Popping Peas

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.

Rainy Days and Birthdays

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!

May Garden Update

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.

Too Many Seedlings, Not Enough Space!

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.