Adventures of a photography widow

Another year older not wiser

2011-01-05T05:17:00.000-08:00

Start as you mean to go on I say ... and we did with a lovely afternoon spent in the middle of Morcambe Bay sitting on a rock in the mud. If it hadn't been for the rather tasty mug of Horlicks afterwards in the Bayview cafe the day would have been rather cold and miserable.

I also turned 35 on New Years Day and was throughly grumpy all day as it rained and we only managed to get as far as West Kirby before retreating back home to spend the afternoon on the couch with the cat.

The allotment is looking like a warzone as it always does this time of year. Mr Hill had to chip the parsnips out of the ground as they had frozen solid and then decided to ridicule my ground covering skills. I only got as far as cutting down the autumn raspberries and bemoning the fact that those bloody trees are still blocking out all the light.

I'm not back in work and in the past two days we've had both snow and drizzle..... roll on Florida.

Nematodes are go

2010-04-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

Set my trusty army of slug killing thingies loose at the weekend.

Little did I know that you have to water them in in a kind of soup - needless to say they wouldn't fit through the rose on the watering can so I had to resort to kind of sploshing them about and hoping for the best.

The rest of them are in the fridge (on top of the mushrooms) pending me spreading them about when I get home later .. I have purchased bigger watering can now so hopefully I will be more successful.

Daffodil and tulips are proving popular at the moment so I must remember to plant some more next year!

Mr Hill and the killer sarracenia

2010-03-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

As mentioned it my previous post Mr H finally has a brand new greenhouse to house all his fly destroying beauties.

What fun we had building it ( a trip to B&Q to swop some dubious parts was also needed).

Those plants now have 24 hour access to the finest sun and quality rainwater they could ever want. I fear that there may be more DIY misting/air filtering/LED lighting systems installed in the near future.

How mummy got her greenhouse back

2010-03-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hooray - finally got my greenhouse back from the grip of the killer sarracenia. The joy of having room to put all my seedlings can't be explained.

Hence force I've gone on bit of a mad one since and have planted all kinds of lovelies.. curly kale, purple brocoli and enough beans to feed a small country. I've even got peas on the go dispie Mr Hill's dislike of them.

The lottie is coming on rather well - soon be time to start putting stuff in the ground for the pigeons and slugs to devour!

Note the rather large brew as well - all I need to complete my heaven is a chair, a radio and that life size alan titchmarsh cutout which B&Q is holding hostage... swoon.

It's world cup year at the allotment

2010-03-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

Me and Mr Monkey have constructed this years sweet pea frames - funnily enough they have turned out rather like goalposts for some reason.

In true tradition I bought the wrong sized netting but luckily enough the Tommy Walsh of gardening came up with a quick fix and now we have some quick release pegs (gotta think of those birds).

On the seed front - I've been hit quite badly with dampening off so maybe the super tank hasn't worked so well this time.

Shallots went in yesterday so hopefully in a few months we should have something to cook with at last.

Vinegar .. it returns

2010-02-09T02:43:00.000-08:00

Just found that Cider Vinegar can be used to treat leafspot, mildew and scab. Is there no end to the uses for this product?

The hubby used to laugh at me for drinking the stuff ... well I think I have been proved correct!

Seed planting update.

2010-02-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

The seed planting continues although I had to restart the tomatoes as for some reason they all died, although the carrots have started to sprout.

I've put in the following

Cauliflower Freedom F1
Kohl Rabit Quickstart
Cucumber Marketmore

I'm also chitting potatoes pink fir apple ( very knobbly), bonnie dundee and mayan twilight.

All new for me but I'll see how I go.

Aiming to get to the allotment tomorrow for some more digging. See the grand plan here

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tL1pmX5Wb7LwTqlxXP1oFCw&single=true&gid=0&output=html

Showering without fear of death

2010-02-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hooray - finally I have a bathroom again. We can now shower without fear of death.

Rainbow carrots

2010-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

The rainbow carrots are in! I have major problems with spacing (it's usally cram as many in as possible and hope for the best.

This year I have decided to go with seed tapes and am trying the excitingly named Carrots Rainbow F1 Hybrid mixed. They come in purple, white, green and the usual orange.

Nothing sprouting yet but we can only hope!

Tomato trials have begun

2010-01-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

Not had much luck with tomatoes in the past so I thought I would start early this year. I am trying four varieties this time which are

1. Roma - a small plum type
2. Black Russians - failed to do anything last year
3. Garden Pearl
4. Costulo Florentino.

Planted two days ago they have all started to germinate which is more than can be said for the onions.....

Big hog on the loose!

2010-01-14T02:49:00.000-08:00

One of the rescued hogs escaped last night through some thick cardboard and gaffer tape ... how it managed it I will never know.

It kept me and the hubby awake all night scrabbling round in the spare room .. we couldn't work out what was making the noise (the cat was excused as it wasn't present!)

Hopefully the weather will improve next week and him and his counterpart can go back from wence they came.

Mammoth onions

2010-01-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ahh 2010 is the year of the mammoth onion! My family has an annual competition to seee who can grow the biggest.. whatever.

Last year it was gourds which failed spectacularly! So this year we thought mammoth onions. I planted them about a week and half ago and still no signs. Sigh.

However my leeks ( King Richard ) and various sweet peas are occupying the nepenthes tank in the spare room whilst some Chilli Habanero went in yesterday.

Now if only it would warm up outside!

Hooray - finally a shower that works

2010-01-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Thank god - getting a new bathroom put in. Getting a shower at the moment if a life or death experience. Are showers supposed to crackle when you turn them on.... I think not/

Decided to start a blog

2010-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Seeing as I can never remember all the stuff that goes on during the course of a year I thought I'd start keeping a blog - that way I really can see if I am as normal as I think I am.

First a bit about me and my family........

Allow me to introduce my cat : his name is Dr Whikers and he was rescued when he didn't wantto move house with the lady next door. Poor Dr kept coming back and lived for a whole year under my car ( glaring at everything), at this minute he is alseep on the bed next to me after having to go to the vet again for his jabs. He's a lovely thing.