Random Ramblings :: It's all been about the Garden

Hi there everyone 😀

In spite of my best intentions in cutting back on the baking there have been a few garden get togethers that definitely called for some form of sweet treat

For Jo, Steve, Megan and Hannah there was a lemon celebration cake and honeycomb flapjack ...

... and umbrellas ... which were not to shade us from the sun ...

For Lesley and Tom there was a traditional English cream tea, with Mary Berry's sultana scones and a chocolate cake from the freezer to break up their bike ride ...

.. and for Rachel, Tom and baby Erin there were more scones, this time cherry and white chocolate chip, fresh from the oven ...

What I wouldn’t have given to be able to pick up this gorgeous bundle of scrumptiousness and given her a really good snuggle ...

The garden has definitely been.a popular catch up venue over the last few weeks with even Captain putting in an appearance ...

Continuing on the baking front I also resorted to the old favourite of a frangipane tart using our own cherry jam and cherries from the freezer ...

Gardening has slowed down a little, though I know come September there will be all of those end of summer jobs that we will need to do to give us that head start next spring.

The cobea, or cup and saucer vine, is coming on and is now covered in buds ... still no blooms though ...

I was very envious when Jackie sent me this picture ...

There has been more harvesting with the last of the blueberries, spinach and green beans ...

... and the first of the tomatoes ... a right mismatched selection, which we had with our BBQ salad with the last of our iceberg lettuce and the first of our home grown cucumbers ...

There have been more cuttings taken and planted ... firstly from the salvia for Lesley ... which nearly died a hot and uncomfortable death when being left in the greenhouse when the outside temp was above 30 degrees ...

I think we’ve managed to salvage them though ...

... and there have been yet more basil cuttings ... this time taken from the cuttings that I took from the original supermarket basil bought months ago ... all are still going strong. We actually have a real abundance of basil and I've had a go at drying some in the microwave and it seems to have gone well ...

Apparently, it's best to store them as whole leaves and then just crumble them as you need to use them.

Oh and last, but definitely not least, there was another garden catch up ... this time we were invited to Lesley and Tom's for afternoon tea ...

It was stupendous ... with three lots of Tom's different home baked bread, home made Scotch eggs and quiche and plenty of sweet treats too.

The weather wasn’t brilliant but the gazebo worked a treat and we were lovely and cosy ... and very, very full ...

... and exhausted from watching the very energetic Digby torment the life out of poor old Jakey ...

It was a real treat and really good to know that the gazebo worked so well to allow us to get together and still maintain our social distance. Maybe we will be doing it again for our traditional Boxing Day lunch ... who knows 😂😂😂

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Random Ramblings :: Time to Harvest

Hi there everyone 😀

If you are a regular reader you will be more than aware that this year we have had another go at growing more edibles in the garden, especially in our new vegetable beds ...

Well ... we are now starting to see the fruits (and vegetables) of our labours and last week we actually managed to harvest or eat something that we'd grown ourselves every single day ...

Monday 27, July

We started off the week with plenty of crisp iceberg lettuce for our salad ...

It's the first time we've grown iceberg lettuce and whilst they don't quite 'heart up' like a supermarket one does they have been really reliable and the leaves taste just like the supermarket version.

Tuesday 28, July

We added a bowl full of spinach to our salmon curry ... a recipe taken from the Britain's Best Home Cook show, which has definitely become a favourite ...

Spinach has been another first for us this year and seriously, nothing could be easier to grow. The seeds are a nice size so can be planted spaced out so no need for thinning and they just grow really quickly. We just keep picking the leaves and within a few days another batch have grown to take their place. We are already on our second sowing ... the first was just in a bucket, but the second is now in the vegetable bed.

Wednesday, 29 July

Wednesday's pickings came from my herb box ... basil for our Abruzzi Lamb ...

I am so pleased with how the basil is doing. The plants you can see in this photo are grown from cuttings taken from a supermarket basil that we bought a good two or three months ago. I've taken more cuttings this week and the original plant has been split in two and both are still going strong. I am aiming to have a season's supply of basil from just the one plant and so far it's looking good.

Thursday, 30 July

Today we had more lettuce for our hot smoked salmon rolls which we had for lunch. I was also given some plums, harvested from my sister's Cornish garden, which we made up into jars of sugar free plum jam ...

Friday, 31 July 

Today it was courgettes, of which we have a number building up. We had ground beef strogonoff and just chopped one up and added it in to bulk it out a bit ...

If you fancy having a go at this recipe we also switched the butter for cooking spray and the full fat cream cheese and sour cream for a low fat cream cheese with garlic and herbs.

Saturday, 1 August

Today we used the first of our green beans ... on the side of a Slimming World friendly lasagne ...

This wasn't the only thing that got picked on Saturday ... I picked the last of the blueberries for dad to have with his yoghurt ... we just have no more room in the freezer ... another big bowl of spinach to wilt and freeze and another courgette ...

We still have beetroot, carrots, turnips, cauliflower, brocolli and leeks to come ... none of which are looking too promising at the moment, but time will tell 🤞🤞🤞

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Random Ramblings :: Our Little Greenhouse

Hi there everyone 😀

It is Monday, 20 April, we are in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic and its the first day of the 5th week of us needing to stay at home so that we can protect our NHS and save lives.

Whilst it's another glorious day here, we did receive some more very sad news yesterday. Another of our very close friends have lost their lovely mum to the virus ... which really does bring home how serious the situation is and how important it is that we do the very best we can to do as our government are asking us.

We have been making the most of the good weather and, as always, gardening has been very good for our souls ... keeping us focused and occupied, giving us a bit of exercise and plenty of fresh air and that sense of satisfaction when a job is finished or something starts to spring into life.

We seem to have done more planting than ever this year, I guess its as a result of having more time, with holidays being cancelled and Martin not working, the good weather and that sense of wanting to create something both useful and beautiful.

We had really moved away from planting vegetables over the last few years, the veg beds having been given over to perennials following a few years of poor yield. We've planted so much this year that we've actually ordered ourselves two more raised beds and are really looking forward to them arriving and working out where we can put them and getting them planted up.

We are definitely not alone in our enthusiasm for planting, potting on and nurturing this year. We are exchanging progress and photos with our very good friends pretty much on a daily basis, all getting excited when something starts to poke through and despondent when some things just don't seem to want to grow. There has also been the occasional kerbside, socially distanced exchange where we have been too successful and grown far more of something that either of us could use.

As a result our tiny little plastic covered greenhouse is fair bursting at the seams and I thought it might be nice to give you a little look at what we've got growing ...

So ... on the left of the top shelf we have iceberg lettuce, mixed salad leaves and tomatoes in the propogator, parsley and courgettes in the home made plastic bottle propogators and a tomato from Jackie & Phil ...
On the right hand side of the top shelf we have more herbs ... taragon, dill & Sage, more donated tomatoes and a couple of cucumbers, also from Jackie & Phil ...
On the next shelf down we have mixed leaves at the back and iceberg lettuce at the front. Both potted on from the seeds sown in the propogator on the top shelf ...
And remember these ...

Well just look at them now ...
This is a tray of achillea, verbena, echinacea, and dianthus ... all looking very healthy.

There is also the tray of climbing French beans that we planted in toilet roll middles, which are beginning to come through nicely ...

Hopefully all will come through, though we always plant a few extra just in case. It won't be long now before we get the long canes out and build a wigwam for them.

On the next shelf down there are more of the perennials that have been potted on, more herbs, which have yet to show and a few more iceberg lettuce ...

There are also geraniums from seed ... another donation from Jackie & Phil ...

On the bottom shelf we have the last of the perennials ... delphiniums. It looks like we are going to lose one of these but as we had 36 plants in total for the cost of postage, which was about £5, I don't think we've done too bad. Thank you Gardeners' World ...

The bottom shelf also holds a tray of cosmos, which we'd grown from seed and another tray of hanging basket plants from Jackie & Phil ... cinereria ...

Finally, and I didn't take a picture of it, there is a metal container planted with beetroot which are just starting to poke through.

As well as this lot we also have a tray of lobelia and a tray of petunias which we gratefully received and will nurture until we are ready to plant hanging baskets ...

... and two more metal containers planted with radish, which are coming on nicely, and spring onions ...

We also salvaged these two pots of tiny verbena from around the garden yesterday, which can sit here quite nicely until we know where they can go ...

All in all I think we've made a very good start. I just hope that everything manages to grow as it should and we don't lose much ... and we manage to find somewhere to plant everything out as it gets big enough to move on ... I'm sure I'll keep you posted 💚

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In the Garden - May

May - In flower .....
We were away on holiday for the first week in May, but we couldn't believe the change in the garden when we got back home.  This time of year, a week makes a massive difference in our garden, with lots of new things starting to look really good. 

The salad bed has also come on leaps and bounds.  It will certainly be a while before we need to buy any salad leaves.  The herbs are also coming on really well.
May - What we've been up to .....
Even though we lost the first week of the month through being in Scotland we seem to have managed to get quite a bit done out the back.

The main (pretty much the only really!) focus for Martin was the beer shack.  He's built a base for it, given it two coats of paint, built it, shelved it out and filled it!!  This took up quite a few weekends as you can imagine.

It does, however, look fabulous, loads better than that area did before, and it gets lots of 'stuff' shifted from other places, which is a massive bonus.  I love the beer shack, but not as much as Martin does!

I didn't take a before shot, so I've raided the archives to see what I could find.  The picture on the left was taken in pretty much the same spot in February last year (the compost bin on the right is still in exactly the same spot).  You can kind of get an idea of how much better it looks.

I've also done lots of planting and potting.  The hanging baskets are up, though as I write this post, they are being buffeted by the wind!  I've also potted the tomatoes on and some have made their way into the tomato greenhouses, which Martin did build for me ..... only once the beer shack was finished though.  I've also planted out the French climbing beans.

May - Coming next .....
The pots on the patio are definitely ready for their Summer refresh, with the Spring colour now having been and gone.

So far, I've potted up two pots of sweet peas and started to tidy up the wallflowers and Spring flowering bulbs in readiness for the next wave.  The lily pots look like they are going to give us a real good show very soon.

I've bought some more daisies to pot up as they were so successful last year, giving us colour right through until early Winter.  I also need to get my home grown Zinnias planted out, though I'm not sure how well they will do.

The Morello cherry and the strawberries are absolutely laden with fruit, so a jam making session is definitely on the cards some time soon.
May - And finally .....
Do you remember Poor William.  The most loving cat in the world with one blue and one green eye?





















Well, meet Harry ....... William's brother (I know, clearly his owners are very fond of the Royal Family!)

Harry has taken to popping round for a visit from time to time, and even spent an evening sitting on Martin's knee, very much like William used to.  I'm trying not to encourage him as him and Captain don't seem to see eye to eye.

I'm hoping for some good weather in June so we can get out and keep on top of the jobs that need doing, as these seem to be stacking up a bit.  It's definitely time for the clearing away of the Spring show to make ready for the Summer.  Watch this space.