rosemary – into the pot. It was yummy. We’ve also eaten a
couple of pizzas due to extreme laziness, but we do tend to chuck a load of
extra veg on, even if it was a veg loaded pizza to start with.
I have seen lots of people on social media complaining about eating home cooked food all the time and I just don't understand it. It isn't hard to make a good, healthy, wholesome meal using stuff from the fridge or the back of the cupboard. Maybe I just never bought into the 'eating out / getting take out every week' club.
We’ve also been enjoying lots of pastries. I love pastries,
especially those with cinnamon. A visit from the in-laws prompted a morning
baking session to make it look like I am well put together and can host people.
These pastries are of course out of a box, and I ate most of them.
Garden
The garden! The flowers! It is starting to look colourful. The
geums are out – some are pink, some white and some purple – and the parahebe is
a favourite with the bees. The clumps of chives with their flowers are the same
colour as the raised beds which makes me happy, and the courgette has had its
first few flowers. The first courgette fruit is starting to swell so I’ll be
harvesting these in no time. The tomatoes are starting to bud and flower, the
peas are starting to pea (!!), and the cupid sweet peas are coming to life.
I have bought and planted a white passion flower this week
which will climb up the fence and hopefully spread along it to meet the
clematis. I have decided that I am going to buy another one, maybe more red in
colour, and plant it nearby so that they grow together.
The strawberries are taking their precious time to ripen but
I have also bought more plants which need planting – when I get more compost,
again.
The roses by the front door have opened and I LOVE THEM. They
are so huge! I love open flowers, and so do pollinating insects. There are buds
coming on the plant on the other side of the door too, and I am quite excited
to see them all open and in flower.
Windowsill Gardening
Is no more! The aubergine seedlings have been potted up into
fresh compost and I now have one seedling per pot. They have been outside for
half a week or so and will probably stay out now too. I do need to try and find
a mini plastic greenhouse to put them in to give them some heat and protection.
I have fourteen plants! I hope I get at least one aubergine…
Allotment
This week has seen me spend a couple of evenings up at the
allotment to do the watering when the temperature has reduced. There’s been a
couple of hail storms over the plot too but the plants don’t seem too affected. I had
a day filling and finishing the new raised beds and back-filling others with
fresh peat free compost. All of the new beds are now planted up!
I have also earthed up the potatoes with peat free compost
and they’re looking so good. It’s hard to believe that they were so badly
frosted, twice, but they have well and truly bounced back.
The salad bed is looking good – at least, the bits that aren’t
being continually dug over by animals are looking good. I’m not sure what is
digging but I wonder if it is the jay. Whatever it is keeps disturbing the carrots
and peas so I may have to rig up some netting again. I have been harvesting
radish and mixed leaves twice a week for a few weeks now, but I had a bumper
radish pulling session this week. Every time I pull one, I plant a new seed in
the hole. The mizuna leaves all bolted so I took them out.
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| Parsnip |
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| Corn salad, carrot, spinach beet |
I have finished digging over and weeding the quince bed. This
bed floods every year so I will be working on changing it around and building
it up so that the ground level is much higher. I have removed lots of creeping
buttercup, dock, different types of grasses, and some teasel. I have left some
teasel and ragwort to grow up for the wildlife. Despite all the rain and hail
the ground was bone dry but now that the other vegetation has gone, there is
less competition for water for the quinces.
I have started my higher dose hayfever medication and
honestly it’s a miracle drug. You wouldn’t believe that I have severe hayfever –
it’s completely reversed my symptoms. Long live the NHS!
More piccies...
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| My first apple on my allotment tree! |
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| Sea holly |
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| Mutant pumpkin flower |
