Ravendale House

Not a very nice day today, so I stayed indoors and took some fuchsia cuttings. I’ve been threatening to do it for days and now I have.

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Last night there was quite a sharp frost, the first one in what seems like ages. Thankfully all my new little plants and seedlings are tucked up warm in the conservatory. Well ‘warmish’ at least, as it isn’t heated. They all seem to be doing very well.

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True to my word today I planted my shallots. Fifty in total which takes up more than half of one veg bed. Already I’m wondering if I might have space issues with the extra stuff I’ve sown this year, plus the red onions.

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The cauliflower seeds are now germinated, so I feel to be off to a flying start with my early veg; with the red onions and leeks already in go. I’m even thinking of getting my shallots planted out if the weather holds, but today I sowed some Spring Onions and flower seeds.

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The telescopic hedge trimmer finally arrived yesterday, better late than never. Just like the strimmer, it’s battery needed 15 hours of charging, so we weren’t able to try it out until today.

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What on earth has that man been feeding his horses on? I’ve spent another hour or more today on the first four vegetable beds that I started yesterday, and still there are great lumps of manure lying around despite all my work and some of the hardest frosts we’ve had in a while.

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Today I decided to have another go at the vegetable beds.The manure we put on in Autumn is still not amalgamated with the soil despite my attempts last month to dig it in. There are still large lumps of the stuff lying on the top making it impossible to produce the fine tilth I’ll need for sowing and planting in a week or two.

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Today I sowed some cauliflower seeds, another first for me. Let’s hope they do as well as the leeks and red onions that I sowed earlier in the month.

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I sometimes think I’m too soft to be a successful gardener. Just about every gardening book you read will at some point tell you to ‘thin out’ your seedlings, either to prevent overcrowding or to help ensure only the strong survive.

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Well today we finally got round to un-packing the cordless strimmer/trimmer. I’m afraid yesterday was taken up by trying to get the new computer and new keyboard to play nicely together. Took most of the day and many ‘phone calls to ‘help’ lines. Never was a service so mis-named.

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