Tag: gardening

Spry old kale

PiaChit Chat

kale2I actually thought kale was an annual thing, but these have never looked better! Looks like they’re going to flower – does anyone know if the rest can still be eaten? (if not, I’d like the space for the orange cosmos that Mary Jo sent me)

Going to be a headachy day (and then some) for me today, probably not a whole lot getting done. Or perhaps I won’t be able to contain myself to begin my project “new picture storage space”. Got the lumber yesterday, next step sand and paint.

It’s 6.30 am as I type this, G is going to some guys out thing with the neighbour (no, not a drinking thing), so unless the headache works itself into a migraine I will need to find entertainment for myself. We usually do house projects over the weekends. Perhaps I’ll molest some wood and build a loom?! Yes, you can have ants in your pants even if you’re feeling poorly. 😉 Then again I may just try finishing my holey sweater. So I can start a new one.

Would you believe it my sewing pile has grown again? And yesterday I added 4 pairs of jeans that need hemming, found at the Red Cross shop in town for 45 kr./£5/$8/€6 each. But I’m not going to look at that today. Sewing needs a special kind of extra energy …

And that’s my Sunday in spe. Will be interesting to see how it really turns out! I may have some kale for lunch.

(And before anyone is impressed with my morning skills, the headache woke me up around 5)

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.

nodig2

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.

The dye bed

PiaChit Chat
Coreopsis tinctoria, indigo left, weld at the back
Coreopsis tinctoria, indigo right, weld at the back

The section of lawn that I killed off last year is all filled out, although not just with dye plants. In fact, the dye project seems to go not all that well. Plants are growing (in case of the japanese indigo, not growing, but surviving), but no flowers. The weld most likely won’t be useful until next year, but I did hope to finally harvest a lot of coreopsis. The marigold also aren’t looking very willing. I didn’t sow new Dyer’s Chamomile, there is still some in the abandonded veggie garden along with woad.

tagetes1
French Marigold (tagetes patula)
calendula1
Marigold (calendula) and potatoes

I took the opportunity of clear soil to bury a few old potatoes, replant my strawberry plants and some asparagus. Lettuces and spinach, kale, and this little experiment: The wilted stub of a used supermarket celery, now look what it’s doing after I planted it! Hopefully some radishes on the way too.

celery1

lettuce

It’s still stormy and autumn like temperatures here (13 C yesterday), so I don’t spend much time outside actually. We’re putting up a temporary fence where the hedge died, so we have a corner of shade and quiet, vainly hoping we’ll actually get to use it. I think I’ve had 4 days’ use of our garden furniture this year! I believe it’s the third summer in a row that’s acting this ghastly, and I really, really dislike strong wind. We’ve also had snow 3 winters in a row now, very unusual.

fence1
Look how the pear tree has been shaped by the wind – despite a hedge!

Well, at least I have an excuse for knitting more sweaters since they’re now all year gear! I’m going to step up my needle sizes to be able to finish sooner…

sunflower
The birdies are fed sunflower seeds in winter – sometimes they miss a few.

Contraption

PiaChit Chat

See what we made today, so I can start my seeds indoors. I still need something at the bottom front to completely cat proof it, but it was the best we could come up with. The only south window where we can close the door is the bedroom, and that window is open at night even in light frost. The two west windows are much bigger and even worse to secure.

spire

En forspiringsreol, næsten kattesikret. Til at begynde med taper jeg lige noget plast på fronten i bunden, men vi har snakket om at lave et par lette låger der lige kan hængsles på, så de hverken kan springe eller klatre. Soveværelsesvinduet er åbent om natten også på denne årstid, og det er det eneste sydvendte vindue, hvor kattene ellers kan holdes væk.

Harvest

PiaFarm Life

I’ve been deadheading Dyer’s Chamomile all summer and drying the flowers – 430 g I have, which is about 1/4 of the original weight. Yes, I did dry 100 g separately, so I could weigh them after!

Today I while checking my apples I saw there were flowers again. So I picked another batch, probably the last. As well as a new batch of weld. I should have enough to play with this winter! I’ve dried all the weld from this summer, as I haven’t had time to play with it.

I also found, deep in the grass of my failed vegetable garden, some of the madder I planted last year. I think I’ll try to dig them up and relocate, but I don’t think I have the patience to wait 3-4 years for dyestuff. I can buy it not that expensively by the kilo, all dried and ready.

Other dry stuff to play with hiding in my drawer is black hollyhock, bark from Rhamnus frangula (Alder Buckthorn?), sumac bark, Cochineal and 100 g of Rathania root (Krameria triandra) and lots of onion peels.

Now all that waits is to see if I get any elderberries to experiment with. Since the privet lost its berries before they even grew (lots of flowers on it in spring). But right now they’re only just going from green to black, so I’ll have to watch out. I hope to be able to make some juice for hot winter drinks as well.

Otherwise I didn’t do much today apart from boiling a skein of sock yarn, that I needed to know how soft it is after dye and wash. Sigh. I just can’t hear the friggin pot simmer even when I’m in the same room. It’s all y’all’s fault ya know. If I didn’t sit here writing at you, I wouldn’t ruin a fortune in wool…. 😉