Hi folks it’s been a long time since I posted, my apologies   I am still growing and have made a number of changes to my garden set up. I will post about these later when I get some decent photos. In the meantime hello again.

Look what I found in my live mouse trap this morning!      . A proper monster. 

This is the second one that’s been big enough to set off the trap.

I struggle to organise the flower spaces in the garden. The spring is beautiful with bulbs but as the season progresses it loses a lot of its colour. I could, if I was inclined, research, buy and plant things from the garden centre but I'm tight and  time is always short when these things should be done,  as the veg patch takes all my concentration. 

As an experiment,  In an ideal world, if you had say a 2m² bed,  what flowering/colourful plants would you plant to give some colour for the main seasons, I'll let you off winter, if that makes it easier.  I think SC will be a dab hand at this one.

Whilst planting out some bedding in a very dry bed I was visited by a lizard.  It wasn't very plump and was about 5-6in long. Research tells me it was probably a common lizard. He stopped to say hello then scuttled under the perennial rockery wallflower. First time ever I've seen a lizard in the garden.

   
We all know that Chinese crispy "seaweed" is actually cabbage or kale. Its also quite expensive to buy but, really cheap and easy to make. 
I asked the Duck for recipes and followed this one. roughly. https://www.justaveragejen.com/crispy-seaweed.html
Couldn't find the sesame seeds in the cupboard so missed that out. 
Used Taunton Deane perennial kale as the leaves are huge and quite smooth. Took the stalk out, rolled up the leaves into a cigar shape and sliced them as finely as I cook with my big oriental chopping knife (as it seemed appropriate. 
I sprayed the shredded leaves with "Fry Light" and stirred them around. Them put them in a metal cooking tray in the halogen for about 10 minutes. Forgot to add the Chinese 5 Spice at the start so sprinkled it on afterwards.
Will definitely do it again  as I have lots of this kale to find a use for. Six cuttings in water at the moment.

I never thought I would fall out of love, let alone fall in love again! The courtship is brutal, constant demands and endless pampering, I am smitten, even though I see not a single indication that my affections are being returned.

I spend my downtime thinking of our future together,  wake up and wonder of the time we will spend together, even though the relationship is totally one sided.

Of course that's gardening all over, although it is said "you only get out, what you put in".

Really glad to be back gardening again, although the endless weeding at the moment is a bit tedious.

What it says in the title! Just a record of what you've harvested from your garden and stored in the freezer.

For example, I've frozen my first container of raspberries today. They'll emerge next winter for my breakfast or be mixed with more soft fruit to make jam..

Whilst clearing the brambles at the rear of where my new shed will be I came across this? It looks to be some sort of thornless berry? and I just wondered whether it was worth keeping?
Does anyone have any idea what it is?

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I’m currently watering my neighbours greenhouse. How many tomatoes is he growing in one grow bag? 

No prizes. Just the satisfaction of being right   . 


I will give the answer tomorrow evening.

Its raining and my mind has gone off on a little adventure!
 
Imagine, if you can, a sort of Lockdown for your garden/plot. The rules say that you can't buy anything for your garden - not seeds, compost - anything. Whatever seeds or plants you have now are all you have for your garden. You are however, allowed to swap with another Locked-down gardener so you can grow plants or save seeds to swap.

How would you plan for next year? What seeds could you save? What plants could you propagate to swap or to build up your stock?