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I was going to use Blogger but I've decided to stick with Wordpress...new blog address as above.

Jen

Sorrel...

Tiny baby sorrel leaves were subject to my scissors this afternoon. It was cold and damp so I just gave a few of my plants a quick haircut. This was then turned into a pesto (just the leaves, parmesan, olive oil and a bit of garlic). Lovely sauce for pasta with salmon and tomatoes. Great so have something fresh out of the garden.

We've had four days of wonderful warm sunny weather but it's flipped again and it's now freezing cold. Yesterday (it was 19 degrees!), the onion sets went into their new bed - fingers crossed we get a decent crop this year.  Aiming to get the potato bed weeded and dug over for planting in a couple of weeks. Last night the second polytunnel arrived so maybe by the end of next week it will have joined the first one.

Polytunnel progress...

OK this thing is growing hands and feet. I've ordered a second one which should arrive in about a week's time.  So far I've cleared the earth dug it over and dumped about a cubic metre of well rotted manure on the beds (the difficult bit). For my situation BIG lesson learned for poly tunnel number two - mark out your paths and leave the turf on them.  I'm now having to backfill paths.

So, a good day's work to dig and about an hour and a half to erect the polytunnel. Still to get it in the exact position and dig in the cover.  But now prepping for the arrival of the second one - paths marked out this time!

This morning it's like summer here and the metal tubing is roasting hot (no anti-hot tape with this cheapie). But, I did have some pipe insulation (that grey foamy stuff) - the 22mm size works a treat so the metal is now cooler and cushioned. I've only done over the roof area but think I might do all the metal that touches the cover - 10 euros to do the lot.

Back to digging....

Petit Polytunnel

An impulse buy I must admit but when I saw it in the shop I just had to have it.  I know everyone says buy the biggest you can afford but I've gone for a small one 3 X 3 Metres.  I'm going to have 600 cm beds around the sides and a one metre bed in the middle.  This will allow me two paths of 400 cm either side of the metre bed. 400 cm is a standard paving slab hence the size of the paths. I was going to start next week but a bit of late afternoon sun yesterday and I made a start.  I've got the area marked out and have started to remove the turf.



Hopefully by the end of today all the turf will be gone and I might even get some muck dug in. We went back to the shop to buy another one but they were sold out so I've ordered a 2nd one online.  They will sit side by side.  I'm thinking one for potting on etc and the other for summer crops peppers, chillies, tomatoes and aubergines followed by winter salad stuff.  I'm planning on edging the paths with strawberries. Then next year swap over - use one for growing, give the other a good feed and a rest and use it for potting etc. Well that's the plan!

 

Stuck Indoors...ahhh

Really did think I'd get a bit of gardening done last week but no such luck.  The rain in relentless and when it does stop I've been trying to get my 5K runs in. Next week's looking good so time to break eggs with sticks if that sun starts to shine. In the meantime the basil has germinated.  I've never grown basil indoors before and am now wondering what to do with it. Should I thin out in the tray and pot on later or do something with it now? The stick in the white pot is lemon grass which I'm hoping will show some signs of life not sure if it's dead or not!

Besides the basil the only other seeds to germinate so far have been the tomatoes. They are looking a bit spindly but I'm turning them a few times a day in the hope they'll grow stronger seeking that non existent sunshine. All the tomato seeds have germinated the empty modules have sweet pepper in them which has yet to sprout.