Chicken Supreme

It's been an interesting two or three weeks. I've been into hospital and had my hernia repair and am on the road to recovery. Unfortunately I can't lift much for the time being which leads to some odd looks in shops when Denise is humping the heavy stuff around.

The garlic we planted is coming on well. I was a bit worried the sharp frost in the middle of last week would kill off the shoots but they seem to have taken it in their stride. We planted the raspberry canes yesterday but today saw the arrival of Florence, Cindy and Mary. we collected them from the 'Little Hen Rescue Centre' near Norwich and by the time we were home Cindy had laid an egg. They seem to be settling in well despite Florence managing to escape during transfer to her new house and spending an hour wandering around the garden. Why she would want to avoid such expensive luxury accommodation is beyond me.

Hello, hello, good to be back

No, I hadn't forgotten the blog. We've been away on holiday in the South of France, which was wonderful. Our daughter and son-in-law kept the garden well watered for us while we were away.

You can really see the difference when you come back after a fortnight away. The potato patch is like a forest. The runner beans are close to the top of their wigwams, so I believe I have to start pinching the tops out soon. Parsnips and french beans are doing really well, and the carrots, peas and lettuces which I planted shortly before we went away are coming through. Onions are mostly doing very well. The only things that appear to be struggling a bit are the spring onions which are still very tiny, and the leeks which are still thinner than I expected as well as not too many of them having germinated. Some of the radishes were ready to eat as you'll see from the attached pictures. We've had a few in salads yesterday and today and they were very tasty. I expect I should be putting in some more radishes, spring onions and lettuces, indeed I probably should have done so already but with so much going on it's been hard to keep on top of it all.

I'm sure next year with the experience gained and with less groundwork to do things will progress in a more organised way.

Follow the red brick road

Pictures are of some flowers, Lucy planting seeds (Lauren couldn't go on the garden because she had her brand new shoes on), Lucy and Lauren preparing to plant and grandad hoeing while the girls draw plans of the garden.

Blimey, its ten days since my last post.

We've had some serious progress since then. I took a day of holiday and the path is finished. It looks pretty good but we need some more soil each side of it. It looks like we may have to buy one of those giant bags of topsoil in the not too distant future.

Our runner beans in pots are already 6" tall. We're going to let them and the three tomato plants have a day in the garden tomorrow to acclimatise them a bit. We'll have to decide on exactly what we're going to grow the beans up, but best advice at the moment seems to be wigwams. Best we don't forget to get them in as the nights are still very chilly. The three chilli plants that came up are progressing slowly and now have three leaves each.

The radishes are going well despite being nipped by the frost last week, but no sign of the spring onions yet. Parsnips are not up yet, but we're led to believe they take their time.

Our two grand-daughters Lauren & Lucy had a sleepover last Friday and in the morning they helped plant dwarf French beans. I think they are quite excited by our vegetable venture.

Asparagus and onions are doing really well. I'll take some pictures when I find some more time. It's been mental this week with one thing and another, and this weekend I'm off with a friend on a three day 150 mile cycle ride around Suffolk.

Today some of the potato plants poked their heads above ground, so even more need for extra topsoil.

We haven't forgotten our flowers, and last weekend went to Bungay Gardening Street Market and bought a few bedding plants, perennials, and a new Rosemary plant, because our lovely bush has given up the ghost. I think it just got too big and old. Looks like we'll have to buy our Rosemary to cook with until the new one is big enough

The forecast for the weekend is to be very warm which should encourage a good bit of growth in everything.

Progress

A successful few days. We managed to dig some more of the garden, moved the rest of the soil from the demolished ornamental wall and get some more stuff planted.

Yesterday after more digging we put the potatoes in and planted a row of radishes and spring onions.

The really good news is that our earlier plantings are showing signs of life. Almost all the onion sets are growing well, with 3-4" shoots on some of them. Four out of the eight asparagus plants are already through. We were amazed at how quickly they grow once they break through, and it's a bit frustrating because we can't cut any this year and they do look very tempting.

The leeks are coming up now. They look a bit like chives at the moment, but the ground is ready for them to be thinned and moved when it's time. A friend told us that she puts hers in toilet roll tubes when she plants them out, so we might try that with a few to compare results.

We're still not sure that we have room for everything we've bought, but fingers-crossed all will be well. We can always put a few things in amongst the flowers.

Weather outside looks foul at the moment, but all being well we'll finally get the parsnips in, which is a bit late I know, but I expect they'll be OK. Golf also beckons, and cleaning our bikes. Busy day ahead methinks.

Speaking of bikes it's been good to get back on mine this week after an enforced layoff. There's not much better than cycling through the Suffolk countryside at thi time of the year. Only two days ago amongst other things I saw a herd of around fifty deer and an adder.

Slow progress

My cold is having a serious effect on this project. I want to go to sleep for about an hour every time I do fifteen minutes work.

We've managed to get some sand onto the pathway ready for laying the bricks, although we do need a bit more. Also moved some of the soil from the old ornamental wall into the hollow that was the pond.

Leek seeds have gone in today. There were forty seeds in the packet, but I noticed the Unwins catalogue said fifty to a packet. I compared contents of the parsnip seed packet with the catalogue, and the story is much worse. When I feel better I will investigate further and write to them.

While sowing leek seeds today it occured to me that we might not have enough room for everything we've bought. Time will tell, but we may have to reduce the amount of planting for some things. I'm not sure we'll really need 500 parsnips (assuming they all germinate).

Potatoes

I think I know how to help deal with the whole lack of time, lack of topsoil to fill the pond problem.

I'll get the area where the pond was as flat and tidy as possible and plant the potatoes in there. I can buy topsoil in small quantities to 'earth up' the potatoes as they grow and then worry about getting the whole garden level during next winter.

This is a bit of an experimental year after all.

Where are we now?

Today I managed to plant a row of eight asparagus crowns and three rows of onion sets. That's the good news. Bad news is that.......

1. We still don't have enough topsoil to fill the pond and get the garden level.
2. We have a path dug out that has some hardcore in, and we have some bags of sand to put on top of the hardcore
3. We have some bricks to lay to make the path, but probably not enough.
4. We have a half demolished decorative wall at the top of the garden that we've been using for hardcore. this now needs finishing off.
5. Our top shed, which was going to be replaced at the end of the summer is rapidly giving up the ghost and will need replacing as soon as possible.
6. I seem to be developing a cold.
7. The bathroom needs completely re-decorating!!!

Time is against us, but I expect we'll muddle through.

Why?

A few months ago we (Denise and I) decided that it would be a good idea to grow our own veg. With retirement not too many years down the road, now seemed a good time to start. We would after all be experts by the time we are retired and be able to save pots of money by growing our own.

To make room for this the secret garden and wildlife pond would have to go, which was a pity in some ways, but would have the benefit of not having to keep our grandchildren from drowning in the pond. The rickety old shed would also have to go and be replaced by a new one.

In typical fashion this all took a bit of a while to get going, but we now have a lovely new shed and having paid someone to clear away all the hedges we have a large area to grow stuff in. Removing the pond was fun. I made holes in the liner with a fork and then removed lots of smelly, gloopy mud.

About three weeks ago we ordered loads of seed, some seed potatoes, onion sets and asparagus crowns. It's now a race against time to get them all in.

All this is set against a backdrop of trying to get the interior of the house in order. Two days ago I finally managed to put the new sideboard together and Denise is now busy re-arranging all the cupboards. Bad news is that I'll probably never find anything again. Good news is we have somewhere to store all the alcoholic drinks together.