Tag: garden

No dig

PiaChit Chat

Well, my pony post obviously wasn’t a huge succes 😉 so I’ll try a bit of Sunday gardening instead.

As previously linked, I’m going to try making a no-dig bed in the garden. I’m making it with fresh manure as I empty the horse boxes, so it may not be ready this year, I think I started in November. I put a layer of newspapers under, to kill the grass, so I can only top it up when I have enough papers! (We get a ton of free locals each week). I may scatter some carrot seeds just to see what happens, and I know potatoes will do well in nearly anything. Perhaps I’ll just cover it up to keep out weeds.

newbed2

As you can see, I’m nearly done according to my markers! I’ll top it up a bit as it sinks, to end up with a good layer of soil. We have heavy clay here, and our lawn is seriously compacted, so this should be interesting on many levels.

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Other than that, I’ll try to keep gardening at a low this year, it took too much of my creative time last year, so I’ll weed as much as possible, sow a few annuals and the only other new thing I’m creating is a grass free lawn under the hammock. Starting with moving some thyme from the barrels, in which I’ve instead put some bulbs that should have gone in last October, but I didn’t have the pots ready where I wanted them to go. And time passed and it was cold and I tend to hibernate… But today is such a lovely, sunny, balmy day I thought I’d get started!

thyme
Thyme for the grass free lawn.
Getting all the dead coreopsis out and the bed ready to move my black currant bushes from the jungle.
Getting all the dead coreopsis out and the bed ready to move my black currant bushes from the jungle. And the grass free bed along the fence.
Weld is doing fine
Weld is doing fine
And so is the kale, which I'm not allowed to eat on a FODMAP diet.
And so is the kale, which I’m not allowed to eat on a FODMAP diet.
kitten
Leo is my new garden helper and assures me the mystery plants I found last year are doing well up until now.
kitten
It’s their first day outside and Emil started out with a fright when the ponies came galloping straight at him down the hill. So now he’s having none of this garden business.

And now I still have half the day for: ?? I know I shouldn’t overdo it with the physical stuff, I have to stop before I’m tired. Otherwise I just push on once I get going and then pay for it by sleeping all week. Paint or weave perhaps. Oh, the dog needs walking and the stable needs mucking. Always something, isn’t there. 😉 I think I’ll save it for later though – when I’m tired anyway.

Another harvest

PiaChit Chat

Mid November, and yes, there are still a few things out there to forage.

I trimmed some wild rose bushes that were reaching over the riding ring fence, so while I was at it I picked the fruits off. I got this idea from Rima (you have to scroll down a bit) that I wanted to try – didn’t pick all that many as it was a bit awkward cutting with my left hand, but enough to give it a go I hope. Scratchy work too without gloves, but I can’t feel what I’m doing if I wear them, the downside being that you feel rather too much when you don’t 😉 I also put some of them in a stew that evening because I’d forgotten to buy mushrooms, but frankly I got impatient with scooping the seeds out, so I’m unsure if they actually added to the taste. Will try with bigger ones next year if this turns out like it’s supposed to – I’m wondering if it won’t all just mold. I’ve done it with fruit, sugar and rum, but never just sugar.

after cutting - but not quite done jar of sugar and rosehips

I also picked a tiny batch of woad to get more colour onto the fleece I dyed a couple of weeks ago, it still works fine, if not as strong as in summer. Some of the locks were so pale they were almost grey, but now at least they’re more like faded jeans.

Got the reddest of the apples off the lawn, made G peel them and yes, managed to get my winter supply of apple sauce done (I like it on oatmeal instead of sugar – and I have a great recipe for marzipan/apple sauce buns too). Only had two vanilla pods, but it turned out fine. I put the jars in the oven afterwards, the canning procedure means it can last for years just in a cool cupboard. I don’t use pretty photogenic jars, I just recycle whatever we buy. My kitchen is far from pretty either, more like shabby 70’s homemade. But you can cook in it and I have a new drumcarder!

canned apple sauce woad dyed fleece

The kale is of course fine in the cold, I use it both in salads and warm, sometimes I make pesto. Hopefully the caterpillars are done nibbling their portion? New recipes are welcome if you have any favourites.

Dug up the last potatoes, well, G did, and while there are not a lot I think it was a fine harvest from 9 plants, and a good size too. 3-4 kg at least.

endnov06

I’ve been pressing leaves to use in collages, they got squished a bit more than I planned, paper thin and brittle, but at least they are bone dry. I hope they regain some colour if I cover them in acrylic medium, much like varnishing rocks does.

And now I think I can safely say that we’re moving into winter soon… There’s blue on the temperature curve for next week!

vejret2

Sen høstdanish

Her lige inden efterÃ¥ret slutter, er der stadig et par ting at hente i naturen. Hyben – som jeg vil prøve at rÃ¥sylte til saft ved at lade dem stÃ¥ i et glas nogen mÃ¥neder. Jeg tænker mug, men læste om det et sted; og da jeg alligevel skulle befri min ridebane for vildtvoksende rosengrene sÃ¥ blev det sÃ¥dan.

Jeg fandt også en lillebitte smule vaid til min råuld, ikke helt så god mere, men virkede dog godt nok til at give mere end gråt.

Æblemos af nedfaldæbler, manden fik lov at skrælle. Jeg kommer godt med ægte vanilje i, det smager super på havregrød. Eller i familiens marcipanboller, som jeg ikke kan spise fordi de ikke bliver gode med glutenfri mel.

Gravet kartofler op har han ogsÃ¥, næsten en hel murerspand af bare 9 nedlagte kartofler, og pænt store ogsÃ¥, det er da ok udbytte. GrønkÃ¥len trives jo i kulden – nogen opskrifter I har lyst til at dele? Bruger det bÃ¥de i salater, som pesto eller varmt.

Og så har jeg presset blade til collager, de blev lidt fladere end jeg ønskede, papirtynde og skrøbelige, men i det mindste knastørre så de ikke rådner. Jeg håber farverne liver lidt op igen når de får en gang malemedium på toppen.

interesting new growth in the horse paddock

Late dye harvest

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

Eager to try drum carding my Dorset fleeces (with a bit of Suffolk mixed in, they had not been separated) I decided last weekend to make a final raid on the dye garden to make it more fun than just white (I do still have a bag of white from last year of what I think is Suffolk). I know I said I was done, but I got two more fleeces, didn’t I. Same sheep – this time I only kept the best bit, perhaps a third of what I was given rather than 2 thirds. I haven’t weighed it though.

lateharvest3

And it turned out both the weld and the woad were still fine to use, green and fresh. I had dried some bundles of tansy hanging them from the stable ceiling – and left them there, so they are now covered in “dust” – mold spores. I decided to boil one bundle anyway and put some fleece in. Giving out colour just fine, but I’m chucking the other three bundles.

The last batch went in with some onion skins that were sitting on the kitchen counter anyway and a few cochineal sprinkles on one side, which oddly enough didn’t do much besides turn the water red.

lateharvest1

I used rather a lot of fleece in the woad vat, so apart from the green that didn’t turn out too interesting. But I can always dye the yarn again, or, if we don’t have any frost, go look for more plants in a few weeks.

Earlier this year I handcarded the part of the fleeces that I had acid dyed, and it took me FOREVER. My test bat on the drum carder last week took no time at all, no effort, no tired hands – so I’m very optimistic I can get spinnable fiber relatively easy. I’ll first card each shade on its own to straighten it out a bit, then I may blend.

lateharvest2

Sen farvehøstdanish

Jeg har jo længe gerne ville karte alle mine gratishamme, som jeg har plantefarvet gennem de sidste par år i bundter, både fordi de fylder ret meget og fordi det er en stor opgave når de er så fyldt med fnidder og knuder. Og så sagde jeg ja til to hamme mere i år, dog blev de sorteret med ret kræsen hånd.

Det sidste uld ville jeg ogsÃ¥ lige have farvet, sÃ¥ det er lidt sjovere at arbejde med, sÃ¥ en tur i haven og hente bÃ¥de vaid og vau, som stÃ¥r fine, friske og grønne endnu. Jeg havde hængt bundter af rejnfan under staldloftet til tørring – og derefter ladet dem hænge sÃ¥ de nu i det fugtige vejr er blevet helt dækket af et fint lag støv, eller rettere mugsporer. Jeg proppede det ende bundt i en gryde, og det farver fint, men de andre ryger ud. Og en bunke uld røg i en gryde med gÃ¥rsdagens løgskaller.

Jeg fik proppet lige lidt rigeligt i gryden med vaid, sÃ¥ bortset fra de grønne nuancer blev det lidt kedeligt – men enten kan jeg jo overfarve garnet eller ogsÃ¥ venter jeg med at karte den bunke og ser om det evt. holder frostfrit en mÃ¥neds tid endnu og mÃ¥ske jeg kan finde flere planter? Ellers har jeg faktisk en spandfuld blÃ¥ farve stÃ¥ende fra sidst.

Tidligere på året håndkartede jeg jo den del af hammene som jeg havde pulverfarvet, og det tog en evighed. Men det testbat jeg kartede på maskine sidste uge gik som en leg, så håber på jeg kan få de her kødfår i hæderlig stand rimelig nemt og hurtigt. Jeg tror jeg først karter hver nuance for sig og så kan jeg blande i anden omgang.