Nest Box Design: Our BEST DESIGN Details from 25 years of Practice

The Traveling Wilburys - End Of The Line (Official Video)

Everybody Needs a Little Sanctuary

Sunday

snowdrops just about ready to bloom. I might pop some into a jar in the house. otherwise I'll never see them

inexepensive bulbs all coming up, hope they're nice and bright when they flower.

I did about an hours work in the garden yesterday, weather was better than expected and cleared up a bit in the afternoon. filled a bin and a feed bag with leylandi cuttings, its smothering a small bed at the bottom of it.

uncovered a bunch of snowdrops below the leylandi, there is also a peony and should be some erythroniums though they're not showing yet.

Saturdays temperatures

Sundays temperatures.

spot the cat. lol. he is funny.
 

dreich

driech is a scottish description of a dismal, drizzley rain, foggy, cold day. todays temperatures are Max 6.7c (44f), Min 0.9c (33.6f) and current also 6.7c. Yesterday I recorded ( probably for the week as I hadn't been able to open the door for a few days... frozen shut!) Max 8.1c (46.5f), Min -8.4c (16.8f) and current of 1.3c (34f). So it's a  milder day , but preferred the cold with the sunshine....

leeks and onions , a flimsy plastic cover

and then the hard plastic domes over the top of that.  there's a post somewhere with the trays covered with garden fleece, must have been before I discovered the high dome tops and I have photo evidence of them in 2007,,,, they have some age to them and are cracking, discolouring and disintegrating.. I have purchased some new ones that are still in the house and will come out to be used when needed. I hope they last as long !!

Casper joined me in the greenhouse.. on the wicker footstool which is in there with the wooden garden chair to be protected from the weather .

little clumps of snowdrops coming up through the leaf litter beside the hedge

nearly nearly  but not quite open yet

and again , himself , quite the gardening cat today, lol

I received some amazon tokens for christmas, along with the max/min themometer, so I've just spent about an hour online choosing a garden journal , and also a plant journal to record the plants in the garden. I have attempted to keep a diary on my laptop but would prefer to write the notes , also the journals are 'prompted' so you just have to fill in info. I'm nearly finished typing up a current seed list, too many - too exciting....
 

link to recipe from MotherEarth News

Fire Cider and Chutney , useful for colds

https://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/fire-cider-recipe-zbcz1512?fbclid=IwAR2FocHTYwMtZmY6gMzMCmyU7ymtVYC0V9_NhtM6RCIXZwF_7tpOxUagNQA

garden update

 

I forget if I've posted this photo ...  must really make a seed list. And I really can't keep garden notes on the lap top, I never update it.

there are some snowdrops showing,  but not in flower yet, and can see some cyclamen green leaves in a couple of places.

 can still  pick some broccoli, some leeks and some spinach, so those are things that need 'more of' for this year. 

in the greenhouse today – using seed trays and old high dome propagators.....

Onions sown.... Walla Walla and Cipolla Rossa Di Tropea

Leeks sown..... Blue Solaise and Large American Flag

the best christmas present, a digital Maximum Minimum thermometer.... todays readings are...  max  9.9c (49.8f), min -3.9c (25f), temperature as I was planting about 2.30pm was  5.2c dropping to 3.9c by the time I was done. Casper kept running between the house and the greenhouse telling me that he's not a gardening cat at the best of times, and it was too cold!!

The Atomic Tree (360)

because I always forget the words... lol

 On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drummin'
Eleven pipers pipin'
Ten lords a leapin'
Nine ladies dancin'
Eight maids milkin'
Seven swans a swimmin'
Six geese a layin'
Five golden rings!
Four calling birds
Three french hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree!

editing to add this link from the RSPB with their version of birds from the song. 

Today I Rise

Jerome Osentowski-Growing Indoor Tropical Gardens on Top of a Mountain!

Pauline Pears-Composting Tips to Get You Started with Healthy Soil!

a lovely , no nonsense , how to compost everything .

The Family Plot - October 31, 2020 .. to watch later

Urban Permaculture with Morag Gamble, to watch later

Next Steps In Hand... to watch later

online gardening talks

 I've signed up for this ... so have copied and pasted the e-mail asking to share the link to join.

'''Creating healthy food sources no matter where you live!

 

Can I ask you a quick favor?

 

I'm on a mission to help people grow better food, more abundant food, in easier ways.

Would you help me spread this event by posting this link? 

http://gardeningmadeeasy.show/

on Facebook and by email to anyone you know who can benefit from better food and gardens?

Lets make this planet a better place!

 

Much love, 

 

Cathy Hague

Gardening Made Easy

A division of The Magical Herb & Vegetable Garden'''

garden day

thats all the tomatoes removed from the greenhouse and the plants into the compost

love sunflowers

always cheery

still will need to be completely tidied out, but its starting to look a bit empty

in the back of this crack between bricks, on the right hand side, is an out of focus pink bit... that is a leg of frog or toad... as it jumped in there when I moved the crate out of the back corner... eeeek..
 

first weekend in October

 weather not pleasant.

last Sunday in September

a little late, aubergines just starting to grow now.. its too cold and the green house will be emptied  in a month...

there was a frost this morning, and by the time I was up and out to the car it said 4C. the leaves are turning on the tree and starting to fall.

I halved some apples and put them on the grass.. the birds peck away at them, leaving little empty skins.

in the grass

and colours again. 

I've some nice fat tomatoes to eat, some cherry's too. several fat tomatoes still on the vines in the greenhouse, and a few bunches of cherrys.. still very green. there may be another cucumber by next weekend if it would stay warm enough for them to grow a bit. beans are pulled out, peas might have a bit of life in them, the broccoli is recovering a bit from the caterpiller onslaught now that the cold has taken them away to hibernate. some onions , beetroot and leeks still to pick, but they are fine in the ground for just now. a nice harvest to have re-started with, hopefully get more in next year. some years in the past I did have more than could be used in the moment , so I would freeze some, nice to have something you've grown to eat when all the garden is empty.

the shed got a second coat of protective paint, its about 15 years old I think, so hopefully that'll keep it going for another few years, it needs a couple of patches covered to stop rain getting in when the wind blows. the greenhouse still needs to have something done with it.. but who knows what or when or how, no glaziers to cut glass to the right size, and plastic is expensive. well, maybe next year. I managed with what I had available and that was ok.

 

lawns to gardens

 link to a wordpress article about front lawn growing in the USA

https://druidgarden.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/converting-lawns-to-gardens-natures-harvest-permaculture-urban-farm/?fbclid=IwAR2xXwCgOafMOOP2L_K7U8bAqlyBbyLToN7zoEISr2KhXNB_kDq4-Gy2YJ4

I always wonder about the ''rules and regulations'' , don't have them here. people do what they like.