Whatever the reason here we are with less than a week to the end of the month already.
I've been tired this week and that's without swimming (half term makes the 1 hour over 50's session really busy as the pool is used for scuba and canoeing lessons at other normal swimming times). Sometimes having to do all the thinking and organising that used to be done by two people is hard work and I do so much more driving than in the old days and have always found it tiring and even though I've cut my charity shop stint down to 3½ hours I still came home exhausted...... and it's not even proper work!
So it was good to have Thursday and Friday without taking the car out of the garage.
Instead of out in the car it was out into the garden.............
Seeds have been sown and popped in the electric propagator .........aubergine and peppers which both need a long growing season, then parsley and basil. Hanging fire a bit for tomatoes and cucumbers.
Compost has been spread onto the bit where I'm putting potatoes. Must work out where everything else is going. Colin always seemed to remember what he had put where but once a bed is cleared I haven't the foggiest.
But, the useful thing about blogging, there's usually a photo somewhere, and there was.................
from last June.............
(Do you remember June, when the sun shone and you could just wander outside in tee-shirt and shorts without extra layers of clothes?)
And with the photo was a list of what was where.........
- Bed 1 = Beetroot
- Bed 2 = Mangetout peas, climbing French beans and runner beans, with corner clump of chives and clump of parsley at the other end
- Bed 3 =Courgettes and leeks
- Bed 4 = Potatoes -6 rows of 5 spuds (rhubarb clumps at the hedge end)
- Bed 5 is the permanent fruit bed - raspberries, 1 blackcurrant, gooseberries with the new asparagus bed at the hedge end.
Plans for growing this year include all the above (although fewer potatoes) PLUS Butternut squash and the mini sweetcorn and I'm determined to grow some chard and actually manage to keep it protected from the pheasants and ducks.
- Bed 1 will be courgettes and squash
- Bed 2 Mangetout peas (on the other side from last year) and sweetcorn and chard
- Bed 3 Potatoes and the climbing beans
- Bed 4 Beetroot and leeks
And I'm going to keep doing this idea for my weekly round-up posts...............
This week I have been grateful for
- A Garden to grow things
- Sunday lunch at my sister-in-laws
- Grass dry enough to cut with the ride-on mower.
- BBC i player to see the first episode of Shetland which I had somehow missed the week before
- Finally organising the selling of the second car.
Have a lovely weekend whatever your plans.
Back Monday
Sue
Wow the first to comment today! Lovely post really makes me think of summer and I just hope we get one like last year, I loved every minute of it, all those days of wearing summer clothes and also pegging the washing out knowing it would be dry in no time.
ReplyDeleteNice to have days when you can stay home and do just what has to be done.
I would love another sunny summer - so many people moaned but I loved it.
DeleteI've been spending too much time trying to keep busy which has meant going out and that's not what I'm used to. I'll be at home more once gardening properly starts
You're amazing, Sue, you truly are. What a positive and productive post. Bless you!
ReplyDeletexx
Thank you Joy, I'm just jogging on
DeleteHi I have read your blog for a few years but this is my first comment. My husband died suddenly last March - we are in our mid 50s and I am still coping with the suddenness. Your blog inspires me to motivate myself. The comment about thinking for 2 struck a chord - only 1 thinker and decider is hard work. But I am getting there - wherever ‘there’ is!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your husband. I lost my husband very suddenly when I was 48 and it does get easier but give your self time to grieve, I found it was a comfort to write to my husband and then throw the letters away.
DeleteHazel c uk
Thank you for reading and thank you for your first comment. Although we always knew the cancer was not curable it was still quite quick at the end. Luckily I've always been able to keep busy which is the best thing I've found and the blog has helped so much with that. And you are right about not knowing where 'there' is - when I think about a long future I get worried so tend to take a week at a time.
DeleteI am relieved to find that I am not the only one who has already taken the first cut of grass. Schools go back soon, thank goodness. As a good granny I should say it has been wonderful having the grandchildren in and out all the time, and it has been, but I need a break!
ReplyDeleteOnly 6 weeks to the Easter hols!!
DeleteYou have a lovely plot there, good luck with your growing efforts, hope you will have a good harvest.
ReplyDeleteI hope we have a lovely warm summer
DeleteNo wonder you are tired, Sue. That was a busy week but you have achieved a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't seem busy but just tiring
DeleteWe have made plans for the garden but as yet the weather is not conducive to gardening.
ReplyDeleteHopefully spring will arrive up there sometime - we could still get some cold here so I don't want plants to get too far ahead
DeleteI am so pleased you gave your garden Sue it really does make a difference even if it is only a small space. At least you can hear the birds and I sat and watched a ladybird moving about. I am so lucky.
ReplyDeleteHazel c uk
The garden will keep me busy again this year
DeleteChard is my favourite garden weed it pops up all over and i just let it, its rather beautiful plus tasty
ReplyDeleteI have to sow some every year and the last two years it's been got at.I'm determined to protect it better this year
DeleteYour final item on your 'things to be grateful for' is probably why the awfulness of being alone has suddenly hit you. After my husband died (when I was 39 and we'd only been married for 19 months) I seemed to be coping very well and carrying on as normal as possible. But when I actually had someone call to see my husband's car, I went to pieces. Couldn't cope with selling it. Sent the man away with my apologies. And it really hit home that I was all alone. I used both cars until I felt able to part with 'his' car. I hope the sunshine will help you to feel better as you are able to spend time in the garden, working AND relaxing with a sunhat and a book.
ReplyDeleteThe car I've finally got round to selling was the one we'd had longest and I found easier to drive and oddly more economical on diesel. But I made a point of only driving the newer one to get used to it and didn't want to bother with putting the old one through MOT again
DeleteSo many people have posted about planning for their gardens recently. I can't fathom it, as we are still thoroughly covered in snow. I love raised garden plots like yours. Some day... -Jenn
ReplyDeleteThe difference across the Pond!!
DeleteWe were covered in snow this time last year but this year complete opposite - hopefully winter won't come back and bite us later!
It's brilliant when you have a blog with the photos and information to jog your memory from one year to the next isn't it. I am currently in the process of sorting through old computer files and am coming across all sorts of photos from our original farm and the blog posts I did about it, it's been a real journey down memory lane ... and very time consuming.
ReplyDeleteHave a relaxing weekend, it sounds as though you need it.
Today I've searched for photos without success - really annoying
DeleteFingers crossed the car sells soon and will be one more thing off the to do list.
ReplyDeleteI was mentally exhausted quite a bit last year and then set up a Bullet Journal, which really helped me get organised and stopped my mind being in turmoil trying to keep up with things.
Utube have info on how to set up, from simple to covered in artwork.
Simple works for me.
The car has already sold to my local car repair workshop. He said when they last repaired it that they would buy it for a loan car.
DeleteI am quite organised with lists and diary and account book, just now and again the responsibility of being the only person to sort things out is a bit tiring
You certainly did a great deal. No wonder you were tire out.
ReplyDeleteHope the car sells quickly and for a good price.
God bless.
Not physically tired, just mentally I think
DeleteThe car is sold already
January does seem like such a long month, and February does seem to fly by. It's wonderful you're getting such an early start on your garden. When does your growing season usually end?
ReplyDeleteThe outside work has started a month earlier than usual this year as it has been so mild. Growing season never ends, different things for different seasons, an everlasting circle
DeleteI am fascinated by your electric propagator and it's sent me off googling. How big is it and where did you get it from? Would love to get some veg started.
ReplyDeleteThe one I have now - which is about the 3rd I've owned in 20 years is about a foot wide by 15 inches long.(A propagator was a necessity at the smallholding when I was growing to sell).And I got it from a car boot sale! - brand new but with a corner of the cover broken which was soon fixed. Get one with a thermostat if you can to control temps.
DeleteWow, that is being very productive but how lovely to gather your crops when they mature and such varieties too. Sometimes the exercise of gardening is very tiring, but very promising too, as long as you can relax afterwards xcx
ReplyDeleteI've always gardened to grow food, it would seem odd not too
DeleteThat's one of the reasons I like blogging as I can look back and see what happened and when. I would never write a diary so woulod never remember anything.
ReplyDeleteHugs-x-
Today I've searched for something without success which was annoying
DeleteThis is such an interesting post showing your vegetables and the beautiful pink-washed Suffolk cottage in the background which I’m assuming is yours.
ReplyDeleteNo the pink cottage is next door neighbours. Mine is the cream coloured one in the middle of the header photo.
DeleteHi Sue
ReplyDeleteIt’s tiring running a household on your own , you do everything from checking the bank accounts to putting out the wheelie bins !
I now rest when I am feeling tired , seems to work xx
I am still enjoying your posts, it’s been several years now.
ReplyDeleteYour garden will be wonderful again, I hope.
Happy to see the previous garden.
Yours is very inspiring.
The winter month of February is...cold and snowy and thankfully soon to be over! Your garden looks lovely. A lot of work but with lots of rewards. I hope you're enjoying the sunshine!
ReplyDeleteHow nice that it was warm enough to work in your garden. I never plant tomatoes in the same spot. I read that you have to move them around. Dirt is dirt so maybe I'm making extra work for myself?
ReplyDelete