Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gardening. Show all posts

Sunday 29 July 2018

Little T's Garden

Hello friends.  I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time, but with one thing and another it has gotten pushed to the side and forgotten.  This heatwave that has been going on for what seems like forever, has finally broken and I am loving the freshness of the air and the sound of the raindrops outside my window.  This gives me the perfect opportunity to take some time to write on my blog.

Everything is growing really well this year with all the hot weather.  It has taken some considerable efforts to keep everything watered though and little T has been very helpful on that front.  As you all know we do not have a garden at home and so our allotment garden has become our haven and we love to spend as much time there as possible.  Mostly little T likes to sit in a shady spot and read while I get on with the gardening.  He does love to help with planting new things though and has asked for his own "bit of earth".  So we decided to make a small bed for little T to call his own.  We have chosen to implement the square foot gardening method, this way he can grow lots of different kinds of vegetables all in a small space...

How to make a square foot garden



We built a 4 foot square raised bed purchased from Amazon.  The planks easily slotted together with a bit of help from a rubber mallet.  The bed was placed directly onto the weedy grass so we covered the bottom with a mixture of old cardboard and newspaper (this blocks out the weeds).  We then added some mostly rotted homemade compost in the bottom and topped it off with a couple of bags of bought compost.  


We added small nails at 1 foot increments and then made a square foot grid with some twine. 


Little T added his chosen plants...


Cabbage and strawberries...


...  and found a furry caterpillar hiding in the grass.


Have any of you tried the square foot gardening method?  Please let me know in the comments below...

Take care
Catherine
x

Sunday 8 July 2018

Recipe - Bramble Berry Vodka

This hot weather has been doing crazy things to our berry patch at the kitchen garden.  We have so many berries ready for picking and many more ripening on the bushes.  Little T has been really enjoying picking them and enjoying the berry crumbles even more. 


A couple of years ago I made some blackberry vodka and it was delicious, so I thought I might have a go at a mixed berry version.  He's how I made it...

Bramble Berry Vodka

You will need...
A few handfuls of berries (we used blackberries and the mystery berries, you can read about them here)
Sugar to taste (around 150 g)
Vodka (the cheap kind is fine)
A large jar

First give the berries a good wash...


...then add them to your jar...


...tip in the sugar...


...and cover with vodka.  


Give the jar a good shake and leave in a cool dark place for a few weeks shaking every day until the sugar is dissolved.


When your vodka is ready it will be look all gorgeous and berry coloured.  It can now be strained and bottled.  Be sure to have a little taste to check for sweetness and adjust if necessary (you might need to test a few times just to be sure).  Oh and try not to drink it all at once...

What's your favourite thing to make with summer berries?  I would love to hear in the comments below...

Enjoy!

Catherine
x




Tuesday 26 June 2018

Lullaby Lodge Kitchen Garden - June

With this gorgeous weather we have been having recently, things seem to be finally taking off at the allotment.  What with the really cold winter and late start to spring and also the pesky birds and slugs, we haven't had much growing this year so far.  We have had a few strawberries but everything else has been playing catch up...  Even though we have not had any great harvest, it is lovely just to sit in the kitchen garden and enjoy the sunshine.  Living in a small flat really makes me appreciate the space we have at our allotment.

Last year (our first year of growing) was a constant battle with the weeds.  One which I cannot say we won...  So this year we are trying things a little differently and keeping the majority of the ground covered in black plastic.  We have a lot of perennial weeds to tend with including bindweed and nettles.  Also the previous tenant was growing horseradish which has spread over most of the plot.  It puts out really deep tap roots and is impossible to dig up.  I am hoping a year or 2 of the black plastic will eradicate the worst part of our weedy problems.

So lets take a little look at what is growing on our plot right now...

Planted through the black plastic we have a number of yellow zucchini (courgettes) and come patty pans.  Aren't the zucchini flowers so lovely and cheerful.


This plant is just about ready for it's first harvest.


The bush beans are flowering and just starting to make their tiny baby beans.


In the mini green house we have tomatoes, aubergines (eggplant), chillies and bell peppers.  


We inherited a number of bramble bushes which didn't fruit last year as they had been cut right back to the ground.  So we have been waiting excitedly for a whole year to see what they would be.  This one I believe is some kind of raspberry and blackberry cross perhaps a Loganberry or Tayberry?  If anyone knows please do let me know in the comments below...


The pretty blackberry flowers are rapidly turning to berries and I can't wait to start harvesting.  I can see lots of jam making in the future.


Looking forward to our first real harvest and sharing more pictures from our kitchen garden soon.

Ta ta for now
Catherine
x



Monday 9 October 2017

Will My Courgettes Ever Stop Growing?

Well hello everyone.  It's been a long time again (I know I promised).  This year has just been super busy.  Lot's of blankets selling in my shop and lot's of time spent in our allotment garden.  

It has been amazing having a green space for little T to play outside in and also a great bonus being able to eat what we have been growing...  Which to be completely honest, was mostly courgettes (zucchini to those of you across the pond). 


 Apparently 4 courgette plants is enough to keep a large family going all summer.  We had 11.  Suffice it to say they were coming out of our ears... and they are still growing.  We have had them roasted, stir fried, steamed, we have had courgette soup, courgette pasta, courgette risotto, courgette pizza, courgette fritatta, courgette bread, courgette cake and far too many other things to list.  I even tried making jam with them (it was OK...but not the greatest jam I have ever made).

The potatoes also did really well.  I still have a couple of rows left that need digging up.  We also harvested 1 giant pumpkin, which I cooked and froze into pumpkin pie sized portions (12 bags from just 1 pumpkin).  This was little T's first ever taste of pumpkin pie and he loved it.  We also have a ton of butternut squash still waiting to be harvested.



Autumn is definitely here now though. The mornings are chilly and the leaves on the trees are turning the most beautiful russet and gold.  There are still a few flowers dotted here and there and the odd bee buzzing around.  



Even though the weather is getting colder and the nights are drawing in, there is still time for some more planting.  In the mini green house we have some turnips, swede, kohl rabi, cabbages and kale seedlings growing that we will overwinter... 



...and little T now has his own patch of garden.  I made him a small 4 by 4 square foot garden, that I will talk about more in another post.

I will just leave you with a few of our favourite courgette recipes, so that if you too have a glut next year, you will know what to make with them...

By for now
Catherine
x







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Tuesday 11 April 2017

Apologies for Being AWOL!

Hello everyone.  I must start this post with an apology for being away for so long...  I have been caught up with my Facebook page (I try to post daily there...) and have also been super busy with blanket orders.  I thought it was about time I shared with you all, some of the things I have been up to over the last few months...

Now that the weather is warming up, little T and I have been spending more and more time at our allotment.  We even have some plants growing there now.  It's so exciting.  I cannot tell you how happy it makes me feel just being there and watching my "piece of earth" changing from a bare patch to something green and growing.  You can see the photos I took when we first got our allotment in this post here...

We have an amazing neighbour who has been very kind and helpful, who generously gave us some onion sets, broad beans, strawberry runners and some rhubarb plants from his plot.  We planted them late last year when we first moved in and now they are really starting to grow.  Last week we took some rhubarb home and I made the most delicious crumble with it and today we noticed the first flowers on our strawberry plants.  Little T was so excited, "we're going to get some strawberries mummy" he said with a big smile on his face.  

Onions...



strawberries...


...and broad beans, along with a few weeds.  They seem to grow faster than the plants.



Now I couldn't make a post without some crochet.  So I have been very busy here with custom orders and my shop has been doing really well.  There are too many blankets to put into one post, so I will share with you some of my favourites...

I have always loved ombre colour schemes and feeling very inspired by the Paintbox Blanket by Heather Leal over at The Patchwork Heart, I decided to play around with my yarn stash.  Instead of making one large blanket, I took Heather's idea and used it to make individual baby blankets and was very pleased with the results...

Red and pink


Purple and pink



Orange and yellow...




... all with stripes of silver in between the colour changes.

Most recently I have been having a Cath Kidston phase.  Taking my inspiration from her gorgeous designs.

Granny Flowers...


Patchwork...


and one for the boys...


...had to do a little research to find some boys colours.  I found a really cute pair of baby joggers on her website which you can see here... 

Well that's all for now, it's nice to be back and I promise to add some photos of the allotment when I can.  I will try not to leave it so long next time.

Please head over to my Facebook Page for daily posts.


Ta ta for now

Catherine
x











Thursday 13 October 2016

Might I Have a Bit of Earth?




"Might I," quavered Mary, "might I have a bit of earth?"
In her eagerness she did not realise how queer the words would sound and that they were not the ones that she had meant to say.  Mr Craven looked quite startled.
"Earth!" he repeated.  "What do you mean?"
"To plant seeds in - to make things grow - to see them come alive."

The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett


As a child I read this book many times.  The Secret Garden always invoked feelings of magic and mystery, of old dead things coming back to life and of birds and woodland creatures.  This is the kind of garden I have always dreamed of having.  The garden that has lived in my imagination, hiding, waiting, patiently for it's chance to become more than just a dream.  

Living in a small flat as we do.  We do not have a garden.  Not any kind of garden at all... and this is something I have longed for, for many years.  Particularly now that I have my own child who would also like to make things grow and see them come alive...

So.... today we got an allotment!



I cannot tell you how excited I am, little T too.  All week he has been asking me "When are we getting the allotment mummy?"
It is obviously going to need a lot of work.  I have little to no gardening experience so this is definitely going to be one hell of a challenge. 

It has a small shed in desperate need of attention.  Half of it blew away in last weeks gales...


 and its full of rubbish;


but it does have a lovely little cherry tree that someone must have planted fairly recently.


So finally, at long last I have my little bit of earth.

Have a great day
Catherine
x

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