Tag: garden
-
Bees, gulls and Grenfell fire
On the pavement outside our house is a tiny bit of dirt beneath a lone tree. The council usually spray the pavement and after years of losing plants this way I now have a sign there. I was delighted today to find two bees feeding from this tiny garden. You can see one of the […]
-
Let the battle begin
We had a nice afternoon at the allotment today planting some tatties and spreading lovely soil from the compost heap over the garden beds. There’s something very satisfying about getting your hands stuck into a heap of compost and spreading it around. The kids were initially very bored and complaining until Ben suggested they plant […]
-
The best shed
When we took possession of our allotment in September 2017, the shed was in a terrible state. The roof had caved in and there was about 5cm of water in the bottom. Fortunately, my father was visiting at the time and we put him to work replacing the roof for us. This photo was taken […]
-
The pear tree: one month on
The pear tree I planted a month ago that looked rather dead has sprung back to life. In fact, all the plants in the whisky barrel have changed dramatically in just one month. Here’s how it looked at the beginning of June: Here’s how it looks today: That’s a single spinach plant in the front […]
-
The pleasures of gardening and composting
I never thought I’d be excited about a compost bin but I am. He arrived today and he is a Hotbin. I haven’t given him a name yet but he’ll apparently reach temperatures inside of 60C, even in winter! Some people keep them in their glasshouse as a source of heat over winter. He’ll make […]
-
The interminable battle with slugs and weeds
I’ve been struggling with the slugs at the allotment this year. Most of the seedlings I’ve planted have completely vanished, presumably eaten by slugs. Last month I applied nematodes to the soil and put out a heap of beer traps. There seem to be fewer slugs now and although I’d like to take the credit […]
-
A pear tree in a whisky barrel
The local school was selling fruit trees for fund-raising and I bought a pear tree. They were meant to be dwarf/patio varieties which appealed to me because although I have a large garden, it’s full of established shrubs and trees already and I don’t have space for another large tree. I already have two plum […]
-
Blue poppy
The Himalayan blue poppy is flowering in my garden again. I always love watching the garden spring into life after winter. The changes are so pronounced and so quick. Every week there’s something new.
-
I’ve been upgraded!
This week I was offered a larger plot at the allotments: a half size plot. Mine is a microplot and they’re meant to be only temporary. Microplots are 50m2 while a half plot is 150m2. I was very pleased to get the offer because my plot isn’t getting much sun now. I also think a half […]
-
Alien eggs in the backyard
Recently I spotted what had to be an alien’s eggs incubating in our backyard. So naturally, I decided not to disturb them. A little while later I went back and they’d “hatched’ but there was nothing to see other than a tiny slug. I’m pretty sure that’s a slug and not alien spawn. Today I […]
-
A harvest of four carrots
I was horrified last week when one of the other plotters at the allotments told me the growing season is almost over. We really haven’t got very much food from our plot. Today I harvested our carrots. All four of them 🙂 You may be wondering why we only got four carrots and I’m embarrassed […]
-
Kia Kaha
I’ve had one glass of wine and I’m really pissed. I don’t want everyone to think I’m an alcoholic or anything because alcohol is best avoided. I don’t drink very often but I bought a half case of sulphur-free wine recently and I’ve really enjoyed it drinking it, especially the red wine. The broccoli in my […]
-
A hedgehog house
We got a hedgehog house for our garden. I hope a hedgehog finds it suitable and moves in. I think it looks very inviting. That old pot next to it has been dragged with us all over the world, from city to city and country to country. I think we got it in Christchurch. My war […]
-
My garden
I lay on the trampoline today looking up and this is what I saw. Very soon now the trampoline is going to turn into a gigantic bucket of leaves – they’ve already started falling – but I’d still rather have the trees. Here’s my garden produce on the dinner table tonight: Everything on that wooden chopping […]
-
Castle Fraser
My aunt and uncle have left now – I thoroughly enjoyed having them here. We went to Castle Fraser on Thursday and I’m only just getting around to posting the pics. I haven’t been there for over a year and it was wonderful. The walled garden is one of the best I’ve seen with a very […]
-
Harald has been Wapuued
I finally did it! I plastered Wapuu stickers all over Harald. These are the Wapuus of Europe. I also took another selfie of my sunflower which is now taller than I am. Five days ago it was about up to my eyes (pic here). Now it’s over my head. I’ve discovered there’s a downside to having a […]
-
The gin verdict
This might be a little premature because I haven’t finished the treatment but so far, gin seems to be working well as a weapon against hair lice. I treated Elizabeth’s and my own hair twice last week. Then I did it again earlier this week, but just the once. I’ve been inspecting Elizabeth’s hair and haven’t […]
-
Frogs in my garden
My father is making a very speedy recovery now and going from strength to strength which is a huge relief. This means I can start worrying about unimportant things that don’t matter like staining white sofas. Some new sofas arrived yesterday afternoon. We got rid of ours in New Zealand before the move and our rental […]
-
A new home
It has been a hectic and stressful week this week. Settlement for the house we bought was on Friday and we moved in yesterday. But the most stressful part was when my father took a turn for the worse on Thursday night. He had an emergency heart bypass last Tuesday and seemed to be recovering well. […]
rachel.blog 