Somethings got to give!

A few years ago (and I'm talking as little as perhaps 3) had I wandered round to the polytunnel and been faced with this

I would have simply rolled my sleeves up, got the fork out and the lawn mower and set about clearing it all up before losing what little crops are left.
However when I was faced with this yesterday I could muster the energy to do little more than stare at it and the more I stared at it the more despondent I became, the more despondent I became the less I cared - vicious circle. The parcel of cat droppings so nicely deposited right in the center of this first bed was just the final straw - the blinkin cats haven't even bothered to cover this one! Mind you that's something to be grateful for I guess.
For a wee while I sat on the wooden sides of the bed figuring out (or trying to) what I really wanted to do, do I even enjoy this gardening lark anymore? If I did then surely the areas wouldn't get so neglected? or at least I'd be more enthused about clearing them?
This particular area won't take much more than a day or so to clear if I'm honest, it's a fairly big area but it just needs mowing, tidying and the beds weeding but move on into the adjacent veg plot and it just gets worse - this is the bridge that takes me to the next plot

Looks a picture of health huh! NOT!
The gorse can be cut back obviously, the dead stuff can all be raked away - simples, but it gets worse - this is the path that leads one veg area to the next

The path is no longer there and it's now too long for the mower - it's gonna have to be strimmed, then I'm going to have to chop alot of plants back to get through that gate, all doable I know.
But the real heartache has got to be the second veg area. Before I had a garden (when the house was being built) this area was my haven, it was kept spotless, weed free, well manicured and the veg beds were lovingly cared for, in fact I spent as much time round here as I possibly could.
Now though it could only be classed as a haven for insects and weeds

A few years ago I would have scoffed at anyone suggesting it could end up looking like that and I've been seriously questioning whether this is just a blip or whether I need to take a break from veggie gardening. In all honesty I do not enjoy vegetable gardening, I only started it because I was a stay at home mum and felt obliged to do it with all this land available and once we got the polytunnel it seemed a crime not to fill it with veg. The problem is not the growing of the veg though it's the upkeep of such large areas. I've always tried to manage my Narcolepsy and Fibromyalgia to enable me to do the hard tasks outside, I'm aware that if I sit down next to the pond I could fall asleep and end up in it or that if I do too much one day I will be useless for the following 3 but it's getting harder to cope mentally as well as physically.
Yep, I'm thinking I may shut the tunnel down and close the gates to the veg areas at the end of the year and concentrate solely on my garden for a while.

Here comes the snow again....

Oh dear, the snow arrived today. It's not much of a show but enough to stop me from wanting to get out there

It's not all gloom and snow though. I took a quick peek in the heated propagator in the greenhouse and all the Tomato seeds have peeped through. I am so glad I decided to dabble with a heated propagator

Normally I wouldn't even have been able to sow the seeds for another month or so and even then they would take weeks to germinate due to the lack in temperature - fingers crossed I am actually going to get some ripe fruit this year.
I think I'll make another sowing in a couple of weeks though just in case these ones turn out to be too early and don't make it.

I also got round to cleaning out that workshop/Greenhouse the other day.
It's never going to look as tidy and organised as I would like because it's just too small to serve the 2 purposes I need it for but at least it's useable again now and if I sort out some shelving on that back wall then I think I can clear it even more

Before & After

Before & After

Like I said it's not brilliant but it works.

Tomato seedlings

Every year I grow Tomatoes and every year I end up with a bunch of green fruit that just never ripens, I assume the growing season here in the Highlands just isn't long enough because usually it's around the end of March beginning of April before  I can even sow them.
I always sow in a propagator (unheated) and even though I have a polytunnel and greenhouse it takes a long time for seedlings to appear. I guess I could buy Tomato plants from the garden centre but tbh I'd rather not grow them at all than go to the expense of buying plug plants cos it kind of defeats the purpose for me.
So anyway you can imagine how pleased I was to check up on the seeds I planted in my new heated propagator 7 days ago and saw these peeping through

Black Russian Tomato seedlings @ 7 days.

Just 7 days and the Black Russian Tomato seedlings are already eager to get going. Hopefully this means I'll have a longer growing season this year and maybe, fingers crossed, some ripe fruit.

My excitement about the seedlings was kind of short lived though, basically I had to face up to the mess that is my greenhouse.
This greenhouse is basically made of recycled materials, it comprises of a wooden bottom half that is slats to the outside, polythene middle and boarding inside. The top half is made up of recycled double glazed windows and the roof is clear corrugated roofing, it may not be the prettiest (or largest) of structures but it does the business.
Originally it was full to the brim with plants and veg but then Mr TG bought me a polytunnel so the greenhouse became redundant, until I decided to turn it into my workshop. You see I love building things for the house and garden, I'm lucky enough that Mr TG is a builder so we have every tool known to man and plenty of scrap wood for working with.
This workshop has enabled me to create quite a lot of stuff but inevitably it's gathered some of those 'useless' items that Mr TG wanted to landfill but which I hoarded and now I need to re-use the greenhouse for some crops but it's looking like this


ready for this........






it's a tad embarrassing..............

Recycled greenhouse mess.

This is looking in from the door. It's horrendous isn't it! I'm ashamed to say that this place has not been cleaned or cleared since my last project last year.
It's not a huge space so it's important it's kept tidy to be even remotely functional and as I now want to use it as a workshop and to grow on Tomato plants I really need to sort it.

Here's looking from the back to the door

More recycled greenhouse mess.

Just look at the door! It apparently suffered that damage during some winds while I was on holiday but it shouldn't have because it was shut before I left - me thinks the kids went in and forgot to close it behind them!
And what I think I'm going to do with that red trunk is beyond me but I'm loathe to throw it or let MR TG fill it with building tools.
Bad isn't it!

So guess what my next job is (again it's not even one on my list of 42 jobs that I haven't even dented yet), yep, I've got to somehow bring myself to be ruthless and realistic with what I need to keep. Either that or I start hanging stuff from the ceilings.........hmmmmmm, now there's a thought!