I've been given a small fruit press and it's the perfect size for making small amounts of fruit juices. Last year I gave away more than three quarters of the grapes that I'd grown. This year I'll turn them into juice and freeze it. I'll do the same with the apples and pears and might have a dabble at making wine. The press is about the size of a bucket so isn't going to need vast quantities of fruit to make it worthwhile
I love this time of year when everything looks sparkling and green. The new leaves always have a wonderful freshness don't they. It helps that the sky is a beautiful clear blue and not that horrible drab grey. Each time that I step outside into my back garden the scent from the wallflowers stops me in my tracks.
If you have followed me for a long time you may recall when Tony and I went to a Softpot workshop. Sadly the lady that ran the course passed away not very long afterwards. Well last night we were over at our friends for a meal and Elaine happened to mention making a softpot for a bonsai tree. They're off to their house in France on Monday but when they get home we're going to make a softpot or two. I'll have to dig out my supplies and it'll be a great way to destash some more crafting stuff.
The lovely warm sunshine lately is really helping the flowers to bloom. I'm absolutely loving the fragrance of wallflower and narcissi in my garden. The warmth brings the fragrance out beautifully
I've been using my dies cutting machine to cut up empty cider cans. The flowers look really pretty hanging in my garden
And yesterday I picked my first ever home grown asparagus. To be honest I much prefer the taste of the white nine star broccoli
Look what's just arrived. I've spent the past half hour deciding on the perfect spot and filling it with compost. I've plans to fill it with flowers so that it's pretty all summer. Through the winter I'll grow brightly coloured chard. It'll look gorgeous and we love chard both cooked and raw.
I don't know how I've managed to wait this long to sow my main crop of tomatoes but it's definitely worth hanging on. The plants soon catch up with those sown earlier and it'll be far too cold to put them outside for at least another month. The difficulty this time was choosing which varieties to grow from my huge stash of seeds. I've settled for 11 different varieties and plan on doing a taste test in the summer. Everything in the porch is coming along nicely and hopefully I'll have my first Viola Cocktail tomatoes in month from now.
I can't believe it's almost April. Seems no time since we danced the night away at the New Year's eve ceilidh. We're off to whist this afternoon and the country dancing group tonight. I'm absolutely loving being retired and having all the time in the world to do whatever I choose to do. Giving up invigilating was one of the best decisions I could have made. No more trekking out at the crack of dawn. I'd got to the point where it felt like a real chore. Now I get to spend all the lovely warm spring days working in my garden. This it what it looks like right now.
After losing my closest friend last year I hadn't felt like going for a walk on my own. Yesterday I woke up with the urge to get out for a walk. And that's exactly what I did. Then this morning I went for another walk. Though it's not the same without Marian I think I'll start walking every day again. And it looks like I could certainly use the exercise. Our ceilidh friends sent me a little video clip from Friday's ceilidh. Crikey I've piled on the pounds. I do always look big next to Tony as he's shorter than me but I think I'll trade him in for a taller bloke just to make me look slimmer. 😃 😊
Tony and I have spent the loveliest evening entertaining our friends Brenda and Brian. I love cooking for them as they are such good company and always so appreciative. They took the leftovers home so that we aren't tempted to indulge ourselves with loads of carbs.
Brian keeps chickens so I pulled a tatty cabbage and a load of chard leaves for them as they're struggling to source cheap greenstuff for the hens. Pulling the cabbage means that as soon as the current cold spell is finished I'll be able to get that particular raised bed ready for planting. There's plenty of kohlrabi seedlings coming on nicely and they'll be big enough to plant out in a few weeks.
