And ripped the fleece off the broccoli bed and the seedlings are nowhere to be seen, luckily she has more at home which will replace the missing ones but not this week, that's for sure!
The temperature is lingering in single figures and with lots of rain and extremely strong winds forecasted for today and the rest of the week, we won't be going out to the allotments.
But she did lots of work on Sunday for Joska told her there had recently been a delivery of horse manure and well rotted leaf mold.
The manure is fresh so she dumped two barrow loads into raised beds on plot 35, where it will rot down over this coming year and she put two barrow loads onto the last year's dwarf bean beds and dug it in.
The manure is fresh so she dumped two barrow loads into raised beds on plot 35, where it will rot down over this coming year and she put two barrow loads onto the last year's dwarf bean beds and dug it in.
She has two tall wooden frames which she moves each year onto different beds, it's into these beds that she digs horse manure, leaf mold, chicken manure plus our weekly food waste, so that each year the soil in two beds is super charged with wonderful nutrients.
When I say food waste, it's a bit confusing as we don't waste food, beetroot and cauliflower leaves get eaten, I munch the tough ends of cabbages but avocado, banana, garlic and onion skins together with egg shells, shredded paper and herbal tea bags get buried and Master Red Skinny Worm makes short work of them for they disappear.
On Sunday she was thankful for Little Shed, he is acting as a windbreak for the new beds that she has created from the old herb beds.
The fleeces covering the kale and the pointy cabbage seedlings were still in place so they were happy and unmolested by birds or slugs.
We don't begrudge birds anything that they nibble in the winter time but she gets a little bit annoyed when they eat plants that haven't had a chance to grow!
Everything else is in great shape, the hard work she did at the end of last year and in February, when we had that wonderful weather, has certainly paid off.
For there isn't a weed to be seen in any vegetable bed! And as she has mowed and trimmed the grass it's looking tidy and 'ready to go'.
The treatment that she gave the red Calla Lilies, she was so lucky to find, has worked wonderfully!
She soaked their tubers, which were in little bags of peat, in water and this gave the roots the incentive to start growing, she has planted three tubers in two of the three beds that are underneath the big Stella cherry trees at the front of plot 39.
The central bed of these three square raised beds have herbs in it for she doesn't dig this soil because of the trees roots, so bulbs, tubers and herbs are the perfect things to grow here.
All she ever does is to weed them a couple of times a year. Our neighbour, Tereza, gave her scarlet Tulip bulbs many years ago and what a pop of colour they are, the lilies will look great here.
At about four o'clock, the weather turned from cold to icy, she put her tools away, locked up Shack and taking two bags walked over the plots picking a mix of leaves and, after putting a bag with water in it into a pot, she picked a big bunch of narcissi, a mixture of different varieties, some classic single trumpet yellow and white 'daffodils', the rest were multi-headed orange, white or yellow highly scented jonquils.
"Brrr, it's cold, I'm so glad I didn't bring GeeGee" she said to herself as she walked up the path to the gate.
The bus was late.. they were running on a very slow Sunday timetable! They're supposed to run three times an hour on a Sunday but it was a good forty minutes before one trundled down the road towards her.
Then she had to wait for twenty minutes at Hammersmith Broadway for a 211 bus, silly mama, she could've taken a train to South Ken but her knees were stiff and she knew that she would have to walk up stairs at the station, so a bus was an softer option.
Getting off in Sydney Street, she turned into and walked down Cale Street, turned right into St. Luke's Street and hung the bag with leaves and flowers on a friend's door, then walked home as quickly as her dodgy knees would allow.
Coming in to a warm flat was bliss, yes, she has turned the boiler on as the weather is cold and damp and neither of us want to be sick!
Then telephoned her friend and said "Thank you so much for your lovely gift, go and open your front door, there is something hanging on the door knob for you."
Oh boy.. hot water and a hot drink did the trick but it did take time for her knees to become flexible again.
Yesterday wasn't so bad, it was chilly, she had a vest, a sweater, a boiled wool cardigan and a padded jacket on but you can't cover all of your face, can you? And her nose was cold.. but a breakfast with Pat is never to be missed, so having cooked my eggs, she went to Fulham, they had breakfast and a very good long natter for about three hours.
She was so pleased to have taken Pat, who loves good yoghurt, two pots of Turkish yoghurt that she found on Saturday, one made with sheep's milk, the other with buffalo milk and a packet of Freesia corms.. because this is what she said..
"Oh, they are my most favourite flowers, I had them in my wedding bouguet, I love them so much and have never thought to grow them, what a treat, thank you!"
And then presented mama with a charming gift bag which had a hand knitted cardigan in it! The wool is the colour of the newest of new leaves.. what a pretty Easter present!
Then off they went about their days.. mama to the library to exchange books and Pat to take a grand daughter to the dentist.
It's gloomy here today, the wind is strong, we can see the way the tops of our trees and bushes are being blown about, she doesn't have to go out for any reason until later this afternoon and then it is only up into the main house to see Tereza.
We are staying indoors as snug as bugs and hope that you, whoever and wherever you are, will stay safe.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 12th, 2019.
On Sunday she was thankful for Little Shed, he is acting as a windbreak for the new beds that she has created from the old herb beds.
The fleeces covering the kale and the pointy cabbage seedlings were still in place so they were happy and unmolested by birds or slugs.
We don't begrudge birds anything that they nibble in the winter time but she gets a little bit annoyed when they eat plants that haven't had a chance to grow!
Everything else is in great shape, the hard work she did at the end of last year and in February, when we had that wonderful weather, has certainly paid off.
For there isn't a weed to be seen in any vegetable bed! And as she has mowed and trimmed the grass it's looking tidy and 'ready to go'.
The treatment that she gave the red Calla Lilies, she was so lucky to find, has worked wonderfully!
She soaked their tubers, which were in little bags of peat, in water and this gave the roots the incentive to start growing, she has planted three tubers in two of the three beds that are underneath the big Stella cherry trees at the front of plot 39.
The central bed of these three square raised beds have herbs in it for she doesn't dig this soil because of the trees roots, so bulbs, tubers and herbs are the perfect things to grow here.
All she ever does is to weed them a couple of times a year. Our neighbour, Tereza, gave her scarlet Tulip bulbs many years ago and what a pop of colour they are, the lilies will look great here.
At about four o'clock, the weather turned from cold to icy, she put her tools away, locked up Shack and taking two bags walked over the plots picking a mix of leaves and, after putting a bag with water in it into a pot, she picked a big bunch of narcissi, a mixture of different varieties, some classic single trumpet yellow and white 'daffodils', the rest were multi-headed orange, white or yellow highly scented jonquils.
"Brrr, it's cold, I'm so glad I didn't bring GeeGee" she said to herself as she walked up the path to the gate.
The bus was late.. they were running on a very slow Sunday timetable! They're supposed to run three times an hour on a Sunday but it was a good forty minutes before one trundled down the road towards her.
Then she had to wait for twenty minutes at Hammersmith Broadway for a 211 bus, silly mama, she could've taken a train to South Ken but her knees were stiff and she knew that she would have to walk up stairs at the station, so a bus was an softer option.
Getting off in Sydney Street, she turned into and walked down Cale Street, turned right into St. Luke's Street and hung the bag with leaves and flowers on a friend's door, then walked home as quickly as her dodgy knees would allow.
Coming in to a warm flat was bliss, yes, she has turned the boiler on as the weather is cold and damp and neither of us want to be sick!
Then telephoned her friend and said "Thank you so much for your lovely gift, go and open your front door, there is something hanging on the door knob for you."
Oh boy.. hot water and a hot drink did the trick but it did take time for her knees to become flexible again.
Yesterday wasn't so bad, it was chilly, she had a vest, a sweater, a boiled wool cardigan and a padded jacket on but you can't cover all of your face, can you? And her nose was cold.. but a breakfast with Pat is never to be missed, so having cooked my eggs, she went to Fulham, they had breakfast and a very good long natter for about three hours.
She was so pleased to have taken Pat, who loves good yoghurt, two pots of Turkish yoghurt that she found on Saturday, one made with sheep's milk, the other with buffalo milk and a packet of Freesia corms.. because this is what she said..
"Oh, they are my most favourite flowers, I had them in my wedding bouguet, I love them so much and have never thought to grow them, what a treat, thank you!"
And then presented mama with a charming gift bag which had a hand knitted cardigan in it! The wool is the colour of the newest of new leaves.. what a pretty Easter present!
Then off they went about their days.. mama to the library to exchange books and Pat to take a grand daughter to the dentist.
It's gloomy here today, the wind is strong, we can see the way the tops of our trees and bushes are being blown about, she doesn't have to go out for any reason until later this afternoon and then it is only up into the main house to see Tereza.
We are staying indoors as snug as bugs and hope that you, whoever and wherever you are, will stay safe.
GeeGee Parrot.
March 12th, 2019.
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