I saw the most amazing thing last night.

Now my OH tells me that its not all that exciting, but I thought it was AMAZING! Close to our house we saw this. It's a burst water main and the water went really high. Once we were allowed to drive past the main we got pelted with water. :D I got a genuine adrenaline rush, its the first time I've ever seen something like this in real life.  

The purple sprouting broccoli was going berserk!

I got so many florets from the one plant that I had enough to have a nothing but broccoli and noodle stir fry. :)

It was beautiful! I was eating it within five minutes of picking it! 

I got home after work today to a garden full of chickens. The chicken fence had blown over somehow,  and they'd made their escape. They've been gathered back together and put into a smaller version of their run until I've got help to fix up the rest of the run. 

Some days you just want to give it all up.

Well, this morning I woke up to destroyed work shoes and a very guilty dog... A guilty dog what shows that she is guilty by pissing on the floor... And all over me. NOT a good morning.

I let the chickens out, fed them and gave them new food and clean water. I am at a point now where I'm really starting to get a bit fed up of the constant maintenance and the fact that I genuinely never have the time or money to go out and enjoy myself like a normal person. Maybe its just the time of year and I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I took both dogs for a 40 minute walk this morning and I've just returned from the allotment with the young dog. The third trip this year... Not too bad.

I managed to dig over the legume bed before the heavens opened up and the young dog and I legged it home. We got slightly damp. :/

Next time I go to the allotment I'll rake the legume bed, getting out the weeds. Add the new compost, and create my pea rows (sticks and string) Then I shall sow my peas. Sooo... Hopefully I'll have the first crop in the allotment this week!

Spring.

Well, spring has arrived and quite unlike England the day has turned out to be quite beautiful.

I've been at work all morning, meaning I had to get up very early, so I'm really, really sleepy now. I got home around 2 pm and I've just got back from walking the dogs so now i'm going to take it easy. I'll have a look at some new jobs to apply for and make myself some dinner and that'll be it for today.

Mashua.

A very lovely lady from Ireland sent me some mashua tubers, completely out of the goodness of her heart, back in about November last year. As you can see, one of them is growing beautifully. And I really hope that I'll be able to keep it protected whilst we still have the risk of frosts outside. I am looking forward to trying this plant once it's much older and out in the ground. I wonder if its reputation as an anti aphrodisiac is a true one?

I'm trying to get all of the parsnips dug up before the new growing season really gets going. The only problem is that they're all so big that even the smallest are enough to feed me for three meals. 

Thai food (my style)

I've really, really been going nuts for my attempt at vegetarian Thai food, for the last week now.

 For one of my first attempts I picked kale, purple sprouting broccoli, pak choi and sorrel leaves out of the garden to add.  The next day I actually managed to add purple sprouting broccoli florets to my stir fry. The whole stir fry was lovely but the florets where incredible!  

I added eggs to the wok too as the chickens are all laying right now. I thought Yellow had stopped laying eggs now entirely! But she's proved me wrong.

I bought the rice noodles from Tesco, I've been switching from rice noodles to egg noodles just to keep things interesting, both were bought from Tesco. I used bean sprouts, toms and a frozen veg mix. Obviously I can add more of my own food later on in the year. 

For the sauce I threw together soy sauce, water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, honey, BBQ sauce, polish vegetable stock mix and Chinese five spice mix. 

For something that I made with whatever I had in the cupboard at the time, I think it was amazing. :D :D :D  

Second trip to the allotment.

I managed to spend an hour at the allotment right before dark today. :) The BF drove me over with some compost and after removing the rest of the weeds and covering this bed with cardboard I covered this bed with new compost. It should rain tonight which will help it all settle and once my eight lavender plants have arrived, been potted up, and grown on a bit, this bed should be perfect to hold them.

 And perfect for attracting bees. 

March 7th 2017

This is my garden today March 7th. It still needs a lot doing to it. I DID poo pick but those pesky dogs keep on adding to it. :/ The chickens in the back have been given a way to get to the rest of their run now and only run back under the tarp when it rains. The purple sprouting broccoli is forming flower heads. The rhubarb is coming up. The parsnips are growing again so I need to dig the rest up.

 I've got things growing in the side border now and you can really see the improved light levels compared to the garden a little less than a month ago. (see photo below) 

Yes I meant to move the shed and get the lawn mowed but I've been at work most days for a while now and whenever I had a day off it rained. I can't say the lawn looks too bad to be honest. I think I can leave it for a little while longer really. I think the house work is a little more overdue. :P   

The garden a month ago. 

First trip to the allotment of 2017

I managed to get up to the allotment with the dogs after work this morning. Its really, really muddy and I sank a good few times. I worked, digging out the worst of the weeds, for a good hour and a half before the dogs got too bored.

Plans.

 I still have a lot of weeding to do, digging to do and I want to add compost to the very furthest bed before I build a bean row and set some peas with sticks and string to hold them up.

I want to finish digging the empty bed closest to the camera, cover it with cardboard and compost and eventually fill it with Lavender.

After that I want to add more compost to the third bed almost to the back of the photo, (the one with sand on top) before squash planting time. Then I want to remove the netted bed furthest from the camera and fill that bed with manure ready for next years squash.

Ok so I'll try to explain what is happening with the beds this year (subject to change) The first bed which is the partially weeded bed closest to the camera, will be the lavender bed.
The second bed (next to the first) is strawberries.
The third bed (about a foot left from bed two) will be flowers.
the forth bed (below bed two) will be potatoes.
bed five (left of bed four) Jerusalem artichokes, globe artichokes, rhubarb and mint (which is in the ground! Not planted by me)
Bed six (Right of the bottom of bed five) Will be a three sisters bed. Squash, corn and beans
Bed seven (right of bed six) will be empty but covered with manure
Bed eight (below bed seven and six) will be legumes. A bean row, pea row and dwarf french beans.

I am feeling much happier now that I have a plan of action. :)

Mrs Wigglesworth. Eggs?

I've put an egg container in with Mrs wiggle today, just because she's looking pretty darn large around the middle. We'll have to wait and see if any eggs materialise. 

If they do materialise they will be eggs fathered by butters, and I'm really, really hopeful for a little yellow snake baby. :)