Time to catch up...

Finally I am feeling half normal again and yesterday I managed to spend some time outside. The weather was lovely and warm, perfect for pottering around outside.
I spent most of my time checking on what's happened while I've been ill for the past couple of weeks and when I saw all the jobs that needed doing I decided to write a list, this will give me a purpose each time I go out rather than wandering around aimlessly and getting nothing done.
By the time I'd got to number 42 though I gave up!
42 jobs so far and those aren't even things like seed sowing or scarifying the garden, they're huge projects like replanting the borders and building a new compost bay - I think I may have set myself too many tasks and if that's the case I'll get demoralised and nothing will get done, again!
So instead of doing jobs here there and everywhere a bit at a time I've decided that i will concentrate on jobs in the actual garden first as this is the area we have to look at all the time - well that's the theory anyway!

Anyway, I had another look at those 6 Garlic cloves I planted earlier in the year, I'm amazed they're still growing and showing no signs of rot or death yet. This is the first time I've ever got Garlic growing even to this height

Wish I'd planted loads more now!

And remember those Dogwood cuttings I took here? well every single one of them is showing signs of growth - this is another first for me as I have never been able to propagate it with any success

Dogwood cuttings

And what about those Olive cuttings I did at the same time as the Dogwood? Well, I can't really tell if they're rooting but they're certainly not dead - or at least they don't look it!

Olive cuttings.

As well as checking on things I also managed to find the energy to cut some Willow ready for a Willow fedge (though I'm now thinking maybe a Willow fedge is not a good idea. I need the Willow to help with the boggy area but Willow is terrible for any kind of hedging in my opinion, it just never looks quite right).
I haven't decided if the Fedge will actually go ahead yet so I've just stuck the Willow in a bucket of water for now, they'll be happy there and will start to root pretty soon at which time I can decide whether to pot them up or plant them out.

40 willow whips waiting on my decision, next to the filtered seaweed tea.

I also strained off that Seaweed tea which didn't smell anywhere near as bad as I thought it would. It's now waiting in containers to be put to use but I'm not sure what the shelf life is and how quickly I need to get it used up, I think maybe it's something I should have put off until the summer months when I can actually use it.

Today is another dry day, not as sunny as yesterday but that just makes the polytunnel more comfortable to be in (it got reeeeeeally warm in there yesterday) so I think I'll do some potting up and seed sowing.  Oh wait, I'm supposed to be concentrating on the main garden - oops!

Anyway I will leave you for the moment with a piccie of my garden helper. He helps an awful lot around the garden, what with his digging and pooping (insert sarcastic face) and never really gets the credit he deserves, so here he is

Huntly! My best pal.......holding his best pal - Fimble.

Life in the fast lane

OK so that was an outright lie, I'm currently stuck in the crawler lane, the one where even a 3 wheeled Reliant Robin overtakes at great speed!
I'm finally on the mend which is a good thing but I've also had to admit that I need a doctor (only took 10 days). I rang the doctors surgery at 3.30pm yesterday to try to get in on a last minute appointment only to be told that surgery is closed until Monday :((

I actually ventured outside yesterday, boredom made me do it! I had all these notions of pottering about and doing just some simple stuff like cutting the Willow for a fedge and watering the fruit trees in the polytunnel, stuff that wouldn't take much effort or energy - who was I kidding! I basically made it round to the greenhouse and polytunnel and had to sit down - I was flippin knackered.
I waited for another energy spurt and eventually made it into the polytunnel so I could check on that Seaweed tea I started before I went on vacation.

From this:-

To this:-

Yum yum!  Not!  I didn't even have the energy to drain the stuff and get it into a tub.
Looks gross doesn't it! But it's full of yummy goodness for my plants. Mind you I think I should summon the energy to filter it now while I can't smell anything!



So that was my extent of yesterdays gardening experience, oh, that and reading my 'Gardeners World' magazine. 
Mind you I did have fun watching my husbands Eagle Owls.

Garlic & buckets of tea!

One of the many plants I've never managed to grow is Garlic. I know, I know, it's supposed to be darned easy but nope, I've never got a bulb to even peek out of the ground.
That was it, after several ridiculous attempts and the blinkin blighters doing absolutely nowt I gave up - I'll buy the darned stuff.
Then a few weeks ago I perusing another gardening blog - Fromseedtoscrumptious -  and this guy - George - was chucking bucketloads of garlic into the ground, covering it and had amazing results. It seemed that this guy could grow Garlic like I can grow weeds!
So I thought why not give it one more try? Only this time I wasn't buying garlic bulbs not when I had shop bought ones in the fridge. Yes I know that apparantly this isn't the right way to do things and I could possibly be setting myself up for another failure but I figured I'd plant 6 cloves - yes, a measly 6 cloves. I figured 6 cloves would take up no room so when they failed I wouldn't miss them any.
Well, I lifted the netting of the bed in the polytunnel today and look what welcomed me

OK so I know they're not exactly anything to get peeing your pants excited about but believe me, that's the best I've ever managed to grow. In fact if they all die from this point on I'll still be chuffed that they even chose to grow - wish I'd planted 6 bulbs now instead of a measly 6 cloves.

On another exciting note - ok exciting for me - here are 2 of buckets of Seaweed tea brewing happily away.

All I did was fill the buckets to halfway with Seaweed - I didn't even bother rinsing it first because the salt levels really aren't high enough to bother about - and then filled them to the top with water and covered them over. The stench from these as they brew is gonna be a bit stinky.
As my hosepipe has been put away for the winter and the house is way away from the polytunnel I used water from the pond to fill the buckets.
This pond is a real convenience to my polytunnel, it is completely natural, drains the land and has no liners. We think at some point in the past a previous owner may have created it by digging it out at the corner of the water ditch that comes through the land. The pond does have the ability to run off into another ditch and carry on through to Shelligeo burn further down the land should it overfill.

 

Shared with:-
Nifty thrifty things.

A little bit o seaweeds all I need....

After my recent dissapointing beach foray in search of seaweed for the garden and compost heap I decided to take a trip over to Keiss beach  and check out the so called 'abundance' of seaweed that I've been told about by the locals.
Here's what I found

Heaps of glorious seaweed.

Seriously deep.

Not sure what type of seaweed it is but it'll do me.

I'd forgotten to check tide times before leaving and when I saw on the drive in that the tide was actually in I thought I'd have no chance of getting any but I have to say the stuff was everywhere along the entire stretch of beach.
I stood at the opening to the beach and looked at the heaps of Seaweed up and down the coastline and then looked down at my 2 recycled dog food bags I'd bought with me and felt totally unprepared. The bags may be 17.5kg bags but still, I could have collected so much more than I did if I'd taken the time to stock up the bags first, but I didn't (such was my doubt there was even going to be any seaweed).
Oh well, I have 2 bags of Seaweed to get me going and tomorrow I plan to get that Seaweed tea brewing and then any spare I have or get in the future I'm going to coat any new soil beds with it on my garden because I've heard it may put the dogs off getting onto the fresh soil and digging it all back out again.
 

I need Seaweed.

Healthy soil = healthy plants right? Right!
And a fabulous soil improver that also just happens to be free - Seaweed, available in abundance at your local beach.
Did you know that Seaweed contains over 70 Vitamins, Minerals & Enzymes all ready and waiting to provide those nutrients to plants?
Besides soil conditioning, claims have also been made that seaweed can

• help reduce plant shock when transplanting, 
• reduce fruit drop, 
• help encourage root growth and 
• enhance photosynthesis by increasing the plants Chlorophyll levels.  

Cool huh!
But how do we utilise seaweed once we've gathered it?
Well there are various ways of tapping into all those nutrients. We can use it as a mulch to rot down slowly into the soil or directly onto the compost heap to rot down but my favourite way is compost tea. It stinks to high heaven and I dread taking the lid of the bucket each time I use it but it's worth it if it's improving my plants and soil for free.
There's always the debate to wash or not to wash and I admit the first time I used seaweed I did wash it but I don't bother anymore.
To make the compost tea I simply stuff some Seaweed in a bucket, fill it with water and leave it somewhere for a couple of weeks to stew. Then I just drain the tea into a spare tub that has a lid and chuck the stewed seaweed onto the compost  heap along with any extra I managed to get. The tea is then used to feed flowers and vegetables at a rate of 2:1 (2 water, 1 tea) though I have used much weaker solutions on some plants.

With seaweed tea in mind I took a trip to the local beach the other day, bags in hand to gather as much as I could. Gutted to find when I got there that the only Seaweed around was live stuff still rooted or attached to rocks. This is the stuff I never ever take, it's just too important to the ocean and ecosystem, I only take stuff that has been washed up.
The ocean was rough while we were there, even the seals were having a hard time to get to the safety of the rocks and apparantly a few of the poor things have also washed up dead at the other local beaches - beaches which are also apparantly abundant in Seaweed. I guess we were just at the right beach at the wrong time.
Never mind we have plenty of beaches to choose from and I'll have that Seaweed tea ready for my veggie crops in 2013.

 

None of this seaweed was any good to me as it's rooted or stuck to rocks.

Rough waters.

My daughter with Kasa & Lucy, safely on leads as the ocean was seriously rough.