Tag Archives: gardening

Veg Out

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Two four-day weekends have been absolute bliss, I’ve been doing my best to relax as much as possible and make the most of them. I’ve got through a lot of films, a lot of hours off games, and enough meat to sink a battleship at barbecues. Alongside all of this, I’ve managed to spend a good deal of time out in the garden looking after my plants, and as it’s been a few weeks since I posted photos of it all on here I’ve decided to update with more pictures!

First up is my biggest crop, my pride and joy, my pea beds.

Peas

My peas in their new, much sturdier, home

They’re going great guns, and I’ve built them a new home with more canes and some strong pea netting. Hopefully as the weather warms up (wishful thinking I know) they’ll grow up tall and strong and I’ll have a good crop from them.

Peas

Growing strong, and grabbing hold of anything they can!

These are the chillies, and I’m really chuffed at how well they’re going. Since I re-potted them out of their propagator trays they’ve grown like mad. We’ve been preparing the front garden (getting rid of weeds/bushes, leveling lawn etc) and I’ve spotted a nice spot along the wall where I’m going to plant them before too much longer, plenty of sun and room to grow and produce some nice hot chillies.

Chilli pkants

My chilli plants, not far from being planted permanently

Believe it or not, this is broccoli. This was the crop that was doing the best in the propagators, but once I planted it I realised that it was too early really, they were very weak. Despite some of them dying off (mainly through a certain cat deciding it was the most comfortable place to sleep…), the rest are growing away now, and I’m hoping that I’ll get quite a few to eat in the Autumn.

Broccoli plants

Yeah, among that mess those are broccoli

If you read back a few entries here, you’ll see a rather sorry-looking tray of dirt and not much else that was meant to be corn. Nothing happened for so long that I was convinced I’d either done something wrong, or the seeds were duff, but lo and behold – shoots! I’m so pleased they’re growing! I know I might not get much to eat from these this year, but them just growing is a triumph all the same. They have really unusual dark purple stems.

Corn shoots

Woohoo! Life in the corn tray!

From the vegetables then, to the fruit. First up is some strawberry plants. I stuffed them in the top of an old planter when I was given them, just because I had nowhere else to put them, but since then I’ve sorted out some troughs and re-planted them, and they’re growing like crazy. The flowers are all out now and I’m expecting some fruit from them in the not-too-distant future.

Strawberry plants

Delicious strawberries soon, and so easy to grow

These are the goji berry plants my mum gave me. Since the last set of photos I’ve built them a teepee from cane and garden twine, and while they’re growing, I’m not expecting any fruit, not this year at least. They’re notoriously awkward to grow, but they’re alive at least – bonus!

Goji berry plants

My gojis with their new, "Native American" inspired home

And last but not least, my blackcurrant bushes. I bought these a couple of months ago and since then they’ve grown really well, and I have the start of fruit on them. You can’t really see from here, but they have tiny green berries starting to develop. I know I’m only going to have enough fruit to make a tiny pie, but I’m proud of them anyway, and I’m sure that if I learn how to prune them at the end of the season, they’ll keep growing bigger and stronger as the years go on.

blackcurrant bushes

Look closely, those are tiny berries!

So there we have it, my kitchen garden so far. I’ve got a few more things to go in before it gets too late for this year, but I’m both amazed and pleased that everything’s going so well at the moment. I might not be in a position to not bother going to Tesco any more for my fruit and veg, but I am going to be eating the ‘fruits of my labour’ (oh dear….) before too long. It’s amazing how satisfying and addictive it is, and after a trip to the garden centre on Saturday morning that culminated with a coffee and a massive almond slice, I can see why people get into it ;) Now all I have to do is stop a certain someone eating all my compost…

Murphy

Murph, the compost-deficient spaniel, sleeping off a meal of dirt...

Continuing Gardening Adventures

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NOW WITH PICTURES!

My growing (geddit?) addiction to the garden continues unabated, I’m really getting into it all now, and I’m starting to see some results.

The I currently have peas, blackcurrants, strawberries and now goji berries planted in the ground and growing like mad, a pot with chillies growing in it and three propagator trays with broccoli, chillies and corn. It’s going to take a few months before I get to enjoy the ‘fruits’ of my labour (groan), but I’m looking forward to a freezer full of fresh veg, berries for my desserts and some dried chillies to keep my food spicy for the rest of the year.

This first season is mostly experimental for me, as I have no idea about the quality of the soil in the gardens, or what type it is etc. Fertile? Good drainage? Acidic? Not a scooby. I’m sure it’ll all come with time, and inevitable disappointment as one or more of my experiments fail, and that’s when I can really get into it. I need to sort the growing beds out properly too with some wooden borders, as you’ll see below, because I’m getting some serious weed/lawn encroachment going on.

Anyway, the main point of this update was because for once I’ve remembered to take some photos of all the growing stuff!

Peas, awaiting new canes and netting

 

Goji berries, I'm competing with mother to see who gets the first fruit!

 

Blackcurrants, growing like crazy. I've got flowers so am hoping for some fruit

 

Brocolli, growing like mad, these need planting soon

 

Chillies, going well

 

Corn... honestly

So yeah, with the exception of the corn (which I think is just biding its time…) things are going really well, I’m fairly optimistic of a good crop later this summer.

Green Fingers?

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I managed to spend a bit more time out in the back garden this past weekend to keep up the momentum on my current gardening drive. I put peas in and a frame up to support them three weeks ago, and I finally have quite a lot of visible green shoots appearing in the dirt, which is awesome and very encouraging. What I end up with is another matter of course, I’ve got no idea how good my soil is yet, but for now at least something out there is alive.

I’ve got a big terracotta pot at the foot of the stairs, between two radiators, in an effort to get some chili seeds sprouting. I’d absolutely love to have fresh chilies growing in the garden this summer, as I get through a lot of them, and the pleasure I’d take from eating ones that I’d grown would only add to it. A few spare strawberry plants are growing in a massive pot in the front garden, just to see if they’ll take. Added to that little lot, I also bought a couple of blackcurrant bushes(?) which have a home in the ground in the back garden. Next on the ‘plant and see if it lives’ list is some corn, garlic and onions. I’m really keen on getting a few more fruit trees out there too, but sadly fruit plants can cost quite a bit.

Digging beds and holes in the garden isn’t much fun at all, made all the more annoying by the fact that all of the rubble from the old house extension (which was knocked down to build the current one) was used to build the garden up a bit, which means it’s impossible to put a spade or fork in anywhere deeper than an inch. “Clang! Clang! Clang – Ouch, you b*st*rd thing!” – that’s the sound of me digging in the back garden. I’d love to have a garden with just the occasional stone, but that’s a pipe dream. On the flip-side to all of this though, I’m finding it enormously satisfying. I really didn’t think I would, but it’s so nice to get back indoors after an afternoon working hard, getting dirty and covered in soil. Looking back out at the freshly dug beds makes that first beer all the more satisfying :) .

A Week In The Life

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I’ve had a busy and eventful week or so, so here’s my attempt to catch-up on it all.

Garden

As I mentioned on here a couple of weeks ago, I’ve got it into my head that I’m going to finally sort the back garden out this Spring and get some fruit and vegetable beds dug and planted. I’ve actually started it this time, and I’m making steady progress so far. I’ve got one bed fully dug, planted peas, and built a cane/net support structure to keep the birds (and dogs) off, and for the peas to grow up. I’m under no illusions of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ proportions of veg, but something to eat in a few months would be good. I’ve also got a large pot planted up with chilies, and another pot with some spare strawberry plants in. If I can’t grow strawberries there’s no hope for me!

I’m going to get back out in the garden this weekend and dig another bed or two, with a view to getting carrots, garlic, onions and some corn in (the corn is a trial). Just call me Richard Briers.

Dogs

Ella is well and truly settled in now, and turning out to be a proper little character. For such a scaredy-dog (she jumps at the slightest sound) she’s incredibly pushy when there are treats being given out, or some love to be had. Murph gave us a scare last week and was really poorly for a few days, but he’s back to normal now and loving agility again. The problem for me is the better he gets at it, the further and faster I have to run to keep up with him as the courses get longer and more complex. It’s as taxing mentally as it is physically sometimes, trying to figure out whether you should be doing reverse turns, cut-behinds, pull-throughs or whatever, all the while keeping an eye on the overly excited ginger monkey running and jumping with me.

Music

This is the best thing I’ve had to post here for a long time, I’m so excited. I was chatting to some friends about bands we’ve never been to see, and how it’d be sad for them to finish before we had a chance to watch them live, and to cut a long story short, we ended up buying tickets to Iron Maiden this summer! Iron Maiden…. how frickin’ awesome is that?? We’re going to watch them on 31st July in Birmingham as part of their Final Frontier tour, and I already know how amazing it’s going to be, I cannot wait.

Holiday

It’s looked for a long time that I wasn’t going to get a summer holiday somewhere warm this year, mainly due to the fact that we tend to go on holiday with a group of friends, and one of the couples in that group recently had a baby. However, it turns out that they’re keen to take their offspring off to warmer climes too, so there’s a good chance that we’ll all be heading off to Spain again in September for a week chilling out by the pool together. I’m really glad we do it that way to be honest, there’s no way I could really afford a ‘proper’ holiday this year, but when we get a villa between us it usually works out at about £300 for everything; flights and villa. That’s the sort of holiday I can afford :)

Grading

Last Sunday was the Spring grading at the academy, and it was quite a nervy one for me, because it was the first time ‘my’ students had been with just me by and large since their last grading, which meant I was responsible for their forms and one-step/self-defence. They did me proud though, and the day was a great success.

So that’s me for now, I’m sure there’s probably some other stuff I’ve forgotten, suffice to say March has absolutely flown by so far. Hopefully the next time I update I can be a bit more focused on one topic, and maybe even show you all some pictures of my gardening success!

Crammed Calendar

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We’re on the third row down on my desk calendar now, which can mean only one thing: it’s the best bit of the year! :D

September is when I start to get really excited about the stuff coming up, but before all of the various festivities get going I’ve got lots going on. The EMTF British Championships are coming up, and in preparation the clubs down here are getting in some serious training to make sure we’re all on top form and repeat the success we had away at the Europeans earlier in the year. It means we’re having squad sessions every other week at the moment (on a Sunday before heading back over to the academy for evening training…) to make sure ours forms and sparring is as good as we can hope for.

At the British Champs my instructor is grading for his Oh Dan (5th Dan) and there’s extra preparation for that too. We’re away for a trip up to see SBN Nessworthy which may end up being in Newcastle, and there’s an extra trip to Bedford in the offing as well. Somewhere in the middle of this there’s a Gup grading happening too, so those guys grading are under even more pressure to train hard at the moment. To be honest I’m feeling the pressure a little too, as I’ve stepped in to teach one of the clubs once a week, which means their preparation is in part my responsibility. There have been lots of changes in the syllabus recently, and although none of them are massive ones, they’re small differences to things which can highlight a lack of continuity between clubs at an event like a grading. I’m doing my best to help make sure this continuity is present next weekend.

My own training last night was the worst in ages. I’d been feeling a bit off all day at work, that sort of car sick feeling, and thought I was fine until I got my dobok on. I had nothing in me, no energy at all, and my brain refused to work. I forgot at least one move in each of my forms and wasn’t with it at all. My forgetfulness didn’t stop there; I got home and realised I’d cycled back and left my helmet at the academy. It hadn’t even occurred to me while I was riding. Here’s hoping for being a bit more lucid tonight, those poor people deserve more than me stood in front of them for an hour and a half going ‘durrrrr I do karate I do!’.

In other news, I finally moved the shed in the front garden! Ok, so it took me and three friends (friends bribed into doing it with homemade pasties) to do it, and there was a bit of shouting a bit of blood, but it’s done. It means I have a front garden again, and light in the living room. The shed was sat right at the front of the garden, and the garden’s raised up about 3 feet on a wall, so it practically eclipsed any natural light that might attempt to come in the house, and in an old miner’s cottage with walls 2 feet thick and small windows, every last bit of light is precious. Unfortunately I now have a garden that looks like it’s been lifted out of the Battle of the Somme. The next thing to do out there is decide what to do with the unruly hedge, sort out, level and replant the lawn and then create some steps in the wall to get up there more easily than with the death-trap steps already there. A landscape gardener I am not.