This was our veg plot last night before we had our evening meal. Above - these plant pots are covering the first earlies, which are flowering at the moment. Greek Gigantes beans wrapped in bin bags behind them.
Peas, runner beans and at the back, the Kestrel spuds.
Tubs of dwarf French beans and Shiraz Mangetout covered over well too - the "hay" in the top of the bean tub was grass I had removed from the bed behind. It served its purpose well.
These are the first earlies, well earthed up. They should be ready to dig up soon as they have spuds growing well (we only found this out when earthing up the end one).
Keith's current project - bits of wood from the Useful Bits of Wood heap being glued together to make a bookshelf for Gabby, as she said she was running out of room. It doesn't match the one she has already, but needs must.
One of my in-house projects- a quilt which will go to a charity helping girls leaving care homes with nothing. It was a bit boring and bland in parts so I have been taking out the blandest blocks and replacing them with ones like the black and pink one.
Here's Maggie's stable door which we mended and I repainted last week.
Tea on Monday night - a Lancashire hotpot with a difference, as the base of mince and veg has lots of oomph from Henderson's relish and the like. Very tasty. Down to Tam, that one.
Photo of the inside of the Cart Shed now it's been tidied up and is currently Keith's 2nd workshop, as the Robin is feeding babies in the workshop that was Fahly's stable.
Above and below - I have never had BLUE double Aquilegias before. I shall certainly tie blue wool round these and save seed. I always call these "ra-ra skirts"!
Last night's tea (down to Tam again) - a pan-fried Fahita-Burrito hybrid and very tasty.
Right, this won't do. I have cakes to bake (one as a gift for the 11 very well grown tomato plants we were given the other day.)
I am sure that the gift of your cake will go down exceedingly well. I hav3e kept fleece over the first and second earlies for the past few days ande my beans in pots are arranged in a circle with a triple layer of fleece pegged around it, not just for the frost but last weekends wind was savage.
ReplyDeleteI was too late for gigantes seed this year but will have it next year and I plan on trying a few preennial vegetable as well, looking forward to a Taunton Dene kale and some walking onions.
The beans have only just gone in (Tuesday I think it was) - it was Monday night they said would be frosty (and it wasn't!) I hope you have room for the Gigantes - Tam has cut 8 foot bean poles and said when she grew them on her Allotment they wanted to make a bid for freedom!! Not heard of Taunton Dene kale before. Tam gets most of her seeds from the Real Seed Company down in Newport, Pembs.
ReplyDeleteCake is always a good gift and will I am sure be well received. The drop in temperatures here makes me thankful that very little has yet been planted outside. The hot pot looks delicious, yum!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to drop the cake down this morning. It is a very toothsome one so I hope she will enjoy it. I don't know what cakes they make in Estonia, where she comes from, but cake is cake, right?! That hot pot was AMAZING.
DeleteI expect you are well behind us on planting but catch up due to your longer daylight hours?
Goodness, you are busy and have wonderful results to share with us. I love the idea of the quilt for charity. I am hand quilting a gift for my daughter right now but have scraps I could use to make charity quilts. I will look into that...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration!
Glad I inspired you about the quilt for charity. I in turn was inspired by our patchwork teacher Alex, who makes lots. I have another I can start (perhaps as a lap quilt as limited blocks and I don't have any matching fabrics) when I have time. Heirloom quilt will be next off the starter's blocks though.
DeleteAll your 'eats' look scrumptious!!
ReplyDeleteOh believe me they were Pat. Tam gets a bit . . . bored . . . with my "dated" recipes - you know, the ones you can throw together without thinking, so she has been cooking for us more and I am the sous chef. Keith wouldn't touch anything we like!
DeleteGreat post, lots going on. I keep postponing planting as it has been so cold, but your garden looks great.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh those blue double columbine. If you didn't plant them, where did they come from?
lizzy
Well, we thought we were past ALL chance of frost here (I can't recall a frost in May).
DeleteThe double columbines just "happen". Sometimes you get different flower types on the same plant. I shall save seed from these for sure, and the other doubles I have. I will be going round with bits of different coloured wool to tie on stems!
I love this post!! Made me smile from top to bottom. I never thought of using plant pots to protect them, what a great idea!! Wish we lived closer so I could happen to pop by when you were cooking lol. We are growing the Gigantes for the very first time this year! So excited to have them. Do you just store them for winter or use fresh?
ReplyDeleteWe have beans called Jacob cattle gold or something this year...will pull them out for my next post.
The quilt is amazing too, you are so talented.
Hi Tracy - glad you enjoyed my post. The spuds posed a problem as we didn't have enough membrane to go over them, so plant pots it was! I think you and I could cook up areal storm in the kitchen as we have similar tastes (esp. the baking!) Enjoy the Gigantes. Tam has them dried,but she said the Real Seed Co. say you can eat them fresh (but COOK them as Tam's partner had a funny reaction (Lectins in them) when he ate one raw). They mature to double the size of butter beans so make a hearty soup or stew. Looking forward to hearing about the Jacob Cattle Gold beans. Not heard of those. The big-hexagons quilt is one I got from a charity shop, unfinished, and on hearing about the charity supporting the girls from care homes who have NOTHING, I thought it would be a good destination for it.
DeleteYou have been busy - the quilt is gorgeous. The meals look tasty. I discovered Henderson's Relish recently when looking for a vegetarian worcester sauce - it is tasty :)
ReplyDeleteThe quilt is mutating again as I do a bit more each day to take out the muted bits and make it pop a bit more. It's also probably going to be a double bed size (single at moment) so I am about to go and try and match that hot pink! "Hendo's" they call it "oop north" and it is very tasty - a bit like Worcester sauce but different.
DeleteWhat a busy person you are. Love the quilt.
ReplyDeleteWe just got our spuds in today and as it seems there is no frost in the forecast I hope to start planting my flowers very soon.
God bless.
Tam is always telling me off for not just sitting and doing nothing, but in my defence, I CANNOT do nothing! I watch tv and do a puzzle, write a letter, sew etc.
DeleteOur spuds are doing well now - just the maincrop (which went in last week) not properly through the soil yet.
I hope your seedlings and plants survived the cold weather. We are still having frosts here so I am yet to plant anything out, hoping that they will stop soon. How wonderful to be given tomato plants, I am not sure I will manage them this year as I too was gifted some last year which were a lot bigger than the ones I was growing, We shall see.
ReplyDeleteYes, glad to report that they did. We've not had a frost this late for many a long year. The tomato plants were like being handed money!
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