Sunflower Bouquet

I love to play with plants - I wouldn't give myself a grand as title as a florist or flower arranger.  So it was lovely to get these locally grown sunflowers and make a big bouquet for a conference raffle prize.

Winter Veg

So last week had a phone call from my mum asking if I wanted some winter veg plants as a friend had given her a 'few'.  Yes please I replied, and she duly bought a bucket into me at work.  

It wasn't till I started to plant that I realised there was a few more than a 'few'!

91 leeks later and the light was fading on Saturday evening ... and I hadn't even touched the brassicas.

The alarm was set for 6.30am on the Sunday morning so I could get to the plot and get the rest in.... gave out counting the brassicas and not quite sure what anything is as the labels had rubbed off.

The beds are now full to bursting as the wood for the construction project (see previous post) is taking up two beds ..... hopefully the cabbage white leave things alone as I couldn't plant it all together to net in.

New developments

Having sourced a wonderful supply of free wood, the first load got delivered to the plot at the weekend by some very good friends and husband.
The wood is a bit OTT but is free and we are recycling.  The plan is to build a fruit cage to enclose the top two beds ..... Hopefully it will stop raining at some point this week so construction can commence.

More Homegrown Revolution ....

Been on a spending spree with plants recently.  The below are all perennials so I am hoping for a long-term gain for my money!! 

Skirret is meant to be like Parsnip - plants need to establish to I can propagate by division to build up the stock.

This is an acid loving plant, so it has replaced the blueberry that died earlier in the year in the ericaceous bath.

Cocktail Kiwi has gone in the main fruit bed.  James Wong describes these as imagine if Haribo designed a fruit ... so we shall wait and see for next year.

Homemade food

One of the best things about growing your own veg is making up recipes to use it all up.  This lasagne had layers of veg and meat.  There was even a layer of spinach in the middle which everyone seemed to eat without noticing.

Begonia rex update

A few weeks ago I posted (here) about some Begonia rex propagation .... and the leaf cuttings have taken.  Tiny roots are now appearing.  It never fails to amaze me how a small part of a plant can grow another.

Pickling

Harvest now in full flow and the house must smell like a Sarsons factory!

So far we have made ....

Blackberries

A friend has lots of blackberries spilling over his fence into their backgarden ... so armed with a handful of green beans and my tub  I went blackberrying.  Took me back to my childhood with trips around the field hedges with my mum.

So far lots frozen, awaiting the arrival of the apples later this month, and one batch seemed to find its way slipped into some gin this morning.