Veggies get going at last

Our mini veg plot is starting to look like it actually has some veggies in it at last. The lettuce is going strong and the radishes are taking shape. Still no sign of the spring onions, so we have sown some more seed this week-end.














The Toms are looking good and the first flowers are about to open and the runner beans are poised to start climbing their poles!

Abbey House Gardens

Well worth a visit for anyone who likes looking at other peoples gardens. Its only 5 acres so you can get round in a couple of hours if you want to, but could make it last half a day if you really try! Best check the website before visiting as certain days are set aside as 'clothes optional' and you may find more on display than you expected to see!

If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake

Baking your own cakes adds enormously to the eating experience. Firstly you know exactly what goes into them, and can see to it that they only contain the good stuff. Secondly the preparation time gets the juices going with the anticipation of the finished product. Thirdly the smell of cake being baked is almost - but not quite - as good as the actual eating of the cake, and finally cake never tastes better than when its still warm fresh from the oven. Nothing shop bought can ever come close!

Cats - The devil's followers

Cats wait at a safe distance while you dig the soil, weed it, remove the stones, fertilise it and rake it so that you can grow something in it. They continue to wait while you carefully plant seeds at the correct depth and spacing for optimal germination. They wait until you are safely indoors, or better still they wait for night fall and the sound of snoring. Then the evil bastards dig up your seeds, shit all over them and make a pile of the pooh and seed mixture in the middle of what was your seed bed.

The next day you repair the damage as best you can and cover the bed with fine netting, thinking that the cats will take the hint and shit elsewhere. How wrong can you be! They trample on the netting until its flat on the soil then they try and shit through it and somehow manage to half bury it in the shit.

If one of them makes the mistake of getting caught up in the netting, I'm going to scoop its poop into a small bag which I will attach tightly to its neck before sending it back to its owner - the devil - with a good kick up the backside.

Unfortunately B&Q don't seem to sell razor wire or electric fencing so I'm working on my own solution to the problem, knowing me though, I'll be the one that ends up suspended 12 feet above the ground in a cargo net with rottweilers snapping at my tender bits.

Anyway, apart from that I'm having fun trying to 'grow my own', its been a while since we last planted anything you could actually put on a plate.

Herbology

Made our first potions today.

Eyebright infusion for tired or sore eyes and some Plantain Cream for treating bites or stings.

Have a feeling I need to be careful when walking past beds of nettles in case some one accidentally pushes me in, so that clinical trials can begin.

Even Weeds Can Look Good