Moving House

On Saturday 20th July I went to bowling with my friends for my goodbye party I had a fun time with my friends. I finished college on Wednesday 24th July, I felt sad saying goodbye to friends and staffs, especially my good friend Deacon and my pa Jess. On Tuesday 30th July I moved in Elham in Kent. I felt strange about leaving Durham because I have lived there all my life but I am happy because it is near London and France and the weather is better.
I going get hot tub help me to relax, I can't wait! We bought house with big garden where we want to grow strawberries and pumpkins and lots more vegetables and fruit.  I need building work now  so I can have a shower room and better access.

Seed potatoes planted - all in one day!

The potatoes I planted in spring 2007 were a success: 21 seed potatoes yielded about 20 kg, about a month's worth of cooking. However, the flavour of the potatoes was remarkable only in being without distinction. Further, some potatoes were attacked by insects and/or by slugs. Others suffered from scab and/or blight.

Monday 5 May 2008 was a bank holiday in the UK, and the weather was unusually fine. An early start saw a rectangle of turf, 2 m x 3m cut and lifted. In the afternoon I rotavated the new bed with a borrowed rotavator that bucked and kicked, but did the job remarkably well. At tea-time the bed was raked and composted. I planted the potatoes as darkness fell. To date, this year, 64 seed potatoes have been planted: 32 Charlottes, 16 Juliettes and 16 Sunrise.

The bad news is that there are half as many potatoes again yet to be planted. Moreover, there is a bag of onion sets to go in. Looks like another job for Mister Rotavator.

June: a time of mists, but neither mellow nor fruitful

June has shambled in, cloud hanging heavily over disappointed trees, and the mournful lowing of the Sunderland fog horn audible through my office window. Plants in the greenhouse are getting tired of waiting for a long-absent sun to make a shamefully-belated appearance: tomato plants hunch themselves in the gloom, and the aubergine plants appear more aetiolated by the day. The okra seeds have steadfastly refused to germinate, along with radishes, beetroot and romanesco. Outside, cruel northerly winds have shredded the green beans which were attempting to scramble up bamboo poles. However, the potato plants, snugged up deeply in mulch, are looking good. I have little doubt about global warming, but at the risk of sounding complacent and flippant, we could do with a little bit more of the warming, please.

Peter

The plot develops

"When that Marche with his shoures soute hath perced the droghte of Aprile to the rote, ..."

Easter and subsequent glorious weekends have nudged and prodded, conceding no quarter. The Leylandia hedge has been cut down to size: much wood and many branches having gone to the great industrial compost heap in the sky, as Burnham Wood was moved in five van loads to Dunsinane (Coxhoe Domestic Recycling Facility). The greenhouse has been cleared of chicken, eggs, pots and debris, and its glass has been repaired and scrubbed inside and out with a toothbrush. A greenhouse bedful of soil has been dug and finely seived, ready to receive tender okra plants. A new garden bed has been dug and conditioned with compost, planted with Harmony potatoes, and the rows marked with sticks. Young, seed-grown strawberry plants have been snuggled into cots, protected from slugs and snails. Seed trays have been filled and seeds pressed into the soft, black seed compost, then watered and placed in window-sill incubators: climbing green beans and salads, pumpkin and sunflower. Compost has been dug out of last year's bins and worked into soil. Seeds and shoots have been tucked up with fleece to protect them from any late frosts.

Peter

A time to sow, ...

As the mornings and evenings gadually lighten, and March puffs and blows towards a windy conclusion, thoughts inevitably turn to planting seeds and growing vegetables, fresh for the plate and the pot. Why should I give Tesco my hard-earned salary, when I could be lifting my own potatoes, cutting my own cabbage, and picking my own courgettes. As well as a good all-round seed potato, I have a swede, a carrot, and both a golden and a white beetroot. Representing brassicas, I have savoy cabbage and romanesco broccoli. Legumes feature broad beans, runner beans and a pea. A pumpkin and a courgette are the solitary gourds. The crackerjack is okra, with its vicious spines. A few herbs and some mushrooms end the list. Although there are no tomatoes, onions, garlic or peppers, which means no arabiata sauce, I still believe that we might have to rotovate the front garden.

Peter.