Nesting

This is a little embarrassing but as I have no shame I'm going to share it with you all anyway.
I am nesting. Yes the shed is being turned into a home from home. I have already laid a new floor (vinyl - easy to clean) from offcuts my niece gave me, painted the inside walls the same colour as my bedroom (cosy) and highlighted areas in white (to make it feel brighter). I'm going to make new curtains and get boxes in which to put things in (shoe boxes wrapped up in gift paper). Then I'm bringing in the outdoor storage bench, painting it and putting some old cushions and a cosy blanket on top.

Call me daft but I really need a comforting place to retreat to down there when the weather is too bad, I'm feeling panicky or I just need a wee moment to myself; politics on the plots is really getting me down these past few months - nothing but complaints, it isn't good for me to listen to such negativity all the time! Between us, Andrew and I have made a pact that we aren't going to moan anymore, it gets us nowhere but down. Plus I now excuse myself from all negative conversations down there - the lotties are meant to be my refuge and sanctuary, I have enough mental nastiness in my head already.

I am not the best at coping with winter, I'd definitely have SAD if I didn't have depression already, I need my Vitamin D!!! Though funnily Andrew and I were talking about our Autumn/ Winter veg and how we kind of prefer this time of year, more about that tomorrow maybe.

I leave you with a funny, naughty parsnip - Matron will probably like this. Every man's dream?

ooopps, the above pic is of a white carrot, silly me!

Pride goes before a fall (well, I hope not!)

Oh, I know the old saying but I truly am proud of what Andrew and I achieved last week. You may even be jealous...we made a Patio at the lottie!

For a long time we have wanted an area outside the shed to be able to sit and work on without the wet soil and grass making it all uncomfortable. Plus in the winter this area turns into a little quagmire and we needed to get it sorted before the blasted season returned once more. Further to that, I wanted somewhere I could walk safer (a flatter surface) and which we could put a bed for Maggie on without it getting terribly damp from the bottom up.

We had dilly dallied about this for a while and so finally it came to the crunch and we set to work, it helped greatly that we had free recycled patio slabs from a friend's brother and that pink granite stones were buy 3 bags, get one free at the local nursery. You know, we aren't made of money!!

This is what our patio area around the shed looked like before.....

(Way back in April - damp but some little slabs here and there)

Slabs lifted - work begins

After the above hard work (2 blisters on my hand!, don't go thinking I'm a lady who lets her man do all the hard grafting) - skimming off the turf (= blisters), cutting and laying weed membrane (I did that bit all alone), putting down wooden joists to hold it all together (Andrew's job), placing the slabs and spreading the granite, this is what we ended up with.

I am, as I have said, very proud. I believe it to be delightful and invite you all to come have a cup of tea on our extensive social area. It took Maggie a while but she now likes it too, the pebbles I like to think, remind her of the beach - she's a beach babe, she loves the sea side. I have also installed a new and improved bug hotel on the site and hope for many residents in the winter to come. It is a cosy little establishment and much superior to last years backpackers' hostel.

Half buried treasure, ahoy!

Living on the coast (well let's face it in Ireland the coast is never far away) we have the joy of going to the 'beaches' and watching the waves, looking in rock pools and getting our toes absolutely frozen by the Irish Sea whenever we feel like it. It also gives us seaweed after a storm and boy do we love that wonder stuff on the plot ~ rich fertiliser and the constant thoughts of chips when you walk around and smell the seaside in the fields.

Well of course another thing we have the benefit of is Jetsam - stuff washed ashore (as opposed to Flotsam which sinks) and boy did we strike it lucky on Tuesday night. We went to Brown's Bay, a little, popular cove not far from Carrickfergus which I am proud to say has just won a Keep Britain Tidy beach award. It was a lovely night and after a terrible day of depression, it was just the thing I needed to perk me up....seeing both my Hubby fall over on the sand and Maggie independently and very funnily tripping and getting a mouth full of sand had me in tears, this time due to laughter instead of being low. The sun as also beginning to set and it was quiet apart from the cows and sheep.

We, well I say we, it was Andrew, found this large barrel half buried in the sand. Was it half empty or half full of sand ~ you can decide. We saw and we wanted. It was bloomin' hard work but after scrapping some sand out and managing to get a little lever under the barnacled base we slowly got it out of its hole. Then Andrew had the fab idea of rolling it along the beach to loosen the sand inside and it just all poured out. Eh, Viola! We have a recycled carrot pot. Of course it smelt SO bad getting it home in the car but I reckon it will be worth it. It already has a place on 14b and the fun of getting it out will forever be associated with it. It was a good night.

Carrot fly can't fly very high so this will protect them and we may even get some of those ridiculously long specimens you see at village shows with the soil being so deep for them. Of course it can't stay in the state it's in for long. Yes I will keep the stenciled name on the side intact but it needs a few painted flowers and swirls on it and a darn good wash! But we are very happy with it - I love free things!!!!

P.S. Still working on that roar......

The Big Easter Weekend Project

Saturday saw Andrew and I up early! We had to get to the timber merchant before he closed at 12.30 and believe me, everyone in Carrickfergus seemed to have caught the DIY bug. I think I heard once that A&E departments hate Easter because of the all the people suddenly picking up their hammers and saws etc and them running to them bleeding all over the place. Safety first, my friends!!

So we bought timber and went to the Lottie (after a fortifying scone and coffee) to get to work. We'd been planning this project for a while now and the weather was unexpectedly good, there was no time to waste. Well, actually there was...we visited Mamma G on the way, but it was in relation to 'The Project'; 2 old wrought iron gates.

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Holes were dug to receive 8ft vertical posts and then tightly secured into the ground, 2 ft deep - they are going nowhere. Andrew did all that huffing and puffing, I played the vitally important role of overseer and encourager. I also held the spirit level when required. My main job though was using the wire brush to rub off god knows how many decades of flaky paint from the 2 gates! Boy that warms you up alright.

Andrew then was moving on with more timber. When we were making the Fruit Arch a while back, one of the posts broke at the bottom whilst being driven into the ground (there are some BIG rocks a spade's depth or so down) so we had this big piece of wood laying around and then - yes! it was perfect to act as a lintel between our 2 uprights. It this point I went off to talk to Ivan, Andrew likes to work alone.

Back again and my super duper Hubby had cut to length 3 bits of wood to run from just above the shed door over to the lintel - thus making a pergola. Just to see how it would look we put up the gates on the uprights, one on top of the other - we're using them instead of trellis - recycling ahoy!

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Sunday and we were back at lunch time, with sandwiches. Andrew put up all those extra fixings to make sure that a hurricane wouldn't move the darn structure! (We don't get them here in Carrick but better safe than sorry). I started to paint the wood. I had a very dickey tummy and was throwing up into a flower pot so Andrew kindly took over and finished the work. I just sat there feeling sorry for myself and tickling Maggie.

So there you are, our Easter project done. The gate trellis will have a beautiful climbing rose growing up it (Queen Elizabeth ~ shown below) and some wonderful climbing beans, the ones we got free from the council and which are already germinating. It should look lovely.

Peas Sir, can I have some more?

Bloody Day-Light Savings Time. I've lost an hours sleep somewhere and I want it back!!! I'm tired (sleep evaded me until 3.30am), out of sync and crabby. So in order to make myself feel chirpy (before I hide under the blanket and try to sleep) I am going to write a POSITIVE blog today.


You may remember that a couple of weeks back, Andrew had the ingenious idea of using up the left over, fly-tipped guttering so sow peas in. Here is it, if you missed it. Well those Peas 'Kelvedon Wonder' are doing super duper well in the cold frame and our yet-to-be-patented polystyrene end caps are working a treat.



Well, yesterday I did a gutter full of Peas all by myself. It was all done in exactly the same vain as Andrew but this time I used 'Hurst Greenshaft' ; a variety we had great results with last year. There's no point in describing how I did it, but there is a great wee story in the very fact that I did it myself.

I am aware that 2 photos of this is not, nesscarily needed but I'm proud of myself, blast it.

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We are coming up to our 1st Anniversary at the Lottie and until a few weeks ago I was the principal weeder, grass cutter and harvester of goodies. I did have my flower bed but I really didn't feel confident enough to take part in the sowing and planting out of veggies etc, unless Andrew was with me, telling me exactly what to do. I was convinced I wouldn't be able to do anything right and would end up wasting seeds and compost and generally ruining everything. BUT you may have noticed that recently I have sown all my own flowers seeds for this year and a batch of Broad Beans. My self-esteem is growing!! I will NOT go near a fruit tree or bush etc and attack it with secateurs but I will happily plant out seedlings all by myself. I'm learning and to be honest I can do these things just as well as the Hubby!!

This may all sound a bit silly - people generally are not afraid of planting seeds, they find it a joy, exciting even. But until now I was so scared, so full of self doubt and hatred I couldn't bring myself to do it, it brought on Panic Attacks! Now look at me; the cold frame is full with stuff as is the mini Greenhouse in the back garden and pretty much very window sill in the house! And on top of that I have loads of lettuce (the 1st batch was atrocious) herbs and my Sunflowers to do in the next day or too.

Holy Moly I'm Growing; you'd better watch out or I may bolt!!

Deep Breath/Compost

It's time I crawled out from under my blanket and faced the world again. I feel like Sisyphus from the Ancient Greek Myths ~ faced everyday by a punishment so demoralising, painful and unrewarding; bound to go on for eternity. Only thing is I didn't do anything wrong, so why am I, too, cursed? This Depression is a cancer of the soul and feels terminal.

Oh, deep breath....

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A welcome gift awaited us on Saturday, by our Plot ~ Old pallets! Oh what joy some old bits of wood can bring! Andrew was so excited at the prospect of making his much talked about compost heap that he started right away - Bill had to wait a little for his thank you; he had promised us some pallets and as always, he didn't let us down.



I decided to get on with something else while Andrew built this...


...a man's compost heap is his castle, or some such thing. Look at the pride, he (quite understandably) couldn't take his eyes of it and once it was full of the stinkiest and therefore most wonderful cow manure I too couldn't help but be very proud too. It has it's little blue blanket over the poo and another pallet on top and that structure and it's contents are going nowhere fast. We kept the little sign Andrew had made too - hands off everyone, this sh*t is ours!!!!

So we now have a manure heap and the trinity of compost bins - all is well at the Lottie. In a few months time we will have soil conditioner to die for (though it's pretty darn good this season, but things can only get better).

St Paddy Power ~ 3 (the closing chapter)

It's not only hard landscaping and soil prep going on at the Lottie. Oh, no. I planted 3 trays of lovely flower seeds. The first is definitely a favourite - the yellow California Poppy 'Golden Values'. So pretty and delicate, I want some for home too! Even better, they were free with a gardening magazine Andrew bought. My big red Oriental Poppies that we got earlier don't seem to be doing too good, only 1 is showing signs of life :( So the more yellow ones the better.

I also planted out Calendula 'Art Shades' (a lovely mix of slighlty muted yellows and oranges), a marigold- type plant. You know you can eat their petals; though I've grown them before. Their seeds are the strangest I think I've ever seen. I took a photo of them yesterday - they really look like fossils to me. I love them and have loads more for a continued supply of new plants throughout the summer.

Lastly, I planted my Marigolds - excellent friends in the constant battle of keeping nasty beasties away from my veggies and better than Nasturtiums in my opinion as they don't take over! The variety I chose was 'Naughty Marietta', a great name and they are the ones that have marron centres to the yellow flower. They, again were free, don't you love it!! Quite liked their seeds too, so , here's a photo of them.

Andrew did some direct sowings into the bed with the garlic already in it. Ummm, A3 on our plan. We had the 2 sun tunnels over that area of soil for a couple of weeks after giving it a good lot of prep. and it had dried out beautifully. After a quick riddle (check out our fridge basket & chiken wire recycling) it was perfect ground.

We now have hidden rows of Turnip 'Purple Top Milan', Onion (Scallions) 'White Lisbon', Carrots 'Early Nantes 5' and finally Beetroot 'Boltardy' (which will all be continuously re-sown crops). They're all things we grew last year and loved. I highly recommend each of them. In fact I demand you go out, buy a packet of 'Boltardy': grow, harvest, eat and enjoy!! ~with Brown Sauce, trust me :)

So St Paddy's Day was pretty darn good, no?

Planting Peas in a guttering pipe

We found the guttering and down pipe for around our shed last year in the bank of a stream, surrounded by bits of bed etc. Terrible, the illegal dumping people do ~ but hey, we struck lucky out of it that time. The only things we needed were the joints and brackets etc and we had our water collection system, which I wrote about in my 2nd ever blogette- here. Plus there was a long strip left over. Well, don't throw anything away, folks - that waste piping was used last Sunday - for the grown' of peas.....

I was, as I've mentioned, hiding in the shed but I heard the commotion of Andrew measuring the bed width and cutting the gutter to fit, then drilling holes into the bottom of the pipe. Boy, either he was extremely noisy or I was so upright everything sounded deafening!

So here is Andrew's work in photo-story format, as above ~ these are 'Kelvedon Wonder' we're talking about.....

NB. the use of polystyrene as an end piece - genius

I believe the idea is to let the seeds grow in the cold frame and when they're ready to plant out you dig a long trench and easily slide the whole lot out from the guttering pipe. Well sounds good in theory. Fingers crossed, we have many a pea in the months to come.

My Chrimbo Pressie for my Lottie!

I LOVE MY LOTTIE!!

Therefore I thought she deserved a pressie, after all she has given me. Think me not mad, I beg you, I am aware that 'she' is not a sentient being and cares not for presents, but, well as I said ~ I love my Lottie.

So, behold her old sign. It was made in some haste in answer to the tenancy agreement, which stipulated we all mark our territory. (Maggie already had done so, in her own personal way, of course, but this was not seen as good enough). A very old, battered bit of fencing board was bashed up and as you can see,I, just quickly, but with care, wrote the wonderful letters and numbers which would soon mean so much. A24a.

Here it is on the day it was 'planted' in the corner of our plot. That doesn't sound like the right word, but it is apt...



And here it is on the day of its makeover. Exciting!

Well now, the quick witted of you with be thinking ~ Titles, Grout, ummmm! Yes indeed I made my 1st ever Mosaic. And boy was it fun. Any excuse to take a hammer to things and really bash it up into tiny bits and I feel happier. It was done under controlled conditions though : newspaper down, pencil and paper for a plan, tea towel to cover tiles and Maggie safely in the corner of her favourite sofa, sleeping.

I left out the 'A' this time because we all know which fields are which by now. And, quite frankly it wouldn't have fitted on the wood anyway. I'm sure I need not tell you how to do Mosaic, but I will pass on the joy of 'Fix and Grout' in one, so much easier and cheaper than buying 2 different tiling things.

Here is the finished article, I'm quite pleased, as I am sure my Lottie is too.

N.B. This was also written on the 22nd!! Golly I hope this post dating lark works. I'll be off in Fermanagh on Boxing day for a week, just me, the Hubby and Maggie ~ bliss.

Turf Stack Destroyer!

Ah, yes, the turf stack. This was formed way back in April when we were removing turfs in order to build our raised beds. They all went over into the corner and had black membrane put over them. Over time we used it as a bed/sofa, have had Pumpkins growing out of it and now it was time to get what good top soil there was out of it. We want the space to move the holy trinity of compost bins over there and get another bed in.

Let's just take a moment to look back at April while I'm on the subject........


How far we've come. (Okay, these are a little misleading - Andrew was there too, working very hard).

So anyway, I was starting to feel like I really wanted to go home on Saturday, remember I wasn't having a good day (depression wise) and I had just fallen, like the eejit I am! But Andrew suggested the turf stack, knowing how I have a lust for destruction, as much as one for growing etc. I got into that stack with the spade and started hacking away like a crazy murderer of soil! It felt GREAT!

Now to the exciting part..... Andrew made a Riddle. We had been given an old fridge basket by Anne (my sister-in-law) and had some chicken wire in the shed. Tie up the two components together and what do you have - an eco-friendly soil sieve! Andrew was in charge of that creation and I dumped spade loads of soil into it. After a good riddle (shake those hips Andrew!) we had beautiful top soil in our wheelbarrow (including lots of worms) and little bits of clay left behind; these we 'dumped' in the hedgerow - it does no harm and will cover over with grass in no time. We worked at that for about 1 hour and made a bit of a dent but more importantly I was in a better mood.



Then came the glory of picking our own food. A lovely box (I forgot the usual basket) of 5 Lettuces, 8 Scallions, 9 baby Carrots and a Leek. Then home, as the sun was in fact setting by this time and it really was COLD. Maggie was even shivering in her little jumper and coat. But look what we went home to, (after Andrew made it) looks ridiculous - tasted great.

All of it grown on our very own plot A24a, though that was the last of the potatoes which is quite sad.

A special delivery

On Friday past (28th Nov) Andrew was home for lunch in between appointments. It was rather good timing as we got our long awaited for delivery of Raspberry canes from Dobies of Devon. Only the 2nd thing we have ordered off the Internet for our beloved lottie. I have the wonderful unfolding of the event captured for your viewing pleasure....

They are bloomin' great looking plants (variety 'Joan J' and are therefore Autumn fruiting) and tomorrow, when I talk about what work we did at the Lottie on Saturday, I can show you them in their new home as well. Raspberries (and blueberries and cherries) are my favourites, so I have high hopes for these 6 fellows : fruit, jam, cakes - yummy.

The bag they came in will also be recycled into our next potato crop bag ~ we just finished the last of our 'Maris Pipers' from August on Saturday, I'm quite sad about that.

Random Harvest (I LOVE that film)

This isn't about the film though, it is about the glorious harvest our wee plot gave us as a welcome home present. Here is the now standard harvest photo, but wait til you get the full run down of what's in there...

2 Pak Choi, 4 baby Lettuces, 3 Parsnips, 1 Leek, a massive handful of Parsley and 4 gorgeous wee Turnips. I was very happy, let me tell you.

The Pak Choi was used in stir fries (I was heard to proclaim "It's like real Pak Choi" - what an eejit) the Lettuces were eaten by me with a little cranberry sauce (more about that later) and last night Andrew made the best dinner ever with the rest and some couscous (which we'd grow ourselves if we could darn it!). He simply roasted the parsnips, leek and turnips and mixed it all up with couscous and lots of lovely flat leaved parsley. The only other ingredients were Ras el Hanout (Moroccan spice mixture) and a little salt and olive oil - Heaven!

So to the lettuces. They are growing away beautifully under one of our little mini polytunnels and are so tasty, especially lifted young like this. I am genuinely surprised at how well these little tunnels are doing, they were a good buy alright and to think, I almost doubted their necessity (apologises Andrew!).

Yes, the cranberry sauce and lettuce mixture. This comes from the 1st meal I had when we arrived in Krakow, I was so impressed by this dish I wrote it down in a notebook whilst eating it (never done that before). It had a Lettuce mix of course but added to that was grilled chicken strips, cashew nuts, Sunflower shoots (!) Basil mousse, a few perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes and Cranberry sauce. My socks were blown off - simple but my my so tasty. (If you've never had Sunflower shoots before - they taste a little like firm/ripe melon, beautiful.) Poor me I had hardly any of those ingredients but I made do.

We aren't the only ones to be enjoying the success of their lettuce. These ones are so cute in their little rows; they were planted in between corn until recently. I don't know the names of this lovely couple but they gave us a very big handful of said baby sweetcorn a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous - green fingers on that plot alright.

They aren't 'real' polytunnels but Andrew brought home some used Water Cooler Butts from work and cut their bums off. They have been very effectively used as cloches for 2 of our Parsley plants. Look how this plant was trying to escape (that's before I chopped it down for dinner, hehe), goes to show you don't have to pay for purpose made stuff, eh?

Lastly, for today, I'd like to mention our Leeks and how we've been blanching them with bits of drainpipe. It was found way back in the spring in a little stream along with lots of other dumped household stuff and we thought it might come in handy - we were right. I have an intolerance to 'real' onions but can eat leek, so it's an important crop for us. Using the collars around the young plants makes them grow up to have a longer, thicker white bottom half, where most of the flavour is. Gosh, I'm full of tips today! (This pic doesn't show our best ones but it gives a good idea).