Kitchen Garden Forum

Time Marches on OH


Was quite a nice cup of tea at 4am this morning.

I am sitting in the dining room looking out at a very rainy, windy day indeed. I want to plant my new strawberry plants that I got from lidl last week, and maybe (maybe) sow some parsnip seeds today. Will it ever stop raining?

I looked out of the window this morning at the rain streaming down the windows and wondered why I had recently bothered to dig my automatic irrigation hosepipe system out of the garage and start trying to set it up for watering my vegetable patch.
Obviously we are approaching April Fools Day, and as everybody knows "There's no Fool like and Old Fool"

I'm hoping we get enough of a sunny summer to make it worth the effort it takes to set up. We live in a high limescale area so at the end of every summer all the little sprinkler rosettes along its length have to be removed and soaked in vinegar before packing it away to clear off the limescale which blocks them up. By the end of the summer the water flow always seems to reduce to a dribble. And in the spring all the holes in the hosepipe have to be located and the spray inserts all have to be inserted again.

It seemed a good idea at the time ! Apart from its benefit during holidays, standing there with a spray hosepipe feels a lot more therapeutic !

Raining here.

Yesterday I collected my rejuvenated Hayterette from the Mower Workshop I recently discovered behind Carver Barracks, en route I had dropped into Perrys at Mole Hall Green, where I got: seed potatoes, onion sets, potted daffodils, iris reticulata and two geraniums that took my fancy.
Back home I cleared a working space in the greenhouse, some shed content shuffling still to do , and repotted the bulbs for the terrace. Potted on a doxen hazelnut seedlings and a dozen dog rose seedlings - a fortuitous hip having landed on a potted tree two autumn's ago they are now 4" miniatures.
Mowed and strimmed the back garden before light intermittent drizzle started.
Potted up the geraniums and put them indoors.

Today I are mostly being indoors.

Homemade onion soup may be involved.

Today I'm absolutely indoors! Horizontal rain and the telephone wires bowing out in pretty scallops!

Roast shoulder of lamb in the oven, herb and garlic rub all over it, smelling good!

MW

MW. I can smell it from here! Lay an extra place for lunch. I'm on my way over !!
Interesting how the price of a joint of lamb always rockets just before Easter Sunday lunch isn,t it ??

Motherwoman wrote:T
Roast shoulder of lamb in the oven, herb and garlic rub all over it, smelling good!

MW

Hmmmmmm, lovely.

I'm home-alone and painting indoors and even though it stopped raining it's very wind, cold and miserly.

Erm, I may make soup as I'm defrosting one of my home built loaves. Dinner for one can be very wasteful if you're not smart and very cheap and nutritional if you are smart. It doesn't cost much to feed me, it's the beers and the good-oils that cost.

I can understand the move to get the irrigation system going, the ground is quite dry here to the point I had my hose out for planting spuds and the garlic needed water. I have one of those thingies you stick into the ground for moisture content, goodness knows if it'll help. I never get it right anyway.

The onion soup plan had morphed into Crown Prince Squash and smoked bacon soup with garlic, carrot, onion and potatoes plus seasonings,

The wind outside has really got up, the door between kitchen and garage is rattling in its frame, Had to nip out and tie the barbecue in its cover to the fence posts before it turned into a parachute launched missile,

Grim baby weather up here too.

Made a mess of grafting some Aubergines onto Tomato rootstock, I think I'll have to stop trying my fingers simply don't work well enough. Having a brew then going to pot on Peppers and second batch of Tomatoes. The greenhouse isn't swaying quite as badly as it was earlier.

Our lunch was Leek and Potato Soup - still have quite a lot of Leeks left that really need shifting.

Yes same here. It,s Leeks with everything at this time of year to get the ground cleared. Luckily it's still soup weather !

Just been up to our plot to check everything in these strong winds.

Rescued a cold frame that was taking a wizard of oz like trip across the plot, fortunately not damaged.

Picked 3lb of rhubarb, not forced, and half a dozen leeks for tonight's meal.

Pa Snip wrote:Just been up to our plot to check everything in these strong winds.

Our forecast is for gust speeds of 50 MPH overnight on Monday, that'll rattle the roof.

Picked 3lb of rhubarb, not forced,

Crikey, my rhubarb is only inches tall and under forcing enclosures. I need to get some nutrients around it, I still have comfrey juice. That'll do it.

Strangely, our unforced rhubarb (Timperley Early) is as tall already as the forced clump one under a black old dustbin! We have already had quite a few pickings. Must be the mild winter we had.
Some magnificent hail showers today. I took the netting cloche off the eaerly broad beans today, so I hope they won't be suffering too much. At least, tthey are s in the garden (rather than the allotment) where it is reasonable sheltered.

Monika wrote: I took the netting cloche off the eaerly broad beans today, so I hope they won't be suffering too much.

I'm being very cautious leaving things until maybe May before they go in the ground with everything but potatoes. My Broad Beans have been proven by sprouting in the airing cupboard so they will go in the ground within a week. Two years ago I started early with BB's though I don't remember how early because I don't keep a diary, they all got blown over and uprooted. Maybe Enviromesh netting is again the answer, netting slows the wind down and holds things together.

I grew biannual sweet rocket last year and planted it very much closer together than recommended on the packet and I wish I had planted last years cosmos even closer together because they almost went over. Closer together might not be best for a number of reasons but it-is best for wind survival. Can you believe some of the Cosmos reached over my head, I'm 5' 8". (Used to be 5' 11")

I must keep a diary, I keep a diary for bread baking and it's a must for recording the reasons for failure or otherwise. I don't think a computer diary will work for me.

Went to see Old Herbaceous at Spilsby Theatre yesterday evening...absolutely brilliant. If Peter MacQueen is ever performing this in your area..it's a must see. http://www.lincsruraltouring.co.uk/show/old_herbaceous

Google... pmac old herbaceous venues dates 2015

Clive.