is wondering

where the wee memory card for the lappy has disappeared to !

cast your mind back to yesterday .....

as that is when this entry should have been written, but I got too caught up with a telephone conversation, Desperate Housewives and The Ruski Revolution of West Fulham vs some Italian team that lost.

Fog eventually burned off late to reveal that wonderful yellow thing in the sky.  So I rushed home from the office and this is what happened :

 should have sown these earlier, but better late than never: Spanish Chilli(donated from a v. kind A4A lady - years ago - might work, might not - we can only try), Capsicum, (Hot) Chilli Shake, Chilli De Cayenne.  Got loads of Cayenne from last year scrunched in the blender and frozen in ice cube trays, and milled in the blender and in a jar as lumpy powder. Either way, they add a kick to the slow cooker.

 OK, so strictly these aren't from yesterday, but they were sown (about a month ago) before I was persuaded to blog - here I present baby 'hot' patio sizzzle peppers.  Yes, for the observant, there are quite a lot of them.  Some are ear-marked for my colleagues in the office and some for our cleaners who are always quite excited about the prospect of free grub ! Expect a few failures and add 10% and there you have it :-).

 Next we have our flower tray.  Love in a Mist was one of Mum's favourites, so in honour of my Mum on Mother's Day half the tray are for her and the remainder of the tray are hollyhocks kindly donated by a lovely couple who walk their dog down the alley adjacent to the plotette.  The fag packet is theirs not mine ! I have become an ex-smoker since last we spoke.  Can't say I'm very happy about it, but there we go.  Life is rarely easy :-).

 Here is Felix 'guarding' my future crops.  Hmmmm - thinking about it, here is Felix thinking 'wtf are these things doing in my viewing balcony?'.  I have however, ordered a very special (for special, read pricey) extension lead for the greenhouse.  As soon as that arrives, I shall move the nursery to there and Felix can have his windowsill back.

 I said he'd make an appearance here and there.  Being quite a nosey and needy mog, expect to see him in most updates.  This is him taking an interest in the seed box !  (yes the box is v. big - we've already established that Felix is not very small).

Poinsettia is "guaranteed to 6th January", so the label said.  Really, I promise you, this is it yesterday.  Not got a clue what I've done to it.  It's certainly not indestructable and I managed to knock off a limb yesterday and poked it back in (hence limpy lower leaf).  I am amazed as favourite child of mine managed to kill the one I bought her before Christmas !  Ah well, she'll learn .......... eventually.





Before we finish, I have to recommend you go and listen to the Lana Del Rey album - Born to Die.  It is the most lovely thing I've heard in years.  See I can be diverse in my plant growing blog.  I can add other things too :-).

tattie bye mon amigos.

xx

Helleborus orientalis 'Pretty Ellen Pink' lenten rose

My boss is a keen gardener and is forever snapping up bargains from the "only just surviving shelf" - you never know what he's going to bring into the office next.

So when he brought me a sad looking couple of  leaves in a pot last autumn, accompanied by a statement "I can't get it to grow any further than this", I bunged it in and hoped for the best, not really expecting very much at all.

 This is what it looks like now ..               :-D  

Do you reckon I've got the variety right ???

It seems about as close as I can find.  Think I did quite well out of the deal - he's gutted that he didn't give it once last go !  lol

One Sunday in March ....

Back by popular demand - ..... alright, Martin said he liked my blogs so I thought I'd have another bash at blogging !

I've been a bit busy since my last posting - the main thing is that I moved back south, but not to "home" which got invaded by he who shall not be named - aka TBFGB-ex, but to near my daughter who has also been doing more moving of her own .... but that's another story, the most relevant bit to this blog is that I've now inherited a mog who shall make the odd appearance every now and then so I thought I'd better introduce him.

Felix doing what he does best

So, having left the Plot and the Lottie several hundred miles north-west, Felix (the mog) and I, have now settled in east Northamptonshire.  We have a climate akin to Jerusalem apparently - we get less rain than them and are now in the middle of a drought.  Gone are the days of a never-ending water supply in Glasgow, I have now mastered the art of water conservation.  I have halved my water bill in recent months (we're on the evil water meter here which is almost as expensive as the leccy and far more pricey than the gas !!!) and currently have three 200 ltr butts which is nowhere near enough.

when was the snow ?

I've been here since October 2009 and have spent the last two summers a) painting over miles of hideous blue fence and b) decorating the house.  So I reckon it's about time that the garden should take priority over all the other things, they will just have to wait.

Since arriving, I tried growing the standards (toms, courgettes, runners, chillies, broadies) - toms and chillies were OK and had enough to get to the freezer.  Courgettes and runners were complete disasters strangely enough - I reckon it was down to lack of watering: Note to self - pay attention to the watering or reduce the crops !  Broadies were OK and had enough to eat but not enough to freeze !

The ROTP (Return of the Plot) is east facing but gets the sun until around 3pm now, and obviously a bit later in high summer.

Sunny morning 11 March 2012

 I installed an 8 x 6 greenhouse at the beginning of last season - it is the "other way round" with the entrance in the long side - and I've got a ground bed dug to about 2' down one side.  Stuck in this afternoon, my bayleaf tree that travelled with me from the frozen north, and another herby thing that I bought down here last summer - can't remember wtf it is lol.  Smelly, small leaves, hardy (you can tell that I need to brush up on a few things lol).

Natural born ground is very clay but it's improving slowly slowly.

'post bins

I've had the compost bins going since I arrived and turned all three of them today.  I reckon I got one whole bin of useful stuff, one bin is full and cooking and one about 1/4 now full and partially cooked.

4 x 4

 I brought a 4' x 4' raised bed with me so dug in some of the cooked stuff and

New bed up side of hoos

the rest went into a border I have just created with bamboo fencing, down the side of the house.

1 of 2 strawberry beds and other fruit

There's a big gravelly bit right to the back of the garden which is earmarked for the fruit garden.  There are some strawbs and pots of various currenty type bushes together with a big mint pot !  Want to concentrate on increasing the fruit this year.

You know that feeling when you should have given up hours ago because your back is due to twang, well I reached that point hours ago.

(pre-publishing) I've taken some pics, so going to publish this and see if I can figure out how to get the pics up.

Am glad to be back :-)