Garden Adventures

Photo Journal

2011-05-19T12:19:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy few months and I have not been keeping up with this blog very well. Does it matter? I am not sure. But here's a smattering of photos taken since I last posted.

Red Nose Day Cookies

Pip's first loaf of bread


What happens when you tell 3 boys to go get dressed for school... Pirate School, anyone?

Cinnamon Rolls, made with apple & cinnamon flour

Monkey in a tree

Cats in the laundry basket

Pip and I at Whitby Abbey

Rock pooling with the tide WAY out

Finding sea-snails

Successfully climbed Roseberry Topping

Country Walks on Sunny Bank Holidays!

Banner made with 7-11yr olds at church

Will I get better at keeping up? Don't know... watch this space!

Cats!

2011-03-12T17:39:00.000Z

We have been promising the boys a dog and a cat for the longest time. Since I was pregnant with Spikey. I said there was no way I could have a baby and a dog, but that by the time Pip was 10 he would be old enough to look after his longed-for dog. It was a deal.

Then a couple of years down the road Dude says he wants a cat. Ok. We'd get them at the same time. A puppy and a kitten who could grow up together and learn to love each other too!

And this April Pip turns 10. So it is The Year of the Dog (at least in our household). We would need a small to medium sized dog, good with kids and good with cats. A puppy, or a young dog.

All was going to plan until yesterday. I went to the RSPCA to check out their rescues, and ... no smallish dogs. German Shepherds, Huskies... BIG dogs. And the youngest was 4 years old. And all very barky. Hmmm...

I went to see the cats. They were lovely, and especially lovely were a pair of kittens, 4 months old, a brother and a sister. But they were to be rehomed together. I didn't think that I would be able to swing a pair of cats AND a dog... sigh.

But when I told Pip about the dog situation and said we would probably have to start looking to buy one (we had really hoped for a rescue)... unless he would go with a cat instead. I threw in the comment that a cat could sleep on his bed, but a dog would have to live downstairs. I really didn't think he would go for it. He has been talking about a dog for FIVE YEARS! But it was as easy as letting him know that the cat could sleep with him and he was sold! Wow!

So today we went back, bang on 11:30, as they opened, to see if 'our' kitties were still available. And they were! We filled in a form, and went to have a look at them, and a play and a cuddle. They are SO sweet! They were called Spencer and Rose, but we are changing their names to Smokey and Dinah. After a home visit within the next week or so, we can go and get them! We are very excited - even Pip! Who knew he was such a cat-person!

So this is Smokey

And this is Dinah. And don't worry, they'll be inside cats, so our garden birds will be safe.

Projects

2011-01-31T15:03:00.000Z

On Saturday, after our walk, we participated in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, and here are our results:

Blackbirds - 7

Collared doves - 2

Greenfinches - 7

Robins - 1

Blue tits - 2

Dunnocks - 1

House sparrows - 7

Carrion crow - 1

Chaffinches - 2

Longtailed tits - 3

Woodpigeons - 1

Coal tits -1

Great tits - 2

Wrens - 1

Compare this with last year's results and it looks pretty good. The only thing we didn't have from last year that I expected to have (since they still visit the garden) is goldfinches. We also have a couple of pairs of bullfinches which drop by every few days, and it would have been nice to see them, but ho hum... No magpies this year either, but that's no great loss since they are big bullies towards the little birds.

We are also going to participate in the Journey North Mystery Class, which I found out about via a lovely blog called Four Green Acres. She homeschools her daughters and this is one of the projects they take part in, and I thought it looked fascinating. Today is the first day we have to take readings.

We'll let you know how it goes.

Frosty Saturday

2011-01-29T15:50:00.000Z

Cod-Beck Reservoir, above Osmotherly


Ice on the water. We had such fun tossing things onto it!

Thick frost on the other bank

Where sheep may safely graze

Just before one of them got a welly-full of water...


Just after the welly-water incident. Guess who it was...


Doing the RSPB's Big Garden-bird Watch

Promises

2011-01-23T17:18:00.000Z

It's been a lot warmer recently, despite some serious overnight frost, and we are starting to see the consequences. There are bulb spikes appearing all over the place - yippee! Pots that have been buried in snow, crushed into submission and completely neglected all winter are sending up green shoots. Under the skeletons of the roses there are tiny chive shoots and snow-drop spikes. It is very exciting. We have rounded the corner, we are in the home stretch. It is winter-spring and soon it will be genuinely, truly SPRING, which is always worth celebrating!

We are looking forward to rhubarb, to snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, snakeshead fritillaries, to apple blossom and cherry blossom, to new leaves and warm sunshine, to playing barefoot in the garden in a carpet of daisies and dandelions, to planting beans and peas and peppers and tomatoes and sunflowers...

It's going to be a good year. I can tell.

What are you looking forward to?

Christmas visitors

2011-01-06T13:20:00.000Z

Other than the usual suspects of friends and relatives including batman, a dinosaur, a Great Uncle and a Grandad...

we have also had some more unusual visitors over the 'holiday period'.

A Water rail!

Can you spot the hiding bird?

Can you see him now?

And then there was the flock of waxwings that swooped in and stripped the bushes just outside of the garden of their rosehips.

Thanks to the RSPB's bird identifier for helping us figure out what we were looking at!

Pip got a book on stop-motion animation so there have been some disturbing things happening to little modelling-clay men...

We also went to London to visit some friends and to see the Egyptian Book of the Dead at the British Museum, which was very cool. No pictures, not allowed to take any, and don't want to pinch from their website, but go and see the link, and go to the exhibition if you can!

Sorry about the terrible formatting on this post. I have tried and tried to make things go where I want but they have been flatly refusing and I have had to throw up my hands in defeat.

Sunsets

2010-12-12T17:41:00.000Z

The sunsets have been extraordinary recently.

Sledging

2010-12-06T16:29:00.001Z

We had a big thaw over the weekend (yay!) and the roads are mostly clear, and so with the prospect of the snow actually going and the fact that the roads in the countryside were navigable we thought we'd better get out there and enjoy it while it lasted! So we went out in search of a big hill to slide down.

And we found one.

It was fun, but since then the great freeze has descended upon us again. No fresh snow (which means that the roads are still clear and the schools are open again - do a little happy dance!) but it is Very Cold:

Last night

This morning

England isn't usually a country of extremes. We are moderate. Extremes are unseemly. This is Very UnBritish...

But I am happy with it as long as schools stay open!

Too Much Snow

2010-11-30T17:25:00.002Z

It started snowing on Wednesday night. And it has continued snowing, on and off, since then. I like snow. I really like snow. What I don't like is when it means that I can't send my children to school. I love my children, but there really is too much of a good thing. I am not getting much done. Well, nothing that resembles work anyway. There has been a lot of snowman building, a lot of putting on snow clothes, a lot of taking off snow clothes, a fair bit of sledging, and walking to and fro in the snow... but... I would really like to get back to our regularly scheduled programming, thank you very much. Life needs to go on!

We had an unknown visitor to our snowman one night...

And lots of well known visitors too

And now for something completely different: Garden Boy has been making pickled chilis again.

The recipe, if you are interested is by Louisa Eades

Three things

2010-11-26T19:21:00.003Z

It has been snowy.

The children have been excited.

(Taken at 7:15 am!)

I have been baking.

Cranberry cake

Tiger bread

Playing Catch-up

2010-11-13T17:51:00.008Z

It's been a while. I have no excuses, really. There's just been other things in my life taking priority. Either too much to say, or nothing to say. And nothing's going on in the garden. So there have been no 'Garden Adventures'.

But anyway. We had a really good weekend away at the end of October with a group of friends. We went to stay in a big Victorian house in Moffat. A hostel-type deal. And it was fantastic. Plenty of space for kids to play, an indoor sports hall/ basketball court and table tennis room, plus lots of room for grownups, and a big kitchen.

And the countryside around there is gorgeous:

Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall

St Mary's Loch

And today, while GardenBoy had to 'waste' a gorgeous sunny, warm November day at a conference we decided that these sort of days are to rare and precious to waste, so we went to the beach to hunt for fossils. We were lucky and the tide was WAY out so we walked along under the cliffs, fossil hunting, all the way to the end (nearly) before we got hungry and went back for our lunch.

View back towards Saltburn

After lunch we came back and made a Super Sandcastle, complete with a plastic bag flag we had found under the cliffs.

It was a Good Day.

Today

2010-10-04T11:14:00.004+01:00

Here are today's activities:

I helped to organise and run a Funday for 7-11 yr olds over the weekend, and one of the things* we did was make bird-feeders out of old juice cartons. We have lots of left-over cartons, so I thought I would do one myself...

These are the ones that Pip and Dude made at the Funday... and the birds were using them yesterday! Love it!

The other major project for today is to burrow through the mountains of laundry. It is a bright, sunny day, so I am taking a risk and putting washing on the line... perhaps for the last time this year?

Look who I found out there in the sunshine! Such a lovely day - must get out for a walk in it!

* If you are interested, the other things we did (theme St Francis of Assisi and caring for creation) were:
- planting bulbs in pots
- making prayer-flags with different coloured cloth representing different aspects of creation (like good Christians over the ages we pinched a good idea from another culture and adapted it to our own use!)
- learning to identify 12 common trees using the idial from the Woodland Trust's kid's club
- playing bird bingo, courtesy of images from the RSPB bird identifier pages

September

2010-09-28T20:52:00.004+01:00

I have been busy.

And rather uninspired by the garden.

It is the end of things... It's cold out there. No frost, but distinctly chilly and damp. Not welcoming.

When I do go out it is usually to pick caterpillars off the romanesco broccoli that Dude insisted we plant. They start out as TINY seeds, and in one season look what happens! Hope we actually get something to eat from all that!

And yet, things are still happening. Our tomato plant has been great this year! Amazing, really. I grew it against a south-facing wall, so I guess it soaked up a lot of warmth that way. Which is good, since my attempt to give it a plastic version of a green-house did. not. work. Rather TOO windy. Oh well. It still managed to produce loads of tomatoes, which are ripening mostly outside, and then being brought in to sit in a brown paper bag with a friendly banana to finish ripening.

The chili pepper, which you can see next to the tomato plant in the grow-bag came up trumps too! Came back from holiday and it had 2 red ones and 10 green ones on it! After a sample Garden Boy decided that they were too hot to eat as they were, and so he pickled them... and after a month he has a verdict - very good! He is now planning to pickle chilis from the supermarket since his home-brew is just like the ones he can get 'back home' in Oklahoma... he's a happy boy now.

We have had two of our three apples. The Redsleeves was picked at the right time and was just right. Crunchy, sweet and appley. Not really enough tang for my taste, but a lovely texture and a good apple.

The Saturn got blown off or something. Anyway, it was on the ground and still too small. Which is a shame. A pretty little thing, but definitely not ripe.

The Crispin is still on the tree and is due off at the end of October.

I think it is quite interesting and surprising that I chose them because they all flowered at the same time, and so could cross-pollinate each other... and yet Redsleeves ripens end of August, Saturn end of September and Crispin end of October. I am quite pleased with this staggering since we won't be swamped with apples all at once, but it was certainly luck not planning!

We have been feeding the birds again, and you know what? I think they missed us. Or the food. Cupboard love... But look, here's a picture I took the other day (should have turned the flash off first - apologies!). I count around TWENTY goldfinches! That's excessive from anyone's point of view...

Hi honey...

2010-09-03T21:34:00.003+01:00

.... we're hooooome!

The garden is overgrown and so many things need a serious prune, but there have been no deaths, thank goodness.

The broccoli is huge, but all leaves. Holey leaves, but small holes, thanks to sustained caterpillar massacre from my stand-in gardener-friend.

The tomatoes have LOTS of tomatoes on them. All green, but a good size, and hopefully they'll ripen!

The strawberry plants have sent runners everywhere, but are looking lush and happy and will no doubt produce well next year (I hope!).

The apples have one very pretty apple each. Can't wait to taste! How can you tell when an apple is ripe??

I don't dare take pictures to show you though, because my computer will have a breakdown. I have overloaded it with so many pictures that it doesn't even have enough space to defrag itself... I have ordered an external drive to free up some space, but until that arrives... no extra pictures to stress it out!

Intermission

2010-08-04T22:42:00.004+01:00

We are on holiday. Or as they say over here, vacation. We are visiting the grandparents in Oklahoma and having a lovely time filled with sunshine and good food... and a lot of HOT.
It is consistently at or near 100F (37C) so we are spending a lot of time in the swimming pool or inside in the airconditioning. I just wanted to give you some pictures to give you an idea, and then leave you alone until September.

Midsummer Garden

2010-06-24T20:34:00.011+01:00

It's mid-summer. And as such I thought I should give you a tour/ make a record of what is growing and flowering in our garden at the moment.

The poppies are outstanding. Every year they cross polinate and self seed everywhere. I love seeing where they'll end up and what mix of genes we'll get this time. It's always different and yet always perfect.

What do you think of that bizarre purple one?!

Our rosebed, which we inherited when we moved in, is full of beautiful and huge flowers. There doesn't seem to have been a colour scheme though. It's a riot of clashing colours but they all smell fantastic, and they are all beauties. So I don't mind at all... in fact I only noticed when I was taking the picture. (Isn't it funny how you see things differently when you are looking through a viewfinder?)

I have several Allium Christophii growing between the roses... towering above the chives, which are just like miniatures of these fantastic alliums. They are such gorgeous flowers - and the bees love them (just like they love the chives) which is a wonderful bonus. And then there's the self seeded violas... I just love self seeders.

And over in the veg patch:

Raspberries (untended with grass growing among the unpinned stalks) and strawberries (we didn't have any straw so I substituted shredded paper. Seems to work just fine!

Tomatoes and a chili pepper in the plastic-house. Doing quite well!

And a happy, smiley little Spike - also growing like a weed!

Happiness is...

2010-06-23T14:50:00.005+01:00

...camping and fresh strawberries
We went camping last weekend. It was great... a big gang of kids ranging from 11 to nearly 2. Lots of space to play, no rain and even some sunshine(!). We barbecued, we toasted marshmallows, we talk, ate, drank, played guitar and UNO.
There were skylanterns floating high overhead on our first evening. After the third we thought we would go and investigate. They were handing them out and the kids got to release some too. They were made out of paper, rather like those paper lamp shades you can get. A fuel cell (for lack of a better word) was lit at the bottom and they had to stand there and wait until the hot-air-balloon section had filled with enough hot air. Then on the count of three (it took about three people to hold it it was so big!) they let go and it floated quickly up into the night sky. Then the wind took it and blew it away... it was beautiful to watch.
I have just been out strawberry picking for the first time this year. I went to our usual Castle Eden farm (07802 910255) last week, and there was a sign saying 'next week'. So I went back today, and voila!

They had changed the field though, which surprised me, and when I talked to the girl she said that the late frost had caught most of the flowers on the old field. The field the were picking from this year was the maiden plants which weren't supposed to be 'brought online' until next year, but needs must.

And as maidens they were holding their own. You could tell that they were young plants and that it was early in the season, but I still managed to get myself a basket without much trouble.

So hopefully there will be some left over to make some strawberry icecream with my new icecream maker!

Just so you know...

2010-06-10T14:21:00.003+01:00

1. My Dad has gone home now.
2. It is also raining in Barbados, before you get all jealous of him.
3. The temperature has gone down from 28C to 12C since Saturday.
4. My garden is looking decidedly bedraggled after All. That. Rain!
5. I killed about 30 snails on Sunday night.
6. I also spotted a hedgehog eating leftover Yorkshire Puddings I had thrown out for the birds!

So not all bad. But could be better/warmer/dryer. After all, it is JUNE, people!

Half Term Heaven

2010-06-07T11:00:00.004+01:00

We've had such a great Half Term.

The weather was wonderful. Warm and sunny and just perfect.

My Dad was with us for the whole week, all the way from Barbados! He had been over visiting the continent and exploring the Alps with friends, and a visit to us was the grand finale before heading home in a few days. So it was wonderful that the weather co-operated and the boys were off school. It all came together nicely.

We even had my Aunt come and visit too, for the first time since before Christmas, so that was special too.

Since the weather was so extraordinarily good we made the most of it and went out walking in the hills and countryside around us.

We introduced them to Geocaching, which we don't do a lot, but we really enjoy it when we do manage to get out and do it. When you have time, and lovely places to explore, as we did, it's perfect. We went on old favourite walks, and looked for 'treasure', and we went on new walks in places we had only driven past on the way to somewhere else and found Treasure.

We watched the wind rippling across green fields. We watched tractors mowing hay. Making hay while the sun shone. We smelled the gorse and marvelled at the incongruity of the Malibu-Beach coconut suntan lotion smell in the North York Moors. We listened to larks and tried to spot them against the deep blue sky. We ate ice-cream and picnics and lay on the grass surrounded by wild-flowers.

It was a wonderful week spent in beautiful places with dearly loved family in gorgeous weather. I can only hope your week has been as good as ours.

Glorious

2010-05-19T13:37:00.005+01:00

So after the last post where I was Bad Gardengirl I decided something needed to be done.
And since the weather yesterday was nothing short of perfect (shorts! t-shirts! sunglasses!) I got my butt in gear and started doing things.

In my defence it's not like I haven't been doing things all along, it's more that it taaakes foreverrrrr.... Everything takes SO much longer than you would believe!

So. Yesterday.

Dug over last year's onion bed to make it a home for the last remaining strawberry plants. The others had been planted a few days earlier into the raised beds that used to be drawers (remember them?). I had planted shallots (why?? mini onions which means you have to peel, like 6 of them to have enough for anything! Pain. In. The. Butt!) and asparagus (which died... or failed to grow at all... sad sad sad) in them last year. So we have strawberry plants. Probably WAY too late and we may not get much from them this year, but hopefully they'll do something and then we are ahead of the game for Next Year. Hmm...

Continued to dig, weed and de-stone the rest of the veggie patch. I swear it's like I never grew anything there ever before. Where do all the stones come from? Do they grow too? I picked out a bucket-full just yesterday! Did I not notice them last year? How?!

Resurrected last year's beanpoles and started creating the trellis for the peas, at which point: STRING! Took my string to church for some craft thingy and never got it back, which means I am stringless and unable to finish the bean-pole project. WaH! But since I am on such a roll I gather my minibeast hunting offspring up and we scooter over to our neighbourhood mega-store and buy some STRING, which allows me to finish that project and get the wee pea-lets into the ground. Yay me!

Also got the bedding plants in which had been sitting around for a week looking sadder by the day. Now they are in their new homes and all they have to do is get big and lovely and grow lots of purdy flowers which the happy bees and butterflies will love.

So here you go, evidence of productivity!
Oh, and by the way, the baby robins have fledged! Maybe Momma and Poppa Robin will manage a second brood? We have some version of a tit (blue? great? too small and quick to tell) nesting in the nestbox at the end of the garden. Which is very cool. Maybe they are all making up for lost numbers during the winter? We've never had so many nesters in our garden.

Busy garden

2010-05-11T19:22:00.004+01:00

Look who's nesting in our garden! We have an extractor fan by the back door. It doesn't work, and never has. One of the vent covers on the outside is missing, and the other day we realised that some friends had decided that it was a Des-Res! We had a quick peek while Mom & Dad were out and two little mouths opened wide - so we skedaddled and left them alone. We have been able to watch from the kitchen as the parents fly back and forth all day long with beaks full of worms. It's SO cute!
It's spring, don't you know, and so all over the garden things are happening. Not just in the nesting department. The apples are in blossom - nothing quite like apple-blossom, is there?
Except for Garden-Boy's favourite flower, the cornflower. We have lots. He would happily let them take over the entire garden.
And how can you not love these bright, cheery, colourful flowers! Tulips may just be my favourite flower. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em!
And so, after months of neglect I am back in gear and doing some serious gardening. I have been weeding the flower-beds thoroughly, which is a Big Deal. We have Snowberries (what's their official name? I don't know. They have white berries about the size of large blueberries, and they send up runners/suckers everywhere. Leave them alone and they will take over your garden). We have been trying to get rid of them, which is not easy. It takes a lot of digging and vigilance. They come up through the grass, through the plants you actually want, everywhere. And then there's couch grass and creeping buttercups... I am a Bad Gardener. It hasn't been pretty.

But I am trying to remedy this. I think, like the robins, I am suddenly in the midst of an irrepressible urge to tend things. Not my children, of course, who are still being raised according to the benign neglect/free range method. But my garden... weeding, digging out unwanted bushes and stones, digging in sand and compost, planting lovely perennials, sowing seeds (everything from gourds, tomatoes and peas to butterfly-friendly flowers that came with the latest issue of National Geographic Kids). It's looking a lot better, but there is still a long way to go.

And I MUST get those strawberries in! But first, of course, I need to finish weeding the veggie patch and dig in all that sand and manure! Urg. And the pea seedlings are ready to be planted up the yet-unconstructed wigwam...

So to distract you (and me) from those unfinished jobs, here's a bedtime serenade from Spike:

Roman Holiday

2010-05-02T18:53:00.008+01:00

We went, we saw, we conquered, we returned unscathed. The long distance driving was fine, and we were glad we did it that way, Icelandic Volcanos being considered! The boys were excellent and we just stopped when we needed to. Small bribes were used when necessary, and everyone ate more junk-food and sweets than normal.

The route down from Annemasse to Assisi we had planned to go via Florence (the central route) but the GPS said to go on the coastal route (via Genova). Word to the wise. Don't go that way. Very, very hilly and you spend the day driving through tunnels. The Italians are very fond of tunnels... not a very nice way to drive. Go for the central route every time. We did it on the way back and it was just fine... very easy drive.

Our holiday house (Chez Raz) was fantastic, and I can recommend it to anyone wanting some space to breathe outside of Rome. Velletri is on the trainline and it is very easy and cheap to get into central Rome. Chez Raz is spacious and has a big garden with a big trampoline, a ping-pong table, a foosball table, two friendly, dopey labradors, two friendly, dopey donkeys, oranges and lemons growing in the gardens, grapes and olives growing in the garden and just outside... idyllic, and just what the boys (and we) needed after a day stomping around Rome. And the owners are lovely too. Paola is Roman and her husband, Paul is Scottish... so they speak English (handy for us!) and are very friendly and welcoming. Accessible without being intrusive.

So here are some photos to entertain you:
Choosing icecream in Annecy
Assisi
Cluny. Stopped there on our return journey. Had the best meal of the whole trip in a little restaurant there... lamb... divine!The Forum
PompeiiPipsqueak on the beach for his birthday. His day, his choice.

Preparations

2010-04-02T15:40:00.002+01:00

On Easter Day, right after church, we are hopping in the car and setting out on an epic journey... from the North East of England all the way to Rome! With three children in tow!

Call me crazy, but I am really looking forward to it.

I have been downloading all sorts of podcasts, and borrowing CDs from the library and making copies to entertain us in the car on the way down. All sorts of things from Winnie the Pooh to Horrible Histories, from Lake Wobegon Days to Famous Five, from silly Michael Rosen poetry to 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'.

It's going to take us 4 days to get there, so we need to take lots to listen to!

We are stopping for one night in Assisi on the way down, which will be lovely, and then we are staying for a week in a house we found (via the internet) in a town called Velletri, south of Rome. With donkeys in the garden!!!!! How cool is that?!

We are planning trips to Pompeii, the Vatican, perhaps Ostia Antica, probably the Via Appia Antica, as well as all the must-sees in Rome itself, like the Coloseum, Forum, San Clemente, Spanish Steps, Campo dei Fiori, Trevi Fountain etc etc etc. No doubt there will be lots of ice-cream and pizza involved.

Pip's birthday will be while we are out there, on the Sunday, and I hope to get some lamb from a local butcher and roast/barbecue it. Yum. We'll see how that goes!

On the way back we are making a stop at Taize... we went years ago, pre-kids, and it will be nice to drop in, even for a few hours.

So anyway, that's what we're going to be up to for the next few weeks.

I hope you all have a joyful and peaceful Easter.

Walking on Sunshine

2010-03-04T11:09:00.002Z

Look! It's starting!

Things that make you go ahhh...

2010-02-21T16:38:00.002Z

As you know I am not a big fan of mud. Or sleet. Or cold rain (although warm, tropical rain is quite exciting and fun to play in).

SO

In an attempt not to be such a party-pooper-blah-bringer here are a few photos taken recently of things that have been really cool:

Fantastic Sunrise... and I was even up early enough to see it AND conscious enough to photograph it!

Pip was ever so proud of the lego pyramid he built...

Static Fantastic! - Spike had fantastic SPIKEY hair from playing under a parachute

Have you ever seen such an excited face? We were tossing pancakes and The Dude couldn't wait for us to say GO!

And we had great excitement in the garden this afternoon when 'our' sparrowhawk and 'our' crows decided to vye for dominance in the garden. Get lost, this is my garden! No, it's mine and I'll teach you to be so insolent!

The blackbirds and other smaller birds were not pleased with any of it and flapped and squawked frantically from bush to bush trying to hide as none of them fancied becoming the sparrowhawk's dinner!

Look at her all puffed up against the miserable sleet. I almost hoped she'd catch something. She must be hungry. It will soon be mating and nesting season so she needs to build herself up.
Anyone down there? Dinner, perhaps?

Waiting

2010-02-18T11:12:00.002Z

So far February hasn't been living up to much... the tail end of winter. The toenails, as we used to call the last little bit of beer left in the bottle that had gone all warm and nasty when I was a wild (?) University student...

So we are at the toenails of winter... waiting for it to shed the mud and muck and emerge from its gungy old chrysalis into the glory of spring.

And like the last weeks of pregnancy it is the longest, most boring time. There are hints of what is yet to come (the Braxton Hicks contractions?). We have snowdrops. We have a few, brave crocus buds (which haven't opened because we haven't had any actual sunshine). We have daffodil leaf buds. We have some tiny, fuzzy pussy-willow buds. We have a few catkins braving the weather.

But most of all what we have is mud. And rain. With the odd interjection of sleet. Which does nobody any good at all. Honestly.

Anyone feel like joining me in a round of 'why are we waiting'?

In the meantime we have been enjoying our half-term break by lounging in our pyjamas, having friends to play, participating in the Armchair Winter Olympics (where we are headed for a gold medal!) and generally lounging about. Interspersed with bouts of racing around outside... the boys were playing Family Olympics outside the other day... obstacle courses and silly rules. Burned off a lot of energy which helped everyone's sanity levels!

Still... looking forward to life a month from now. At least the days are getting significantly longer! Every mud puddle has a silver lining!

And the results are in!

2010-01-30T11:43:00.005Z

We've just done it, Pip and me... our annual contribution to the Big Garden Birdwatch. (Ok, so we did it last week too, but that was just a practice run!)

We woke up this morning to a light covering of snow, which made everything look pretty again, which was nice. I was extra pleased though because last week it was quite warm when we did the Watch and compared to the numbers of birds we had been seeing over the past few weeks when it was freezing we hardly saw any birds. So the snow this morning meant that it was cold out there - which hopefully would mean we would see more birds.

And since we have last week's Bird-Watch information I thought I would record both for comparison's sake:

Sat 23
Blackbird 4
Robin 1
Dunnock 2
House sparrow 6
Carrion crow 1
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 2
Greenfinch 1
Blue tit 2
Great tit 2
Magpie 1

Sat 30
Blackbird 5
Robin 2
Dunnock 3
House sparrow 5
Carrion crow 2
Chaffinch 2
Goldfinch 5
Greenfinch 3
Blue tit 1
Great tit 1
Magpie 2

And our bonus extra bird this week was that we saw Mr & Mrs Bullfinch!!! So lots of finches and hardly any (well, 2) tits! We do see lots of tits generally, so not sure why this week and last week they have been low.

False Alarm

2010-01-23T16:16:00.002Z

Ok, I'm wrong. It happens every now and then.

The Big Garden Birdwatch is NEXT weekend...

Don't know how I got it into my head that it was this weekend... but it's not. So you still have a week to stock up on birdseed. If you haven't already, start feeding them now so they get used to the idea that there's food available in your garden.

And next weekend I am going to haul my butt out of bed at 8am so I can get the best chance of seeing lots.

Great Garden Birdwatch Weekend

2010-01-23T11:41:00.004Z

This is it. The weekend of the RSPB's Great Garden Birdwatch.

I only turned on the computer to print out the counting sheet, and to remind those of you in the UK to sit in a window with a cup of coffee (or tea, juice, water or gin if you prefer) and count the birds that visit your garden. All the instructions are here so please join in! Last year we saw a sparrowhawk make off with a sparrow in our very own garden! Such excitement! Who knows what we'll see this year... I am hoping our woodpecker will visit, and perhaps the bullfinches?

So off I go... to top up the feeders before I boil the kettle for my cup of hot.

Good News and Bad News

2010-01-12T20:53:00.003Z

Look who came to visit me today! I am so excited! Gorgeous Mr Bullfinch, at last we meet!

He came the other day too, but I didn't manage to get a picture...

And if you're wondering, yes, I am very disappointed that the snow is almost all gone, there is no prospect of more, and all the Met Office can offer me is leaden skies and rain, which means mud until spring. I no longer crunch my way over to the bird feeders, I squelch and try to avoid huge puddles.

I don't care what anyone says...

2010-01-09T15:02:00.008Z

... we just love the snow!

I know it causes travel trouble, but look outside! It's just so PRETTY!

I am tired of everyone moaning about being fed up with the snow. It's great! Yes, it's cold.

But guys... it's winter! It's supposed to be cold! Just think about all the bugs it's killing off with this freeze. I remember one winter recently when it was so warm that the caterpillars were still munching on my plants in January! Now THAT'S not right!

And this cold weather has been such a bonus for us garden-bird watchers. We've had loads in our garden eating all our food, and a lucky friend has even had bullfinches in hers!

This morning's feeding frenzy after I had refilled the feeders.
A chaffinch being its gorgeous self.

A group of shy-er ground feeders nibbling on crushed fatballs under the hebe bushes.
The bossiest and most charming of all our garden birds. Just look at how he's giving me the eye while I snap this shot! Cheeky!

Veggie-planning

2010-01-07T10:39:00.004Z

Winter is traditionally, in the gardener's year anyway, the time for seed catalogues. And I suppose I really should get on that...

I have been in a bit of a gardening funk recently though. Nothing did brilliantly last year. The peas were ok, but not as good as the year before. The runner beans from my Grandad's garden survived, but weren't exactly prolific. The potatoes were fine, but I never managed to get them all dug. There are some still in there now, probably turned to mush under all the snow and frost. Except for the ones that are going to come back and haunt me with volunteer potato plants for years to come. The onions were fine. The garlic was fine. The shallots were fine, but so fiddly I can't imagine why anyone grows them. The asparagus died. Blah blah blah...

The trouble is that we go away for 2 weeks in the summer, just when the plants need most tlc, or when they are at peak production... whatever. We always get it wrong. I always get it wrong. So what's the point? Blah blah blah...
And this summer we are taking the boys to visit the American grandparents... for the whole of August (well, GardenBoy is going to join us for the last couple of weeks, but it'll be me and the three boys out there for a month). Which will be fantastic! But not for the 'garden left behind'.

So I haven't been able to work up much enthusiasm for seed catalogues.

I need to find crops that peak in June-July and then ones that need no attention all of August and then peak in September. Suggestions please?

I had thought about strawberries for the early crop, but apparently you need to get them in the year before. Oops.
Onions are always reliable, but not exactly exciting.
Potatoes I need to take a break from. Overdid it this year, as I said earlier, and besides, the rotation system of my small garden needs to have a potato-free year. And that means no tomatoes either... but then they were out anyway because they need attention in August.

Perhaps I'll have a big sweetcorn year. Pumpkins would be good except they need more heat than we're likely to get and I don't have a big pile of manure to sit them on. And the last big pile of manure I got was full of couch grass! Big mistake.

Maybe looking at a catalogue is just what I need... inspiration awaits!

My new toy

2010-01-05T16:20:00.003Z

This is what I got myself for Christmas...

It's a little, digital window-thermometer so I can see what the temperature is outside. It appeals to the scientist in me. I have a sneaking feeling that the temp right next to the house is just a bit warmer than the temp in the middle of the garden but it's a good rough guide. I may buy myself a traditional thermometer, perhaps with max and min readers and hang it on the 'bird tree' so I can check that when I go out to refill the feeders and compare. Hmm....

Am I boring? Yup, you got it. But then, you probably already knew that.

It's the little things that make life interesting... and for me, this is one of them.

So how about you? What do you love that your average man-on-the-street would think 'boring' about?

A breath of fresh air

2010-01-01T15:18:00.005Z

Christmas Day has come and gone again. And it was a 'white' Christmas, although snow didn't fall on the day there was snow on the ground. And it has fallen since, but not in such quantities as that last fall I talked about. But it was lovely, full of family, food and presents (oh, the presents!).

Spikey got up close and personal with his Great Grandma and explained the intricacies of Pingu, Wall-E and Monsters vs Aliens. Here he is demonstrating being an alien using some of his new Kid K'nex...
Today we decided we had been cooped up long enough and went out to the beach at Saltburn. GardenBoy took his Grandma for a drive while I took the three little monsters (or is that aliens?) out for a run on the beach. There had been a light covering of snow overnight so it was quite scenic. We wrapped up warm in waterproofs, wellies, fleeces, gloves, scarves, hats and coats and headed out to make sandcastles!

Pip took his turn with the camera and snapped this one of me with the snowy cliffs in the background. Not bad for his first try at photography, don't you think?

Then we decided to do our favourite Saltburn beach activity. We filled our buckets with stones and walked to the end of the pier to throw them at the waves (carefully missing the crazy surfers below). It had started to snow gently by then.

A nice man snapped a family portrait... by which time it was starting to snow more seriously.

This was the scene when we finally turned back to meet our GardenBoy and GardenGrandma in our nice warm car. The snow was pretty serious by then and sticking to the roads which were getting slippery already, so we decided to forgo the pub-lunch at the scenic pub in the moors and head for home. Has it snowed here? Not more than about 10 flakes... we were hoping for an afternoon sledding, but it isn't to be. Still, we had a nice lunch at a pub much closer to home.

And we are dry, warm and safe, and feeling like we actually DID something today.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you are all as warm, full and contented as I am.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T15:10:00.004Z

It snowed again last night, so after dinner we went out in it to play. (Snow is such a rare and precious treat for us that all normal routines are gone with the wind/blizzard.) This time it was the perfect snow for snowmen... We rolled a HUGE snowball, until it was too heavy to turn over again, and then rolled one nearly as big for the middle and then the head - which was nearly too high for us to lift it up. But we did it. We were very pleased with ourselves, and so in fine old tradition we began to pelt each other with snowballs... I am not a very good shot - almost as good as the kids, in fact, and so I got very cold down my back... ug!

By the time we brought everyone in for a bath we were freezing again, and they were whiny! Cold, tired and whiny! Great combo. Warm bath, warm pjs, hair dryer and bed...

And then I got the camera out again...

I had to get one of the eucalyptus covered in snow. I could title this What Nature Never Intended, I think.

And I was at it again, early morning... or, not so early because sunrise is pretty late mid-winter, but in time for the dawn colours.The birds were out eating again, and I got these shots of ground-feeders having a go at the crushed fat-balls and sunflower seeds I put out for them.

Funniest was the magpies which were stuffing their beaks with fat and then stashing it in holes in the snow... squirrels of the bird world! They were intimidating everyone who flew away from the saucer when they showed up. Until, that is, a collared dove came and started intimidating them. This is a picture of two magpies pretending that they don't want anything to do with that saucer and they would much rather have peanuts than fat, thank you.

Here is the snowman that we built last night, in the sunshine of this afternoon. It's as tall as I am.

And the setting sun (at 2:30) across a snowy field.

Icicles hanging from the church.

Our hedge and bin covered with snow. That's the depth of snow that fell last night. 3 inches or so.

And finally, our Christmas tree. Potted, so we can (hopefully) use it again next year.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

2009-12-19T14:58:00.007Z

As usual in this cold weather, my first task after hauling myself out of bed was to give the birds their breakfast. They were right on it!

It had snowed in the night, covering up the tracks made the day before, giving us a brand new piece of paper to scribble on.I stayed warm inside while my eager offspring bundled up and headed outside to throw snowballs at the windows.

After breakfast (hot porridge with brown sugar!) we went out sledding. There is a nice little slope about 100 yards away from the house... very convenient. We stayed out for a good hour before my toes were just far too cold and I insisted we all came in. There wasn't too much argument so I suspect they were cold too. Maybe it was the offer of hot chocolate...

But right after lunch they were out again, trying to make a snowman.

Unfortunately the snow is very crunchy. The kind that sticks to your gloves and not to itself. In Feb when we had our last snow it was perfect snowman snow. A small ball rolled around the garden gathered everything up to itself and we made a huge snowman...

This time, however... not so huge (bucket for scale):

So they turned their attention to sledding again. Well, not the downhill sort, but the pulling-each-other-around-the-parking-lot-next-to-the-house sort.

It was 2:30 and the sun was already starting to head low.

An hour later and this is the situation.

More snow is forecast for tonight, and the temperatures remain well below freezing, so I think this will continue for a few days. Luckily the roads are clear and we have no-where to go - until Tuesday morning that is, when we gather in our Grandma from the airport!

Woohoooo.....

2009-12-18T14:10:00.005Z

Hey, guess what? It actually snowed! A whole 2 inches or so... more in London and on the hills, I think, but here is where it counts.

So today, the last day of school, the boys went in wearing their wellies and have no doubt spent most of the day playing out in the snow - when they weren't in their classrooms playing games. What a way to end the term.

Spike has his nursery Christmas party this afternoon, complete with magician and a visit from You-Know-Who! He went in his wellies too.

This morning though we took a trip to Tesco to get more milk, and this was our mode of transport:

and we had some lovely visitors...

Real Snow Day?

2009-12-16T11:08:00.004Z

There has been a 'Severe Weather Warning' for our part of England...

Heavy Snow, Thurs 17 Dec

There is a moderate risk of severe weather affecting Eastern parts of England. Rain showers will turn increasingly to snow, especially during the late afternoon and evening. Accumulations of up to 5cm are likely with perhaps 10cm over hills.

Now, those of you reading in places where it really does snow a lot can just stop laughing now. Remember, we don't often get snow. This is cause for dismay/excitement depending on your age.

My family and I are in the 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeee................' camp! We know where our snow suits and sled are and we are ready! (And will be really disappointed if it just rains.)

What makes it all the more exciting is that Friday is the last day of school here, and it is traditionally a 'toy day'. They spend the day playing games they have brought and enjoying themselves... that is after such a hard week of Christmas parties, Christmas worksheets, finishing off Christmas gifts and cards, singing Christmas songs and going to the school Christingle. So a snow day at the end of the week will be just the most exciting thing and a wonderful way to start the Christmas holidays.

And here's a picture from our last snow, back in February. Just to get us all in the mood.

So, how's the forecast where you are?

SnowDays

2009-12-05T17:11:00.001Z

This is one of our favourite wintertime websites.

You get to make your own snowflakes...

Its easy and fun, you don't waste paper, and there aren't any little scraps all over the floor at the end.

Go on, give it a try!

Stones into Schools

2009-12-03T13:44:00.003Z

I am all excited! Greg Mortenson has a new book out. It's called Stones into Schools and it is on my Amazon wishlist!

His last one, Three Cups of Tea was amazing. He is amazing. What he does, and has done is amazing. And wonderful. HE should have got the Nobel Peace Prize, not Obama. Not that I have anything against Obama, but really, compared to what Greg has acheived...

Anyway, very excited about the prospect of this new book, and wanted to let you all know about it.

And if you order it from Amazon.com (not sure about .co.uk, maybe there too) the CAI (Central Asia Institute) which Greg founded and runs (with a little help from his friends) gets a whopping 7%. Which they are very pleased about... it makes me wonder how much (how little!) authors usually get from book sales!

Anyway, go find out about it, and if you haven't read Three Cups of Tea, please do. The generosity and kindness in it is wonderful. Amazing. Inspiring.

And go find out about the CAI and the work they do here!

Good News and Bad News

2009-12-01T12:04:00.002Z

The good news is that Spike is feeling fine, bouncy, playful, happy - in short his usual self.

The bad news is that his cough has returned and this morning he was wheezing a bit, so I called up and got him an appointment with a lovely doctor (every time we seem to see a different one... this one was really chatty and friendly - just right for a little boy who didn't want to be there in the first place!) that morning (again, thank you NHS). And his chest infection has returned and so he is back on another course of Amoxycillin. Hopefully this time it will clear up completely, but if it doesn't the Dr said to come and see him again.

While we were there we saw three other kids we know... it's that time of year. All the best kids are coughing, spluttering and dripping snot. Don't you wish you could be here?

Wet and Cold

2009-12-01T10:09:00.003Z

We needed more peanuts for our feeders, so I took Spike with me on a 'job' to go get some. And there was a deal that if you spent a certain amount on a particular brand of peanuts you got a peanut feeder free... no way we could pass that up! He chose an apple shaped one and he is very proud of his 'apple feeder'. Here is a very blurry picture of a tit investigating it...

To be honest they seem more interested in the one they were used to, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. For now it is just one adventurous tit braving the scary new thing in the tree!

But look who I got a picture of the other day! Our lovely Greater Spotted Woodpecker! He has been a regular visitor this winter. He grabs a peanut from the original (long) feeder and takes it to the stake next to the tree and hammers away at it. It's always a thrill to see him! And the frost this morning has brought them all flocking in. Nothing better than standing in the kitchen with a hot mug of coffee watching the birds and ignoring the housework... (there you go, a confession of a guilty pleasure!)

It has been pretty rainy over here in the past week or so.

Last week the North West of the UK got it all - Cumbria (the Lake District) was terribly flooded. This week it looks like it's our turn. This is what it's like just down the hill and 'round the corner from us. Those are newly built half-a-million houses there in danger of being flooded out. I wonder what the new inhabitants think about that! Living close to a river is lovely, but this close? Hmm...

Mouldy update

2009-11-22T21:35:00.002Z

Incase you were concerned, the mouldy ones are improving rapidly. Hooray!

I gave them their last dose of fever medicine last night at bedtime. They went to bed early, at about 6:15 (7 - 7:30 is normal) and Spike woke up at 7ish and 8ish... and I thought 'oh no! this is going to go on all night!' but that was it from both of them until after 7 this morning. So that's good.

They both came to church, and have eaten properly all day (a huge improvement on yesterday when Spike barely ate anything and Dude ate no lunch, just lay on the sofa feeling mouldy). There has been no fever since last night and they have been fine. Dude took himself to bed tonight at 6:45 and fell asleep before Spike came in after his shower, but considering that I was thinking I was going to have to take him to the doctor on Monday he is fine. I think he will even go to school tomorrow. He did his homework this afternoon, with no more complaints than usual, and has since been playing lego happily with Pip... perhaps a bit more tired than normal this evening, but otherwise just fine.

And the antibiotics have certainly done the trick for Spikey's chest infection. He was really poorly on Friday evening, coughing up great wads of phlegm (tmi?), totally miserable and very hot and sweaty. Today, after 2 full days of meds he is just fine. Snotty, sure, but not even coughing much, which is great!

So I am one relieved Mummy!

Thank God for the NHS - I got an appointment an hour after I called, was seen by a lovely nurse, and was home with the antibiotics (which were free because Spike is under 16) by 10:30am. And I got my (free!) flu jab that afternoon - and I had only booked in that morning when I was in the doctor's office! I know we pay for it with taxes, but 'what the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't yearn after!' The convenience and security is so worth it. One big reason to live on this side of the pond.

And that's as political as I am going to get. Nighty night, folks. I am off to listen to the sweet sound of children breathing peacefully in their sleep.

Mouldy Children

2009-11-21T19:44:00.003Z

Dude told me today that he was mouldy.

"Mouldy means", he said, "when you're not feeling very well."

An odd correlation, but I know where he's coming from.

Both Dude and Spike have a bad cough and a fever. Spike has been worse, and when I took him to see the 'nice nurse' on Friday she listened to his chest and said it was very congested and gave him some amoxycillin. He is improving a lot. Dude hasn't, and if he isn't much better by Monday I'm going to take him in to visit her.

Feeding Frenzy

2009-11-11T14:46:00.002Z

I filled up the sunflower feeder this morning (aka 'giving the birds their breakfast'). By lunch it was empty, so I went out a few minutes ago and refilled it, plus I topped up the peanuts and put two more fat-balls in that feeder too.

This so thrilled the birds that we had a veritable feeding frenzy on our hands! A huge flock of sparrows, FOUR goldfinches and a couple of greenfinches decended en-masse and the lot of them flapping around and jockeying for the best angle on each feeders. Amazing to watch.

Earlier we had been visited by our woodpecker, not once, but twice! He goes for the peanuts. And we had THREE collared doves moseying around on the grass below. I had only seen two before, so now I am wondering if this third might be a chick, all grown up now. Do collared doves mate for life?

I get such a lot of pleasure from these little guys. Worth every penny I spend on bird-food.

So Proud!

2009-11-09T20:31:00.002Z

Probably the proudest Cub Scout in the world...
Pip's Cub pack had a 'race night' tonight. They had been given a project. 3 weeks to turn a block of wood into a racing car... towards some badge or another. The variety of cars was incredible and there were prizes for all sorts of things - best wheels, fastest car, distance, originality, 911 look-alike... It was a lot of fun, and we raised money for Children in Need which is always a good thing.

And Pip-squeak won the 'best paint-job' prize! He was so proud of himself... I just wanted you to see.

Thoughts of a flea-brained mother

2009-11-08T20:07:00.003Z

Dude is on his way to being entirely toothless. Another one fell out on Friday while he was brushing his teeth, and yet another one is wiggly! I have warned him that it may be a diet of soup and porridge for him. He thinks it's hilarious - being gross is his favourite pass-time. Well, he is a 6 yr old boy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the bird-feeding-tree has lost all its leaves I have started re-filling the birdfeeders. We have fat-balls, peanuts, niger seed and hulled sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds go fastest, followed by fat-balls, then peanuts. Niger is a very poor last favourite. I rarely see any bird there. Even the goldfinches (Niger is supposed to be their absolute favourite) ignore it and scoff the sunflower seeds.
This morning I counted 7 species while eating my breakfast:
goldfinches, sparrows, chaffinches, greenfinches, a wren (ok, he was hopping on the fence behind the tree, but still), collared doves pecking at the spillages on the ground, and, joy of joys, a greater spotted woodpecker!!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Good mother/bad mother. You judge.

Bad:

Yesterday Pip had his bestest friend over for a serious Lego session, and what did I do? It was a gorgeously blue day, so I winkled them out of the bedroom and outside to help me fill my new leaf bags, which I ordered the other day. They weren't impressed and being press-ganged into child labour, although things looked up when I offered them 50p a bag (there were 5 bags) each to spend at the Church Fair that afternoon.

Good:

This evening Pip and I painted designs on his 'design a car' project for cubs. They got given a piece of wood, about 2.5" by 6" by 4", a few metal washers and the instructions to turn it into a car by adding bits/ taking away bits/ decorating it. They were allowed help since it was bound to involve saws... I now have red and yellow gloss paint on my fingertips from holding it in the wrong place. *sigh*

Tooth Update

2009-11-03T10:23:00.003Z

Dude's wiggly tooth has fallen out... so now he is entirely gap-toothed.

And wonder of wonders, the Tooth Fairy didn't 'get lost' last night and actually managed to leave a golden pound in exchange for the newest brick in her Tooth Castle. Way to go, Tooth Fairy!

Halloween

2009-11-02T11:16:00.006Z

Just thought you might like to see my Halloween gouls and ghosties:

They were very proud of themselves and enjoyed being scary...

And here is Dude with his pumpkin-teeth, just in time for Halloween he lost one and the other is so wiggly he can turn it around in his head. Quite disgusting, really!

Good News

2009-10-30T19:50:00.008Z

Well, after much trouble we found a microwave repair-man locally, and he managed to do the job in a day for £22. And considering that a comparable microwave would have cost about £122 we are very pleased.

Now we just have to work on getting a new oven. But at least we have something to cook food in if it finally gives up the ghost. Although it has been behaving well recently (which is why we still haven't managed to replace it).

We are on half-term in our neck of the woods, which means no school for a week.

We went with 50 of our nearest and dearest Church Family members to a Youth Hostel at New Lanark for the weekend. We took over the whole place and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There were about 20 kids and of course they enjoyed each other's company immensely.

It rained quite a bit while we were there, but that meant that we got to see the nearby waterfall of Corra Linn (the hostel overlooks the River Clyde) in both gentle

and torrential

modes!

After that we went over to visit a friend in North Berwick, just to the right of Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth. His garden backs onto the beach, and so the boys were in 7th heaven!

This was the view from our bedroom window. Lovely!

The Island of Fidra, which was the inspiration for RL Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' was just down the coast, and easily visible from the house. We visited the beach nearest Fidra one evening...

These sunset pictures were taken from the North Berwick beach, within minutes of each other. Look at how the colours change!

Appliance Suicide

2009-10-22T10:57:00.003+01:00

Our kitchen appliances are all dying, one by one. I am beginning to wonder if we have a gremlin! Or maybe they're complaining of overwork?

First, the fan in the fan oven is temperamental. It seems to only turn on when the oven temp reaches 'hot enough' (whatever that is, I don't know. I have just learned to turn it on and eventually the fan will kick in). We do have plans to replace the oven, but seeing as I am lazy I haven't done it yet. Bad idea to wait until it dies entirely? Probably, but hey...

May be definitely a bad idea, since our microwave seems to be giving up the ghost. When I say 'giving up' I mean, 'has given up and is just faking it'. It looks fine (no burn marks, no funny smells) it looks like it's working (turns, light on, makes noise) but nothing heats up. Hmmm.... Time to get a new microwave? Probably, but have you seen the price of microwaves these days? Yow! Beginning to wonder about calling a repair-man.

Which is exactly what we had to do for the washing machine last Thursday, when after acting wierd (stopping mid wash and not spinning) and being forced to spin a load of clothes that seemed clean, just sopping wet it started moaning loudly, followed by a burning smell... EEEK! Pull out from under shelf! Unplug! Unplug! Luckily we have this little beauty insured. We bought it when Pip was a wee baby and so it's now about 8 yrs old. It has had its drum changed, and its bearings changed already, so the insurance is worth it (also cheaper and more environmentally responsible than buying a new one). They sent out a nice man on Monday and he fixed it in 24 mins!!!! Apparently the motor had gone (hence the lack of spin) and in doing this it fried the control panel (behind the buttons) and the door lock mechanism (hence the burning smell). But lickety split it was all replaced and good as new...

Jubilation all 'round! Clean knickers once again! (tmi?)

So anyway, now considering the cost of calling a repair-man for the micro (surely less than buying a new one?) and which will be the best new oven for us... Our current (ancient - came with the house) model has the controls up high, against the wall above a 'back-splash' sort of thingy. Which means that little fingers can't fiddle. These days they seem to be built with all the controls just at the eye height of a 3 yr old... Brilliant design. Ho hum. Also want a A-rated one for energy efficiency. Which narrows the field.

Anyone (in the UK) have any recommendations for ovens?

Spiders and Dogs

2009-10-09T12:38:00.003+01:00

Look who we found scuttling across our kitchen floor the other evening. He was a biggie. You can tell because that's a drinking glass he's under! Dude christened him 'goliath'.

Spiders seem to be everywhere at the moment. If they're not making sparkly webs in the bushes (where they should be) they are wandering around the kitchen or hanging out in the shower. Not really the best place for a spider to be.

I don't mind spiders... I don't want to cuddle one, and I don't want one to walk on me... but in general I am happy to have them around, just at a distance. We have a pact. They don't bother me, I don't bother them... It even goes so far as the embarrassing fact that when at school they did a project about their pets (we don't have one) Pip did his about his pet spider! (I am sure there was an alternative project he could have done... children without pets would not have been ostracised!)

But never-the-less, I don't really want big hairy beasts sitting down at the kitchen table and demanding dinner. There are enough of those who I actually DO have to feed! So goliath got sent outside to hunt for his own dinner.

In other news: driving home from school the other day and Dude called from the back 'Mummy! Look! It's a rainbow sun!' And so it was... the conditions were right to produce a Sun Dog! It wasn't a brilliant one - and my photo of it is even less than brilliant... note to self: take a picture that includest the sun next time! In my defense it was quite small, and so I zoomed right in.

They are so amazingly cool, and we see them so rarely, and if the clouds change between when you spot it and when you find your camera, or someone to show, then it will have gone... so I rushed the job. Good thing I did though, because in this photo it is less bright than it was, and in the subsequent photos I took it was even less visible.

So there you go, your weekend activities: spider hunting and keeping an eye out for sun dogs...

Oh, just remembered... Pip is having a friend over tomorrow night for his very first sleepover... wish us luck!

Big Hint

2009-09-30T14:23:00.001+01:00

Another sign of Autumn? How about this for a can't-ignore-it hint:

Pavement Artists

2009-09-29T16:03:00.004+01:00

Signs of Autumn

2009-09-28T14:24:00.000+01:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Autumn...

Honeysuckle berries

Rose hips

Pyracanthus berries

Crab apples

Rosehips again

And of course the leaves... everything is in fancy-dress and out to impress.

Growing up

2009-09-24T12:21:00.004+01:00

Guess who started school today?

Not that he's very proud of himself or anything...

He ran right into the classroom like he owned the place and got right on with playing. I had to go after him to get a goodbye kiss! I am thrilled for him. I am pleased he is so confident that he doesn't even feel the need to say goodbye... he knows I'll come and get him. He knows where he belongs.

He had a great morning. He was lucky - they had an acting group come in and perform Peter Pan for the whole school. And tomorrow the nursery (which he is in) is having a 'Come As A Pirate' day with pirate activities and a treasure hunt!

He can't wait to go back tomorrow.

And here's the whole crew. Such big boys.

Popping Peas

2009-09-02T14:04:00.004+01:00

Our sugar snaps and mangetouts have gone all old and horrible. Probably as a result of not being taken care of during our sojourn in the sun. Perhaps they are sulking and complaining due to lack of sun. Anyway, they weren't producing anything and the pods they had on them were looking decidedly swollen and past it from the mange-tout point of view. So I picked them (with help of my beautiful assistant) and then had him remove all the peas and put them in a bowl to be incorporated into a chicken soup. He did very well, and was very proud of himself. A good job for a tiddler...

By the way, another good job for a tiddler who wants to help with supper prep is cutting up mushrooms. It generally doesn't matter what size the lumps are in or if they are neat and mushrooms can be cut with a butter knife. Perfect, and it is a genuinely useful job, which is great for both of you.

Hi Honey, We're Home!

2009-08-25T14:56:00.004+01:00

We made it back. Fabulous time... many, many stories, enough to write a book, but not right now...

Instead here are a few pics to give you a taster:

Applied lots of Sunscreen!

Cousins on the beach

Dude enjoying the push and pull of the waves

Spike and his big cousin jumping in the pool
Family photo from Cherry Tree Hill... Dude not looking, of course!
Bathsheba
Spike and his little cousin reading the warning signs

Fruit punches (Bentleys) at the Yacht Club

3 on the 3rd

2009-08-06T22:04:00.006+01:00

Little Spike is growing up... he's now a big 3 year old! And it was his 'magic' birthday - he turned 3 on the 3rd of August...

Chocolate cake for breakfast

Birthday party with friends

Checking out his brother's ears with his new Doctor Set...

He had a great day.

Thanks to everyone who was involved.

Taking a break from the blogging for the next couple of weeks. We are off to a family reunion in Barbados!! We have been planning this for two years, and we are so glad that none of us has come down with Swine Flu because we are GOING!!

Cake and Beans

2009-07-28T19:50:00.005+01:00

It's been a long time coming...

Garden Boy's birthday cake, that is.

But finally, today, I made it. And although it wasn't quite the aesthetic masterpiece (icing a little lumpy, cake very gooey so didn't hold well when cut) it was delicious - if I do say so myself. Not that I take much credit. I can follow a recipe like the best of them!

So thank you to Nigella Lawson and her Feast cookery book for the Chocolate Honey Cake... YUM!

Today I took Spike and Dude down to the allotment. Not to do any work, you understand, but just to check up on the poor neglected thing. We have had poorly tummies etc and to be honest I find it difficult to spend much time down there with my three little darlings. There isn't much to do that they want to do (dig weeds for 3 hours, boys?) so I spend my time fretting about them not getting nettled/ thistled/ stepping on my few remaining plants/ wandering off/ messing with the newts (newts!) in the communal water-butts etc...

But we went down today to look around, and, if you ignore the weeds that are thigh high in places it is actually not too bad. In parts. For example:

my butternut squashes, grown from seeds from a supermarket squash! Getting bigger all the time! And the borage which self-seeded from one we grew last year in the home-garden, which I transplanted - successfully! Hooray!

And the bed I did last time, and have since ignored: bordered with hand-me-down chives from a generous allotmenter and 25p tomatoes and sweet peppers (all of which said they would rather be in a greenhouse - which I don't have, so they have had to suffer the indignity of being outside in the real live weather!) which are growing nicely, and really could use a prop so they don't sprawl in such a slovenly manner.

And the calendulas are flowering very prettily... and the cosmos are getting nice and big, which means that not everything is being eaten by the slugs and snails... very promising!

After that I treated the boys to a trip to Butterfly World... nice and warm on a rather unpromising day. Full of beautiful butterflies, and I would have taken more pictures, but the camera batteries were dying and the focus was suffering because of that. The meerkats were a big hit too. They are such funny little creatures...

And last but not least, here is an update from the home-garden. The Cherokee beans and the Runner beans are getting tall and lovely. The Cherokees are producing beans, and the Runners are flowering like mad, but no beans from them yet.

Cherokee bean flowers and baby beans

Young Cherokee beans

Grampy's heritage Runner Beans, in flower

The mangetout and sugar-snaps, after a glut, seem to have quit almost entirely. I think some of them got something attacking the root systems, because they have totally died, gone all brown and crispy. Some of the survivors have also been suffering from leaf-miners. So they aren't looking too good, and not surprisingly, I guess, they haven't been producing well for the past week or so. Hmm...

Rainy Days and Birthdays

2009-07-19T11:43:00.004+01:00

As you can see from the water accumulated in the wheelbarrow, we have had quite a bit of rain recently. In fact, it started raining on Thursday around 4:30pm (I brought the washing in hastily as the first fat drops fell) and didn't stop raining until about 7pm on Friday evening. It poured and poured and poured. I couldn't believe that the sky hat that much water available to dump on us!

Still, the mangetout and sugar snaps like it, and they are putting out peas faster than we can eat them. We have a ziplock baggie in the fridge full, and we keep on eating them. The veggie of choice everyday, but they are growing faster than we can eat them. And we can eat them pretty fast, let me tell you.
Actually the mangetout are doing a lot better than the sugar snaps. They are far more prolific, and bigger, so although the sugar snaps are tasty I don't think I will bother growing them again because you get so much more pea-for-your-penny from the mangetouts! But that's by-the-by.

Yesterday was the GardenBoy's birthday. I was going to make him Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Honey Cake, from her Feast recipe book... But he was given a big chocolate cake from some friends... so I have promised to make him a cake later in the week when the gift-cake is finished. We went out to Betty's Tea Shop in Northallerton for his birthday treat... the whole lovely experience was topped off with a gorgeous Eton Mess for him, a mini lemon cheesecake for me, and milk-shakes for the boys.

It was all just too much for Spikelet. They all crashed out early and were still so full that they went to bed with no supper!

Smile!

2009-07-01T19:55:00.003+01:00

Look what I grew! A truly smiley 'smile potato'! Part of our first harvesting of the potato crop.

I have to admit that the only reason these ones came up (most of them were a bit on the small side) was that it was growing in a pot with another potato plant and was beginning to look a bit like a stunted twin with yellowing (not blighty) leaves, so I thought we'd have it out and let the other grow unimpeded. Have subsequently watered the remaining twin with tomato fertilizer, because apparently that's what they like... same family and all that jazz.

It has been hot and quite muggy here. Great weather for drying washing, but makes the plants (and general population) feel a bit wilty. Hence I have been watering the plants quite a bit and Spike has been playing with an old washing up sponge and a bucket of water in nothing but his undies. Splodging patterns all over the driveway. How great to be a child in summer...

Last night I went out with a torch and satisfied my lust for the sound of crunching snailshells... Where do they all come from? It wasn't the first night I had been out there massacring molluscs, and the paths are littered with the wrecked homes of other deceased gastropods. And yet there are always more. Which would explain why my beans are only 4 inches tall! Still, hopefully they'll regrow. There are new shoots and new twiney arms reaching upwards, but will they actually make it past the snail army? With my continued vigilance, we hope and pray for success.

No Ticks

2009-06-23T20:03:00.004+01:00

I have just been reading an update from the delightful blogger, June, over at Four Green Acres and this got me to thinking about something I don't generally think about. Ticks.

You know, that's one of the best things about living in the UK: the grass is generally critter-free. The Garden Boy is from Oklahoma, and when we go out there we have to watch for ticks and chiggers, but over here, feel free to lie in the long grass and count the buttercups. Apart from getting itchy and hay-fevery you won't do yourself any damage. Hooray!

I suppose you might get them if you go around cuddling sheep, or cows, or deer, or other wild animals, but generally, on a day-to-day basis in the garden, and even going for walks in the countryside through meadows and woodlands you don't even have to think about it.

Although I may regret writing this (are clouds gathering as I type?), you know what makes it really unfair? At the moment we are having the beautiful warm, sunny weather that June in her Four Acres is accustomed to for summer and that (so rumour has it) we don't ever get! So it's sunny, 70s, and (generally) no ticks and chiggers. Jealous yet?

Camping Report

2009-06-21T18:29:00.004+01:00

It was fabulous. Totally terrific. The weather co-operated perfectly. We had some light showers the first night, but in the middle of the night, and by the time we were up it was long gone. And that was it for wet weather (unlike last year...)

Saturday was intermittent sunshine, but no rain. We went to Fountains Abbey, which was wonderful, as always. We had huge gangs of kids with us, from a gaggle of 3-and-4 yr olds, a bunch ranging from 6 to 13, and a few teenagers. Most of them spent the whole time playing hide-and-seek and 'scare your parents' all over the ruins. We had a picnic lunch then walked down to the cafe at the end. Look at the view back to the abbey.

We ended the day with barbecues and toasted marshmallows. Needless to say the kids slept really well, and so did we, completely pooped out.

And today has been sunny the whole time. Sunburn weather, in fact! We took the tents down leisurely while the kids ran around playing on the play equipment, or in and out of the bushes that line the fields... they had 'dens' everywhere, and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom.

Camping

2009-06-19T13:12:00.002+01:00

Going camping with a great big group of friends tonight, coming home Sunday afternoon. Wish us luck!

Today: Sunny Intervals. Temp: 17°C
Saturday: Light Rain Shower. Max: 17°C (that's when the barbecue is scheduled for!)
Sunday: White Cloud. Max: 18°C

We're going here. Same place as last year, and if the weather is fine (as in, not rainy or blowing a gale) it will be wonderful. The kids can't wait!

Poppies

2009-06-15T11:20:00.011+01:00

We have a wonderful array of self-seeded and multiply-crossed poppies growing in pots and in the cracks in the bricks of the driveway. They are too lovely to keep to ourselves, so I thought I would share the beauty with you. I will save seeds and send to anyone who would like some. Just email me! Who knows what you will get, but it is bound to be beautiful. Just look!

Hard Work, but Fun

2009-06-11T14:53:00.003+01:00

Been trying to work down at the allotment quite a bit recently despite all the rain we have had.

Developing a bog!

Drowned potatoes!

I have had a lot of help from a friend's grown-up sons who have been shifting dirt and building fences, and their next project is compost bins.

When I have been down by myself I have been listening to downloaded podcasts from the BBC - Radio 4 and World Service. Such a lot of interesting programs! But I am never quite alone as we have a very scruffy (matches the plot) but territorial blackbird who spends his time avoiding the fork and stuffing his beak full of worms. Such a funny little bird. Love it!

Allotment Helpers

2009-06-04T18:53:00.002+01:00

I went down to the allotment this afternoon with Spike and some friends. Friends with muscles. And some other little friends, who enjoyed worm hunting (and torturing) and watering the veggies (and making muddy puddles). It kept threatening to rain, but never did, and it was a great afternoon.

One really good thing that those with muscles worked on (with the help of little people) was the start of the fence at the front. And you know what? They actually seem to know what they are doing, construction-wise. We may be in danger of our slovenly hodge-podge of an allotment starting to look a little more respectable. I will have to watch this carefully!

Having said that, the rest of the allotment still looks very untidy... so maybe I'm not in such danger as I thought.

Thanks to everyone for their help. It was greatly appreciated, and I hope it will continue!

Hostage Situation

2009-06-02T15:04:00.003+01:00

Baby

Dad?

Mum?

We are being held hostage by the crows which have been nesting in one of our trees. A baby is on the ground, and has been wandering around our garden most of the day. I am not sure if it can fly... it's pretty big, but doesn't look fully grown or very confident. I haven't seen it fly. It may have tried to fly out of the tree, and now can't get back. It is currently hanging out in my veggie patch, which is next to my washing line... which means I can't hang up my washing for fear of being dive-bombed! it's not good. I will have to keep the boys in the house when I pick them up from school. Hope they figure this out by tonight!

UPDATE:

We had a brave neighbour/friend come and remove the baby to a less busy part of the garden. Baby was noisily unimpressed by this treatment, and so were parents, but nobody (bird or human) came to any harm. And baby was still wandering around in that part of the garden when night fell. One parent was still hovering nervously while the other took care of another baby still in the nest. Hopefully 'our' baby will survive. The temperature is dropping - and s/he doesn't have a nice cosy nest to sleep in tonight.

May Garden Update

2009-05-31T20:16:00.004+01:00

This is the garden at the end of a gloriously sunny and warm weekend. We have had picnics, we have been to the beach, and we have had the paddling pool out - in MAY!

Vegetable-wise, the garden is looking pretty good too. The potatoes are leafy and in nice straight rows.

Except for the odd stray. Like this one which showed up in the onion-and-garlic bed. (click to see it more clearly)

The peas and mangetout (for the RHS trial) are coming up nicely. I planted 8 of each, and 3 of one and 4 of the other have come up. Don't know if it's poor germination, or something more sinister...

And the bumble-bees are out in force. Enjoying the chive flowers here. Last year I split a pot from Tesco, from the 'growing herbs' (as opposed to 'cut herbs') section. They cost about a pound. I split it into three and planted among the roses which always get aphid-covered in an attempt to deter them. I don't think they are much detered, but the bees love it and they have filled the bed. And set seed and new freebie chives are growing. Not bad for a pound.

There is a bee on there, just to the left of centre... but you'll probably have to click to 'make it big' to see it clearly.

Wonderful Weekend

2009-05-24T15:55:00.007+01:00

Had a lovely few days...

Friday I spent 4 hours at the allotment digging weeds (bind weed and nettles mostly, with an scattering of dock and thistles, just for interest) and planting potatoes. We also have a couple of raised beds with baby cabbages in. Covered in netting against the dreaded cabbage white butterfly, whose caterpillars can reduce a cabbage to the bare veins in a weekend or less!

Finished up on Saturday with a 2 hour stint. Gave the rest of the potatoes to the neighbours from the school, who are actually really nice, despite the fact that their imaculate plot makes ours look positively slovenly... At least we've got more planted than they do...

In the afternoon we went geocaching with the boys... if you've not heard of it you must find out. It is so much fun. A walk with a purpose. Fantastic for getting kids off their rumps... Treasure hunting. What more could they want?

The first picture is the view from where we found our cache.

Then we continued on for a longer walk, up Roseberry Topping, a bizzarely shaped hill. It looks like the crest of a wave. It's a lovely walk up, through bluebell woods, then wild garlic, and finally gorse. Talk about a change of scent as you ascend!

Dude at the top with the view

Spike and Pip enjoying themselves. Pip made it up first, and wanted to make sure everyone knew that!

Today has been gorgeous too. Picnic lunch in the garden, and now we are about to go out treasure hunting again. I uploaded some that looked good to our GPS unit, and now we can go hunting!

A good cause

2009-05-21T10:05:00.003+01:00

A lovely (but crazy) guy from our church is doing the Lands End to John O' Groats route on his bike... 1000 miles, in 10 days. He is raising money for Centrepoint, a charity that helps homeless young people.

This is his page.

Today he is cycling from Tebay to Peebles, 107 miles with 5521 feet of climbing.

Go and have a look, find him using his GPS locator, read some of the experiences he has had (and is still having as I write), and if you feel inspired, perhaps even sponsor him. The people at Centrepoint would be very grateful, I am sure.

Anniversary Post

2009-05-17T17:53:00.002+01:00

Well, to those of you who thought I would never make it, here I am. The Garden Adventures Blog has been going for a whole year! Yay! We are one! You know what's even more amazing? I remembered! On the day! And actually managed to post about it ON THE DAY! Phew...

Busy day yesterday, baking for the church fair (chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from the American Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and Nigella Lawson's damp lemon and almond cake, with a mascarpone & raspberry icing. Yum!) It was a good fair, complete with bouncy castle and fire engine for kiddies to have a clamber on and try on helmets etc. Made even more exciting by the fact that it had to race off after about an hour for a real emergency!

This afternoon I took the boys down to the allotment (remember the allotment???) to do some digging, weeding and *gasp* planting! I planted my remaining potatoes (very late, I know) and we put some cabbages (given by a kind allotment neighbour) into one of the raised beds that we have finally built. Finally! We are growing something down there! First it was the heavy lifting of the carpet, followed by months of mud, followed by trying to get my own garden veg plot going... one thing after another and nothing going on down at the allotment. But at last we aren't complete slackers.

Our allotment next door neighbours (who have the other half of our plot) have been down in force, and have laid paving slabs for a path and a shed/greenhouse base, and put in a raised bed of lettuces and put a fence between our side and theirs... and it all looks very weed free. But I heard there were 20 of them, not 2, plus 3 kids. Although my 3 did a good job this afternoon, pulling off all the flower heads off the weeds, so they can't set seed, and gathering up random rubbish (carpet, nails, glass etc and taking it to the skip which is on site for the moment...) So they had 10x the manpower we did... Trying not to be envious... Not doing very well. Ho hum.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Happy Birthday to me!

Puddles

2009-05-11T13:37:00.002+01:00

Another reason why I am not having any more children:
Puddles and wet pants and trousers. The joys of learning to use the toilet...

Monkey Love

2009-05-08T19:44:00.003+01:00

This is Monkey. He is the non-human, and perhaps-not-alive (in the conventional sense) member of our family. He is irreplacable, down to the blu-tack in his tail.

And last night we had a tragedy.

We couldn't find Monkey at bedtime.

The surprising bit was that Spike (Monkey's best buddy) went to bed just fine, with a substitute bear, but I was absolutely distraught. I was not ready for Spike to give him up!

And I had had a very busy day, including a mammoth trip to the recycling centre with a carload of cardboard, plastic bottles and glass bottles... so there was the panicked thought: Did Monkey go in the recycling skip? (Visions of 'This is the Bear...') I couldn't remember if we'd had him on the rest of our errands that day... it was terrible.

I woke early this morning with a vague memory of Spike showing Monkey to someone at school at pick-up time. Long after recycling. Perhaps Monkey was at school?

And thank God, yes he was. He had spent the night playing play-dough in the Year 1 classroom. So after a nice 'bath' (read 'washing machine') Monkey was ready for a lovely cuddle with Spike again.

Here's a picture of the two of them on holiday last summer. A cuter pair I have never seen.

Aaargh!

2009-05-05T17:07:00.002+01:00

It's not the slugs, snails or frost that I have to worry about. It's the ceaseless, blustery wind! My poor baby plants are getting whipped to bits. I put the Cherokee beans and the Butternut squashes outside for hardening off and they got withdrawn this afternoon, looking rather bedraggled. And as for the poor runner-beans. Well, they'll have to survive the best they can. What's a girl to do?

Done it

2009-05-01T20:15:00.004+01:00

Well, finally Grampy's runner beans are out. 1-9, but no 7 It went mouldy and died. Sorry.

Now all I have to do is pray that they don't get eaten by slugs or snails or hit by a late frost. My back is aching from hours of digging, weeding and hefting big bags of soil improver. And the bean poles were so long (8ft!) that I had to stand on an upturned wheelbarrow to tie their tops together.

But it's done! See?

Also, all but a few potatoes are showing their first leaves. Not enough to earth up yet, but no doubt soon. Here are 'smile'

and 'Charlotte'

From here on out it's all about maintainance.

Oh, actually, must plant that butternut seedling and see what happens there. Still, that one seems ok inside still, so we'll wait til it gets a bit warmer.

Apple Blossom

2009-04-30T15:02:00.004+01:00

You may remember that I planted out three yearling apple trees in January. Well, they have all survived and two are flowering, the Redsleeves and the Saturn. These are both on rootstock M26. 'The tree will reach a height of about 3 metres /10 feet, although pruning twice a year will keep the tree to a height of about 2 metres / 7 feet.'

Saturn

Redsleeves

The Crispin is on rootstock MM106. 'This rootstock will produce an apple tree about 3.6 metres (12 foot) wide and 3m (10 foot) tall at maturity.' I am assuming the difference in rootstocks is why the Crispin is not flowering.

I have moved the mountain of earth that was on the future site of the runner beans and cherokee beans, and have been digging over the earth underneath, teasing out buttercups, marestails and couch grass. It is hard work. My back aches. And it's still not done, and the beans are still not out, but are getting bigger and bigger in the window sills. Things are getting desperate!

MUST ... GET ... THEM ... PLANTED ... OUT!

Still, despite the back ache I had a very peaceful and satisfying time digging, ferretting out weeds and listening to BBC World Service podcasts. Anything to do, perhaps with this? A natural high from gardening? Wow... gotta like that!

Wet Days

2009-04-28T20:33:00.002+01:00

We have had two days of pretty much solid rain. Not conducive to sanity for little boys or their mummies! So after tearing around the house for too long they were begging to go out, and I was more than happy to let them. Spike stayed out longest, just pottering around in the sodden sandpit and puddles. Here's a couple of pictures I took of him enjoying himself.

Harrogate Spring Flower Show

2009-04-27T16:48:00.005+01:00

You know the trouble with a blog? When you have lots to say you are too busy doing it to write about it. And when there's nothing going on you naturally have plenty of time to report that nothing's going on.

So I am a few days late in reporting that last Friday I got to go to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show! It was amazing. The flowers and plants were so perfect they looked artificial. And it was huge. We missed one of the big tents because Spikelet had had just about enough, thank you very much. But what we saw was wonderful. The bonsai! The orchids! The ferns! The daffodils! Fuschias! Clematis! Tulips! The flower arrangements! All of it was gorgeous. Have a look at the pictures:

'The Wizard of Oz' 'Flamenco'

In the garden there are the first shoots of potatoes coming up, so that's wonderful. My trial peas haven't come through, but it hasn't been a week since I planted them, so that's not surprising. And it has been raining all day, so any plans I had for the garden today were scuppered. Although, to be honest, they were scuppered anyway, since I spent a good portion of the day at the garage while I waited for them to figure out what was wrong with the radio in my new car. They had to take it out of the dash, and when they did it rattled. Seems that the people who had the car before had been feeding the CD player with pennies, and they shorted the system out. So my car has a big gaping gap-toothed hole in it while they fix the stereo. At least I still have my car, and the fact that there's no radio is really no change... it hadn't worked in the whole time I had it! Still, at least it's on it's way to being fixed, and is still in covered by the place that sold it to us. And I had a Gardener's World Magazine to read while I was waiting.

Too Many Seedlings, Not Enough Space!

2009-04-23T14:14:00.006+01:00

I love tulip time. Even more, perhaps than I love snowdrop time, crocus time and daffodil time. There is such variety in tulips, and every year there seems to be 'just one more' tulip I need to get, that I can't resist. These are this year's acquisitions. Lovely, aren't they?

But the other thing about tulip time is that, generally speaking, the weather is undeniably springlike, and getting better. The days are long and getting longer, the sun (when it's out) can be quite strong, and there are leaves everywhere. It is a gorgeous time of year.

I have been working in the garden as much as I have been able in the last two weeks (the Easter Hols). We have also had grandparents staying, and all the excitement that brings, plus a short break in the Peak District, which was totally beautiful, even if the weather wasn't at its best. So that has limited my gardening ability. But still. This is the stage I am at:

Potatoes are in, one teepee of sugar-snaps are in (next to the shallots in the raised beds) and I have managed to squeeze another teepee in on the 'flower' side of the garden because I have way too many peas and beans to fit in solely on the 'veg' side. The one on the flower side is the one that will be playing host to the sugar-snaps and mangetouts that I got courtesy of the RHS pea trials (remember? They sent me 300 of one and 250 of the other? WHO NEEDS THAT MANY SEEDS? EVER?)

Well, anyway, I finally figured out where I was going to put them ('flower' side), and figured out what I was going to do with the mounds of earth that had come out of the potato trenches (bagged it up into old compost bags) so I could put up at least one teepee on the 'veg' side. I still have another mountain of dirt to find a home for and no more bags. Considering invading the children's digging/sand area, but think it will probably mean that the sand pit will become a sand-and-dirt pit. Am I ok with that? I haven't decided. But I may not have any other option...

When I finally come to a conclusion about that I can plant out the heritage runner beans. Of the 9 I have had 7 come up. Rare #8 (of which I have the final seed since my uncle's died) is doing best of all, thank goodness. I haven't seen any sign of #7, and #1 and #6 are only now coming up. The others are about 3 inches tall or more, so needing to be planted out asap! (MUST figure out what to do with the dirt!)

I also have the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans to be planted out. I got a beautiful little package of seeds courtesy of Kath at Vegetable Heaven (she got hers from the Heritage Seed Library) last autumn and all six which I have planted came up. Very good germination rate! I have since given a few of the extras Kath sent me to the visiting grandparents, since they all live in Oklahoma, which is where the Cherokee Trail of Tears ended. It will be interesting to see how they grow out there. No doubt it will be ideal conditions for the beans!

I also have two butternut squash seedlings which are getting too big for their starter pot (an old plastic pastry tub with a flappy lid, which made a wonderful propagator pot) and, as is looking to move up in the real-estate world to a place where they can really spread out and consider having a family. I only started growing these (from seed saved from a supermarket squash) because Dude really wanted to grow pumpkins. It's easier to show him that squash and pumpkins don't really do that well here than to tell him. He doesn't believe me. (Or am I just being defeatist? Perhaps they will grow, won't be eaten by slugs and get moulded into nothing by the rain.)

Anyway, that's the state of the garden, here's the state of the family. We bought two £3 kites from a shop at an English Heritage site. Better than the usual pencils and bouncy balls, I thought, and they have been brilliant. We lengthened the tails by about twice as much again, and they have given much delight to all of us. Bargain. In this pic (you'll have to click it and make it big to see properly) you can see Pip and Dude both flying their kites.

Gardening Update

2009-04-06T21:06:00.002+01:00

I got all my stressful jobs done last week, and I have had time to 'play' now. Which means time to get my gardening jobs done, which isn't at all stressful. Physical, yes, but stressful? No. Theraputic.

Mostly what I have been doing is finishing up the weeding of the part of the veggie plot that used to be the onion patch last year. It has had a THOROUGH weed, and I have moved the chives and the random snowdrops and crocuses that were planted there, and the roses (in a veg patch?!). And now it is being transformed into a potato field. Field in the smallest sense of the word, you understand, but still...

So here you have it. As you can see (can you?) I have dug two trenches, and managed to get 8 potatoes in each. I still have one row to dig. The internet says the rows need to be 2.5ft apart, hence the large 'wastage' of land inbetween the rows. So, 3 rows x 8 potatoes = 24 potatoes. Which leaves 20+ potatoes left in my egg boxes still chitting away... I guess they will go down to the ever-so-neglected allotment (remember the allotment?). Last time I was there it was still very muddy. It WAS early March (or was it still Feb?) but it wasn't looking much like anything could be planted soon. It was cleared, finally, but the raised beds were still to be built. Hopefully Deb's tool wielding friends have been doing that for us, as promised, and I wil be able to plant out spare potatoes next time I am down there. This week? I hope...

This shows the extent of my veg patch. I am not allowed to dig up the grass on the near side of the flagstones. So, left to right:
Onions and garlic (you can just see their spikes infront of the 'raised beds', made from old drawers)
Raised beds with shallots (spiking up nicely, for the most part) and asparagus (still waiting...)
Soon to have a sugarsnap teepee (more about that later).
Then come the potato rows. Two so far, one more to be dug.
Then, in the patch that is still green (weed covered) there will be an A-frame with lots of beans and peas growing up it. Or perhaps as many teepees as I can fit in. Which is the best use of space, do you think?

Now, about the sugarsnaps...

I volunteered to be part of the RHS pea trial (someone offering free seeds for something I was already planning to grow? I'm in!) but before I heard I was accepted I had bought some mangetout seeds. I wanted to get an early start so I could eat my peas nice and early. So anyway, in the post today I received two packs of seeds. 300 Oregon Sugar Pod mangetout and 250 Sugar Ann sugarsnaps! And this on top of the 300 mangetouts I had already bought. Same variety, from the same supplier as my freebies.

What on earth am I going to do with all these seeds? Holy smokes, batman. I will never have to buy a pea seed ever again! I have a feeling the allotment will be full of potatoes and peas this year.

This picture (you'll have to click on it to make it big to see properly) is of some goldfinches studiously ignoring the niger seeds that have been put out specially for them. The niger seed feeder is the green one on the left. It is 1/3 full. It has only been filled once this winter. They prefer the hulled sunflower seeds. It is the absolute favourite of all my garden birds. I wanted this picture to be up to reassure a blogging acquaintance of mine, Mrs B, of Carrots & Kids who is having trouble luring goldfinches into her garden. I dont' think it was the niger seeds that did it for me. Perhaps I was just lucky?

And speaking of being lucky... this is my baby! Aren't I a lucky Mum?

Busy Week

2009-04-02T12:38:00.007+01:00

It has been quite a week.

I took my car in on Fri because it wasn't driving right and the fuel injector light was on. Boy was it not right. Needed a new head gasket (apparently that's a big deal), was only running on three cylinders and the clutch was going. So bye bye car, helloooo car hunting. We needed to get a bigger one anyway because 3 car seats in the back is not possible in our car. But not so keen on making car payments again after 2 years off... Oh well, ho hum.

We had birthdays over the weekend, mine and Dude's. We're twins, just 30 yrs apart, which makes it very easy for me to remember how old I am. I never believed my parents when they said they couldn't remember how old they were when I was little. Now I know they weren't faking...

We took 8 kids bowling and then to BK next door. Sounds easy? Try it.

Then my lovely auntie came to stay the night on Sun, and we went for a long walk, getting a bit lost, finding our way, then stopping at a friend's for an impromptu coffee.

Monday was the day that Dude had his first day at Beavers and that Pip had his last day at Beavers and first at Cubs. Big, big deal. Dude has been hankering to get into Beavers for 2 years and he finally made it.

Monday was also spent car hunting on the internet. We knew what we wanted but couldn't find a car to fit our simple (!) needs: 3 carseats across the back. Not a bus. At 10pm we found the Honda FR-V. Tues we went to look at one and decided to get it - Hooray.

Today and yesterday were spent finishing up the parish magazine that I produce monthly. Needs to be in church for Sunday. Not cutting it fine at all... who me?

And now the weather is lovely and I am going to get out in it because I can! Finally! I don't have to do anything, except perhaps continue digging the garden, but that's ok because it is SUNNY!

Apple trees are budding!
Early tulips have started flowering!

Look at what the kids at school have been producing. Not my kids, I regret, because I have been WAY TOO BUSY to be so creative. They have been lucky to be fed and to find clean socks in their drawers in the morning.

And here is Spike, to brighten your day.

The Beans of My Heritage

2009-03-22T17:25:00.003Z

My grandparents lived in Kent, and I remember visiting them as a child and playing in the garden. It was a wonderful garden for children. It was huge - by my standards anyway, and it had lots of 'sections'. There was the lawn, flowerbed and summer-house area. Then apple and pear trees, and then the green house and vegetables, and at the very bottom, the chickens. You went from the open grassy bit, through the apple tree bit into the 'working garden' bit. There were lots of places to hide, lots of trees to climb and lots of things to eat. My Grampy grew loads of things, from broad beans (which I hated then and hate now - and yes, I have tried again recently) to rhubarb, to grapes and tomatoes and carrots. But it is his runner beans which have become my heritage.

When my grandparents died my uncle managed to rescue many treasures from the house and the garden. Grampy died at the end of summer and there were nine runner bean plants with pods on. He had been growing his from saved seed for years and years. Everyone did. Why would you go out and buy new seed when you had your own that you had grown the year before? What a waste of money. So my uncle saved the seeds from these nine plants, and has kept them going as the same nine genetic lines. He grows them all in his garden, but as numbered plants, and saves one pod from each for seed for the next year. They cross pollinate, of course, but in an attempt to keep genetic diversity high he has the nine 'bloodlines' and plants one of each every year.

And now it is my turn to join him in this project. I have been entrusted with my own seeds from these Heritage Runner Beans. But they aren't just any old heritage runners, these are MY heritage. MY inheritance. These are (allowing for genetic changes) the beans of my childhood.

It's an awesome responsibility.
I have been given instructions on growing, labelling plants and pods, on seed saving and on protecting the precious plants from slugs and small boys.
I hope it all goes well, and that I have some delicious beans to eat, and can keep this heritage going. I hope I don't screw up.

There is already variability in the seeds. Some are bigger, some are purpler. I'll have to wait and see what variability there is in the actual plants.

You may notice that there is no bean #8. That plant didn't do well last year and only produced one bean. My uncle has kept this to grow in his garden. Hopefully it will do well this year and I will have a #8 next year.

I am full of hope, and full of fear. At least I am not the only one with these beans. There are two of us trying to keep this heritage alive now. That's double last year...

Picture Show

2009-03-19T14:40:00.008Z

First, an update on the chicks.
Thurs 12:

Tues 17:

Thurs 19:

And second, an update on spring:

Are you jealous yet?

CHICKS!

2009-03-11T20:23:00.007Z

It's National Science Week, and look what we have at school!

The incubator and eggs arrived on Monday, the first two had hached on Tuesday morning, and when we went in this morning (wed) there were lots!

Still a couple left to hatch. Hope they're ok. All the hatched ones are in the warming box now and they are so fluffy and cute!

It's so exciting. We never did anything this exciting at school. I want to be seven again...

And look at what I learned how to do... it's called wordle

It must be spring

2009-03-06T14:15:00.003Z

Despite the hard frost yesterday morning, and the wierd flurry of snow we had on Tuesday you can really tell that spring is starting. The last couple of days have been warm and sunny. But the really significant sign is that I have felt compelled to be out in it and to get digging! I am a real 'fair weather gardener' so for me to want to be out there and to be digging and weeding and planting means that it must be pretty nice out there.

There were some randomly placed snowdrops bursting out of the 'vegetable patch'. Wonder what they were doing there? Must remember to find them a better home once they are finished flowering.

I reused some old drawers as raised beds. They have shallots in them. The soil near the path isn't actually soil, just sand and random builders rubble, so to get anything to grow there it needed to be in a raised bed. We'll see how this 'reduce-reuse-recycle' innovation does...

Notice that there is one empty bed... I have been considering what to put in this last one. I didn't have enough shallots... some of the ones in the pack had gone a bit mouldy. Note to self: don't buy shallots early and expect them to survive being ignored for a month on a shelf in the dining room! Anyway... been considering either strawberries or asparagus! Am leaning towards asparagus... you can go strawberry picking easily around here, but not asparagus picking. I know that asparagus takes a couple of years to get established, and that has put me off in the past. But since we will be in this house for a good long time now seems as good a time as any!

Oh, and good news on the rhubarb front. Remember I had moved it? Well it didn't die, and is putting forth some lovely red stems... not long now until our first stewed rhubarb and icecream!!!

UPDATE:

Bought some purple asparagus for the 4th bed. Only 2 yrs now until we get to eat some.

What A Week!

2009-02-26T11:19:00.006Z

I am a bit cross.

We went away to London for the half term break, and today I managed to find the time to upload the pictures to the computer. Unfortunately the computer denies knowledge of more than half of them, so I only have the ones taken on the last day, when we had to change photodiscs. So I am miffed.

Gone are all the pictures taken at the Aquarium. And Big Ben. And the Natural History Museum. And the London Eye. And all the other lovely pictures we had taken.

Grr...

I have had quite a week.

When we got back from London there was a letter from the library saying that the book I had ordered a month (!) previously was in. This was our book club book The White Tiger, and the meeting was set for Mon 23rd. Two days later. Eek!

So I went to the library on Monday, got the book and tried to read as much as I could before that evening's meeting. Amazingly I managed 2/3, but still. Not really enjoyable, enforced speed-reading.

I also had to prepare for our church's pancake party to be held, not surprisingly, on Pancake Tuesday... the 24th. I was in charge of decorations and mask-making. I spent a lot of tuesday cutting out card masks for the kids to decorate that evening. Also on Tues was Pip's swimming lesson, so I took them with me to cut while I was waiting for him... and left the lot at the pool. Doh! Still, the party was a hit despite the lack of masks to decorate. Over 100 people eating pancakes with the kids in fancy dress running around, playing with balloons and enjoying themselves. Phew. The fact that Spike threw up in his bed that night and I had a load of unexpected and stinky laundry and a vomit covered child screaming through his unwanted shower was not a problem. (!)

Wednesday. I produce our church's monthly magazine. The next month starts on Sunday. Hence this is the next magazine's due date. I was still working on it on Wednesday. Not at all stressful...

And Dude had his swimming lesson on Wed (he's doing really well, by the way, swam 3 m completely unaided by floats or anything!), so there was that to get ready for, and the general annoyancy of the 'no outside shoes in the changing room' rule, which meant that not only Dude had to have his shoes off (no problem) but I did (cold wet floor - yuk!) and so did Spike! Yay. Then Spike spilled his water cup down himself while we were waiting, so he was wet and cold. And I noticed while dressing Dude again that he was covered in a rash... so we tried to drop in at the doctors on the way home for them to check. He is absolutely fine otherwise, and didn't want to keep him off school if he was ok. Doctors close early on Wed. Arg! So raced off to the pharmacist. He said probably just viral, and not infectious... yay. So we made it through to the delicious home-made pizza waiting at the end of the day. Well, not quite the end of the day, because the magazine was still not finished... oh joy.

Thursday. Today. Spotty Dude all moisturised up and sent to school, happy as a lamb. Spike snotty as a slug, me trying to get the magazine sent off finally.

Got it done! Yay! All is good!

But not quite. We have the computer which ate my photos, and just now, Spike, playing happily in a bubble bath says 'Oh no! Poo!' Yes, you guessed it... IN the bath...

So now I am going to count my blessings.

1. GardenBoy in no danger of losing his job. Very good blessing.
2. Pip is healthy... no spots or snot from him!
3. I am well too. Very good thing.
4. The magazine is done.
5. The party is over.
6. Washing machine has not broken despite lots of wash sent through it this week!
7. Very good memories of London, despite having lost most of the photos.
8. Spike currently happy, snuggled up on the sofa with warm juice (in a leak proof cup!) under a fleecy blanket watching Charlie & Lola.
9. Dude's spots not dangerous, just unsightly.
10. Big warm house on a cold day.

There, see? That wasn't too hard. A good exercise for me.
Now, please excuse me while I go and disinfect my bath and start another load of laundry. Here are two pictures of the lovely Pip in London.

UPDATE: Would you believe it? Another bath poo from Spike this evening. My dishwasher is full of bath toys. Not something they tell you about when you sign up for this parenting lark!

Snowy Garden

2009-02-13T11:35:00.002Z

Here is my vegetable patch. Can you tell it's a vegetable patch? I can't.

And here are my onions and garlic. Note the footprints. Obviously the kids can't tell it's a veg patch either.

Frosty...

King of the Snowball...

Enjoying the sled.

At least we have been having a 'proper' winter. But hopefully it will soon turn into a 'proper' spring. The snow is fine for now. It's a novelty. But novelty wears off, and I could do with the novelty of spring flowers. I know, all in good time... but I never said I was patient, did I?

And repeat...

2009-02-12T14:47:00.003Z

It all disappeared... except for in the hills. Must have been the fact that we bought a sled (finally).

But it's back! Started about 10:30, and has continued. The boys will be thrilled when they get home. Get the sled out again.

And I got them some Warm Wellies the other day, so they won't have frozen tootsies. Again, like with the sled, glad I did it, even though it seemed a bit belated at the time.

HOORAY!!

Snow on Snow!

2009-02-02T10:09:00.006Z

It kind of flurried yesterday in a very haphazard and not very impressive way. In a very English snow sort of way.

But we woke up this morning to a good inch-and-a-half, which, although still not very impressive compared to, say the sort of snow they get out at the Big Green Barn, but still, for England, very impressive. Well, we were impressed.

The boys were dressed and out in it like a shot. (Note the abandonded wheelbarrow. Not been in much use recently. Oops.)

They are off at school now (hooray) and it has continued to snow lots. In fact when I opened the window to take this shot there was snow blowing in, like you would imagine on Little House on the Prairie.

It is very pretty out there, and we are having a nice warm day watching the snow, and watching the birds who are cold and hungry. We have even had dedicated groundfeeders like robins and blackbirds feeding off the fatballs in the tree. Now that means they are very hungry! Here are three very pretty goldfinches. I love their gaudy YELLOW feathers, and RED heads.

And here's my Rosemary covered in snow.