The end of January

So here we are in the middle of winter and it is cold, as it should be!  

Normal sort of week, just working, cleaning and shopping.  On Thursday evening I hosted our WI cake club on Zoom.  This subgroup is normally held in a back room of a pub and everyone gets to try each others cake, but in Covid times this is held on Zoom with no chance of tasting.  The theme for this month was healthy treat, two ladies made flapjack, one a fruit cake and another a banana loaf.  As I am trying to be extra healthy I did not make anything apart from a bowl of popcorn.  On Friday I met my friend and here dog and went for a walk, which was good, but we didn't go too far as she can only manage 1 hour walking due to her health, but it was good to chat with someone.

Saturday was absolutely freezing cold, it rained and sleeted all day, so apart from a quick dash to the market I stayed in all day and spent sometime watching the birds from my window.  This weekend is the Big garden Birdwatch, counting how many birds you observe in one hour and then upload to the RSPB website

 

I topped up the feeders, grabbed my binoculars and a cup of coffee and watched.  During the hour I saw loads of starlings, some long tailed tits, a blue tit, some green finches, a crow and couple of pigeons, blackbirds and two Magpies

Here is a photo taken from the RSBP webiste of some longtailed tits, they looked exactly like this from my window, but with only a phone camera I couldn't get a good photo!

 

Today started bright and sunny so headed out to the greenhouse to sow some seeds: 

Onions - Long Red Florence, Bedfordshire Champion, Isobel Rose, which I grew last year, lovely pink onions, and some from seed I saved last year, but don't know the variety.

Peppers: Sweet Banana and Corbaci, Chilli Pepper - Eureka

Leeks - Carantan 2

Aubergines- Striped Toga, tried to grow these last year, but only produced tiny fruits, trying again this year

Herbs - Greek oregano, parsley, Corriander and Chervil, all old seed, will see if they germinate

Flowers: Orlaya Grandiflora white Lace

All these seeds are now on a warm window sill in the house, until they germinate

I pricked out some flower seedlings that I had sown in the autumn - Larkspur, Veronika and Rudbekia, all into modules in the green house .

Found some more bulbs that I had forgotten to pot, so popped these into pots in the green house - dwarf daffodils and some pink tulips

I also set the potato seeds out in trays to chit, these are in the porch, the coolest part of the house.

Finished week two of Caroline Girvans Epic 2 workouts, and lost another pound, which is great.

 

GOOD FRIDAY

A bright, warm and sunny start to the bank holiday weekend, makes a change!
We spent the morning at the allotment. Things are beginning to grow.  Tiny little gooseberries cover the bushes, can't wait for them to grow.
Started a new strawberry patch this year and it is looking good, lots of flowers already, won't be long until we are picking them.  I put some straw around them before they get any bigger.
The first row of peas has flowers on them, the second row are not far behind.
I picked some sprouting broccoli, the first rhubarb and radishes. Also pulled some leeks. The rhubarb will be made into a cake!
I love having breakfast there. We had toasted hot cross buns and tea - delicious!

Spring

Welcome spring!

Today is the Spring Equinox, the day when the day is the same length as the night and the beginning of spring.  From today until the summer solstice the days will get longer.

I decorated my dresser with spring flowers from the garden and a crocheted garland.

A few days ago I saw a post on Instagram inviting people to join in with making a flower crown and posting a photo wearing it today, so I thought, why not that sounds like fun, so I knocked this up

And popped it on!

Smelt nice too!

You can see the others on Instagram #primaveracrowns

Peas

Just realised that this will be our 5th summer at our allotment. We are just getting the hang of things, sometimes it is successful and others not quite so good!
One thing we love to grow are peas! Frozen ones are fine, but nothing like ones straight from the pod at the allotment.  we usually share the first pod one or two peas each! 
I would like to try and gave a regular supply of peas all summer, so need to sow a new row every few weeks.
I sowed some seeds in guttering in the greenhouse about a month ago by last weekend the plants were about 6 cm tall and time to plant them out. The gutter is great, just dig a shallow trench hold it up and gently shake! The plants sort of slide out and just need firming in! A quick water and hey presto all done. As it is still a bit chilly I covered them with a fleece cloche.
Next step will be to put a net up for the peas to grow up.
One year I saved 5 pounds of pea pods (freezing them as I got them) to make pea pod wine. This year the pods will go on the compost heap!