Winter Solstice

over winter solstice now, the dark should start to recede. it gets very wearying sometimes

 my car was in the garage and I luckily could borrow this wee beastie. love driving it , costs a small fortune to run though... 

both photos taken in the hospital car park, after work,  when the temperature was -5c

Pinched a post from.... Equine Insanity: The Best They Can

Equine Insanity: The Best They Can: A few weeks ago I ran into an acquaintance and her very ill behaving puppy which already at seven months old was the size of a large Sh...

cat on a seat

 

this is from october, don't know why it didn't post on the blog at the time, a new to me garden chair/table, gets Casper apporoval. Its now under a good tarpaulin to protect it from the winter weather

yesterday

one of those days when its dryish, you hang out laundry and go out riding. I didn't get rained on, but my laundry didn't dry.... hope to do the same today. 

 

Atomic bread in a jar, can be kept for up to 12 months!

 

sharing to save

Growing spinach over winter and avoiding gluts

 

Video shared from ''Steve's Seaside Kitchen Garden & Allotment''

just to show if you are organised enough you can keep the garden going ..... just to point out that I am not that organised at all.... and will not have much going on during the winter... some of this is being tired out from work, prefering to go and do the pony instead of garden... and just plain old unable to make myself get up and get out to do anything.

Gleannmhor Quattro February 2011

 

this horse is brother to mine, never met him, just found the video on you tube.

greenhouse clearing

starting the clearout, plants to remove and all sorts of  ''things'' to be tidied up and found a place for... shaking spiders out as we go......
 

all the fruits , the last harvest, cherry and fat tomatoes, one lemon cucumber, some small peppers

mostly done... plants and buckets removed to the compost, old plastic shelves taken to the dump. still the potting bench to move and clear. hopefully I can wash the glass if we get a nice day. .... or waterproof up and do it on a rainy day... lol

Details of the Counter Arc,

 

you're gonna have an accident cos you don't know how to drive the thing

lol

"Don't Try to Fix It" - Best Advice from Jim Masterson, posting to save

that time again, first clip

 

its a nice dry day today, so the first clip done. she's very good and patiently stands

during the week, wednesday, a nice walk out and we just missed the rain ....

Micro Foamie Vespa Teardrop Trailer Time Lapse Style FULL build. Poor Ma...

 

what a great idea.

interesting roast radishes recipe, posting to save it

 this is a link to an article on how to roast radishes. I don't like them... but they are easy to grow, so I would like to like them... lol.

 

https://www.wickedspatula.com/crispy-roasted-radishes/?fbclid=IwAR1RVkA6PXO610RY--PFsofCefI1fbobdU6ZahvaqOKQo2ChHM-OIfknM00

different view

 

sitting beside the greenhouse in the shade, not too bad a hidey place. lol

Pest central | dealing with or ignoring pests and diseases

todays vegetable garden and greenhouse

a small harvest, some peas, beets, parsnips, turnip,  tiny courgettes and flower, cucumbers, kale, chard, spinach, greens, 

I'm always grateful for what grows. I'll eat them, with some bought potatoes, for dinner.

cat feets

 

small spash of colour

 i'm pleased with the marigolds and nasturtiums, nice bit of colour and they were grown from seed.

sundays greenhouse

sweet peppers, think they should ripen to red? or they are the long ones that stay green... I've lost track

little tomatoes starting, red cherry
 

and a good late afternoon temperature. it shows , from the top, Max-Current-Min... so the minimum is from during the night, pretty warm for scotland. 

shading the greenhouse

high summer temperatures and the greenhouse gets a bit hot. so I've pegged on an old banner, rescued from a shop bin...

 think it must have been a christmas banner from the looks of the snowflakes... lol... 

it did the job and the greenhouse maximum was 38c.

small blessing

 

 

its been quite the week or so, finding some rythm at work after a long period of disliking the place altogether. then an old freind , with a serious hospitalisation and still there. with the cry that life is not fair.... so slightly late ... a small solstice blessing of sage and mugwort. .   a small fire for some peace.

 

midsummer garden

 

every video , I think that little pile of plastic bags needs to be moved... 

misummers morning.

 

greenhouse tour . Sunday 5th June 22

 Casper is not happy , chairs removed from the greenhouse to make way for tomato plants.... and now the weather is typical Scotland summer of cold, rain , wind.........

greenhouse and garden , Saturday 4th June 22

 

we had nicer weather last weekend, Casper in his favourite place...

neat beds

I was mostly finished digging the bed near the  fence.. hence its name 'the fence bed'... the wood all collapsing .... inbetween this photo and

this one.. I managed to ping my lower back .... so the completion of digging took some time....

and then some lovely wood for round the edges.

this should hopefull be planted up soon with brocolli, kales , cauliflower, cabbage... greens in general. lol.
 

warning... this is rude....

 

but its also funny, a friend sent it, and  kinda know how she feels. 

have a lol. x

Worm Composting...Underground?! Subpod Review

 

this looks interesting, though its a very expensive kit, it could be copied with a crate with a good covering on it? I like that its directly in the bed you are using.

rainy days

 

torrential rain, good for hostas I dug up from the garden and potted yesterday...unfortunately whenever I have a few days off work the weather always seems to be rubbish.....

seeds planted in  the greenhouse today.... Purple sprouting broccoli Suttons Mix and home collected from the best plant from last winter. Cabbage Winter Jewel and Savoy Perfection. Collards Vates. Leaf Beet Perpetual Spinach and Swiss Chard Lucillus. Spinach Giant Winter and Giant Nobel. Kale Vates Blue Scotch Curled. Leek De Carentan 2. Cauliflower Suttons Romanescue. Summer Savory. Courgette Golden Griller. Cucumber Lemon. Brussels Sprouts Long Island Improved

think thats enough for one rainy afternoon. . I'll get some photos up tomorrow. 

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata Nightmare (Dubstep Remix) - Radio Edit

 

think its worth sharing.

todays garden

Nice weather all week which lasted into the weekend,  I got  lots of laundry outside yesterday to dry, which keeps me happy.  Seeded in the greenhouse in two medium pots are Carrot Little Fingers and Carrot Royal Chantenay. I tried to space the seeds out but its difficult.. I will thin/eat them as they grow.

Seeded directly into the middle bed, under the pallet collar/shower door ''cloche''. Carrot Ideal, Yellow Beetroot Boldor, Red Beetroot Detroit, Parsnip Hollow Crown and Turnip Sweetbell.( have marked these as 25^th because I guessed the date... lol) . 

The beetroot and parsnips are more or less 'station sown' , but the carrot and turnip seeds get more of a ''row'' thing going on because they are so small and run away from me, which means they need careful checking and thinning if necessary. ... 

Beetroot , parsnip and turnip are in small blocks about 16 inches square, and the carrots are 16 inches one way, three feet across... ish... because the wooden frame is a bit smaller than three feet. . And I must try to remember to draw plans this year because it really does not stay in my head from year to year, never has.....

Thinly scattered rock dust before the seeding and I marked out my 'squares' with calcified seaweed. I think these things do well as long term/slow release additives. The bed is dug over with horse poop so thats where most of the ''oomph'' will come from. 

In the bottom right corner of that photo is a lot of white horse hair.. I've been putting bags and bags of it into the garden which all the neighborhood birds. large and small, have been taking for their nests. its amazing watching them but have failed to get any photos. point the camera and they fly away...  

 

''Son of the Secret Gardener'', author Dr Trevor MIllum, Book Review

Dr Trevor Millum's grandfather, George Millum Snr, was the head gardener at Maytham Hall in Kent which was the home of Frances Hodgson. The very famous classic childresn story 'The Secret Garden' was written by Frances Hodgson in the early 1900s. The grumpy old gardener who tends the 'secret garden' in the book, Ben Weatherstaff, is modeled upon a younger George Millum.   George Millum's son, George Charles Millum, who like his father was born in the gardener's cottage at Maytham, also grew up to be a hard working country house gardener .

George Charles Millum kept diaries for many years of his working gardening life, also in his lifetime he was called away to war, married and had children...  his son, Trevor Millum has transcribed and sometimes interpreted two of his diaries , also giving details of  their family life throughout the book. There are family photographs and illustrations( byTwink Addison) throughout.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, amazed at the sheer amount of work involved in running and keeping a 'country house garden', not just the general upkeep but also having to grow the vegetables for the house and keeping flower displays for inside as well as organiseing, planning and providing stunning gardens.What a wonderful family heritage of personal diaries and photographs, shared by Trevor Millum.

This is an good relaxing, want to read and keep reading book. Perfect to sit reading  and relaxing with a cup of tea in the garden, I mostly sat in my little old greenhouse, as its not that warm outside just now!

I hope, as a keen gardener,  there might be a follow-up of the entire set of diaries transcribed ? please?  lol

does gardening save you money ? ...... does it have to ?

 

this post from Lifehacker suggests you can be saving money with your vegetable garden, buts its not all sweetness and light .

I wonder sometimes too, with bargain stores selling vegetables cheaper than big supermarkets, speciality vegetable shops are few and far between and those have high prices, but always very good quality. 

one thing the article did not 'quantify' , or price?.. no words for it... is the feeling of satisfaction that you get when adding your own vegetables to a meal. even if you haven't grown enough for a whole meal.... a few winter months I was more than happy to make a small omlette one day at the weekend with a few little bits of broccoli, some chard and kale that has survived and grown a little through the winter. at this precise moment I could probably pick about three leaves of chard and some chives... perfect for an omlette.. but I have no eggs... lol. 

so my question is ''does gardening have to save you money?''

and my answer is... no it doesn't have to because it will provide enjoyment and health in itself, I think overall that it does save money and provide good fresh vegetables, the expense of potting compost and equipment is considerable, it can take years to build things up. the last couple of years I've purchased a few new seed trays and propagator lids each spring, I now have just about enough and wont' have to look about for alternative.. the kitchen washing up bowl or a plastic storage contaier, these are useful things too. lol.. 

 yesterday I seeded the little trays with a mix of lettuce seeds, greens for small leaves, some peas just for the leaves,,, fashionably these things are call 'micro-greens' now. 

seeds planted include,...Peas Ambassador, Endives, Mustard, Pak Choi, Cabbage, Beetroot, Collards, Turnips, Oriental Spicy Mix and a lettuce mix that is varous left over seeds that I've mixed into a plastic container.only the peas are new seeds. all the others are from last year and older which is sometimes a hit or a miss, but its all in the fun... have fun.

todays garden

 

Casper is very happy with his wee blanket in the greenhouse. video taken with my 'new to me' fancy phone ...lol.... as up till now I've used a flip phone that texts and phones.. nothing else... lol... still have to upload it to laptop to put it on here... see if that works ok. 

last week was very nice almost summery weather... because I'm off work this week its snowing in flurries, my usual luck with the weather. I've put my laundry out anyway because it'll get mostly dry and smell nice. as a holiday present to myself I've bought four more seed trays, and two clear lids. and three small ones to start stuff in the house.  

in the greenhouse the leeks are doing great, some onions came from last years seed and two trays of marigolds seeded so hopefully have lots for in amongst the vegetables. you can see in the video there is new wood for a veggy plot beside the clothes pole, there did used to be one there but its grown over. it might not get used this year as i'm short on time to get it going, also it'll get filled with fresh manure and it'll be okay for  next year. 

POTATO

 thumbnail for size referenct... lol.... potato in a bucket in the greenhouse... last year this method produced four potatoes in total... so maybe not the best... but it pleases me to grow things so thats a yield in itself. 

the weather is fabulous this week.. like summer... of course I'm at work and have next week off... here's next weeks weather report... 

''Still settled for many at the start of next week but a trend to showery and colder conditions is expected to take place from the north from Monday. Showers will likely be focused on northern and eastern areas, potentially wintry over northern hills and at lower levels in the far northeast. A good deal of dry weather persisting in the south and west. Potential for strong winds in the far northeast early in the period. Later next week and beyond, more unsettled conditions are likely with more frequent showers or longer spells of rain for many areas. After a spell of below average temperatures next week, temperatures are likely to return to near average later in the period.''

hackamore tying

 

I'm sure that I saved this before, but I can't find it , so I'm saving it again

NOTE...... for future reference... due to size of halter/horse... reduce by one loop after the rein.

Garden Sales Company

 https://www.quickcrop.co.uk/learning/plants/

just discovered this company. saving to remember to go back and have a good look at all the information they have freely available. you never know everything, no matter how long you have been gardening. 

I've had a look at their raised bed kits. and considering the price of wood I think they are a good price for what you get... I'm putting one on my 'never ending wish list'.......

Quantum Savvy Horse and People Training, saving to watch later

Another 950 trees planted, and shelterbelt design.

 

how fabulous. love how many trees he's planted.

How to ,,, t-shirt ... saving...

 

seems easy enough, i would like to try this

 

or this

 

this is the basics from the tie dye man. love his videos

garden this morning

 Storm Eunice is hitting the south coast of Englane, parts of Scotland with deep snow, there isn't much here this morning. Glad I have a day off work anyway and don't have to travel anywhere.

Greenhouse temperatures show 19.5, 5.5, 1.9 this  morning

Quince had her rainsheet put on yesterday ahead of the weather so she doesn't get too wet and cold.

this is one of Abbeys old ones... as you can see by the repairs and the lack of front closures.. ... they were torn off and this has been stitched together at the front and goes on over her head....

Landslide 2020: Women Take the Lead – Anne Spencer Garden & House, Lynch...

 

what an amazing garden

this Christmas basket was put out into the greenhouse last week, it looks quite happy, there was a poinsetia in it as well when I recieved it but that died after about three days... its been in the house since the week before christmas.

something a bit odd happened there when I tried to move the photo order... 

the small pot and this bucket inside a trug... are the Home Bargains freesias and I put two of the seed potatoes into a standard three gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom... and this is sitting in a trug.. to make it easy to water and to provide some further protection from cold out in the greenhouse

the leek seeds are coming up, I will eat the excess as they grow and end up with one per square that will get planted out in the garden later in the year,

the nearest propagator is one bought last year, with its nice clear plastic, and the one behind is an old yellowed one, very brittle now, it cracked as it was washed today with hot water and a sponge, it still does its job.

the daffodils in pots, outside, are starting to poke through, it doesn't look like they've all grown.. but there's time yet to see if any more come.

some little snowdrops at the bottom of the hedge by the tree.
 

5 Most Epic Earth Healing Projects!

Kathryn Schulz: Don't regret regret

 

reminder to self to watch occasionally.... regrets of mine are usually about empoloyment.

Full Body Riding Warm Up to Feel Relaxed and Balanced (Do Anywhere Exerc... saving to watch later

its only a weed if its in the wrong place....

 this is a nice healthy nettle, i've dug it up from the farm , where its not wanted.. and its now behind my shed and i hope to re-establish a nettle patch there. there was a heap of rubbish that i had to remove, goodness know what was all in it... bits of washing machine etc.. so i think the soil is toxic. nothing has grown in it for two years... i put some nettle in it last year and they didn't survive. 

I understand that sunflowers will take up toxins from the soil.. and then you must not compost them but dispose of them in ordinary rubbish bin.. as you would just be returning the toxins to the ground.... its a bit shady behind the shed but if this nettle does not survive then i'll try it.

friends passing

 internet friends, kayaking friends. after a long period of fighting cancer Bonnie passed away http://frogma.blogspot.com/

breath....not sure this image is readable on the blog?

 

Quantum Savvy Horsemanship .... Is your horse balanced? part 1 of 2

I've always liked Quantum Savvy, sadly I'm no longer a member due to financial constraints....