Another day at the plot and lovely books

I spent a lovely afternoon in the sunshine today at our plot, did some weeding and dug over a bed ready for planting, planted some seed potatoes that were on offer (I normally just sprout my own in a dark cupboard), built up the next layer of compost with grass cuttings, veg peelings, coffee dregs and horse poo and then sat on a bench we made from bricks and a scaffolding plank and closed my eyes and listened to the birds and the sounds of nature all around me. It was amazing, I remembered when we first got the phone call to say we could have an allotment I said to Tom (my partner) which plot I thought it was, we had visited plenty of times on open day so knew the plots quite well, it was a middle plot with fruit trees on, when we visited to view our new plot it wasn't that one, it was right at the far end with no trees, it was only today I realised when we moved from the half plot to this double plot just over a month ago I was sitting next to the original plot I dreamed about and our new plot has loads of fruit trees on it too!

I was so happy and filled with gratitude, I gave thanks to *God and Mother Nature, my eyes filled up and I could feel an awakening in my body and heart, I feel so lucky and blessed by the life I have, we may not be rich in money yet but I am so rich in other ways.

I took some pictures to share of the beautiful flowers on the plot at the moment, this is Kale that has gone to seed, the flowers are so lovely, I am waiting for the flowers to die off and capture the seeds for next year before giving the greens to the chickens.

Gorgeous apple blossom, how perfect are the flowers, they have a delicate fragrance and the bees love them

I also went to the library and got some amazing books, The thrifty forager by Alys Fowler, foraging by David Squire, Old fashion remedies from arsenic to gin by Dr Rob Hicks and Nature handbook by Chris Packham I also scored The Power by Rhonda Byrne for £5 from The works, got to love the discount book shop!

 

I am going to do another foraging walk and talk tomorrow to coincide with “PLEDGE TO PLANT – EARTH DAY", be a part of the biggest grass-root effort in history by planting a seed/tree as a “give back” to Earth. I am meeting some people at Salisbury gardens behind Stanley park in Blackpool for an informal foraging session, to teach them about the plants they can eat, learn about the plants health benefits and the best ways to cook them. 

*God = all around us, not one person/thing, I believe in the universe, energy and spirit, I think all religions have the same theme running through them all, be kind to each other and the planet, I like to pick different parts from different belief systems and just know there is more to my life than just being here.

How does your garden grow.....

We have a reasonable sized garden for a house in Blackpool and even though in the past have grown veg, we didn't make the best use of the space we have, so a couple of months ago we gutted the garden, moved the pond, cleared out all the junk that had accumulated and saved the things we would use like tyres.
the only plants we left in were the bluebells that were just peeking through and the blackcurrant bush, there wasn't much else growing or worth saving. I got 20 willow plants off ebay from Scotland and planted them along the back fence in the hope that when they grow tall the neighbours will be blocked out a bit. We also got some pallet's and spent a long time, days in fact taking them apart and sawing them to size to make some raised bedsIt also took ages trying to fill them with compost, 2 of my compost bins spread between the 4 of them did nothing at all, we collected horse manure for free from a farm and my friend donated bags of cow manure each time she came round, we also managed to get some big bags of organic compost from Lidl (supermarket in UK) for cheap. They are still not full but they will do, thinking the raised beds was going to be a cheap way of gardening kinda went out the window by the time I had finished.

I have reused tyres to plant green beans, courgettes and potatoes, moved the chicken arc next to the big chicken house to make more room,

 My friend took me to the industrial site and we collected some windows from a skip, these have served well as pop up cold frames for rhubarb and lettuce, I did plan on making a mini greenhouse like Alys Fowler's one of her TV show but never got round to it. Along the back fence we have willow, mint, strawberries in tubs and hanging bags, bluebells and delphiniums.

In our beds we have lettuce, peas, carrots, potatoes, pak choi, mooli radish, sweetcorn, rocket, butternut squash, runner beans, french beans, red onions and lots f marigolds to deter the beasties that love to munch on my salad! I have planted foxgloves for the bees and have honeysuckle growing up the fence, this is for bees and for in medicine too.

I love popping out early morning after letting the chickens out of their house and looking around the garden to see what has grown overnight, the chillies, peppers and tomatoes are growing in the greenhouse very slowly this year because of the lack of sun in Blackpool, I'm hoping that will change soon.

Under the blackcurrant bush I have sacks of potatoes growing which I think should be ready soon, hey were the first things I planted out. I use the re-usable bags from Marks and Spencer which cost about 50p, you just snip off the bottom corners for drainage and then when your spuds are ready slice the side open and voila easy access and much cheaper than the potato sacks from the garden centre.

 In the right hand top corner of the picture is our herb patch, we are growing lavender, oregano, horseradish, 2 types of sage, lemon thyme, lemon balm, marjoram, chamomile and lupins - I know not a herb but just for the bees. I love getting herbs from the garden when I'm cooking, it makes me feel proper!

Lots of lovely rocket in this bed, I adore rocket, it's peppery flavour goes so well with tomatoes on ciabatta

one of the sweetcorn plots growing very well this year, not had much success with the other times I have tried to grow it, so fingers crossed we will get some cobs this time. I have copious amounts of nasturtiums growing all over the garden to feed the caterpillars then they wont eat my lettuce, the chickens love the leaves and the bright orange and yellow flowers are a joy, I haven't managed to get anyone to eat them yet, even me, which is weird because I eat all the other garden things, the thought of eating flowers though hasn't quite got me yet.

another little patch of herbs right by our back door so if its pouring down I won't get soaked!, here we have rosemary, thyme, parsley and elephant garlic, which I can't wait to grow because it's meant to be massive and we love to cook with garlic.

Growing cucumbers this year for the first time, didn't realise how spiky the stems are!

foxgloves are so pretty, I think it's quite magical when the bees pop inside to collect the pollen

the pond is right in the corner but everything has grown so much you can't quite see it, we have watercress growing in the pond and froggy was last spotted a few weeks ago so I don't know if he is still around or hopped of to the birdbath for a splash

 Look here our first cucumber, I was so excited when I saw it, I ran in and told the boys to come see, they did say well done but I think I was most enthusiastic and I don't even eat cucumber!  love to grow things and am so happy when my hands are in the soil, I'm still learning and each time I do the growing thing I learn more. I got a great book called grow something to eat everyday, it's like having a grandad giving you tips, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to grow and I'm proof you don't have to have a big garden to grow lots, its all about the position of things, I'm always trying to squeeze more in. The thing I can't seem to get right is the continuous growing, we always have gaps where there is nothing to eat except lettuce. What are you growing this year?

I like a russian cushion!

A quick catch up, we had a great enrichment day at the zoo with the monkeys but it was freezing cold so we didn't stick around long, in fact the weather has been rather rubbish, mother nature if your listening we would like some sunshine please!.

 I have been planting chilli's, basil, coriander, peppers and lots of flowers including sunflowers and verbena, which I adore for it's vivid purple flowers. I bought 2 small rhubarb plants and hopefully will get out into the garden soon to plant them. We have moved our pond now to make way for Tom's medicine herb garden. It all looked great but the neighbours cats have taken to pooing right next to it, I did ask for some lion poo from the zoo but wasn't allowed!

I have been busy making hings to sell on misi and to sell at a craft fair coming up in march. These Russian style babushka dolls have been in my head for ages and I just cracked on and made them, I also made a bag too with an appliqued one on but haven't got a photo yet. These 2 lovely ladies are on sale in my misi (link on right hand side of this page), now for £12.00 each, do you think this is an OK price?, I'm rubbish at pricing up stuff I make.

 

I'm not liking the new blogger type layout for writing new posts, I can't seem to make it go in the middle-Grrr.

I received a great permaculture book off one of the lovely ladies over at green parent, it's really good and I'm sure it will come in handy as the redesign goes on with our garden, ooh I also found some lovely wooden window frames in a skip just perfect for making my Alys Fowler style greenhouse!

I have just started reading the lovely bones as recommended by another friend, I'm liking it so far but it seems I hardy get the chance to read a full book lately, I'm always spending my spare time in cyber land, maybe if the solar storm hits and we lose our ability to connect with the cable our lives will become less virtual!

step into spring with no shampoo

Things have been rather tight around here and as I signed up to spend free January, which I may add I failed as I bought my youngest a carpet for his bedroom!, I am watching our pennies carefully. Now poverty is relative of course and when I say I have no money, I mean I have no money except to put in the gas and elec meter, sometimes not even that these days, so I end up borrowing it off my mum, can you believe it, I'm 34 and I still borrow money off my mum!! nuts.

Well it was one of those weeks and we had ran out of shampoo, I normally spend £6-£7 a bottle on shampoo as it is chemical free and as with all things that are better for you it comes at a higher price. I have very thick hair and when it gets dirty, it makes me have headaches so I needed to give it a wash. I had a browse around the net and found this site

I followed the instructions and rubbed the bicarb into my scalp, it felt sandy and gritty, I didn't really like the feeling to be honest, it seemed easier when I added a little water to make it more runny, my hair was very tangled and felt like a damp dog, but when I added the vinegar rinse it untangled by itself, the smell of the vinegar was really off putting to me because as a child I had long hair, to the back of my knees and my mum used to rinse my hair in vinegar (lots of it), so I was thinking of that. Oh and probably because I only had malt vinegar in the cupboard! When dry my hair felt cleaner and pretty OK, this only lasted a day though and I'm not a girl to be washing my hair every day as it takes nearly 6 hours to dry.

Next up on my no shampoo idea was bicarb, vinegar followed with conditioner (still had this left) - bad idea, my hair was awful, real clumpy and waxy.
Completely by accident after finding out my soap running out and I didn't have the £3 for a new bar ( I told you chem free stuff is expensive!) I bought a bar of 99p olive oil soap

This one from our local health food shop, it is available at Holland and Barratt and other local health food shops too I'm guessing, well back to the no shampoo thing.... I needed to clean my hair so squeezing half a lemon into an old shampoo bottle and adding some water to it, I jumped in the shower, rubbed this soap all over my hair and rinsed with the lemon mix, ohh it was too lovely, my head felt so clean, my hair was totally smooth. After towel drying it and scrunching it into a hairband to dry off on it's own, I was amazed when I took my hair down, it was all curly and shiny and gorgeous. My youngest put his face in my hair and said it smelled good enough to eat!
I saw my friend who I had not seen since Christmas and she commented on how healthy my hair looked, you can imagine her surprise when I told her what I have been using. We have all been converted no to no shampoo, I only wished I had done it sooner.

Also I have a girl crush on a lovely gardener who I discovered quite by chance -Alys Fowler (who I think should change her surname to flower). I know I am sooo behind everyone else in all that I do but I missed her series last year so my lovely BF got it for me off the comp and put the entire series onto disc so I spent two nights in complete grow your own heaven. She is totally different from most grow your owner's in that she doesn't use formal lines, it is a mish mash of a bit of all sorts - I like that. If ,Like me, you are less than formal in anything you do and you haven't discovered her, I urge you to, it will make your day and her clothes are super cute too, I want to be her friend and have cups of nettle tea in her garden whilst discussing how beautiful the nasturtiums look, so Alys Fowler if you happen to read this, please be my new friend ;)