Saturday stuff

Up and busy around the house and garden this morning - very cold but lovely and sunny :) I put Lilac hen outside with the other girls to enjoy the sunshine and she pottered around with them in the garden. She is very thin  and very slow, though ...

The other big girls are laying well so I collected 4 eggs from them and one of the Serama pullets is also laying an egg nearly every day so thank you Mandy ( I think)

Later, after lunch I brought Lilac inside the house and then Compostgirl and I went to Hereford for a shopping trip, collecting a friend of Compostgirl's on the way. They went off and had a look around and I did clothes returning and then book buying, using up loads of money saved up on my loyalty card. Two "free" Robin Hobb books to get stuck into later this week AFTER I have done my tax return I think! We met up for hot chocolate and cake ( them) and coffee for me.

Home (via friend's house to drop her off) to a beef casserole cooked by Compostman while we were out and a sit by the fire to watch TV. Compostgirl and I enjoyed "The Voice" and then we all watched a "Father Brown" we had recorded earlier in the week.


I need to get on with crochet and sewing as I have realised that in another few weeks it will be time to start the seed sowing/chitting/plant propagation etc etc and then I will not have time! Eeek where has the winter gone? 

Getting very busy in the garden (!)

We have had a week without rain recently and the ground finally has began to dry out - it could still become very wet very fast if we get any more rain, but for now both Compostman and I decided we could get digging.

We only have leeks, parsnips, spinach and various kales left in the ground in the veg patch and it all looks a bit sad at the moment - it has been just too wet to do anything as even tidying up would involve compacting the very wet soil. So we didn't.

 But today the sun shone, the birds sang and it was glorious to be outside :)

 After lifting last years onion plastic and doing some weeding in the raised beds we got cracking barrowing leaf mould over from by the compost area to enrich the beds.

 Compostman laid out the onion plastic on the new onion bed - I had previously enriched this area with compost and lots of wood ash, before he laid down the plastic and pegged it out.

Then he planted onion sets one per hole in the plastic. I meanwhile planted potatoes in the two raised beds. One had Maris Peer and the other Vanessa - both organic seed  potatoes of course. I believe it is "traditional" to plant potatoes on Easter Day, although I can't see why as Easter can be very early or very late to be planting them?

 We stopped and had a cup of tea while sitting on the bench at the top of the wood and admired the view down into the wood,

And across into the garden and orchard.


I have lots of other veg plants growing in the polytunnel but even so it feels good to get stuff planted in the ground :)

April - planting potatoes, mowing grass and sunshine

  Today we planted potatoes, Charlotte and Nicola, in these raised beds outside by the wood.

  

 25 of each, in each bed.

 I took the chance after the potatoes were in the ground to have a walk in the wood and admire the bluebells.

Then I got on the mower and cut all the grass.

 Also used the hand mower to get to the more difficult bits. I usually use the push mower, but my arm is still not up to doing that, so petrol power it was.

 Blondin and Sweetie admiring the fresh cut grass.

 Then we cleaned the outside of the polytunnel - it is amazing how much green manky stuff grows on the outside over a year!

Finally - tomato flowers on a Latah tomato plant inside the polytunnel :) Soon...

Progress in the garden :)

 I am really excited at the moment as finally, finally we see some progress in the garden redesign :)

 
Compostman has got the JCB going again (he is SUCH a star) and has been busy.

This is a bindweed and geum infested bed which has been dug out with very little effort on our part, because we used the JCB instead of a spade. I sort of think I ought to feel bad about using fossil fuels to dig this, when I should be using my own muscle power and a spade and wheelbarrow - but my aching back is telling me to shut up, so I will.

One thing all this outdoor stuff has shown me is that I need to get a pair of decent wellingtons. It rained a lot  when we were doing this work and I waded through some water and found my wellies leak. I hate wet feet! I am also suffering a lot from cold feet and my broken foot hurts more if it gets cold and wet, so I am thinking of getting a pair of Muck boots, ideal for cold feet sufferers like me. The one that appeals is the Arctic Sport, which should really help to keep my feet warm and dry.

Any one else got a pair of these? What are they like?

I salvaged lots of bulbs and plants during the digging out of this bed and I have put them in pots and will see if any bindweed was transplanted with them. If none comes up then next year they can be moved into the new beds, which we will be creating in the next few weeks. I also have a lot of plants which I have been given over the last few months as well as bulbs and have been taking a lot of cuttings, so the polytunnel is pretty full at the moment.

This is all such fun! Its like the build up day at Hampton Court Flower Show, here at the moment!

.

This is a bed full of mint which is absolutely covered in bees, flies, butterflies, hornets and wasps all buzzing around it. Delightful to watch :)

Which reminds me of  another thing I spotted when looking at the  Internet Gardener website. A lovely and unusual  hexagonal interlocking terracotta herb planter  I love the shape and design of this and after our momentous experience this summer with the Tree Bumblebees in the bird nest box,  will be buying it to plant up on the NEW PATIO ( yes, really!) which will be dug and done in the next few weeks :) You can see what it looks like if you go to my Pinterest "Dream Gardens " board.

In a few more weeks I will have the patio I have longed for, for so many years :)  And I can put Olive trees in terracotta pots on it and have some nice garden furniture to sit on. And admire the view.

 But first we have to build it :) Work starts this week :)

Not safe to let me go to Garden Shows!

I was very kindly sent some money by MoneySupermarket.com as part of my entry to their home improvement hero  competition.

 They are asking 

Is it possible to change the look, feel and even functionality of a room on a low budget? We’re asking bloggers to provide step-by-step instructions to help educate the nation on how to carry out simple, yet effective home improvements. Whether you have skills in craft, art or DIY, we want to see what you can do with a £50 budget.

 My bright idea was to use the money from this competition to change the look, feel and  functionality of my "garden room" ( ie flower beds) outside my sitting room.

I wanted to improve the view from our sitting room and (nearly finished - yay!) newly refurbished bedroom, so when we looked out of the windows we would see lots of colour and insect life. The view  is not very attractive at the moment, with weeds and a half dug patch of soil on show.  This area used to have Leylandii trees, but they blocked the light and shaded the sitting room so last year we cut them down .

Compostman then dug the stumps out (using the JCB) and we moved a large tree Paeony into the hole, but that is all that has happened so far. It is a bit of a mess and as it is by the road and we look directly out on this area I felt it could do with a makeover.
 

View from sitting room and bedroom window

I was working with the idea that if I improve the view out of the window, I have also improved the room itself. Inspired by some of the planting I saw at Hampton Court I came up with a design for planting up a new herbaceous perennial flower bed, as well as some improvements to at least one other existing bed. I used some of the money to buy some nice new plants but this is going to be frugal flower planting as I can't afford to spend the sort of money on plants that I saw at Hampton Court!

I marked out where I wanted the new bed to go and then Compostman got to work digging, while I gathered up plants and seeds and took stock to decide what I would need to buy.

At the moment I have quite a good collection of plants I have grown from cuttings or seed. I also always keep an eye open for "past their prime" plants sold at a discount.  I bought three plants late last year (Coreopsis, Solidago and Aster) which would have been £8 each full price, for £1 pound each and re potted them and over wintered them.  These have been earmarked to go in my new flower bed.

I also took advantage of the good deals on plants at various local nurseries with  "4 for £10"  offers which I used to buy some rather nice RHS award of merit Geraniums as well as some Campanulas and Nepetas. I am also a member of various Garden Centre loyalty schemes so was able to get BOGOF deals on some of the plants I wanted to buy (the two Dahlias in particular were a bargain at £4 each)  I also got lucky at a local garden supermarket where they were selling various herbaceous perennials cheap because they looked rather tatty. A bit of tlc and some dead heading and they looked pretty good again and will look even better next year. They cost me £1 each rather than the £5 each full price.

I had no need to buy in soil improver, either! I dug out a lot of wood chip compost to enrich the very hard clay soil in the new bed. Note my lovely new wheelbarrow - thank you, Argos!

I then got cracking and and laid out the plants in their pots on the soil and arranged (and rearranged) them to my design. Then Compostman and I got to work planting them. As it is so hot at the moment we waited until the evenings so as to be a bit cooler.
 

I also had some summer flowering bulbs which I planted in the bed in drifts of colour. These were reduced at the end of last year so I got them cheap (£2 each pack) and planted them in pots to overwinter in the polytunnel - some of them came in handy today. I also planted some of the Crocosmia bulbs I got free from Spalding Bulbs.

I had a lot of (free) wildlife friendly seeds stored up, which I scattered around the herbaceous perennial planting. Hopefully it is not too late for these to flower if the weather continues fair. If not, I have more seed packets and will be sprinkling them on the bed next year. I have also planted some daffodils and snowdrops in this bed - we have a lot from where we were digging around the pool so I have moved a lot of bulbs across

part way through planting up.

Compostgirl helped me with some of the watering

The colour scheme starts yellow at the left, moving through orange, red, blue, purple, pale lilac and then finally white on the right of the bed, with the backdrop of the honeysuckle and the climbing rose on the fence. It still looks a little sparse; I wish I could afford to buy lots of each plants to re create the dense planting effects I saw at Hampton Court, but I can't so have done what I can, with what I have. I do have lots more cuttings growing, especially Lavender, Geraniums, Nepeta and Daisy though, so will be able to add more plants to this bed as time goes by.

Finished, for now

View through the sitting room window now

I view my garden as a part of my house; an "outside room" if you like, so I want to make it all as attractive as I can. With the money I got from moneysupermarket.com I could have bought a picture to hang on the wall in the sitting room but rather than a frozen image in a frame I have chosen to improve the view of the "living picture", outside. The wildlife love it as well!

I spent a total of £43 on plants for this new bed, both new and bought at a discount.  I have also planted three Pulmonaria  and a couple of extra Lavender plants, which I grew from cuttings for free.

Planting

Wildflower Seeds (free)
many different Bulbs (free)
Globe Artichoke x 3 (from Rocket Gardens delivery)
Solidago
Coreopsis
Dahlia
Geranium (split into two plants)
Campanula Globerosa (split into two plants, one used)
Nepeta (split into two plants, one used)
Aster
Salvia
Penstemon
Dahlia
Lavender
Pulmonaria (several, split from plants in the garden in spring)
Polemonium
Aqueligia
Centaurea
Philadelphus
White Foxglove
Campanula persicifolia (split into two plants, one used)
Buddlia alba


Most of these plants would be £5 each, to buy full price, some (like the Buddlia and the Philadelphus shrubs) would be £8 - £10 to buy so I think we have managed well to buy so many plants with the money :-)



So, if you want to plant up a frugal-ish herbaceous perennial flower bed, have a look round for discounted plants and give them some tlc, maybe re pot them into a bigger pot as well? If you can, split plants into two or maybe three? Also look out for discount flower seeds which you could sow now and then plant out as plants next year? At this time of year a lot of gardening magazine are giving away free perennials and biennials seeds on the covers, why not buy one and sow the seeds? And look out for BOGOF and multi - buy offers to collect lots of plants together.

Have fun!

Saturday - in the house, in the garden, in the wet, in the dry, in the polytunnel, out shopping and getting lucky.

First of all, welcome to my new followers, Joshua Heaton, Jille and Rose :-) Hope you are enjoying yourselves.

Today we had very very changeable weather but I managed to dry some washing and do some planting out in the veg patch while it was sunny.

I am planting up one of the raised beds with my Rocket Gardens Constant Gardens selection of veg plants - they have grown well in their pots and it is now time to put them outside in their final places. But because of the naughty hens and cats, as well as the ever present wild life, I need to protect the bed. 

I am rather proud of what we (mainly Compostman)  came up with.

Some blue water pipe ( free, from the Scrapstore) and some bits of metal pipe ( free - have been hanging around in the Barn waiting for a use by Compostman)  But I then found that my horticultural fleece and mesh fabric lengths were all too long but not wide enough - so to cover the bed I had to use two sheets and have a lot of spare fabric at one end AND work out a way to fix the sheets together. Hmm will have to think about this!

After working outside on the raised bed, the heavens opened, the rain fell and I got soaked, so retreated to the shelter of the polytunnel. Still at least the raised bed plants got a good watering!

Compostman very kindly tied the tomato plant canes to the roof for me, so they stay upright :-)

 Growing well :-)

I did a lot of potting on of my veg plants, and re arranged the peppers into their final position.

I do wonder why, when I plant out plants, I still seem to have more on the bench?

This is my version of a Salad bar :-) I can go out with my basket and cut some salad and it grows some more :-)

Later on this afternoon we are going into Hereford. I am a member of the B and Q club and this weekend I have a 15% off voucher and as we need to think about paints for the bedroom decoration ( yes it is now at the "what colour paint shall we have" stage!) we are going to have a look at what they have to offer.

Update later this evening. 

We went into Hereford to B and Q and bought all sorts of stuff we needed, including solid wooden flooring for the bedroom (gulp). The 15% off voucher saved us a lot of money on the floor and paint for the bedroom. Hopefully we will be moving back in soon and I can't wait!

We also popped into Sainsbury and got items on the shopping list and then I spotted some garden netting  which was the perfect size to cover the supports we had put up this morning for the raised bed.  On offer and reduced to £3.50! I bought four packs, one for each raised bed, for a total cost at full price of one pack :-) 

And so when we got home, before it got dark and in the pouring rain, I did this

Exactly what I needed to cover the raised bed we had been working on and I used tri pegs ( bought many years ago and used for all sorts of jobs since) to fix it all down. This had been worrying me and now it is sorted

and has made the bed secure from cats, hens, etc . getting in there and digging up or eating the plants. Should stop the Cabbage White butterflies laying eggs on the brassicas as well.

Later, later still, well actually at silly o'clock when we should have gone up to bed, Compostman and I watched the first two episodes of The Black Adder from the Blackadder Complete DVD set, which I found in a charity shop ridiculously reduced in price :-)

 It is 30 years since we first watched it, and time has not dimmed the laughs for us and we can still sing the theme tune! And we raised a glass in honour of Sir Baldrick and Blackadder, CBE

So all in all, a good day, if a long one but my bed is calling me, now.

How to plant out Parsnips grown in tubes.

 Remember I planted parsnip seed in toilet roll tubes? Well they are ready to be planted out in the garden now.

Do not wait until "true leaves" have grown -if you do the roots may have also grown out of the bottom of the tube.

And you want to get the tubes in the ground before the tap root comes out of the bottom . 

The reason being that if the root has grown long enough to poke out of the bottom there is a risk that the parsnip will develop a forked root, and we don't want that as it makes it harder to peel !

For the same reason I have always found that carrots do not like being transplanted.

 
 So, make a hole in the soil - I use a bulb planter

 

hold the tube firmly so the contents do not fall out and carefully put the tube into the hole, so that the top of the tube sticks up a cm or so above the surface of the soil, This protects the seedling and shows you where it is in the ground

Plant out the rest, spacing them at least 8 inches apart to get large Parsnips. If you want to pull them as small ones you can space them closer together.

Water well, think about covering with fleece or net to stop birds ( hens, in my case) or cats from digging them up.

Weed as needed. Job done :-) And on to the next job on my ( never ending ) list.

Friday roundup. An apology, more on Google Feed Reader demise, Monty Don, bees and planting bulbs in my garden.

First of all, welcome to my new followers, Laura, PixieMum, Tom and Bryallen :-) Hope you are enjoying yourselves.

................................................

Second, an apology!

For those of you who might be worrying, you DO NOT need to re follow me via Bloglovin, if you are already following me via Google Friend Connect  - indeed I would prefer you to follow me on Google Friend Connect as it keeps all of you in one place for me to read. The Bloglovin feed is just a back up plan, just in case Google take yet more widgets away ( as they are going to do with Google Reader)  to try to get us to use Google+. instead.

See Veg Plotting's excellent post on this subject for a far more comprehensive discussion of this issue.

..........................................................

I was interested to read, yesterday and also today, on Twitter about a bit of a spat going on around Monty Don (MontyDon@TheMontyDon) and his excellent advice on a recent GW programme - in which he was reminding us that it was still very chilly and that it was ok to delay sowing seed while the ground was so cold

Somehow, this has been presented in the media  as

Garden centres blame Monty Don for mass dumping of spring flowers

Garden centres have blamed Monty Don for keeping customers away and causing millions of spring flowers to be dumped after the BBC presenter told gardeners not to bother planting until the weather breaks.

 Yet they quote him in the same article as saying 

In a recent episode of Gardener's World, Mr Don urged viewers not to hurry into their gardens.

"There's no great hurry to sow seed, so don't panic. Don't be in a hurry. You don't have to sow anything at all until April," he said.

He said it about sowing seed! NOT planting plants! They are different you know ;-)

Of course the soil is still too cold to sow much (or plant much)  - I have only put my spuds in because I have then covered them over with geotextile ( and fleece is on hand if the weather gets any colder)

But lots of shrubs could go in now, in fact I seem to recall Monty Don planting roses on the same programme as he said the above?

All he was doing was giving us some sensible advice. Bedding plants mostly do not like being planted out in freezing conditions.
..........................................................................................

On a similar subject, I have been planting my summer flowering bulbs in pots in the polytunnel - it is still too cold to plant them out in the ground so I have been getting them started in pots, at least. I decided to do this after Monty Don (yes, him, again!) suggested starting Onion and Shallot sets in pots as the ground was still a bit too cold to plant then directly.

Seemed like a good idea and also for summer flowering bulbs, as they grow at much the same time of year.

I just have to remember to label them all very very carefully!

....................................................................................................................

In other news, am really pleased to seeWAITROSE is banning its suppliers from using neonicotinoids on produce destined for the supermarket. The retailer is asking growers of fruit, vegetables and flowers to stop using the pesticides by the end of 2014, due to their alleged effects on pollinators.

Lets see some of the other Supermarkets following them.

There is a list here of those Garden suppliers who have already signed up to a ban -  including

• B&Q (321 UK stores)
• Wilkinson (372)
• Homebase (340 in the UK and Ireland)
• Wickes (200+)
• The Garden Centre group (129)
• Dobbies garden centres (32)
• Klondyke garden centres (24)
• Notcutts garden centres (19)

Why not stop their use RIGHT NOW?

Have a great weekend, all of you :-)
Compostwoman xxx

Tidy-up Tuesday and more on the Christening robe.

Evening all

Another dry and sunny day here - Compostman has been incarcerated in the Pink (guest) bedroom all day Doing Stuff to walls, windows floors etc - this required all the contents to be removed and redistributed around the rest of the house, which was entertaining!

As a result I now have a car FULL of surplus stuff to take to charity shops/animal rescue centres. And I mean FULL. It's a Skoda Octavia  - which means it is quite huge - and it is FULL.

Ok, you get we have decluttered a lot of stuff out of the house, right?

I have also washed numerous sets of curtains, written some articles ( for money yay!) and negotiated for some items to be sent to me for reviewing here on The Compost Bin - stuff I would actually like and want to buy but now do not have to spend money on, and stuff which I hope you, my gentle reader, are interested in, well, reading about! And I planted many more of the summer flowering bulbs into pots and put them into the Polytunnel to grow.

So good all round I hope.

Compostgirl and I have tonight watched some of last Saturday's The Voice  and she had been doing all sorts of experiments ( Thank you Horrible Science box set...!) and leaning how to make toasted sandwiches. She has also been making us numerous cups of tea - Compostman because he Is Busy and me because my sinuses are infected ( again) and my face really REALLY hurts and I feel rubbish today.

Thank you dear, I really do appreciate the tea and sympathy and the hugs - they really do help :-)

I have also managed to get the wonderful Christening robe clean! It is now drying inside the house, wrapped in towels to protect it. My hands are now in a dreadful state, however, from all the washing I have done recently  and I have smothered them in some of my magic working, home made balm. It usually fixes most problems with skin!

The hens are not laying at all - they seem well enough otherwise (apart from old) so I think I may try worming them again, failing that new extra hens will have to be obtained so we have a reliable source of eggs. A trip to the hen stockist! Squee!

How has your day been?

A chilly Good Friday

Welcome to my new followers Scarlet and Lana Nichole :-)

The snow has nearly all gone here now - just a line along  the bottom of the hedge boundaries up on Marcle Ridge remains. It is still very cold here, though - it has only just  been up above freezing here all day and out of the ( oh so welcome) sunshine it was very chilly indeed. I did get a load of washing dry on the line, though - this cold dry weather is excellent for line drying.

The hens were moaning like mad at the cold wind ruffling up their feathery knickerbockers. They did not want to come out of the run today and we only had 2 eggs- they really are obviously very displeased with things! They spent most of the afternoon hanging around under the bird feeder, waiting to mug passing chaffinches for niger and sunflower seed. The arival of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker to eat peanuts caused a few rufffled feathers though - and even more so when the Cock Pheasant turned up - he tolerates no nonsense from the Hens and he pecked at Yarrow hen  - after that the hens gave up and all moved away to skulk in the orchard.

At least the sun is shining, :-)

This time last year the daytime temperature was 22 C here - I was in T shirt and shorts, planting my potatoes. This year I hope to get some potatoes in the ground this week end  but I am not holding my breath! I have a load of tomato plants waiting to be pricked out into individual pots and normally they would be in the polytunnel in a cold frame by now. It is too cold to even contemplate doing that at the moment, so the porch is bursting at the seams with plants.

Clocks go forward tomorow night remember! It was still light at 6.30 here today, so I am looking forward to the light holding up until 7.30 pm on Sunday, even if we do lose it at the start of the day ( I am an Owl, not a Lark, so prefer more daylight at the end of the day.)

Hoping you all have a lovely Easter weekend and celebrate in whatever way you wish - I will be eating eggs and welcoming signs of Spring into my home, even if I have to look very hard to find some at the moment :-)

Seeds and shoots

Two weeks ago my Organic Gardening catalogue seed order arrived - seeds, potatoes, onion and shallot sets.

This meant it was time to clean out the porch, get out the heated propagators and get planting :-)

Lots more lovely seeds have arrived since then - from More Veg, The Real Seed Co and from Suttons, to add to my seedy mountain.

And 10 days after I sowed the tomatoes, look what has happened :-)

How are your seeds doing?