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.
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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The steps were a bit of a slog, but then we are both pretty unfit. It was worth it though ... this is the view from the top of the steps ...
... ... and of Tip ... the most loyal of sheepdogs ...
... and up the reservoir ...
Having taken in the view, which was truly majestic, we headed back down the steps, where we stopped to chat to this little chappie on the way ...
... and the overflow of water was absolutely thundering over ...
We walked along the base of the dam to the tower ...
We grabbed a quick snack from the kiosk before jumping back in the car for our drive along the road which takes you up round the Derwent Reservoir and onto the Howden Reservoir. We were lucky to be visiting on a weekday as I believe this road is closed to motor vehicles over the weekend.
We followed the road as far as we absolutely could ... past the Howden dam and right to the top of the reservoir and what we found here was just spectacular ... it literally did fair take our breath away ... it was absolutely beautiful ... a glorious day, still water ...
We decided to head back as we wanted to capture a few pictures along the way before the sun finally disappeared ...
We couldn't leave the area with a quick stop at Ladybower for a look at the 'plughole' ...
Apologies that they are not the best but by now we were seriously chasing the light. I guess they are a bit better than the one I took when up there with school for my Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition though ...
This was me back then ... I am in the fetching orange cagoule and pink hand knitted hat second from the right ...
And just in case you were wondering ... yes I did get to meet the Duke ... twice actually 😂😂😂
For Sunday we had been promised more bright sunshine and clear blue skies ... we were badly let down here ... though it was relatively warm ... so it was OK for working in the garden, more so than sitting.
... and contemplating about whether or not we could squeeze in another raised bed somewhere ...
We didn't put a lot of effort in doing much in the garden but we did sand and paint or rewax the wooden hearts that we have hanging in the magnolia ...