We can now be classified as wimps.. why? Well, the rain came to deepest Knightsbridge yesterday and our flat suddenly felt cold and slightly damp.
And although we are living for a couple of months on a very tight budget, because she spent money buying fence posts and plants for the allotments, it is not clever to let your home get damp and cold.
A. It is certainly not good for anyone's health.
B. It is certainly not good for anyone's home.
So Mr. Boiler was switched on and although she has it on the lowest possible setting, the radiators and pipes soon warmed our home up and dried it out.
She went to the allotments as usual but dressed for wet conditions and wet conditions there certainly were!
She didn't experience any heavy rain until she was waiting for the bus at Hammersmith Broadway to take out to the Chertsey Road.
'Ugh, this isn't great' she thought as a burst of heavy rain soaked the bus station and she scuttled inside to wait for a bus.
Luckily the squall had blown over by the time she reached her stop and there were at least three patches of watery pale blue sky to be seen.
Mr. Sun was not in evidence, there wasn't a ray of sunlight to be seen but at least it wasn't too cold or tipping it down with icy rain.
She pulled three large pieces of horticultural mesh out of the box she keeps it in, she was originally going to use fleece but the winds can be strong on the allotments so decided mesh would be a better material, you can wind it around a brick to weight it down to keep it in place and it doesn't tear.
The three sets of seedlings were duly covered over and tucked in, we certainly don't want birds to eat these tiny plants as they're our vegetables* for the late summer, autumn and onto next winter.
The next job was the paths between newly raised beds on the old herb plot, for which she had a big rubble bag full of wood chips.
Having rootled about in Shack, she found a roll of thick ground membrane, cut and laid it to fit in between the beds, then covered the paths with six inches of the wood chippings.
Apart from making the area look neat and tidy, it will stop pesky weeds self seeding themselves.
She had visitors. Joska and Sirun came to say "hello" and to give her some news, Sirun starts work today at a foundry! They work with brass, bronze, gold and silver, so there will be a great deal for her to learn about this ancient craft.
"Good luck Sirun, we hope you enjoy it and that it goes well for you".
She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was 4pm! How time flies when you are working hard at something you enjoy!
She took a strong bag and dug up some soil which had some slow release fertiliser in it, our upstairs neighbour has a plant that needed to be repotted and we have more than enough for our needs!!
Then took another bag and went around the plots gathering leaves, not tree leaves but spicy leaves! Many years ago she planted Spicy Japanese leaves and allowed them to self seed all over the allotments.
The birds nibble them down to the root in the winter but she doesn't begrudge birdies anything in the winter for there is so little for them to eat.
And the nibbling has a great effect on these plants for they grow back strongly, the taste of these delicious leaves is spicy hot, really quite unusual.
Also dotted around the site are several Land Cress plants that come back year after year, the birds don't touch ever these for the taste is strong, think Rocket /Arugula on steroids or speed!
All these plants come from a plant that her cousin who lives in Wales gave her the summer of 2002. He told her to let it go to seed and she is so glad she took his advice for the taste is amazing!
She picked some of these as well and hopes that our neighbour likes tasty leaves with a punch!
Then, oh dear, lookie lookie, she saw a horrible dark line approaching from the south west and knew she had 15 minutes to gather up her tools, put them away, lock up Shack and head for the bus stop before rain fell!
Sure enough, just a fraction over 15 minutes later, it started but by then she was safely under cover of the bus stop and a little bus came along right on schedule at 4.34pm.
However, including a stop to buy me some grapes, the journey home took far longer than normal for the traffic was heavy as was the rain.
However, when you have done a good afternoon's work and have plants and trees that will appreciate a good drink, sitting on a bus for a bit longer than normal isn't too hard a chore, is it?
Today, we woke up early, had scrambled eggs and I've already destroyed two rolls of cardboard, so all is well in our world, as we hope it is in yours as well?
She's going to the allotments, I'm staying behind for there is a strong possibility it will rain and, whereas I am fond of a splash in a bowl of water, rain makes me, like a lot of other folk, grumpy.
PipPip..
GeeGee Parrot.
March 1st, 2019.
PostScript* Broccoli, Curly Kale and Pointy Cabbage all feature in our diet, you start them off now as these plants have a long growing season.
And although we are living for a couple of months on a very tight budget, because she spent money buying fence posts and plants for the allotments, it is not clever to let your home get damp and cold.
A. It is certainly not good for anyone's health.
B. It is certainly not good for anyone's home.
So Mr. Boiler was switched on and although she has it on the lowest possible setting, the radiators and pipes soon warmed our home up and dried it out.
She went to the allotments as usual but dressed for wet conditions and wet conditions there certainly were!
She didn't experience any heavy rain until she was waiting for the bus at Hammersmith Broadway to take out to the Chertsey Road.
'Ugh, this isn't great' she thought as a burst of heavy rain soaked the bus station and she scuttled inside to wait for a bus.
Luckily the squall had blown over by the time she reached her stop and there were at least three patches of watery pale blue sky to be seen.
Mr. Sun was not in evidence, there wasn't a ray of sunlight to be seen but at least it wasn't too cold or tipping it down with icy rain.
She pulled three large pieces of horticultural mesh out of the box she keeps it in, she was originally going to use fleece but the winds can be strong on the allotments so decided mesh would be a better material, you can wind it around a brick to weight it down to keep it in place and it doesn't tear.
The three sets of seedlings were duly covered over and tucked in, we certainly don't want birds to eat these tiny plants as they're our vegetables* for the late summer, autumn and onto next winter.
The next job was the paths between newly raised beds on the old herb plot, for which she had a big rubble bag full of wood chips.
Having rootled about in Shack, she found a roll of thick ground membrane, cut and laid it to fit in between the beds, then covered the paths with six inches of the wood chippings.
Apart from making the area look neat and tidy, it will stop pesky weeds self seeding themselves.
She had visitors. Joska and Sirun came to say "hello" and to give her some news, Sirun starts work today at a foundry! They work with brass, bronze, gold and silver, so there will be a great deal for her to learn about this ancient craft.
"Good luck Sirun, we hope you enjoy it and that it goes well for you".
She looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was 4pm! How time flies when you are working hard at something you enjoy!
She took a strong bag and dug up some soil which had some slow release fertiliser in it, our upstairs neighbour has a plant that needed to be repotted and we have more than enough for our needs!!
Then took another bag and went around the plots gathering leaves, not tree leaves but spicy leaves! Many years ago she planted Spicy Japanese leaves and allowed them to self seed all over the allotments.
The birds nibble them down to the root in the winter but she doesn't begrudge birdies anything in the winter for there is so little for them to eat.
And the nibbling has a great effect on these plants for they grow back strongly, the taste of these delicious leaves is spicy hot, really quite unusual.
Also dotted around the site are several Land Cress plants that come back year after year, the birds don't touch ever these for the taste is strong, think Rocket /Arugula on steroids or speed!
All these plants come from a plant that her cousin who lives in Wales gave her the summer of 2002. He told her to let it go to seed and she is so glad she took his advice for the taste is amazing!
She picked some of these as well and hopes that our neighbour likes tasty leaves with a punch!
Then, oh dear, lookie lookie, she saw a horrible dark line approaching from the south west and knew she had 15 minutes to gather up her tools, put them away, lock up Shack and head for the bus stop before rain fell!
Sure enough, just a fraction over 15 minutes later, it started but by then she was safely under cover of the bus stop and a little bus came along right on schedule at 4.34pm.
However, including a stop to buy me some grapes, the journey home took far longer than normal for the traffic was heavy as was the rain.
However, when you have done a good afternoon's work and have plants and trees that will appreciate a good drink, sitting on a bus for a bit longer than normal isn't too hard a chore, is it?
Today, we woke up early, had scrambled eggs and I've already destroyed two rolls of cardboard, so all is well in our world, as we hope it is in yours as well?
She's going to the allotments, I'm staying behind for there is a strong possibility it will rain and, whereas I am fond of a splash in a bowl of water, rain makes me, like a lot of other folk, grumpy.
PipPip..
GeeGee Parrot.
March 1st, 2019.
PostScript* Broccoli, Curly Kale and Pointy Cabbage all feature in our diet, you start them off now as these plants have a long growing season.
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