New Potatoes

Hey, we had our first lot of new potatoes from the garden today.

There will be broad beans soon! 🙂

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Garden Update

Well, here in Norfolk in the UK, the weather has been very gloomy and dull and the plants and vegetables are reluctant to grow.

I’ll show you the bright bits first. The chive flowers always are a treat.

The Aquilegia are one of my favourites as they flower for quite a long time.

The greenhouse is very slow this year, any taste of warmth though and the plants put on a spurt of growth.

I went out this morning for watering duty and something has been eating my chilli plants

and my courgettes

Life for plants is very hard and frustrating for humans.

Onions

Finally, I’ve planted my onion sets. I know it’s late but nothing seems to be growing much in the weather we’re having, so I’m sure they’ll catch up.

First it was getting the bed ready which required some digging…

….Keith helped me with this. Then I added some homemade compost.

So here are my little onion sets snuggled in the ground at last! (If you look closely you can see them)

On the subject of onions, here’s a row of salad onions (struggling with the lack of sunshine)

The garlic chives seeds I sprinkled in here have germinated.

And these lovely chives come up every year in all sorts of places, including the patio!

I know some people find stray seeds frustrating but I quite enjoy free plants popping up in odd places 🙂

Introducing the new girls!

Della………

Sally……….

……and Sugar.

They are settling in nicely, thank you! 🙂

Cow manure update!

The cow manure kindly donated to us is now out of the trailer

Keith doesn’t look too happy about it though!

But we know some who are!

 

Mmmm, nice big veg’s this year I think 🙂

Who’s that knocking at the window?

It’s Edie! 🙂

Cow Manure

I’m getting ready for the new season in the garden, and I’m very excited about the delivery of cow manure from a kindly local cow farmer!

I know I shouldn’t be seen to be getting so excited about cow poo, but if your a gardener with soil that hasn’t got a lot of substance it’s a God send! 🙂

R.I.P. Miriam

Poor chicken Miriam died this morning, very sad.

She was the most friendly and earnest chicken but I think she was quite old! 😦

Today’s Harvest

Even though circumstances have meant the garden hasn’t had as much attention as we would like this year, we are still getting produce.

It shouldn’t really be surprising that nature can do quite a lot its self to combat neglect! 🙂

Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam

Yes it does work, I hadn’t heard of it before but it’s yummy!

500g/ 2lb rhubarb, washed and trimmed weight
500g/1lb strawberries, hulled weight

Chop and place these into your preserving pan or largest sauce pan and add 1 kg bag of sugar and juice half  a lemon, then stir.

leave for a few hours until the sugar draws out the juices.

heat slowly until sugar has dissolved and then bring to the boil, continue until setting point is reached. (I did squish with a potato masher a bit because strawberries do had a tendency to stay whole).

pot up into sterilised jars

and finish off with a nice fancy label.

If not for yourself, this can make a lovely present. I love it when a friend brings me homemade jam to sample! 🙂