I'm delighted that my gardening efforts from last week seem to be paying off. Not only have the basil and coriander pots on the kitchen windowsill started to grow, but even the parsley is showing a few signs of life. There's also good news from my other grow your own efforts. Both of the types of tomato seeds that I started off in the propagator also seem to be starting to grow and even the first of the onion sets are showing some green shoots. It's very early days, but maybe I have some green fingers after all! Fingers ... read more
Further steps towards growing our own
It's a long time ago now since I wrote about Mr C and my very first steps towards self sufficiency. Since then we have indeed managed to (finally) buy a house with outdoor space to allow us to do a bit more. I'm pleased to report that the kitchen windowsill seems to be thriving so far with the basil continuing to grow well, and the coriander making a first appearance yesterday. I'm having a few problems getting the watering levels right - I swear the watering can just puts out more water than I want it to sometimes! - but it's really good to see those first green shoots.After ... read more
Kitchen windowsill herb garden
The realisation that we're already in March and that Baby C will be making his or her appearance in around three months time has made me understand that if I don't actually do some of the gardening things that I want to do now then it'll be too late this year and it'll be another year before any hopes at self sufficiency get going. I decided to start small with a herb pot set that I was given as a Christmas gift. We already have a bit of basil and curly parsley on the kitchen windowsill, but this seemed too good a set not to put to use, so that's what I did.Very ... read more
A week in pictures
I've been lacking words this last week, so instead here are some pictures from what I've been up to. Highlights include a hen weekend where we got to stay on a working farm (with the lovely pair at the top of this post outside where we slept!), the first bulbs coming up in our garden, Mr C's birthday (which obviously required a home made chocolate cake), the completion of my raised bed, and today the first day of Spring proper. Somehow I also managed to squeeze in two books (Vanessa and Virginia and Deaf Sentence - reviews of both to follow), ... read more
Birds, cake, nappies and gardening
It's been one of those weekends where loads seems to have happened if you know what I mean. As it had seemed like such a long time since Mr C and I had had a day out anywhere we planed to make the most of the dry weather and lack of snow and headed up the A1 to the RSPB reserve at Sandy. We've been RSPB members for a while now, but often don't seem to make enough use of our membership and this trip was an attempt to turn that around. I was amazed at how large the reserve site was as it provided several different walking routes around through a mix of heathland, ... read more
Turning my attentions to outdoors
Now that the rain seems to have (temporarily) stopped I've started turning my attentions to the garden. There's lots that we need to do out there, and lots more that Mr C and I want to do if time and energy allows. Top of my list has to be starting off my veg plot. After a really positive start things have slowed right down - I blame some guidance about not doing anything too strenuous whilst pregnant. The reality is that if I don't make a start before C Minor arrives I'll have no real chance. The aim is to get some raised beds on the identified plot and we've even ... read more
Garden help
Look at who came to help me plant the rest of the spring bulbs in the garden this morning. This particular robin always seems to appear when either Mr C or I are out doing anything in the garden. Today, he sat on the fence for a while watching me dig holes for the bulbs. When I'd finished he even decided to inspect things more closely! At times he was only a foot away from me and he didn't seem at all bothered that I was there. Luckily I had the camera to hand, but taking good bird photos with a small point and shoot camera isn't exactly easy. ... read more
Surprise crocuses
Do you remember my initial work on my veg plot when we moved in? Well, I'm afraid that on a first glance it doesn't look much different now. The dark pile on top is "compost" that Mr C extracted from the compost bin that was at the house when we moved in. I use the term "compost" loosely though as having looked at it there seems to be quite a bit of non-compostable stuff in there including some plastic. I need to get my gloves on and have a good sort before digging it in to the bed.In the foreground though something is actually growing in there. By the time I'd ... read more
Bulbs for spring
Friday night's Gardeners' World reminded us that this is the time of year to plant bulbs for next Spring. Mr C and I made the most of a recent special offer at B&Q to buy some bulbs, but we hadn't yet got round to actually putting them in the ground yet.We only had a short time available on Saturday morning in the garden, but we made the most of it to make a start planting the bulbs we had brought. We made a start with some snowdrops that we planted in the grass around the base of a couple of what we believe to be damson trees in the garden. There are ... read more
Herbs and heather
Bearing in mind we only went for some grass seed it was quite a haul that we came home with.Our planting in the garden is a tad haphazard at the moment in that we just happen to see things that we like, buy them and then try and work out where is best to plant them. One area where I am applying a bit of a theme is around the decking. At one end is the large rosemary that was here when we moved in and around the rest of the deck I'm following it with other herb type plants.A couple of types of lavender have already been planted, but over the weekend I also added another shade of purple ... read more