Busy as a Bee

I've been rather busy of late. So many things have been going on. Time for a little update.

Work is manic, but it looks like from the end of September I will be on the market for work again. A little nervous about this but I'm contracting so it is to be expected I suppose. I've had a contract with the same company for over a year so I've done exceptionally well for a contract that was for 3 months. :D

I've recently completed my Reiki level 1 and thoroughly enjoyed it, I'm due to start my level 2 shortly. I attended a Herbal Medicine workshop, here are the results. Being well used I must say.

I decided to do a diploma in Herbalism and another in Aromatherapy, so they are in progress.

The garden is doing well, some things aren't quite doing what I expected them to, but its a learning process isn't it and this is my first year and I started a little late due to moving in late.

Progress is being made in the house, the bathroom is nearly complete after finding woodworm and having to replace most of the floor. Kitchen is functioning, and we've had a quote for a multi-fuel burner in the living room. Just to get it ordered and paid for now I suppose.

And I got stung by a bee, 6 times. Poor thing, got tangled in my skirt.

Garden potterings

I have a few things growing in the garden now. Its beginning to look quite nice. The cats are having a field day knocking stuff of shelves. The rocket took a tumble the other week and this morning I went into the greenhouse to find that the kale seedlings, the tiny strawberry seedlings had been knocked onto the floor and had damaged my grape vine in the process. I wasn't impressed.

I've managed to salvage the seedlings, hopefully they will survive, they are looking OK and not too damaged from their fall. The grape vine is looking a little sorry for itself but should be ok.

Thought I'd share some pictures of my little garden so far. Shame there isn't much to eat yet.

KaleBroccoli

Onions

Rocket and Lettuce

Beetroot
Some flowers, marigolds and wildflower mix

Blackberry and Raspberry
Tomatoes
Herbs (I can't actually remember what I planted... oops)
PotatoesPotatoes, Onions, Carrots and Salad

So its all coming along, may need a little hedgerow foraging and looking for a place to find dandelions. I have some dandelion seeds planted but I'm waiting for them to grow.

Making free fuel

I have been a rather busy bee recently, however I have had time to start on one of my mini frugal projects.

My plan is to have a multi-fuel burner and therefore there will be a requirement for fuel to feed said burner. A couple of Christmas' ago I was asked what I would like for a present, I asked for a briquette maker, which was duly provided. Anyway, we tried it out then and failed miserably at making fire briquettes as we didn't have the space to dry them properly.

So after a little research about how best to dry them and now having a suitable amount of space to make these fire briquettes and dry them en-mass. I've started the process again.

I've filled a red tub with shredded paper, which is a mix of newspaper, old bills, junk mail, envelops, old road maps and then poured some water out of the water butt over the top.

I've then left it for 4 days to soak and come back to soggy paper mess which I've loaded into my briquette maker and squeezed the water out (as much as possible back into the red tub to be used again.

The resulting briquettes are turned out onto the greenhouse worktops where they will be left to dry, as they become most stable I will begin to stack them and leave them to dry until winter, when hopefully

I will have my multi-fuel burner and lots of lovely briquettes to burn and keep us warm. Each briquette is supposed to take about 2 hours to burn through if dried properly.

Bring on the junk mail I now have a use for you!

Plum Jam

Well its that time of year when I remove what seems to be 3 ton of plums from the tree. This year my darling hubby has been helping me gather the fruit in whilst dodging those pesky little waspies. I do hate those creatures, they are just a menace. I wish they'd go hang around someone elses garden. Or maybe I should be honoured that my fruit is so attractive? Hmmm I think not.

Anyway, I've slogged my way through making a lot of Plum jam, more jam and a bit more.

I've also been experimenting with fruit leather, which is basically dried fruit puree (a bit like beef jerky only with fruit). After the first batch which took a week to dry and I ended up putting it in the oven for a while to stop it from going mouldy, the second attempt was a bit quicker to dry as I stuck it the oven for a few days. I don't think I did too bad for my first effort and it did use up some of the glut of plums along with my glut of apples which are rapidly falling from the tree.

I know its a bit early for Apples but they are refusing to stay on the tree for the duration, so they are being picked and cooked, but my priority has been the plums.

I've made a fabulous batch of Plum chutney which will be ready around December, it makes the house smell of boiled vinegar for a few days but the end product (after maturing) is lovely.

I recently came to the conclusion that I was never going to manage to get all the fruit processed. I contacted a friendly farm shop and asked if they would be able to sell some of them before they start going off. So 10kg were bagged up and delivered. I do hope that they will be able to sell them, as I hate to see food going to waste.

Well I now have plenty of preserved food for the coming year and the family may get some of it as pressies. ;-)

Progress report

Time for a little update. Everything seems to be going well. I finally have a tomato plant and a bean plant growing. Here's a few pictures to show the progress my little plants are making. I'll soon be able to start cropping at the salady bits.

Here's a picture of my potatoes, they are coming along nicely, though I am a bit worried that I've not quite done it right after seeing some tips on the dreaded flashing box in the corner of the room. If I don't get many potatoes I'll put it down to experience and try the suggestion off the telly.

The single little tomato plant is still a little tiny to photograph properly. I've been offered some plants by a friend at work who have ended up with too many seedlings so my little plant will have company soon. :)

The following pics are provide a general update on how everything is coming along.

A Gardening update

I thought it time to provide a little update. I've now planted a couple of tomato seeds, carrot seeds (in the tubs in the piccy), potato seedlings, purple sprouting broccoli and broad beans. I'm hoping they'll take, I guess I'll know in the next couple of weeks if they are going to be successful.

My little lettuce seedlings are coming along nicely. I've moved them to the lean-to to start hardening them off for going outside. My cats have shown a little interest in them up but a quick finger point and a firm "No", they've shrugged and gone outside. They have no doubt suitably ignored me and I'll find the whole lot trashed on the floor in the morning. Fingers cross my cats behave, but I think I'm going to be disappointed. Another week in the lean-to and I'll try transplanting them into the plastic greenhouse to mature. Will have to get another batch going so I can try keep in lettuce through the summer.

More updates soon. :)

My garden

Whilst I'm waiting for my seedlings to get a little bigger and also for the frost to end, I've been doing little bits round the garden in preparation for growing some of my own food. Here's a few piccies of its current state.

Itty bitty seedlings!

I have some itty bitty seedlings... It consists of a range of lettuces, so far I've got 8 seedlings, I've planted some more and some of them look like they've germinated.

Soon I should be able to plant the tomato seeds and the seed potatoes which are sprouting nicely in the cupboard under the stairs :)

Self Sufficient Gardening 31/1/09

Not only am I writing about my craft projects I've decided to blog about my attempts at growing some of my own veg and salady stuff this year, in the hope of saving a little money (and getting a little more exercise) during this difficult financial time. I've bought a small plastic greenhouse with 4 shelves, some grow bags, buckets, compost and the likes. I've also bought a second water butt in the hope that it will provide my garden with the water required.



I'm still in the planning period at the moment as its a bit too early to be planting anything outside but I'd thought I'd provide you with a start with a list of what I'm planning to grow.



Tomatoes - Some freeby ones from a magazine, the variety is called Gardeners Delight, last time I tried tomotoes, I over did the planting and ended up with 30+ plants which were dutifully given to friends and family.

Potatoes - I'm taking on the no-dig suggestion and also planting these in a compost bag. Worth a go!

Courgettes, Peppers (hmmm not sure how successful these will be), Lettuce, Cucumber (maybe, if I have room), Carrots (in pots) and a few herbs of which I'm still deciding.



I already have 2 apple trees and a plum tree and I'm going to try a suggestion I read in a book to see if I can get a better quality of crop from the apple trees and also I'm looking forward to trying to make a thing called fruit leather with the plums (along with my usual Plum jam) as a way of storing the fruit longer. I also have some brambles growing freely down one side of the garden so will be staking these up in the hope of a good crop for bramble jelly (yum). Will get some piccies added in time as I blog through the seasons.



The front garden, I'm hoping to turn into a wild garden area, just need to cut back the current greenery (not grass), rake it over and then sow some wildflower seeds. I know I'm going to have to be patient with this one as I probably won't see a result to this one for a year of so.