old man is snoring

Will the rain never cease?

My garden is a cesspool of mouldy buckets and overflowing flower pots. On top of that the frosty nights means my pumpkins all died. As did my peppers. My sweetcorn isn't looking so hot either. My peas are loving it though! And if I am honest a bumper crop of peas sounds fabulous.

The ladybirds have been getting a feast as well. The swamp pot that my gooseberry is planted in (that is a pot with no drainage holes.....) is providing a perfect growing environment for aphids. oh joy of joys. I found a ladybird engorged after a feast of the buggers. I hope she tells all her friends so they can enjoy the bounty.

My bee log is sadly unoccupied though. Trying to do my bit for British bees and I failed. Nobody wants to live in my sad pathetic patio garden.

My window bird feeder is just as unlucky. Not sure why I thought birds would hang out with me. I even bought them the expensive food. National Trust all season birdseed with extra fatty hemp. Now I'll have pot growing on my lawn and not a bird in sight. Bloody birds.

The potatoes seem to like the weather. As do the tomatoes (to be expected I suppose as they are the same family.) And my lawn is *lush*

And my head is scatterbrained. Green fingered goddess signing off.

I say potato you say potatoe!

My mission for today was to get a potato grow bag and some seed potatoes. I was feeling overly ambitious. That or the glorious sunshine went to my head.

DD decided she wanted to bring her dolls pram with us, fine, if it gets us out of the house and her walking without the chorus of, "I'm tired," every 5 steps I am ok with it. I arrived at Wilkies and even managed to avoid the sweet shop aisle without a tantrum. I proceeded to get my grow bags (on sale! BOGOF!) and Gwen picked out some bubbles to play with when we got home. Feeling quite proud of myself at this point we got to the checkout line and had the worlds largest blow out tantrum when the cashier took Gwen's bubbles to scan them. We ended up sitting outside the shop for 30 minutes waiting for the darling to calm down, and in the end I carried a screaming and kicking child the 3/4 mile back to my house while pushing her blasted dolls pram loaded up with grow bags. FML!!

Still screeching when we got home it took another 20 minutes to calm her down at which point she fell promptly to sleep. So no seed potatoes. Or anything else I needed from the market. When she finally did wake up she flatly refused to go into town. I am so not arguing with her today. *sigh* Hopefully tomorrow will bring a more co-operative child. If not I may need to grow some Valium or Percocet in my garden. Anyone know of where I can buy seedlings?

Sunshine!

The sun has come out (of course it has, the holiday weekend is over)! While this is bad for the farmers and reservoirs, it is rather pleasant for me and my little garden.

I planted a seed tape of spring onions, planted out 3 sweetcorn plants, rearranged my pumpkins, put my peppers under glass (only just realized I bought a hothouse variety...oops) and put a few more peas out. I <3 peas.

I am slightly dubious about the feasibility of my garden. I have put a bit more money than I wanted into it (takes a lot of soil to fill some of those grow bags) and I am hoping that my plants survive so I get at least a small harvest to show for it.

But then even if I only get 6 watermelons- that's nearly 25 quid at the supermarket. so hey ho! Here goes the green fingered goddess off to make a pasta casserole!

House of insects

Since the hosepipe ban has been in effect it has not stopped raining. Have I mentioned how I love British weather? Really it's fantastic. I bet this will be the wettest summer on record. :-p 

Despite the weather I plowed on with my patio paradise, taking a trip to a local garden centre on wed where I purchased a ladybird tower, a bee log and a lovely bunch of flower seedlings for my angelic daughter (who was laying on the floor kicking and screaming because I refused to buy a overly pricey pot full of poppies). I also received in the post a bag of coir compost and a reusable vegetable grow bag planter. 

So thus far in my garden I have planted: (edible only things)

2 pumpkins

1 bean

20(ish) peas

2 tomatoes

6 strawberries

carrots (god knows how many)

lettuce (12" seed paper)

coriander

thai basil

indian mint 

1 gooseberry bush

4 broccoli

In my seed propagator I have:

1 pumpkin

4 watermelon

4 courgette (zuchinni)

8 peas

2 tomatoes

4 banana peppers

Somewhere I also have some sunflowers planted as well. I guess I'll figure out where later in the year....

Grow your own hosepipe ban

So you may or may not have heard about the hosepipe ban that is due to hit England this summer. Evidently the weather has not been British enough this past year and we're running low on water in the reservoirs. Although I don't have a hosepipe so this won't be directly affecting me, I figure I should do my bit and so starting with my shower this morning have begun to collect some of my "gray" water.

Let me paint a picture, crazy woman, with 10 litre watering can, schlepping herself up and down the stairs to fill a  bucket in the garden and water her plants. If nothing else I got a good workout and my daughter's water table now smells of lovely mint and lavender shampoo. I am thinking I need another trug to fill with water cause right now I am not using it all in my grow my own attempts, although if it is indeed a BBQ summer I suppose I will use it pretty quick.

Thus far my outdoor planted garden consists of: Strawberries, Peas, lettuce, carrots and a gooseberry bush. I suppose now would be a good time to mention that all of my plants are in containers as my house only has a patio backyard. (I know, growing your own is just no fun if you have an actual garden!)

Wondering if/where I can get a few giant containers and small apple trees...

An introduction to the craziness

So a bit about me first of all. I would like to consider myself a 'normal' nearly 30 something mother and housewife. Truth is I'm not. Sure I am a mother (and although biased, I must say I have the world's most awesome 3 year old girl) and I do stay at home and, uh, mind the house, but I have discovered by talking to others I am probably not normal. Who is normal though? I don't know too many people who fit that description. 

I am an American, but I married a Brit and as a result I live in the east of England, in a lovely market town. I don't own a car, nor have I bothered getting a British driver's license (although I do still have my US one). I walk everywhere and recently became the proud owner of a bike with a child seat! Oh the places we'll go. 

This year is the first since the birth of my daughter that I am planning on being at my house for most of the summer and so I am attempting to go green(ish). I will be (hopefully) growing my own veg, making paper logs to burn next winter in our stove, detoxifying my body by giving up "toxic" personal grooming products (more on that later) , and generally attempting to make my life and that of my family more in tune with eco-consciousness. Whatever that means. 

I welcome suggestions for activities and projects I can try (as long as they are cheap and won't alarm the neighbors), and I hope to keep you all entertained.