Minimal mulch

No deep frosts this week so we hoed round the plot today, though actually there weren’t that many weeds. K also mulched the asparagus bed …

… and the rhubarb patch …

Okay, nothing much happening in either area at the moment but, believe me, it’s all happening underneath – I hope!

Meanwhile, the blackcurrants are still doing well for the time of year, and even have buds on, which is quite exciting:

The flower beds aren’t doing that badly either – some of the daffodil shoots actually have buds on them too (gosh!), and the leeks are looking okayish too – though the mystery of how to thicken them up still escapes us …

Even the tulips are that tiny bit bigger – could it be a very early spring, LOL?

Finally, a harvest of sprouts for this week, though we haven’t kept the leaves as they were pretty well chewed. Sprouts have been delicious for Sunday lunch though, and there are some left over for tomorrow too.

Have a great Sunday!

Anne Brooke Books

The Wintry Allotment

Our first snowfall came today – which for me was horrific as I utterly HATE snow. It’s the work of the devil, don’t you know. LOL! Anyway, thankfully for us in the south-east of the UK it hasn’t lasted long – or not hereabouts anyway, so K and I still visited the allotment just to see how it was doing.

And it’s all very wintry – as you can see! Here is the overall view:

And here are a couple of close-ups of the beds:

 

I wasn’t expecting to be able to do any hoeing as I thought the soil would be too hard, but in actual fact it was all fairly soft, so we managed a fair weed round – not that there was that many weeds anyway.

K also brought down two bags of compost from home – but we’ll wait until the snow has gone until we actually mulch anything. There was a slight problem with our little trolley – which isn’t that great as it is – as one of the wheels came off, but luckily it was after he’d deposited the compost, so hopefully it’s mendable.

And once more we’ve harvested the sprouts, hurrah:

Have a great week, everyone, and happy gardening!

Anne Brooke Books
The Old Bags’ Sex Club (Erotic Romance)

Let’s try again….

The Cynical Gardener

Well, I’ve been a poor blogger.

In short …….I took a bit of a step back in 2015 and only made Wordless Wednesday posts.

I felt I needed to reassess what I was trying to achieve with this blog, and what I really wanted to say.

I’ve also been extremely busy most weekends over the year with an huge amount of DIY and decorating done to the house, in short the non-gardener and I have lived here years and not touched the decorating once… And believe me, it needed touching!

In order to keep costs down, I’ve done most of the prep work and junk disposal before tradesmen moved in and got started.

The horror under the wallpaper….

Walls in 3 rooms and the hall, stairs and landing have been stripped of wallpaper, tradesmen plaster boarded ceilings, skimmed walls, a painter was employed to paint our new smooth walls… We…

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Sprouts and slug city

Great news today! I have started driving again after my operation in December and everything was fine. It was ridiculous how nervous I felt before I got in the car – but though it felt weird, there wasn’t any pain and I managed to drive to the village and also to the allotment, hurrah!

K took out one of the blackcurrants to grow at home, and I weeded everything in sight. Much to our delight, the blackcurrant canes we poked into the ground last year are actually starting to sprout so nature has been kind:

At the same time, the beetroots are hanging on in there, the spinach is bearing up under all the rain, and the sprouts are taking over the whole of their beds:

And there’s even more excitement – the daffodils sharing their bed with the leeks are well on the way, and also the tulips are just beginning to show themselves, well gosh.

Anyway, here is today’s harvest of spinach and sprouts. The sprouts were full of slugs when I got home, but I dealt with them in the usual (violent!) way, hey ho. I am indeed the Scourge of Slugs everywhere …

Have a fabulous weekend!

Anne Brooke Books

 

Unreasonably Unseasonal Season

Parallel Oonahverse

It’s January. It IS January isn’t it?  the Winter Jasmine is in flower

and of course there are wallflowers in leaf

but shamrock?

and is this parsley I see?

and pelargoniums in flower?
 

and how about a rosebud?

Clearly this is not January or my garden has gone nuts!

What have I been writing? Oh this and that… What have I been submitting? Very little. I need to get a start on this year but I seem to be the only thing that isn’t ‘bursting with life and enthusiasm’. Couple of things coming up — a poem and story in PP&P and a poem in BwS but not until February and by then who knows…I might get my act together by then – or not.

I blame January! It IS January…isn’t it?

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Preparing Winter Sowing Containers – Ready to Plant!

Hi Lovelies,

It’s January, and for me that means something very important! It’s time to winter sow some annuals (and perennials!). The discovery of winter sowing was a complete game-changer for me. You see, my tiny little house is a dark wasteland, and the last thing that thrives here are delicate seedlings. Moving the operation outdoors is definitely the answer for me.

Now when you hear “winter sowing”, you may be thinking, “Whhhaattt, this stuff won’t grow in the winter!??!” In fact, when I first read online about winter sowing, the website told me just to walk outside in the snow and throw the seeds on the ground. Guess what! THAT DIDN’T WORK. Thanks for wasting both my time and my money “Mr. Garden Blogger” (phooey, my foot!).  Can we just take a second – PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Dear Internet, if you haven’t successfully done something yourself – don’t write a…

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A Grand Day out at Kew.. Pt.1. The Princess of Wales Conservatory.

The Cynical Gardener

The World Famous Palm House at Kew.

Last January, in all the snow and cold, I came up with the idea of a visit to Kew Gardens as soon as was convenient.

I persuaded a work colleague to come with me, and we found a local coach firm that does day trips all over the country to touristy places and was doing a day out to Kew Gardens mid-April, so we booked some seats.  Its easier for us to get to Kew by coach as there is virtually no parking available at their, I never want to drive in London and quite frankly my heap of a car would have surely died en-route.

I’ve taken in access of over 300 photos of my day out so I’m going to chop up the day by Greenhouses visited and blog in parts.  I hope that works out ok.

So we arrived at about 11am on a Thursday Morning…

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