I harvested my Coriander plants at the end of the Summer and hung them up in the shed window to dry. They have been there ever since and are currently providing a nice little home for my resident shed spiders – of which there are many.
About a week ago I decided to harvest some of the seed and started to pop them off the plant and collect them on the bench. I was amassing quite a little pile when, oh I don’t know, something happened to distract me. Could have been a waking baby, that’s mostly what distracts me these days. Anyway, I went back into the house and forgot to put the seeds in my seed box. Huge mistake.
I went back the next day and the seed were, you guessed it, gone! Only slightly gnawed at seed casing had been left behind. I could also hear the mice groaning from the weight of their full bellies. Darn it.
Well, at least the mice are happy. And at least I have more back-up seed hanging in the window. Contingency seed, that’s the key.
Tags: 'Gotta love those meeces to pieces'
This ornament was a present from a friend but I’ve decided to make it the basis for a Scandinavian theme tree made from a fallen branch that I found in the woods near my house. Once it’s all done I’ll post a photo here.
While on my internet travels – and there are many – I found this cute little grow sign. It’s the kind of thing I might hang in my shed (the one that I’m planning to fix up one day), or better still in my kitchen, or in the living room, on the mantle.
Grow is an interesting word. It’s a command – ‘grow’ you little blighters. Or it’s a suggestion ‘grow’ and further your mind. Or it’s a reminder that all of this is passing like the seasons and before I know it little hands will have grown too big to hold mine.
But still… I like this.
Believe it or not this weekend saw our first Thanksgiving celebration at home. Despite 50 per cent of our family being American. Umm…
Usually if we celebrate it’s because we happen to be visiting family on one of our very well timed visits.
But this year we thought it was high time that we bit the bullet and admitted that actually we should really do something. So we did.
And here is evidence of Parsnip peeling.
We even brought in the wood, invited friends around and assembled the cheese board. The boat was pushed out.
We also thought it was high time that the children started to learn about American history, those pilgrims and native Americans, that feast and naturally how to make silly hats.
Candles were lit.
And the smelly one too.
The children were allowed to watch football. And we ate and drank and were thankful for every last minute of it. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving.
Tags: thanksgiving
If I’m obsessed with two things it’s vegetables and Christmas, in that order. So, to be given a gift that is both wrapped up in one is well… my new favourite thing.
It was my birthday last week and these little, let’s call them Christmas trinkets, popped through the letterbox having travelled all the way from sunny Denver (thanks Jess and Marta).
Now I do love a bauble or two and I have been known to erm… collect unusual Christmas ornaments, collaring anyone I know to be travelling through, or near, New York to visit Saks 5th Avenue Christmas department and buy me something for the tree! But, strange as it may seem, I do not own any vegetable tree ornaments. Until now that is.
Now I’m now the proud owner of three culinary tree hangings, one Tomato, one floret of Broccoli and one, probably chantenay, Carrot.
With a little research I found that Inge-Glas of Germany are the makers of many more miniature glass vegetables. Infact, they have the market somewhat covered. And you can get all kinds of vegetables for your tree from Onions, Asparagus to the plain but functional Potato ornament.
Oh dear, I can feel a collecting obsession coming on.
Tags: Christmas decorations
I took a stroll around my garden this morning. It was freezing. I was shivering, the leaves were shivering and the cat, very sensibly, stayed indoors. There’s not much left in the garden, as you might expect. Most things have gone over and many of the permanent fruit bushes have lost their leaves.
But… those that are still hanging on to a few leaves are producing some spectacular colours. Anyone that tells you a vegetable garden isn’t beautiful in the Winter just isn’t looking carefully enough. There is tons of colour, albeit in small bursts. But when you find it, it’s definitely beautiful.
Above is a leaf from my Blueberry bush. It’s not covered in leaves like this, just a few. But their flame colours can be seen from across the garden.
The Blackberry too is putting on a last burst before dropping its leaves and shutting up shop for the Winter. I love the oranges and flame reds.
Even the Grapevine has turned this gorgeous warm yellow. It looks so amazing that I’m putting off pruning it until the last leaf has dropped so that I can enjoy the colours longer.
Who says trees have the monopoly on Autumn, huh? But the most surprising thing of all is that it all looks completely different to how it looked at this time last year.
Tags: Autumn, leaves
I don’t know about you but I get very confused by all the different nutrients that fruit and vegetables need. I’ve struggled for years to remember what nitrogen does for plants and why phosphorous is useful.
Urghh! My head feels like it might explode sometimes as I rush indoors to consult my gardening books to check that I’m ‘doing the right thing’ for the right plant.
Then suddenly, the other day, this image popped into my head and everything just dropped into place. The Strawberry-Carrot, an imaginary plant that helps me figure out what nutrients do what.
What I realised is that reading and re-reading paragraphs about NPK (never learned the Periodic Table first time round – unlikely to now) and trying to memorise the benefits of dried fertilizers vs liquid just didn’t work for me. I’m that person who needs something visual to work with.
The Strawberry-Carrot does everything I need it to. It tells me that if I add a nitrogen based fertiliser then I’ll get lovely green leaves (perfect for leafy veg like Spinach and Kale) and that if I want to boost flower and so fruit production then I should be adding potassium (perfect for Fruit and Tomatoes, etc). And finally, if it’s root growth I want then phosphorous is my man (perfect for root crops like Carrots, Parnsips etc).
Of course it’s not as easy as this. There are other nutrients that come into play, like calcium and sulphur and trace elements like manganese, iron and blah, blah. But let’s not confuse the issue. I’m just happy that I’ve finally pinned the main ones down.
Tags: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium
The Lettuce in my coldframe are romping away. All this mild weather has confused them and encouraged them to put on a growth spurt. But I don’t want them to get too big just now.
Hopefully the weather will settle down a bit into a more wintry pattern and they will slow down a bit. I want nice large heads in Spring next year not salad ready in time for Christmas!
Tags: Lettuce, weather
Yesterday I suddenly noticed how beautiful my shed is. The sun was streaming in through the window and catching on the Coriander seeds that I have hanging up to dry. My lone pumpkin has pride of place on the bench making everything look Autumnal and just a little bit orange and my pruning saw looks positively vicious (must remember to keep that away from the kids!). Even the tub of Rooster Booster and Tomorite adds a certain 21st century charm. I just love it.
There’s something very Autumnal about sheds too. Maybe because it’s slightly warmer in there and a good place to retreat to when your fingers get cold.
But also I realised that I love the colours, shapes and texture of my pots, tools, wooden seed trays and the whole feel of the place. What I’d love to do is fix the roof and put some reclining chairs in there – beat up ones that were just really, really comfy. Then I’d have some electricity run down there and plug in a heater. And then I’d sit there with my seed packets, and tools and read gardening books. Not the ones that tell you what to do every month but the ones that tell you about real gardens and the real people that tended them. I love those ones.
Tags: shed
My little one is crawling. Hence, I don’t see much of him these days. He’s busy either going this way…
…or that. Chasing the cat out of the catflap, investigating the cat bowl. Eating fluff. Trying to open the dishwasher. The important things in life.
Even trying to get a photo of him is a blurry impossibility.
And when it comes to changing his nappy – no chance.
Devon, I love you and your little wiggly bum.
