Silver Linings

It could have been worse...
Monday was a mad, running around, kinda day. We were up early to get to the first of a series of dental appointments for 8.30am - an unspeakably early time for the school holidays, especially for a teenager. Thankfully there was only one child to kick out of bed on time, as the other had been farmed out to Grandparents! Silver linings...
On the way there we got turned around because of a nasty looking road accident - I really hope the guy being loaded into the ambulance is going to be OK. Despite the diversion, and roadworks, and heavy traffic... we still made it to the appointment on time. Finally,the braces are off Child-number-one. The improvement in his face shape, and the smile, is fab. He's growing into a very handsome young man, I just wish he could see it.
Then we had 6 hours to waste kill entertain ourselves.
Shopping was done, a film was watched - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, very good - food was had, and plenty of time was spent just being together. Mum and Son. We don't do enough of that. Note to self: Make that happen more often!
Once we'd been back to the orthodontist for his retainers - which made his gums bleed and jaw ache - we headed home.
I turned the computer on.
It turned off.
I blamed a power glitch, not an uncommon occurence here.
I turned it back on.
It booted up, loaded emails, and turned itself off again.
Hmm.... Check the fuse box and other appliances - no issues.
I turned it back on, again.
Booted up fine, loaded stuff. After about 5 mins, it turned off.
Uh oh.
That's my work, emails, websites, writing files, family pics... Before anyone yells, "BACK-UP" at me, I know. Some was backed up, but not everything. Importantly, the one file not backed up and accessible from anywhere other than the desktop hard-drive was my current work-in-progress - the next generation of Portal stories. I've been working on it for a while, and recently got back into the habit of writing every day. The characters were back in my head, the words were flowing.
Then they were locked away in a box under my desk that wouldn't open long enough for me to find them!
I swore at the thing, dug out my laptop and swore again at the lost passwords, missing software that needed to be installed, and the barrage of updates the thing needed. But I got online and could at least catch up with some of my work.
Tuesday morning... the desktop was still refusing to work, so I took it to a repair shop. They promised to take a look, it was probably the fan tripping a thermal cut out, but they'd let me know by the end of the day.
The moral of this? The fan is fine, just filthy and clogged with several generations of spiders, webs, dust, hair, and other detritus from 2 houses, several furniture rearrangements, multiple desks, at least 3 sets of major building works...
Umm, folks? Take the side/back off your computer regularly and clean the thing. When I pick it up tomorrow I'll be asking how to do that.... Oops.
Sliver linings though: The computer is fine, no parts needing replacing, a small bill, and all my files and pics are fine. 

Reclaimed wood planter

I've been collecting pallets. They're really for making a chicken coop and run, but time, energy, weather have been against me so far. I'll get there, give it time!
I also have half a dozen or so tomato plants in desperate need of potting on, no pots the right size or depth, and I don't want to put them up at the allotment - I want some at home too, to see where they do best. So, in between threatening rain clouds (that never actually shed any rain, the sods, the garden and allotment could have used a water today) I ripped apart one of the not so good pallets and made myself a little planter.

It's wonky as hell, the feet underneath are uneven, and the wood is rough and a bit splintery... But I made it, the tomatoes are planted in it, and it didn't fall apart! I'm planning to make another for my pepper plants, and wondering if I can make a chicken feeder too?

Mission accomplished!

Growing failures update: 

• First lot of courgettes eaten by slugs. Had to resort to slug pellets but got pet friendly ones, hope they're ok.
• Carrots are rubbish - but we're not alone in that on the allotment site, lots of people have had a complete failure to germinate so far. Might be worth re-sowing soon though. 
• Cucumbers keep turning yellow and falling off the plants - any ideas? 
• Runner beans looking pale and anaemic - no clue why, has been suggested they might not like it chilly at night? Or someone suggested a dose of epsom salts? 
• Mushrooms each did 1 'shroom, and I got all excited and ate them, but then stopped doing anything. 
• Most of the tomato plants eaten by slugs. 

Having said that, the plot is looking fuller and productive now. Spuds are coming on a treat, and I'm having to resist digging a plant up to see what it's doing! I always have to fight the urge to dig and look too soon. The replacement courgettes are in alongside one of the pumpkin plants, with a liberal sprinkling of slug pellets - must get more when I go shopping. The red onions are tall and strong, and I hope the bulbs are swelling nicely below the surface. They don't look fat enough to pull and eat yet but they're doing well. My peas actually have little pods forming, and I was laughed at the other day when I got all excited about that.

Of the first 6 sprout plants I put in the plot, 2 are doing well (as in the pic), 2 are smaller but ok, and 2 got eaten - blaming the damned slugs again! This week I topped up the sprout patch with more plants so there are 12 there now. I think that might do, seeing as only 2 of us eat them!

Back in February when we this first took on this plot, my goal was to "grow something we can eat." Yesterday we picked the first leaves from the swiss chard, wilted them with a little butter and ate them as part of our Sunday dinner.
Mission accomplished, and although I know there'll be more to eat from the allotment, and the garden too, that first crop tastes so good, and the sense of achievement is immense.

My-shrooms

To grow small, button mushrooms... I think they're button mushrooms? The sort you can buy in supermarkets, small, closed cap, pink gills inside.

• Buy kit in Poundland - choose from Chestnut or White.
• Follow instructions carefully - be especially careful not to over water the compost, a plant sprayer used to lightly mist it once a day is enough. 
• Keep it in a cupboard, somewhere coolish, not too cold, not too warm, out of draughts, not near any direct heat, and definitely not too dry. 
• Check it obsessively several times a day as if the mushrooms will appear by magic within minutes...
• Around a week later you'll see white stuff appear up the sides and on the surface of the compost, it may have little nodules: 
  
•  Keep checking, misting with water - but don't poke the nodules! They'll be getting bigger - turning into little baby mushrooms.
  
  
• Pick first mushroom when really too small and eat anyway, after all, there'll be more soon, right? 
  
• Go and get the other sort from Poundland, just because it's fun.

It's taken just under a month from setting the kit up to the first edible mushroom, and it looks like there are more coming. This first one came up and just grew really fast, and I couldn't wait.

'Shroom update, and other growing news.

I have little, tiny, baby, barely visible but there... Mushrooms!

I know, you can barely see them, but those little white dots are actual tiny mushrooms, and more are appearing every day. I've never managed to grow mushrooms before, I'm quite excited. I'll keep you posted as they grow, and I'm considering getting a box of the chestnut ones next time I'm in Poundland, which may be slightly mental as I'm the only person here who eats them. But it's fun.
In other gardening news, we have pumpkins growing nicely after a slow start.

We've been using toilet roll inners as bottomless pots for carrot, beetroot, and parsnip. We've done that before and had good results. The seedlings in the pic below are, from the back, Carrot (purple haze), Beetroot (Perfect 3), and Parsnip (Tender & true). They're not ready to go up to the allotment yet, but are outside now, growing well.

We're off to the allotment this afternoon, with this lot to plant out, and armed with fork and hoe for weeding, and more spuds and onions to go in. We're putting half the courgettes up there today, and a few tomatoes, to see how they do. The broad beans need to move as their roots are now trying to escape the pots at the bottom. We also need to put some netting, or something, over the plants up at the allotment so they might survive long enough to produce something we can eat! We're repurposing an old trampoline enclosure. The mesh is tight enough to keep pests out, but should let rain and sun in. We're going to give it a go anyway.

The first French bean is just emerging, and we're hoping for more over the next few days. No peppers are up yet, but I seem to remember they take ages to germinate. And, we got given some cucumber plants. I've never had any success with cucumbers, but they're fun and it's always worth trying again. The cucumbers need to stay indoors, on a windowsill, in full sun for most of the day. They're doing well at the moment, looking strong, and we'll see how they do.
I'll take the camera with me this afternoon and update with allotment pics tomorrow, probably...
Enjoy the sun!

Paper potters, seedlings and digging.

For Christmas I got a large version of the Paper Potter. I've had the original for years and it's brilliant, but sometimes I need a pot that's just a bit bigger. Now I have potters in 2 sizes, and this makes me happy. Armed with the large potter, a pile of newspaper, and some seedlings in need of potting on, I set to work. And the pots stuck on the potter, the wood was just a bit rough, unlike the original which was smooth and perfect straight out of the box. I dug out some furniture wax, and gave it a polish and that did the trick, the pots then slid off and stayed whole. I only made about a dozen, just enough for today, but they worked out well.

The gardener's delight tomatoes were ready to be split and potted on from the seed tray, so they went into paper pots. But the tigrella tomatoes aren't big enough to handle yet, they need another week or 2. The sprouts haven't germinated as well as I'd hoped but there were enough decent seedlings to pick 6 nice healthy looking ones to pot on.

The courgettes are in plastic pots, they need a much bigger pot! There are 3 long yellow, 4 long green and 3 round green, plants. I wasn't expecting them to do so well! I may still lose some to slugs and other things, but they're all looking well at the moment while they harden off outside.

They, and everything else, need to be much larger and more robust before they go into the allotment.The allotment site is quite exposed, a bit higher up than my house, and fairly windy. All this growing is happening at home for now, while we get the allotment ready and the plants bigger. Having said that, we have got 2 rows of potatoes, 2 rows of onions, a row of carrots and almost 2 rows of peas up there so far.
Rhubarb at the allotment isn't doing well, but the crowns in the garden here seem to be thriving, along with the other fruits. Pic below, rhubarb at the back, stick of a gooseberry hiding in the middle, tayberry at the front. Unlikely to see much, if any, fruit this year, but next year...

The other fruit bed at home has the black and red currant bushes and the raspberries - and that one is much greener! Should see some fruit from that this year, and even more next year.

It's getting there!

More seed sowing.

A bit of a grey day, overcast and threatening rain. Popped the courgettes outside for some fresh air, with the peas, sprouts, chard and tomatoes. Courgettes are looking good, as are the few peas that came up. One lot of tomatoes is looking good too, the other is lagging behind a bit but I think they'll be ok. The pumpkins are showing roots but no leaves yet. The chard and sprouts look a bit leggy and anaemic but I'm hoping some proper sun and weather will sort them out.
I braved the shed, navigated the assault course over 2 bikes, a mower and various chairs and tools, to find the rest of the pots and trays for more seed sowing! Can't beat a bit of seed sowing.
I now have a window sill filled with pots of carrot (purple haze), parsnip, beetroot, cosmos, echinacea, poppy, verbena, french and broad beans, and what I hope will be very pretty peppers.

The variety is Topepo Rosso, and they're a sweet pepper - just as I like them for cooking. They'll go wll with the red onions and mushrooms, I hope. 

It's all starting to happen, I can't wait until I can harvest things!