Cruel Cruel World

Every year a family of sparrows nest in our gutter above the kitchen door, we are greeted every day with bird song and baby birds calling for their next juicy meal. It is just so fascinating to watch the male and female bird nip in and out of the gutter every minute of the day, taking a rest on the fence post before flying off to forage for more food or material for the nest. Sadly yesterday as I looked out of the back door I spied the first sign of the chicks this year, one of the young had fallen or was pushed out of the nest and as it lay there waiting for nature to make the next move his parents flitted around either looking for him or waiting to see if he would get up. It was quite moving to see such maternal/paternal behaviour of the sparrows they didn’t leave the lifeless chick for ages. After taking the children to school/playgroup I returned to deal with the dead body by the back door however nature had made it’s move before me, something had eaten it’s head, it is such a good job the kids are not tall enough to look through the door window yet. I decided that I would wait for Al to come home and deal with it (not that I am sure what I was going to do with it because I’m a bit girly when it comes to things like that, and as soon as I open the back door my children are there with their wellies ready to lend mommy a hand). By the time Al came home the baby sparrow had gone, I think our next-door neighbour’s cat has disposed of it for me.

Thrifty me!

Whilst doing my weekly shop I spotted a reduced Kabocha squash, which sparked a thrifty plan for next year… I thought I could make a soup with the flesh and keep the seeds for next year… A healthy hearty meal and a packet of seeds all for £1.25 – BARGAIN. It is a green skinned variety with deep orange flesh and a sweat flavour with a hint of chestnut. Check out my blog next year to see how successful I am at growing this variety of squash ;o)

Braving the Elements

Well this week has put my garden to the test, it has had to withstand strong winds, which sadly my greenhouse didn’t, the wind has managed to break the zip on the door so now I am using clothes pegs to close it at night.

And as the wind has started to die down (slightly) we have been greeted with a flood, well almost, we have had pretty shocking rain storms since Friday along with Thunder & Lightening, which according to Jack is Superheroes fighting Villains. Well if it stops him being scared when the thunder claps I’ll go with it, obviously my idea of it being friendly Giants rolling their dustbins out was not exciting enough!

Today the weather tricked me, it teased me with a splash of sunshine but by the time we had all got our wellies on and got out into the garden the blue sky had turned to grey and the heavens opened again.

I hope it doesn’t last much longer as I’m not sure how much more my tender little seedlings/plants can take, plus it is my friend’s daughter's first birthday this week and they’re having a garden party… Aunty Lucy will keep her fingers crossed for you Edie xx

On the positive note I have noticed a big difference in my garden over the last week, I now have turnips, beetroots, cabbages, nasturtiums, and peas breaking through the soil in the raised bed, there are sunflower, lupins and gladioli shoots just peeping out of the ground at the bottom of the garden, plus Jack’s carrots, tomatoes and butternut squash have all begun to sprout, as for my potatoes they are lush.

The Pumpkins have begun to show signs of flowers and the sweetcorn are doing really well I did plan to leave them out of the greenhouse this weekend to harden them off before I plant them out, however with the weather as it is I don’t want to damage them before their roots touch the ground.

My one and only pepper on the other hand... yes I thought there were two then one disappeared leaving one and now I can’t see any anywhere in the seed tray – what have I done? My Chilli plants however are a different story they are bushy with tiny fruits appearing on them, it is so exciting, it’s like Christmas has come early…

... sorry just doing a little jig of excitement.

PS I shall be adding photos to my posts as soon as I find my card reader.

For Victoria from Recycled Plant Pot Woman!

I bought some strawberries today and thought that perhaps I could use the punnet and lid as a seedbed and propagator, I have also seen my Liquid Tabs Tub in the same light, as long as they are both lined with something dark like a compost bag because apparently roots don’t like the light so I have read, I think they will be perfect.

I have also come up with another container idea I think you'll like, I am going to use the Christmas chocolate tins (1kg ones) that I keep every year to store cakes etc in (and never do) to grow my lettuce in, think it will be a hammer and nail job rather than a heated skewer to make the holes in the bottom for drainage. Do let me know what you think.

Maggie loves gardening; I thought maybe that the weekend’s interest might be a one off, but I don’t think it is what ever I have been up to today in the garden she has come over to lend a hand (it wasn't always appreciated especially when trying to transplant long leggy cabbages). Lets hope this interest continues throughout her life, perhaps she’ll have chickens etc and become self sufficient and green, a proper hippy chick.

Extreme Gardening

Well what a lovely day we have had blue skies and lovely warm sunshine, perfect for sowing more seeds, well that is what I thought until I stepped out side and nearly lost my head by the force of the wind rattling round my garden. However I did not let it stop me from doing my jobs for the day, although sowing seeds outside was not the best plan for the day, they were blowing everywhere, it will be interesting to see what pops up where especially in my seed trays, I have labelled them Hollyhock, Marigold, Stock and Foxgloves, but who knows what might pop up where. I’m sure I saw a Marigold seed in the tray labelled Hollyhock.

As I mentioned above I have sown Foxglove seeds today, the are so tiny that I have had to just scatter them across the seed tray, according to the packet there are 2000 seeds in the packet, that is going to take a lot of thinning out when the time comes.

Update

the peppers are worrying me as they are not looking very healthy, but I shall not give up on them just yet.

Exciting news from the raised bed plot, I have 14 of the 18 turnip seeds have germinated and they look lovely all in a row, no sign of the peas, cabbages or beetroot as yet, I am checking everyday.

I have potted the remaining marigold plants into a container on my patio and two of the leggy cabbages have been potted up, I am hoping that they will accompany our Sunday roasts later in the year. The rest have gone to compost heaven.