Excellent progress on the plots

First off I want to tell you it was snowing when we went to the lottie on Saturday - we are so hardcore!! Okay so it was hardly anything but at least it shows our commitment and it could have got bad; we didn't know, we didn't care.

I managed to finish the wedding of the flower bed - hurrah. There was one utterly gross bit there in front of the very faded sign and the pointy bit... There was 5, yes count them, 5 hand trowels full of maggots. Boke! They were wiggly and fat and I couldn't find what they were eating but it was a moment of pure 'I am woman, hear me roar!' - I didn't even squeal (though I felt like it inside). Now I really need to sort out the grassy paths and make a new sign, then I'll be much happier

Raspberries moved

Andrew has wanted to do this for a while now as the summer raspberries were really awful to harvest over on 24a with the trees blocking access down one side. Plus they were throwing out new shoots into the paths over there and needed a lot more room. I am so impressed that he did all this by himself and the berries will be easier to pick and protect - I swear, netting is going up and "birds! listen up; they're mine this year!"

Strawberries Weeded

I took on the task of weeding the Strawberry bed. It doesn't look that awful but it was and the pure clay that is in there was a nightmare on the trowel; my new cotton gloves were caked in it, I really need plastic ones or something more manly, but my hands are tiny. We used to have asparagus in here, but we're thinking that we may put some new crowns into the vacated summer raspberry bed. When it was an asparagus bed loads of compost, sand and grit was worked into this soil and it was delightful - the blasted rain and subsequent flooding of the field every winter seems to have removed all that goodness and the soil is simply only good for making pots or bricks - arrghh. I ended up getting very peeved and chucked loads of clumps into the far hedgerow.

We didn't (either of us) see a single worm during all this digging - isn't that just awful? Not one. But the new growth particularly in the flower bed has brought us many a smile. The narcissus tete-a-tete's continue to bloom double headed and those spots of yellow are joy itself. And the red rose has gorgeous new shoots coming and looks so healthy - beware aphids, I already have my eyes on the lookout for any signs of you - keep out!

Lastly I must share this sad sight. One of our gnomes has died in a most gruesome manner, falling off a high post (he ought not to have been there in the first place, just saying, cough, cough) and like Humpty Dumpty, he was just beyond help. As a dedication to his memory he shall be used as crocks in the bottom of the next pot we plant up. Farewell little friend......

 Hugs and love

Strawberry clear up, sloes and death

Okay, it's late on Thursday night and I am yet again sedated for the 4th time today. Knowing that the day is almost over calms me and for a moment of two I have been quite clear in my mind. I thought it would be nice to write a blog - it's so much a part of the real me.

So, I really hope you have your strawberry beds all sorted out for the winter! Of course I would have written about this 2 weeks ago when I did mine but better late than ever. Now my plants were brand new this summer so I hadn't much to do, just cut off all the runners (goodness there were about 8-10 radiating from each plant with plenty of babies on each) and chop the top leaves off. Then I gathered up all that lovely straw (perfect for the compost bins) and weeded = happy days.

Before ~

After~

Strawberries can be left in the same place - yay for no worries about crop rotation! If yours are 3-4 yrs old, runners are you ticket to new, tasty, hardy, FREE plants for you and all your friends. They very conveniently have little roots and are so ready to get going that you can simply let them plant themselves :) but you know, put them where you want them!! Alternately pot them up :)

Andrew also found a darn good sloe tree within Maggie walking distance and so the inevitable happened - we have started on the 2012 vintage Sloe Gin. I am quite sure that there are other things you could do with sloes but I am happy to make a tasty beverage.

And lastly for now, I must share the sad news that we have had to say farewell to another of our fancy goldfish. Awesome Fred was, just that, Awesome, hence the name but we had been very ill for months and despite all we could try for him, he was just getting worse; living upside down and recently not able to right himself or eat :( Poor guy, he has been buried with love.

De-Shaming complete :)

Hello dear lovely reader :) Hope you are feeling fabulous and starting to notice the nights getting shorter - oh SPRING is on her way!!!

So this weekend I was at the lottie both Saturday and Sunday - I know - shock! I shouldn't have been there on the Sunday as I wasn't well enough but I pushed as I usually do and it present yours truly is just emerging from yet another quite bad nervous meltdown. I couldn't even talk these past days never mind type. Silly girl. I really can't seem to see the signs until it's too late.

Anyhow - Let me show off what we did on Saturday - I was feeling pretty good for a change :)

Andrew worked so hard on gossipping with a new member of the lottie, hahaha. But he did get a lot of work done too *blush* I'll have to get him to tell me again a little about his new friend, he sounded very nice but my brain is a mess and I can't remember much other than he cheerfully joined the search for my misplaced camera at the end of afternoon....I'll tell you that story in a while.

So here is the 'Corner of Shame' now - looking better I think you will agree. We now have the 2 cold frames over from 14b and have the area blocked off. We are going to use this area as a nursery and as the potting up area is just round the corner it all makes better sense of the space. I doubt it will stay carpeted, hahaha and no we aren't getting a couple of chairs and a coffee table! Once the grass underneath is dead we'll probably put down bark mulch or some such thing :)

I concentrated on de-weeding (yes it's a word!) the rest of the asparagus/strawberry bed and uncovered our path under the fruit arch. It's growing really well - I'll have to get Andrew to tie those branches in.

Then I tackled the 'coffin', haha, I still call it that, it looks like a coffin - sorry Andrew. Look Rhubarb :) I forgot to put that forcer on top after weeding the area but I'll do it next week. This whole area hadn't being looked at for a while - eek!

And so I took some before photos and went to take some after photos an hour later and NO camera!!! I searched on my own for half an hour, getting more and more frustrated and upset, then Andrew and his new friend helped for another half hour, no sign of it :( We were everywhere and looking through rubbish and on our hands and knees going through the long grass (the blasted camera was in a GREEN case *rolls eyes*). I was starting to get rather dark and Andrew's friend had to leave and I just felt so sad I started to cry (just a wee bit), Andrew gave me a big hug and said nice things. Thing is he was really hurting my boob hugging me......the camera was in my gillet, way up on top of my boob!!!! The pocket stretches all over inside, you could fit Maggie in there!

So I had been walking around with a rectangular right boob for an hour - it was really noticeable! What sweet gents they were - never once did they look at that area at me say 'is that not it in your top?' Unless Andrew's new friend thinks I have very odd boobs - hahahahaha.

Plot 24a gets a little less shameful :)

Last Saturday we attacked the plot for a few hours and miraculously just finished in time for the Heaven's to open, again; that happened last week - the gods are happy with us.

Andrew began de-shaming 'The Corner of Shame' and I started and very nearly completed clearing out the Asparagus and Strawberry bed. Now who would you like to hear about first?? Me! Oh, okay :)

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It has come as a severe blow to us but the whole Asparagus bed was completely rotted away last Summer. The winter had been so wet and the cow manure that Andrew (in good faith poor love) had put over the top as a mulch, just made the ground soaking, plus everything was attacked by leatherjackers and thus the crowns were simply pulp.

We had invested a lot of time and money into this venture as it is one of our favourite foods and it's bloomin' dear in the shops. We studied the whole thing and got the right crowns for our conditions, made those conditions even better and thought, yum....tasty Asparagus for the next 20 years, fresh from our own plot. Well no. So to ease the pain for Andrew who, we all know, was the one who did all that research, not me..I set about clearing the bed in the late Autumn.

Well since then some pretty substantial weeds had settled in and I had missed one mushy crown too. So everything out! A tough job but I love turfing dead stuff and weeds :) I found 1 sad and lonesome baby worm. Just one.

The strawberries were ancient and not really producing terribly well for us and so need replacing. They were in a silly place too so this year we are getting new ones and putting them in where the Asparagus was and just having them and the raspberries in that big square bed. There shall be a huge fruit cage erected too, which will be one of many - I am not letting all my delicious berries go to the birds again this year *shakes fist at sky*

P.S - look at this - flowers (and berries) on the Raspberries; they are confuddled plants!

Over at the far diagonal corner I got Andrew to start into the most shameful area of our whole plots. My gorgeous Oriental Poppy had to be moved (it's my favourite thing on the plot) and it was found a new home in my big flower bed over on 14b. A poor we half rotted Rose was also moved (I don't really hold out much hope for this little guy) and a very pretty primrose :) The Red Dogwood just won't fit anywhere on the plot or even at home so at the minute it's just been cut back and hopefully I can do a little guerrilla gardening with it. The beautiful red stems to make for good pea sticks etc so I think it will be an asset in the hedgerow ;)The other grasses were just cut back and some self seeded babies potted up as spares for the back garden.

This is what Maggie did. And this is also the other left over carpet that we have had in our house for a year and it will be used to KILL, kill, kill the grass pathways :)

Going back tomorrow :)
I wonder will this guy be there again (sadly I doubt it as we have many birds of prey and, well, he sort of stands out). Thanks to the Hubby for the photo.......

Shame

Okay, let's get one thing out of the way. I hereby apologise firstly for the stupidity of my fellow countrymen and women with all these pointless and pathetic riots over 'The Twelth'. I trust you believe me when I say I have nothing to do with any of it. In fact I was nowhere near any of the 12th madness at all.....I was at my lottie, bathed in serenity and  dappled sunshine :) [I find serenity is helped by lying on the ground beside the lavender bushes, lol]

But again here I must apologise as my Lottie was a place of shame also; overgrown with weeds, lettuces bolting, berries gone forever to the beaks of opportunistic birds (gggrrr) and grass - goodness so much grass! In fact this shame was so great that I have barely a photo for you, the camera revolted and couldn't bring itself to let the scene before me be seen by you. Though here I was allowed by my camera to take a shameful photo of waste but only if the bag full of good Strawberries was in it too, hahaha.

at the Patio - the honeysuckle has reached the top of the gates = happy plant :)

The Patio area alone triumphantly half filled a wheelbarrow by itself - oh Lordy, you can sense the scene. Andrew got to play with a petrol strimmer - which was loud and a little scary but boy, what a great job it did. Some day soon we will get rid of all the grass on 24a, you mark my words! (14b is already bark mulched).

Oh but I can't help myself - here are some photos (close ups you will notice, haha) of some loveliness on site.

Okay it's mainly flowers so I have put it into a collage for the sake of the beautiful but flower-on-the-lottie-hating Matron ;) xx

Lastly; the June drop, in July - so sad...

Oh I have so much more to share but really, it has to wait for another day as Andrew is still off work and we have relaxing and gardening and coffee drinking and Maggie walking to do in the sunshine ;) Talk soon xxx

P.S. The first Autumn, yes AUTUMN raspberries are out - this one was gorgeous ;)

Summertime and the growing is easy

We haven't managed to get much done (make that nothing done, to be honest) at the lottie over the past days. The weather was bad then it was too good not to go to the beach after dinner and then we where away all weekend at a Wedding in Donegal. So there, excuses out of the way. I did on the other hand do some weeding in the back garden yesterday and gave the patio a good brushing *grins with pride*.

(N.B. a 'seasonal side salad' in one of Donegal's fancy Spa Hotel restaurants was.... Watercress - what!!!????)

But though we haven't been giving a whole lot of love to the lottie, she sure has been sending it our way. I picked 3 and half pounds of Blackcurrants last week, a pound and a half of Raspberries and about a dozen big, fat, perfect Strawberries (most of them had been partially eaten by birds - ggrrrr; it's bad enough that we lost a load to birds but for them to only eat most and not all, well that is just darned annoying!)

Then last night Andrew had a wee harvest for dinner and bought home a bounty of Broad Beans, Peas, Mint, Sorrel, Green Garlic and mixed Lettuce leaves. Oh and a beautiful bouquet of Sweet Williams, Roses and Carnations for his lovely wife (ie. Me, haha).

We sat outside and podded the beans and peas and then ate a Gault classic - beans and peas on toast (with pancetta, mint, lemon juice and sorrel), it was fabulous all washed down with non-alcoholic beer in the sunshine; happy times. It is nights like that and super fresh meals like that which make the soil improvement in the rain and bitter winds of winter all worth while :)

 

Hope your gardens and lotties are flourishing! xxx

We be jammin'

Okay first off I just want to say I have had the crappiest past couple of days and feel exhausted. I don't want everyone thinking I can keep up that happy, emotionally stable sense of being I had last post, all the time. No one can and although it was a fab night, it has been rather hellish since. I have been terrified to go outside, very anxious all the time and quite severely depressed.

However writing and taking photographs are my ways of coping in a healthy way and thus here I am today again. Well actually this is a mixture of 3 days of blogging in my head.

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All the Stawberries are ripening at an incredible rate over the past week and with out a freezer the best we can do is make a lot of compotes. Jars and jars of the stuff - it's a little bit sickening, the amount I've been eating but I am not complaining - it tastes amazing!!!

So here were are with a new for us way to make strawberry jam, this time with jam making sugar and just doing exactly what it said on the back of the packet. We usually have normal castor sugar and the pectin would come from lemons, but a change is as good as a rest - or so they say.

I really do quite love this series of photos and they make my mouth water but oh my goodness can I anymore today??  hahaha.

I'm not going in insult your intelligence with the 'removal of foam' or sterilising jars and turning them upside down to set.. you know that all already don't you. Just want to encourage you to make some of your own and please, do get a jar funnel (we have yet too) it will make filling those jars so much easier.

Just remembered they don't have labels yet - eekk.  Does that means I'm not the perfect domestic goddness after all?

The raspberries are now all ripening at the same time - eek! Again I am not complaining but gluts can be overwhelming, don't you think?

Distraction and Strawberry Jam

Depression ~ summarizing the concept in a single word may give you the misguided illusion that you can have a hint of a notion of it's enormity, of it's power. A single, overused word to describe this pain, uncertainity, isolation, fear and longing!

I have the black cloud over my head but also experience a sense of suffocation, of throttling by strong hands around my throat, around my heart. My hands. I want the pain to end, I want to breathe but I am caught between the two worlds. I cry for peace; the light of hope is being snuffed out. I am too small to fight this.

What can an ant do against the might of a tank???
Distract itself until the fear goes away....

So.

Last night Andrew made the first batch of sweet, delicious Strawberry jam from our own lottie. Joy heaped upon joy; the sight of those perfect, rich red babies, their smell and all that sugar (naughty). It all bubbled away in the pot whilst I sat post-shower-calm in front of this laptop. Later, much later, I got to try some still warm out of the jar - oh it was good. We discussed it's merits in between - uummmm sounds.

It was a fabulous colour

The smell was divine

Andrew had left it very whole fruity so you got bite and body to the perserve.

It was warm, which was lovely in itself.

Not too sweet but as Goldilocks would say: 'just right'.

The consistanty is a little runny, but all the more sensous for it as it drips off the spoon.

There's lots of it!!

And there's more to come :)

The war continues!

I have just been to the GP and got stronger more muscly (well they are steroids) meds to fight this blasted hayfever. I shall win this war with the triadic power of antihistamines, nasal spray puffs and pure grit (a pincher movement of devilish reckoning)!! Resolutely I sit here with the window open (my eyes are so itchy and my nose is constantly running) just to show Mother Nature I ain't letting her get the best of me! Ggrrrr.

In a couple of days I shall be back at my lottie, just you wait and see. Until then Andrew is bringing home delicious strawberries by the small bucket load and jam making is on the agenda for this evening - photos and review to follow.

It should start raining soon (oh, please) which will be great for the plants (and don't let on, but great for me too as it keeps the pollen down), the ground here is drying out so quickly these days.

Hugs to you all, especially fellow hayfever suffers - we shall overcome!!

As close as I've gotten to the lottie magic

This divine thing was brought home to me about an hour ago - joy heaped upon joys; our first Strawberry!! Well Andrew had one too but as I am feeling so poo with this hayfever he gave me the big one and had a wee tiny one himself....It was GOOD!

I was at our little deli today and asked about local honey. Unfortunately the local source has none. The harsh winter had had a nasty effect on his bees and they just didn't make any beautiful amber honey. He said that the deli is in touch and just waiting hopefully for a phone call someday soon (I'm now anxious for that call too). I have a secret desire to be a beekeeper though - maybe I should look into this, ummmm....

I'm a fricking domestic goddess!

I'm making jam!!! I rather excited, I don't cook as it makes me so anxious I hate it. Plus I don't bake anymore as I used to eat it all! Ooooppps. So, yep, me, I'm making Strawberry jam like the domestic goddess I knew I had inside me. Though I'm not wearing a fabulous 50s dress or even an apron, should I confess?....okay, I'm still in my pajamas.

I'm having fun ~ I have the 'Ultimate Carpenters Collection' on and singing very loudly ~ thank goodness the neighbours are out. I have to have music on, I have to watch this pot very slowly heating up for, oh about 45 mins, I think I'd fall asleep if Karen and Richard weren't filling my ears with groovy, chilled out tunes. ('So they sprinkled gold dust in your hair.....')

So as you my have gathered I needed a very easy recipe to use or this momentous occasion would not be happening. I got this super easy one from the Good Food channel, here. As I have half of the strawberries, am using half the lemon and sugar amounts. And I did some further research and discovered that using berries that are not ripe in the mixture adds the much need pectin, so throw the best juicy bright red ones in your mouth and use more the pale and red-one-side-green-the-other ones. (Oh, this is smelling so good)

Time to add the sugar ~ good grief, it never fails to shock me just how much you seem to need!

Okay, so do domestic goddesses curse?? I do. A lot, aow, hot jam spots jumping out of the pot to hurt me. I suppose most people don't have to take a phone call at the vital last moments and then it all gets stuck to the pan etc either. You know who you are!!!! Well there we are 2 sterilised tubs (I didn't have any jars) full to the brim with 'Carrie's not so secret special strawberry jam', damn it, I haven't any labels either, or bread for that matter. x

Later tonight, we'll be back at the Lottie and there will most likely be another load of fresh strawberries to begin home, it's just as well we like them. That's a very good point to rise - DO NOT grow things you don't want to eat lots of! Wow cooking and motherly advice, I've changed...

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Here's one of last night's 1st beetroots of the season - super yum!

UPDATE:

I have just made my lunch, a simple tasty stir-fry. Our very own chard, spinach and broccoli sprouts with some sesame seeds and honey. Happy days. Plus in the fridge we have our own broad beans and peas for tonight's risotto! Grow your own friends!

Wimbledon Shimbledon

Ah, the comfort of one's own home, the cool fresh air of Northern Ireland (currently NOT having a heatwave), toilet breaks without queues or disturbing people and strawberries and cream galore, all for free!!!! Hahahahaha! Plus I get to see close up action, hear great commentary and don't have someone sitting in front of me with a big head, oh, and I don't get tennis-watching-neck at home. Who needs to travel all the way to Wimbledon to have a good tennis day?

Our strawberries have been joyous this year, just loads of them and oh so tasty. I would show you a photo of the bag we have in the fridge but I fear you would only come to hate me. Hehe. I just had a bowl of them with my low-fat cream and sprinkles and it was so good. We didn't get any last year, but this year has been great and only a fraction have succumbed to the darn pigeons. How annoying are they?!! They take a single large peck out of them and move on to the next one, aaaarrrggghhhh, it's so infuriating. Now that I've mentioned them, the rest of the berries will be gone won't they? Pride before a fall....

Anyway, back to the tennis. No worries about watering everything. Sometimes rain is fabulous.