one little daffodill

one little daffodill out today, this is about 6" high. I love daffodills so hopefully all its relatives will be flowering soon.

and in the background a Chinodoxa Forbessi, glory of the snow. very pretty and lots to flower in this clump too.

more seeds into trays today...in the house I've done the following tomatoes..Rutgers, Royal Chico, Yellow Brandywine, Black Brandywine, Oregon Cherry and Gardeners Delight. also in the house are Aubergine Tres Hative de Barbentane and Sweet Nardello Pepper.

into the greenhouse a tray each of Delphinium Galahad and Agastache Blue Spike, I think they might look very nice planted with each other. if they get that far, I often plant seed trays of flowers which get neglected in favour of the veggies needing done.......

finally got started

Started on the 15th with planting one seed tray each of Onion Red Baron, Onion Dorata di Parma, Shallot Ambition and Spring Onion White Lisbon. Then on the 16th I did a tray each of mix salad leaves, Beetroot Detroit 2 and a bucket for early carrots in the greenhouse. I note from my blog this time last years seeds were started on the 4th of March.

I have not tried starting beetroot in trays before and saw this on Gardeners World with Monty Don.

These are all 'old seeds', some from last year and some older. I am trying to work on the principle spending as little money as possible and of using up all these seed I keep collecting. The germination rates do go down with age but some seeds are viable for many years. I have used up the packets and have planted far too many for my wee garden(who could eat four trays worth of onions?), if they all germinate anyway, hopefuly there will be some to give away and that someone will have good use for them.

I cannot find my gardening notebook or last years plan of what went where. Hopefully they're in a safe place which I will discover sometime soon.

my poor garden

I spent a lot of time at the weekend just trying to weed and clear up in the border. For most of last year the garden was not tended to and there was only a small amount of weeding done, well I found where the line was drawn....the bit that was weeded last year has been weeded and cleared without too much major drama........and then there is a clear cut line that is populated with couch grass, buttercups, flowers that like to take over, tree seedlings....and on and on.

oh my goodness. Its almost so bad that I am considering digging up what I know to be plants and putting them in pots and then having to clear and re-start the flower bed again.

too wet outside...

Smokey Tiptoes says no to going outside...too wet!!

this little pot of Scilia Siberica has bloomed year after year on the doorstep. they are still in a plastic pot...think its time to upgrade them to something nicer.

turning up the snowdrops revealing how pretty they are...note the raindrops, I had to run back inside as the rain came on so heavily.

the last standing vegetable!! the leeks survived! I had left some purple brocolli as I have done this before and had a nice wee crop in the early spring, however this winter the very cold temperatures turned the plants to mush...

one veggy plot is tidied, the rest are waiting on some drier days. I must get out into the greenhouse and plant some onion and leek seeds. these will be 'leftovers' that are not yet out of date. perhaps germination is not as good with older seeds but its worth using them up.

I am an Urban Homesteader

my little homestead veggy plot

I am an Urban Homesteader. I grow vegetables organically, I have reduced my living style, I recycle all the waste I am able to. Unfortunatly I cannot do without a car so I cannot claim to be saving the planet as much as I would like to.

apparently this phrase 'urban homesteader' has been trademarked by a homegrowing veggy 'business' run by the Dervaes family.

I would have to ask them 'really? why?' and ask why they are having blogs using this term closed down?

the world needs everybody to grow their own food, even a little helps. Even the knowlege of how to grow vegetables is an essential thing to have.

This blogger puts it across very well, so I link to her..
http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-urban-homesteader.html

all is well, phew!

I have a very sweet tooth. I have been a vegetarian a long time and I've been increasingly worried about the contents of the average, easily available sweetie.

I had a 'list' of things I thought it was okay to eat, and I read labels. I don't know if the recipies have changed or is there a new 'legal directive' on what they have to declare?

A lot of sweeties now seem to have 'Beef Gelatine' or 'Bovine Gelatine' in them.

I did a bit of label reading today and found these lovely sweeties from Sainsbury's, American Hard Gums.

I can eat them. I am building myself a revised list.....

started spring cleanup

the snow drops are just begining to show themselves. I have some time off work so hope to get the garden tidied and readly to 'go'. also time to put pencil to paper and get the veg beds planned.
last year lacked colour in the flower beds, a combination of bad weather and being busy so I would like to deal with that a bit better this year.

blown out?

I returned home from work today to find four plastic panels out of my greenhouse, and one of the roof spars hanging. is this wind? vandals? an earthquake? I can't work out how its happened.
a panel from the door and two panels from the side were inside the greenhouse, a panel from the roof was against the hedge and one panel very squint as one of the supporting roof spars had come away from its bolt...
some clips inside, and some out, some missing.......
well, not very nice weather to be bolting and clipping and standing on buckets to reach. but its done. hope it stays secure!!
just need somebody tall to do the final clips on the outside of the roof

charity does not cost you money

I recieved this today from my friend Bonnie in New York...perhaps we could give a bit of help it does not cost anything for you to vote. perhaps we could all help out with this?

"Claire, can I ask you for a favor?

I have a friend who lost his wife to a riding accident last year. I think it would've been understandable if he'd never wanted to see another horse again, but on the contrary, he's had the far more beautiful response of committing himself, in her memory, to the care and well being of her sweet Haeflinger (did I spell that right?), Charm, and right now, to trying to win a grant for a handicapped riding program that she was involved in.
That's where I'm hoping you can help! The grants are awarded based on votes, with the top 10 programs being awarded money. The riding program keeps being stuck at 11!
Unfortunately there is a registration involved (usually I won't vote if I have to give info but I made an exception for this one) - but I was wondering if you would mind voting, and even better if you had a circle of horsy friends to whom you could pass the word? Thanks for whatever you can do. I would LOVE to see these guys make the jump to #10! http://www.refresheverything.com/lirhalongislandridingforthehandicappedassociation "

as my thoughts turn to seeds..

lovely..throught the post comes the Organic Gardening catalogue, prompting dreams of spring and planting seeds. I am positive last year that I took good stock of what I had, what I needed and what I wanted......hmmm....
so there is the catalogue, at the back of a rather overful box, used and unused seeds......
so before any ordening is done this must be sorted!
I am trying to 'de-clutter' the house in general, there is 'too much stuff'. there are several blogs out on ideas for minimising, de-cluttering, donating, giving away, throwing out....such as 365 days and miss minimalist

I have managed to fill three bags to take to the second hand store, but due to my second hand car still being out of action they are still cluttering up my bedroom.....I really find it hard not having a car, can't get to the pony(annoying everybody for lifts), can't get to work(either early or late but never on time---and having several five mile walks due to consistent breakdown of buses), can't get for a big shop(too heavy to carry home).


JANUARY 2017;; EDIT TO ADD ;;
'''''I am reaching out to certain website and blog owners that publish content in line with our mission to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone. We hope to continue promoting arts education and accessibility with your help.
Our Minimalism page provides access to an informative description, to key related artworks, as well as to related categories, art-terms, and artists. By promoting Minimalism, we hope visitors can learn more about the movement in its context, and explore beyond it as well.
We would love to be included as a resource for Minimalism for your visitors via a link on your page. We believe that by spreading access we can provide a new, empowering way for approaching art. If you are able to add a link to our Minimalism page, please let me know. Thanks in advance for your consideration!
Best,
Alonzo''''

Parelli Principle number 3

my world has had a few prickles in it recently.

I just read this intersting post on Parelli Central by Neil Pye, its about electronic communication and how easily misunderstandings can happen by the pressing of a send button. the readers comments are worth reading as well.

Parelli Principle #3 – Communication is two or more individuals sharing and understanding an idea…well that’s the theory anyway!

Ellie Smith writes....

my old greenhouse is frozen closed!

here we have a guest post from Ellie Smith.....

"Remember a greenhouse/ glasshouse is not just a storage place,
With a long stretch of a mighty cold winter this year, gardening has not been at the front of everyone’s mind. As winter begins to bite in December, the darkest month – plant growth slows accordingly and a little patience is called for until the days slowly begin to lengthen again. However this does not mean we cannot look forward to preparing for greenhouse growing in the spring. It may seem far too early but spring is only three months away and as we know, time sure does fly.
Most greenhouses will be neglected during the frosty- wintery months and can fall into a dangerous trap of being used as storage hubs. Excess clutter and garden furniture is usually thrown into the greenhouse to be kept out of view. The danger of doing so is not being troubled to clear it at a later date.
Try not to fall into this habit- remember it won’t be long until the greenhouse will act as a beautiful feature in the garden and the perfect home for blooming flowers and tasty vegetables. Setting the heaters to a temperature that keeps your greenhouse ticking over and running smoothly makes sure you are ready to go.
Spring arrives in the greenhouse long before it makes its presence felt in the rest of the garden. By March many plants will be busily putting on new growth but, at the same time, these increasing temperatures also bring the transformed threat of pests, as they too begin to warm up again. Warm days and cold nights are typical of spring, which makes keeping the temperature in the greenhouse a challenge. The spring greenhouse is a hive of commotion in more ways than one – and a few regular tasks now should set things up for the rest of the year.
Give your greenhouse a good clean but make sure you just use Soap and water as you do not want to remove the UV stabilising coating. Some cleaning products contain harmful chemicals that can destroy the polycarbonate covering.
Staging should be disinfected along with the pots and seed trays ready for new growth. Once you have done so, you are ready for new growing stages. Automatic vent openers and automatic door openers come in handy.
Pouring freezing water over seedlings can shock them so remember to fill up a watering can and leave it in the greenhouse to warm up. "
Author: Ellie Smith, on behalf of Hartley Botanic.



thankyou for the lovely post Ellie!!


and you can click on the link to look at the fabulous greehouses from Hartley Botanic...put one on your Christmas Wish List!

bleh

photo taken last Monday, Scotland ground to a halt and I had to walk five miles home. the weather report for today has not been good, cold and wet rain this morning and snow is meant to come in after it and then freeze......just for the moment the sun is out and its very pretty.
I am very fed up with it now, and continue to have no car as it now needs fixing as the power steering has failed.
many blessings to everybody who keep giving me lifts up to the stables and back.
the greenhouse was frozen shut for over a week, I opened it this morning and the minimum shows -12C and the maximum 11c. brrrrr fed up!!!!

Abbey in the snow

trying out the video upload...cool!!

Abbey likes snow

Abbey likes the snow, she gets very excited and gallops off when put out in the field.

its much deeper than this now, but she is still careering round in it and has to be persuaded to come in at night time, as long as she is dry she is happy!

from wednesday to saturday

frosty on Wednesday

snowy on Saturday

repeat...

I must remember this, and repeat it as necessary.....

"When we quit learning from each other, we lose the greatest opportunity to grow. Every person's example can teach you something. So make it a habit to see them as agents for acquiring wisdom. "

new things

new to me car, a nine year old Skoda, runs great! my poor old Fiesta rusted away around its never failing engine......what a shame! I picked the Skoda up yesterday after 2 1/2 weeks without a car and trying to get everywhere by bus. Two jobs and one wee pony and the bus adds hours onto the day. I'm very relieved to have a car and get some energy back.

and I thought if I could get myself a car then Abbey could have a nice new pink headcollar. She does have lots of 'stuff' but most of it has been bought second hand. Her old headcollar hanging on the wall there is second hand and too big for her...it'll go in the wash and be kept for spare. Now.... I think I need to get a nice pink lead-rope to match......

days go by

my sycamore tree turns colour and decorates the garden with its leaves. some nice cold days however more often is wet and cold and windy. not so nice now that I have no car, it failed its MOT and was scrapped two days later after the 'man who welds things' said NO. its a shame, I liked the wee Fiesta as it always went, never broke down, it was cheap to insure and run too. and I have no money to buy another decent car. I have been traveling by bus, well, there's an experience and about another two hours added onto already long working days.

here's a fairy ring in the garden

nearly the last of the lovely garden veg, this lot got turned into veggy chilli, very nice it was too.

there was one row of cabbages that 'did not do', and I kept looking at them and thinking I should just take them out....welll I am glad I didn't.....they were not cabbages, this is lovely calabrese! I froze them and gave the stalks and leaves to Abbey, she will get the stalks from the sprouts soon, and then the broccoli...it may go on for a while yet. there are still carrots to come out of the ground and apart from the leeks that is probably it for all my harvest this year. its been not bad even with all the neglect.....probably out playing with the pony instead....

of edges

the vegetable beds have 'edges', wow! haven't seen them for a looooog time!! I gave in and asked a local grass cutter to do the grass and the strimming, over the last couple of weeks there has been so much rain that it has been left to get too long. I have managed to cut most of the hedge by starting a 'little bit at a time' when I had time and it was dry..to look at it in one go is too much, so I did 'up to the post' , then 'up to the tree' , and so on, there is still a couple of sections to do but I feel that they are achievable in the near future.

Tansy right at the edge of the first photo.

Abbey and I have been out riding round the fields, I love the peace and quiet. Not all is peaceful, I have purchased a small MP3 player with its own little speaker so that Abbey and I can have some music to listen to when practicing our flexion and cantering and 'stuff' when we are in the riding arena. I am a bit deaf so cannot stand putting headphones in or over my ears, also stereo becomes very strange when you cannot hear in one ear! As it is a yard where there is a house near, and other people about I think it would be impolite to have a full size stereo blaring while we rode. I always enjoyed the music playing at the two Quantum Savvy riding clinics I went to...one with Abbey and the first one with Katie. Who knows what the horses think? Abbey tried to eat the player when I showed it to her-I didn't want her to get a fright if I turned it on suddenly, ha, a whole new meaning to internal music......
I eventually got this bridle fitted correctly, its made from 'rawhide' and I believe a style in evidence in Argentina or Brazil, very pretty. I haven't ridden in it yet, we're still happy in a headcollar.

I have slight problem at the livery yard, Abbey has escaped through some partially broken fencing and was eating herself silly in the next field, luckily they own that field as I would not like to be getting into the farmers land, that would not be good at all. They have some electric fencing which I have put up and I have purchased some more electric fencing to use temporarily until it is fixed. If only they would maintain their edges!!

show jumping?

there was a couple of wee jumps set up so I though Abbey and I could try them. this jump is only a foot high....Abbey is going over it like it was three feet! she was a bit taken aback by these white and blue poles, we might try some walking and trotting over them this week to see if she learns they will not bite her, funny how she was showjumper in her previous life but still takes fright at things she must have seen before.

these are the older dulled down poles which did not seem to bother her at all, its probably less than a foot high in the middle and still she makes sure she has plenty of height. she puts a lot of power into her jumps and if I feel like she is throwing me out of the saddle. its been a long time since I did any 'proper jumping'......and it may a long time, if ever, before I do any more!

weeds the world over!

oregano that self seeds, its very pretty.....in the cold frames amongst other weeds(and I found a few plant pots in there when I had a look, I wondered where they had gone!)

loverly for attracting bees!

beautiful little creatures.

I'm not sure what this is, not a bee anyway.

and here is a lovely calabrese head, just ready for eating. there were four of them so eat two over a couple of days and chopped up the other two ready for use and have frozen them.

salad!

the last of the carrots from pots in the greehouse, some salad leaves and an 'Sacha's Altai' tomato, just ripe enough for salad. very nice. there was a bigger and redder tomato but it didn't survive long enough to have its picture taken.......

The Guardian commercial - Points Of View

good point!! I'd like to say it too!!

frog update

over the last couple of weeks its just looked like it was disintegrating.... this is it tidied up by the hoof trimmer, he has removed some of the overhanging bits and pieces, it still gets cleaned daily. hopefully it will all grow out and look as nice as it did before.

still raining

its been good this week to eat potatoes, courgettes, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions from the garden. I wish I was more organised and had some fruit..the gooseberrys have suffered with the cold, I thought one had died off but its coming up from the roots now, maybe some fruit next year.
its been raincoats on and raincoats off for the showers, change about every five minutes.....I had the strange experience of driving home in the bright sunshine with my windscreen wipers on full for the very heavy rain.....somwhat strange....a bit like riding with your eyes closed just to see what its like......
here's Abbey wearing her new wooly girth cover, nice and white before it gets dirty. it does come in brown which I would have prefered, but it is a luxury item so had to go with the cheapest version...so this is how I ride out, rope headcollar on.
Parelli antagonists need not comment thankyou, your comments will be deleted.

new to me lap top

all things on hold while I figure it out and transfer stuff. if I forget to visit anybody's blog its because I have lost you in transition....please leave a message in comments and I'll add you to my list of places to visit.

it rains it pours

and the rain is a good thing! my garden is really dry and the vegetables have been getting watered with the hose a lot. I have not watered the flowering plants or hedge as they have looked okay. Its lovely to have such a long spell of dry summer weather...very unusual for here.
The horses water has been very low in their streams too.
Here's Abbey looking lovely, her bottom lip hangs out when she is relaxed. I have just woken her up here so her lip is reasonably relaxed but not totally. her lip is a good indicator of her mood, I have photographs where its tight closed.....and she is anxious/scared and there are photographs when her bottom lip is way hanging down which means she is totally chilled out and relaxed.

This is the long grass from where the daffodils were growing in the lawn, these patches are left uncut to allow the daffodil leaves to gather energy for the bulbs to flower next year. The other patches have been cut down now but Smokey has been enjoying jumping in and out of the long grass here.....so this bit might just have to be an official wild patch.......

This tree growing package arrived this morning from Ecover, along with some products to sample for review and a reusable shopping bag. The seed information says to soak the seeds and then to put them in the fridge for a month....that must be to immitate a winter coming into spring to get the seeds to grow, what a lovely idea.

These are the products I am going to try. Multisurface Cleaner for house or garden....I have heard its really good for plastic garden furniture...unfortunately I don't have any so it will be put to good use cleaning my front door(pvc-its meant to be white!) and all my pots and trays for the greenhouse. The Power Cleaner sugests its good for bar-b-q's...again I don't have one but it will get good use on my cooker hob and grill.

Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner....well that will obviously come in very useful, as I work as a receptionist and often go to work after seeing Abbey and my hands and nails have that 'ground in dirt' look!!

and Biodegradable Compostable Bin Bags, they are made from potato starch and biopolymers, and say they will start to bio-degrade in a week...interesting.

Updates on these as and when used.

update on moan

Saturday morning after a good nights sleep, I am going out to be positive. planning a good play with Abbey(horses have the an ability to cheer you up under any circumstances), some gardening and some sitting with cats.
'sitting with cats' is a lovely pastime, I often try to combine it with reading but the cats have developed 'story sitting', which means of course they sit on top of the book so they can have all your attention......

moan

Another day goes by I still haven't won the lottery.
I sometimes wish I could take myself, my cats, my pony and my garden away from the small minded opinionated crap that keeps walking over the top of me.
Sometimes I really should know better and not even start off with a hello....its usually bound to degenerate into what happened today. It'll happen again too.

food!!

picture hasn't come out in the centre...wonder why? it'll be one of those 'did what you told it to do not what you want it to do' computer things.......that's also a horsey thing....leads to much confusion....

photograph of my first bucket of potatoes last week, I have scoffed them all and am now onto my second bucket. the second bucket has a few bigger ones in it which shows what an extra week of growing can do. They were planted in buckets in the greenhouse in February - four buckets in all, two left in the greenhouse, two put outside after most of the frosts(they take up a lot of 'air space' with their massive amount of leaves) next to be eaten will be the two put outside. The rest of the potatoes were put into buckets as those two were put outside, so they will be ready to eat later on. I still have a few very, very wrinkley seed potatoes that would probably still grow some crop if I put them in now. Growing potatoes in buckets does not give the biggest crop but it is good for where there is not space enough for a big patch and it makes them very easy to harvest, just tip out another bucket and your done!

I have made the decision to leave Quantum Savvy .....to progress means following the 'programme' to the letter involving riding bareback at the canter.....not brave enough.....putting a bridle and bit on Abbey..... don't want to..... and riding at the gallop......really don't want to!! I will be joining the worldwide Parelli programme, it gives more scope for progressing in the areas you are capable of/comfortable with. For instance I could get up to level three in ground-work while staying at level two for riding. It also makes great ....how to describe it?....."forgivness" of your horses character, Abbey gets very scared sometimes, Parelli encourages relationship with your horse before anything. I hope we can afford it thought as its really a pricey thing to join. My buddy Annie has already defected over and has kindly bought and said she will share with me all the DVD educational stuff. We will have to buy new t-shirts to go with it as well.......

is summer here to stay?

its so nice to suddenly have everything erupt in the garden, weeds included. its good and warm, a couple of days of rain here and there. hope the warm summer weather is here to stay.

my gardening friend May gave me a bit of root for these orange poppys, she said every garden should have them.

and my blue poppy keeps flowering, I was worried it might not make it through the severe frosts, being one of the few plants I have actually paid money for!

and onions, out in the ground, I have planted out brassicas, and these onions. I have been out sowing carrrots, parsnips, beetroot, beans and peas. the greenhouse has tomato plants growing, still sheltereing some potatoes which I hope to eat soon, still some seedlings to be planted out...courgettes and a pumpkin, and some tall things, the name escapes me....they are very nice steamed and dipped in butter...if they survive they are a biennial so no fruits till next year.

I also forget what its called when you forget certain words for things.....some form of dementia....