I Think I'm Going to Need a Bigger Garden ...

 

The September issue of Kitchen Garden magazine came with it's usual three packets of free seeds, I can't remember what they were, but I know one was cabbage and they will be going in this month, if I can fit them anywhere.

The thing is there was a free offer on the cover which I thought was really good, and it fitted in with my little garden now being a Victory Garden ... three 250g packets of onion sets.  Now to my mind 250g seemed to be a small amount and I imagined a dozen of each at the most .  

Nope there are loads of them!

The onion sets were free if you ordered one other thing and as I needed some garlic that worked out just fine.  I can see my little Victory Garden being absolutely full of onions come next Spring.  🧅🧅🧅

I think I am going to need a bigger garden!!

Once again I am debating whether it is worth me carrying on with my subscription of Radio Times.  It's £4 a copy now and although I do enjoy reading about new programmes and doing the puzzles at the back, I don't know if I can justify spending that amount of money on a magazine each week.  Four pounds might not seem that much but when you think about it being £16 a month and over £200 a year it's starts to seem a lot more. 

When I am trying to save as much as I can this year by keeping the food spend to around £10 a week, while I am eating down the food stash and living on WWII rations, spending almost half of that amount on a magazine seems ridiculous. 

I don't think I am going to have to think too long or too hard about this one.

Sue xx

Bringing Home the Rhubarb, Snaffling the Blueberries and Old Photos

 

We only planted this rhubarb plant in Spring of this year.  You're not really supposed to harvest from a newly transplanted bush, instead you leave all the goodness to go back into the roots ready for a bumper harvest the following year.

Our rhubarb has had other ideas, it was this big a couple of months ago and I carefully pulled out the largest of the stems and made some rhubarb crumble mixes for mine and Alan's freezers.  Over the last few weeks the plant has gone rampant ... there is no other word for it. 

The chippings disappeared under a blanket of huge leaves and the plants behind were invisible unless you peeled back a leaf and had a look..

So today I bit the bullet before the garden totally disappeared under a swath of huge leaves.  The dogs will be pleased to see their chipping area back, I can finally see my Fern and Rosemary plants again ... and the compost bin is full right to the top with all the leaves.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, the rhubarb stalks are all trimmed, soaked and ready to be cut into chunks and frozen ... alongside a few apples that came easily off the tree.  There will be some lovely homegrown fruit to help out with my rations over the Winter.

I could have had some Blueberries as well if I hadn't been eating them all the minute they turn blue enough.  Not a single one has made it as far as the kitchen.  Well, all gardeners deserve a tasty little treat don't they.  😄

When we met up with my cousin at Mum's house a few weeks, ago she brought with her some old family photos to see if we wanted them.  I of course had to say yes to most of them and Mum had some too.  I love old photos, especially black and white ones.  I managed to find this old frame in an antique centre with a mount that I just knew would compliment it perfectly.

It's just Mum, Dad and me on the day of my christening.   I'd say happy memories .... but I don't remember it at all. 💖

Sue xx

Flowers, Good Deeds, Books, Seeds and Deliveries

I was gifted a lovely bunch of pink carnations three weeks ago as a thank you for a little good deed I did via our town Facebook group.  They were unexpected and lovely, and have just lasted and lasted.  No doubt they will be going over in the next few days but while they were here they added an unusual splash of pink to my living room shelf.

The shelf is looking a lot more cluttered than usual at the moment, with my overflow of books having taken up residence since our holiday.  But do you know what I really like it.  There is just enough colour co-ordination to keep it looking organised and not over-crowded.

Well that's my opinion.  😁

A close up of the books for all of you lovely book addicts.  💖

My August edition of Kitchen Garden arrived this week with it's free seeds, which reminded me ...

... I have not yet read the July edition, or sown the red lettuce seeds that I meant to.  I must remedy that over the weekend, and I definintely want to get some cabbage seeds sown in pots ready to fill gaps that will start to appear in the wooden beds soon.

Although it will be a while for gaps to appear if I keep picking my spring onions one at a time. 😄

 I love being able to pick exactly what I need from the garden and not having to buy a whole bunch of something and having to find a use for it all.  Just one of the many perks of growing my own even in a much smaller space than I used to have.

We are off to the Welsh flat tomorrow to start kitting it out ready for use.  Fingers crossed that the first delivery arrives on schedule, it's the bed ... without it we will be sleeping on the floor!!

If you would like to see the flat, I will try and make a small film, or at the very least take lots of photos of it before we put things in.  And then maybe again afterwards, I guess I wouldn't be a true blogger if I didn't now would I.  😀

Sue xx

From the Potatoes That I Didn't Plant ... and the Cucumber That I Did

 

Last night, just in time for our tea, I pulled up the first of our potato plants, not one planted by me but a lovely healthy looking volunteer left unintentionally in the ground from last year.

This was it in the central section of this bed just over a month ago, by last night it was twice as tall as it was in this photo, and although it never actually flowered the greenery was starting to go yellow.

It was time to see what we had!!

There was a grand total of 3lb 2oz, which is not bad at all for what I think was two little potatoes left in the soil from last year ... and no work, other than a bit of watering from me. 😀

I washed them and divided them into half for each of us, and we both made meals that made the potatoes the star of the show for our teas last night, we also each have enough for another good sized portion tonight ... well we might as well eat them while they are nice and fresh.

I boiled all mine up last night, so I have the other half ready cooked for tonight, Alan just cooked half of his and saved the rest.

I made myself a nice simple tea, making good use of all the leftover things that I had in the fridge to compliment the potatoes.  Isn't it a good feeling when all those little tubs of bits and bobs get used up in one fell swoop.

And guess what ...

... I could not resist putting the four teeny, tiny potatoes that were too small to cook into a pot of soil.

It will be interesting to see if we get anything from them ... but hey,. waste not want not.  😉

Oh, and I forgot to mention that while my potatoes were cooking Alan came in with our first little cucumber, he wanted to have half with his tea, so I cut it in two and he went off with his portion.  I ate mine straight away while the potatoes bubbled on the stove.  It was very tasty, but it just didn't last long enough to get it's photo taken!

Sue xx

Rhubarb, Almond Milk, Weekend Watching and Scarecrows

 

You're not really supposed to take a harvest from newly transplanted rhubarb during it's first year, but I had no option.  Like something out of The Day of the Triffids it sprawled over most of the woodchip area of the garden getting bigger and bigger by the day.

I pulled most of the stems leaving just a couple behind for the plant and after a good wash and a chop cooked it all up.  I ended up with enough  for a rhubarb and custard tart, two containers that are now in the fridge that can be turned into crumbles in the blink of an eye, and the excess juice from the cooking I poured into the little jug.  This was drunk over the course of a couple of days mixed with sparkling water and was beautifully refreshing.

Literally a week later and the plant is almost as big as it was before ... I'll have to watch it doesn't eat one of the dogs!!

In my ongoing ultra processed foods discovery journey I had my occasional breakfast of Aldi dupe weetabix with almond milk.  Although I didn't have the cereal box to check the ingredients of the Wheat Bisks I could look it up on the Aldi website.  This is what I found - 

Whole 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 (95%), 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲 Malt Extract, Sugar, Salt, Niacin, Iron, Riboflavin, Thiamin, Folic Acid.

 Not too bad  actually, and something that I am happy to keep in my diet.

The almond milk I'm not so happy about ... I think it's time I went back to making my own!!

*** *** ***

Here's some Weekend Watching for you, chosen from some of the channels that I've been watching and enjoying this week. 

 First a new one to me that I only discovered this week - Farmhouse on Boone

https://youtu.be/DWrSk-175Kg

I find it so relaxing watching someone else cooking or cleaning, and it's been nice to take it easy with a cup of coffee first thing in the morning and watch from my armchair.

Next a massive haul for Freakin Frugal, thank goodness there's some food that can be rescued before it ends up in landfill.

https://youtu.be/fwdj9sHyMH8

From Jessica at Three Rivers Homestead there was this lovely video at the start of her canning season.

https://youtu.be/ymeuMLCzy6U

Some shopping from Madelaine Olivia -

https://youtu.be/kHATnMEgm_E

And the follow on video when she uses the shopping bought at Lidl to make meals, is here:-

https://youtu.be/OQJL-6yYbto

I hope you enjoyed a couple of those, I'm always on the lookout for more channels to watch so if there's one that you love do let me know in the comments below.

 It's the Scarecrow Festival here in our little northern town, so it will be quite busy around town and the carparks will all be full.  The theme this year is Films.  On the canal one of the narrowboats near to our house is now the Titanic, I do hope history isn't repeated.  😉

While in the Pizza shop, Laurel and Hardy seem to be tucking into a lovely Italian meal.

Happily, we have had to drive around town twice today so we have managed to see most of the scarecrows and we can avoid the crowds tomorrow and Sunday.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Sue xx

Previous Gardens, Vegetables and Tyres

I was asked about my previous vegetable growing spaces and gardens and which one I loved best.  So I decided to make a post all about them.

My favourite way to grow vegetables is in a polytunnel, or 'high tunnel' as they are called in some countries.  I briefly had a greenhouse at one of our rental smallholdings and it just wasn't as good, well not for me.  Perhaps I was spoilt by my first polytunnel, and the space and atmosphere it gave me and the vegetables growing in it.

  This was my second and last polytunnel on the day it was completed ... and the crazy guys that built it for me.  I couldn't resist sharing this photo again. 😄

My vegetable garden ... or Veggie Patch as it was known ... in Wales.  

(And the last header photo from the old blog.)

August 2015

We lived there from September 2013 to March 2021 and enjoyed most of our time there.  Our reasons for leaving were summed up pretty neatly on the final post of my old blog Our New Life in the Country.  HERE

A tour in and around the polytunnel in July 2017 is HERE.

Prior to moving to Wales we lived for a couple of years near Pangbourne in Berkshire, England and this was the vegetable garden there.  

The only problem with this one was the deer that came and ate a LOT of my plants and vegetables.  As you can see from this photo we tried all sorts of deterrents to try and stop them.

Behind our first rented farmhouse in Great Haseley, Oxfordshire was my first vegetable garden, well photo shows some of it, behind me as this photo was taken were four more beds on the grassed area in front of the chicken area.

I loved this and I guess that it was this one that sealed my love of growing food for us to eat on a larger scale.  But of course this was only the tip of the iceberg ...

... here's Alan on the John Deere tractor that he restored, ploughing in the field ready for sowing, with our pigs in the field beyond.

So of course my new garden seems tiny to me, but I love it just as much, and if anything the challenge of getting something edible from it is giving me so much joy.  

No matter what available space you have whether it be the ten-plus acres as we had at first or the five acres that came next (twice) or a tiny garden or even a window sill, there's always something that you can grow that will taste wonderful and save you some money.

In fact some of my tastiest ever onions were grown in two tyres!

Sue xx

Assembling, Growing, Packing Away and Sheep

I feel like I've been missing from the blog for ages, when in reality it was only Monday when I last posted.  I have no excuses except fitting in some extra tasks as well as being busy at work.

The little greenhouse thingy was assembled and checked for size in the bedroom last week.  It's going to be fine there for my trays of seeds and eventually seedlings and small plants once I get going.  But I have not been in a rush to sow seeds as yet because the App on my phone Garden Focused tells me we might still get a late frost at the end of this month or the beginning of next here in my town.  Anyway, I've always found that late sown seeds romp away, another reason not to panic.

It might seem a bit strange to have the greenhouse in the bedroom but it is literally the best place for the growing seeds, seedlings, plants etc to get the most warmth and sunlight ... if the sunshine ever comes back that is ... while they are too small and tender to go outside.  When the sun does shine the Lodge is bathed in the glorious warmth and light virtually all day on the side where the bedroom and living room French doors are.

As you can see from the top photo at first the lone occupant of the greenhouse was Cecil the Courgette plant, he should have had two sisters but they didn't germinate at the same time as him. 

I've also been packing away my heavier Winter jumpers and re-acquainting myself with all my t-shirts and Summery tops.  In fact it as probably me doing this on a sunny Tuesday that brought the rain clouds back with a vengeance yesterday.  Alan did say it was all my fault 😄

Luckily I kept out my cardigans and waterproof jackets.

Chatting to my hairdresser last week about changing over clothes to suit the season, she really didn't understand at all, saying she prefers to just turn up the heating and continue to wear t-shirts all year round ... I'm obviously paying her far too much!!

But when you live in a small space and have one drawer for clothes and a wardrobe with one hanging rail, it just makes sense to have a swap around and leave the heavier things to rest for a few months and see different things hanging or lined up in the drawers.  Looking at some of my t-shirts and remembering how many years I have been wearing them for, makes me realise the clothes like having a rest too. 

Just a week later and look how well Cecil is doing ... a meet a little relative of his now poking her head out above the compost. 

My greenhouse is now bursting at the seams with my new tomato plants and a basil plant.  

Cecil was on the worktop for the photo above when I took this photo in the bedroom.

The cover will stay off now so that the seedlings get maximum sunlight until the greenhouse is moved outside, and then it will be firmly attached to the support post of the shed so it doesn't blow over or away.  These have not got a good track record for being able to stand on their own four feet!!

Finally, looked who popped up in my Facebook Memories yesterday. 

Ethel and her first lamb Jasmine, back in 2019.  

Suky and Mavis were great friends with Jasmine and they had many great games of chasing each other all around the paddock.  It must have confused a lot of motorists to see a lamb chasing a dog and then a dog chasing a lamb ... which probably caused some concern ... before they then rolled over and collapsed in a heap together.

Happy days. 

Sue xx

Ch, ch, ch, Changes ... Our Garden, Then and Now

 

This photo popped up on my Facebook Memories on Saturday.  

Yes, it's two years now since this property became ours, and the work began over the course of the following three months to fix up the house and the annexe, and to completely redesign the garden to something that suited us and our furry friends.  While the work went on we lived at the flat in town and project managed the re-plastering, fitting kitchens, re-decorating and all that goes with homes that need starting from scratch.

Of course for me the garden was important and as soon as we could, while the builders were working away inside the house, we had a brilliant handyman who worked outside day in day out, taking down all the fences, lifting and relaying the flagstones and following the plan that I had drawn up.

This was how our garden looked on the day we bought the house.

With a long fence separating the annexe from the main house and cutting the garden into two unequal halves.

And this was how it looked a couple of weeks later.

With the dividing fence down and a large area of the flags lifted, with hardcore down ready to be edged with sleepers and for smaller and smaller stones to be poured on top.

We decided to not have grass in such a small space but instead went for stones on one side of the dividing sleeper and a square 'wood chippings bed' in the corner.  Then the first plants went in.  We put in a bottomless barrel and planted it with an apple tree and a few bulbs and small plants.  We planted a few perennial shrubs and sunk the stainless steel sink taken from my original kitchen as a small garden pond.  This is the one thing that really did not work out.

 We didn't really think things through when we first moved in, we are so close to a large amount of water ... the canal ... and with the other bird drinkers that we have in the garden the water in the 'sink pond' just sat there covered in plants, or exposed and turning green.  In fact the only things that went in it were my foot once and Suky, when she reversed away from something and found herself thigh deep in green water.

So this year in our first gardening weekend of the season, after checking for any wildlife ... sadly none ...  Alan dug out the sink and I planted a Rhubarb plant in the space that it vacated.  A much more useful addition to the garden and tasty too. 

The birds can continue to drink from my little antique drinker that is under the bird table.

And also drink and splash in the clasped hands drinker that sits in the righthand corner of the pebbly area.

This weekend Alan pressure washed everything in the garden, I weeded and tidied and we generally got everything ready for the coming growing season.  The long raised bed that we added late last year and the other one near the shed, will soon have all the wooden bits and bobs coverings taken off.  I put them there to keep cats off and it has worked a treat, but looked so messy all through Winter, and has been driving me nuts!!  I think that we will chop and burn all the wood in the chimenea over the coming Summer evenings, and then next Winter cover the beds with something else, I am already saving any nice cardboard boxes that arrive in preparation.

Oh and it's a good job it's nearly the end of the month, as I think that I have just bust my budget treating myself to something that will help me to grow more food from my tiny space this year.

A metal framed, plastic covered greenhouse to start my seedlings off in and then put my tomato plants into ... they didn't do that well completely outside last year.  It's described on the B&Q website as a 'walk-in greenhouse' ... well maybe if I was eight inches tall.  😂😄

Anyway, as we creep towards the end of March it's time to add up my spending for this month, cry over my lack of cash and then cheer myself up by getting some seeds sown, so that eventually I will have some homegrown food to eat once again.

Sue xx

Getting Ready for Even more Simplicity

 

I forgot to mention at the start of the week, that last weekend I emptied out the three large planters of potatoes that I planted back in August. it was only when I saw Angela's tasty little harvest that I remembered the photographs languishing in my camera.  

 I had noticed weeks ago that the foliage was all really dying back quickly, but I had to smile to myself when I rounded the corner to the shed and saw that all greenery had completely vanished ... nothing to go into my new bargain tiny compost bin then.  😄

We didn't get many potatoes from the 18 planted but what we did get was split between the two of us.  Alan decided to try and keep his for our Christmas lunch, but I thought I would cook up half of my portion for a shared meal that night and I still have the ones in the blue bag to have for another meal.  There might not have been many, but they were delicious, and of course now I have those huge planters to plant either more potatoes in or something else for next year.

And next year I really do want to try and grow more and finally get my tiny vegetable garden into full production.  I now have both the fancy wooden raised beds and these three large planters, and once December is over I should have a good stash of seeds from my Advent calendar.

Next year is going to be a year of real simplicity as I am already making plans to stop spending on anything but the absolute necessities.  The food budget is to be cut to whatever money I have been able to make this year ... it's not been counted yet, so that could prove interesting.  As most of you are aware this year I have sold at two table-top sales and on and off all year on Facebook Marketplace.  I have just made a final book sale via Ziffit and made myself another £22.48.  

A little tip that I learnt this year, if Ziffit doesn't offer you much for your books or DVDs, try alternating with selling via webuybooks.  By doing this I have managed to get quite a bit more money each time!

It all adds up, so hopefully I have enough in my little pots and boxes of cash dotted about the place to cover my housekeeping budget for next year.  I have gotten into the bad habit of squirreling away the money that I have been receiving over the year in dribs and drabs in the strangest of places, and sometimes where I expect to find money in my old Sealed Pot for example, I instead find something completely different.  Salt and spices anyone?

I have no idea how much there is, but I managed to get rid of most of the small change when we did the table-top sale so it is at least in one and two pound coins and notes which will make shopping with cash much easier.

I have tried doing variations of this a few times and I always seem to make it more complicated than it needs to be, so this time I am keeping it really simple and just having the pot of money to dip into whenever I need to shop.  When it runs out, it runs out ... as simple as that.  So, the only real Challenge is not to dip into it too often!!

Sue xx