Dirt, dirt and more dirt

We had a bit of an adventurous weekend. As recent posts show we’ve been trying to get the veggie garden but one of our main problems has been the quality of the soil. In our absence the garden was badly neglected and in order to improve the soil quality and water retention ability we needed to do something fast.

We looked around and did our research, trying to be frugal at the same time, and we decided that we needed compost....large quantities of compost. After wandering around a number of garden centres....something that I am quite happy to do with or without a reason, we were about to purchase a trailer load or two when the grandparents came to the rescue. Gardening is a little beyond them now and their compost heap had been getting out of hand. It's a win-win situation!!
So Saturday was spent shovelling the most lovely loamy compost on to the garden! And the best thing is it was free!!!

The first bed to be composted....you can see the difference between the soils.
A trailer full of dirt

The garden bed after composting, digging and raking.
Carrots!! I'd bought a punnet of carrot seedlings not so long ago and when the bed was ready I was able to put them out. All 87 of them!!!!!!!!! eek
Of course that wasn't the only adventure we had this weekend.....stay tuned!

Seedlings

Wow it's been a week of garden posts huh! Well it's what I'm doing at the moment I guess and I am rather excited by the fact that I have my first seedlings (that I have sown) of the season. Blurry but growing and I can see movement in a few other pots so by next week everything should be bursting with life.

Store bought seedlings are coming along nicely too

Pumpkins....

Red Cabbage...
Ruby Chard...
My strawberry runners (Red Gauntlet) have settled into their new homes and are putting out new leaves.And my rhubarb looks equally as happy to be here

Space utilization

Found this on the weekend and figured it warrented a photo! I know these will grow anywhere but this is a tad ridiculous right! Who'd of thought we'd have to check our guttering for plants!!
Pretty tho. Will have to find a spot in the garden and transplant it.

Fruit trees...my not so secret love

I love fruit trees. I love the blossom in the spring, I love standing under the trees and pretending it's snowing as the petals fall around me. I love the hum of the bees that are attracted to the flowers and mostly I love that something so beautiful will produce delicious fruit with very little help from me!

Things of gardeny importance

Well I remembered to use the camera this weekend so there are quite a few photos to document what we got up too.
Below is the area that we have dug up in readiness for the tomatoes. We have had many discussions of late about the garden and in the end we've decided the lawn needs to give way to more productive plants. I guess this is the beginning of that.
The two newest additions to the family....2 rather nice looking blueberry bushes. Blue Rose is the variety. I am assured they are delicious and also prolific croppers.
One of my weaknesses. In the garden it's important to me for plants to have a purpose. Mostly that means food, however this little plants only purpose in life is to produce heavenly scents. It's a Boronia.
One of the staples of my garden. I finally managed to pick up a couple of Lemon Verbena plants. These are vital to my preparations later in the year but I will save the details for then...when it will all become clear.
Can't let a weekend go by without muffins! These are raspberry and white chocolate. They are also almost all gone!

Lilly

Gorgeous CurlsGraceful Lines

Elegant Hues

'nuff said!

Long Live the King!

Yup I’m an Elvis fan and so on the day of his death I celebrate his life and wonder what he’d think of all the hoo hah. Anyway just a small moment to mark the occasion.

So I’m a bit behind on the organisation of the photos…there’s just been no time to sit down and do it since we got back. No need to panic tho as I anticipate getting some processed before we take off for Canada. However there is loads to talk about aside from Ireland and so hence forth this post shall be Ireland free!

The day after we got back from ‘you know where’ was Ladies Day at the Brighton races and YUP I was there. All dolled up in me fanciest frock complete with my most hurtiest shoes and, a little strangely for me…a hat!! It was a great day and although I didn’t make any money I think I came out even or perhaps slightly ahead…I dunno

We’ve also been to a wedding which was lovely and elegant and held at the gorgeous mansion that is Stanmer Park. While it wasn’t something I would have chosen for myself it was really nice to wander around the place and pretend we were all a bit posh for the day!

On top of all that we’ve had guests over from Italy who arrived on the day we got back and even though we have been pretty much exhausted since then they have been lovely, trouble free guests whose little boy is the happiest most adorable baby I’ve ever met. I think he cried once during the week and that was because he hit his head on the table…something that makes me cry as well. They are leaving today and we shall miss them heaps.
But I have to say that the thought of being able to go home and flop on the couch without worrying about anyone else is an attractive one!

Cooking…
I made an awesome vegetable soup the other day. I love it when something you’re doing without guidance suddenly works really well. I even remember what I did so I should be able to do it again. I just boiled the veg (carrots, onion, cabbage, broccoli and potatoes and added some salt and pepper, garlic and a tspn of curry powder. Whizzed it all till it was smooth and added in some cooked soup mix (various split peas, barley, pasta etc) and sprinkled some shavings of parmesan on top to make it look posh! I think next time I’ll use actual chicken stock as the base and roast the veg but other than that I think this one’s a keeper!

Knitting…
I have problems with my arms. Actually I have problems with many things but at the moment the focus is on my arms or rather the arms that I’m knitting. I think they are too long and I’m going to have to undo the one I’ve finished. The thought of undoing all that knitting has filled me with dread and a reluctance to continue on with the other sleeve till I know what I’m doing. So last night I started something else!! I am entering into the world of felting and have picked a gorgeous bag out of Rowan's "The Felted Collection" book.
The theory is that I knit the bag and wash it at a high heat causing the fibres to meld together (felting) and then I simply sew up the bag!! Sounds easy huh!
There’s a photo here of the bag. And for those that might care I’m using Rowan Kid Classic, 851 – Straw for the main part of the bag and Rowan Tapestry, 174 – Rustic for the details.

Gardening…
Not much going on here I’m afraid. The lettuce I planted out before we left for ‘that place we went to’ has grown and is ready to eat but little else is good. The beans died while I was away and the tomatoes are sad and pathetic to say the least and I’ve only had three cucumbers from four plants. I don’t know what’s going on with this year so I’m blaming the weather and eel worms for all my gardening ills. (although I suspect that Blight is largely to blame for the tomatoes)
On the up side of things the cactus’s I grew from seed (yes from seed!) have tripled in size. I’ll have to get a picture of one of them on here cause it’s split into the strangest shape.
Also my basil is doing great and ready for pesto making!

Weekend Plans…
Pesto Making!!!! (and sleep!)

Whoosh goes the weekend!

Good lord the days are flying by! I meant to post on Friday but never actually got online and the same thing happened with the weekend. And let’s not mention that suddenly it’s June and yesterday it was February!!

The weekend was a good one….finally. The weather was lovely…sun and blue sky. Much like you’d expect for this time of year instead of the miserable grey, wet and windy conditions we’ve had of late.
This meant that we could get out in the garden and finally put out some of those plants we’ve been hardening off. I’ve been a bit too busy for the garden this year…and it shows a little with weeds everywhere and a lot of slug damage (I normally go slug hunting with a vengeance) however it felt really good to get out there and get digging. So nice to do something completely different to work and computers!
SO, planted out the tomatoes (roma), cucumbers and beetroot. Potted up some basil and sowed some more lettuce n herbs. Even put some spinach in.
Had to pull up some more onions tho. Four of them are ok for using but the rest are riddled with the same pests as last year. Long, yellow/brown flat centipede type things. Don’t know what they are but they area eating my onions and garlic. Little blighters!
Strawberries are covered in ….well…berries but so far are all green.
Looks like we won’t get any rhubarb off the rhubarb plant again this year, despite it being a two year old crown. It’s growing much better now it’s out of the pot but the stems are tiny thin things and I don’t want to stunt it by picking it now. Will give it another year and see how it goes.

Also this weekend we moved the birdfeeder so that we could see the birds feeding when we were sitting down on the bench. Such a small thing but makes a big difference as before the birds were hidden behind the tree. I love watching the tiny little things. We get mostly sparrows, blue and great tits and robins. They have little fear of us now and flit back and forth consuming seed at an alarming rate considering their size.

Knitting wise I thought it was time I posted a photo of my current project. It’s a Sidar pattern and I’ve tried to find a link but it seems I have the only copy in existence as it doesn’t seem to be on their site. So here is a picture I found somewhere of the pattern book. (ooo my first pic post!)

I tried to take some pictures last night but the colour was so washed out I decided to try again tonight in daylight. It’s a lovely shade of green with faint flecks of yellow and deeper green and it deserves a nice picky.
I finished the back last Friday night and was rather happy with myself. A few bits that could be better but nothing I can’t live with and I can’t face ripping it back. Does that make me less of a knitter? Well it is only my second major project….I don’t know any better!!
At the moment I’m persevering with the front. There’s shaping involved and so I guess one of the lessons for this project is how to increase and decrease neatly. I think I’ll probably have to start again but I’ll keep going for a bit more in the interests of practising.