Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Sun is shining!

Yes, finally the sun has come out and its stopped raining - my heart goes out to all the gardeners whose poor gardens have been completely covered in flood water.
I've been out today just tidying up - do the edges (too wet to cut the grass) and deadheading and weeding.
We ate our first cabbage (savoy) and carrots which were huge! I think I might have left them a little too long. The cucumber is growing so wont be long!!! (Few rude comments have been expressed at how prickily it is!!)
I am going up to a local nursery tomorrow to buy a rose for my Mum (a nice dark red one which she loved) it must have a strong scent (I dont believe roses should be grown that dont smell - whats the point!! - still thats another argument I have when I go to a florist!!) I'll look at the David Austin roses as I believe they are some of the best for disease resistance and the shape and smell - so fingers crossed!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

SAD NEWS

I just thought I would let everyone know I had some sad news on Tuesday 17 July - my Mum sadly passed away. I am totally gutted - I know its been coming for a while (I've looked after her for 13 years) but still its my Mum. Strange coincidences have been occurring though - she passed away at 6pm thats the time she used to ring me every night, also the man doing the service is called David Steven (my two boys names) and when we went to put the announcement in the local paper Mums name came up on the receipt - of course the lady was mortified but I thought Mum would have curled up with laughter that she had paid for her own announcement.
The hardest thing at the moment is that of course my Carers money stops after a month and they want me to get a job within that time (how? the last time I worked was before my eldest was born - he's now nearly 17!) so I thought I would go back to college and train up back in office work (used to be a civil servant) and it will give me a bit of time - everytime I speak about my Mum I just start crying - wouldnt look good in the work place would it! Mum was my life and my best friend - I am going to miss her soo much.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Sun is Shining




Its been a lovely day here today - finally out and done all the silly little jobs (weeding - how come they always grow well even though you dont feed them!!!) and generally having a tidy up and deadheading things.


The datura is growing, I've sprinkled some night scented stock round the base - we have a bat that comes visiting especially when the datura was flowering and I thought that the night scented stock might encourage some insects for the bat to eat!


I also thought you might like to see the little potatoe that came out of my compost pot bag - isn't it cute - it seems rotten to cut into it - pity its not valentines day!!

Sunday, July 08, 2007







July 2007



Its the 8th of July and I'm amazed at how my garden has produced so much from such a relative small space. I've had Broccolli (about 5 dinners worth), beetroot (loads!), mangetout, garlic (about 20 cloves), shallots (again about 40), loads of lettuce, radishes, potatoes and strawberries.



Failures - yes one quite big one - tomatoes do not like being in close contact with other veg. I've put in 4 tom plants and each one had succumbed to blight - wether its because I've grown potatoes (same family) and its been very warm and damp (the blight love it) I've just not succeeded (oh well we all get things wrong sometimes!!) The ones in the hanging baskets are doing fine!


I thought I would also show you how easy it is to grow potatoes in a compost bag - take one old compost bag and make holes in the bottom for drainage. Add about 3 seed potatoes (around March time), every time the green shoots appear keep adding compost - when about 3/4 full and all danger of frost has passed let the potatoes grow. I used first early called Charlotte which is a salad potatoe. Yesterday I harvested them and this is what I got.