seeds

April 27, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)34 Comments

My goodness it's been a wet and windy week here. I had planned to get out in the garden and plant my broad bean and carrot seeds direct into the beds but I'm really not a wet weather person and knitting on the sofa has held a much stronger appeal! Those seeds that I planted back in march and early april are growing into strong little plants and I'm looking forward to getting them into the raised beds in the next few weeks.

Seeds3

I love watching seedlings grow from a shrivelled brown dot into a big green plant – it's truly magical. These broccoli, cabbage and lettuce seedlings have a lot more growing to do but when they're fully grown and tended with care I'm hoping they'll reward me with a tasty summer feast!

On the subject of seeds, I was planning to send a friend some seeds that I collected from my garden last year but the little brown packets that I put them into looked so ordinary and plain and I had wanted them to be more of a gift. So I sat down with a few left over bits of yarn and fiddled about on ideas for a little pouch to hold seed packets. After a few prototypes of different sizes I finally settled on a design which can also hold an i-phone or similar sized gadget.

Pouch 2

I thought I'd write it up as a little pattern, so give me a few days or so and I'll hopefully have it ready to share with you.

Hopefully the wind and rain will abate a little on Sunday as it's the big day for Amy and me and the others talking part in the sponsored walk for CHIPs. The forecast is not looking good though, we'll be looking forward to cups of tea, hot chocolate and cake at the finish line, and coming home to a hot bath!

Stay warm and dry wherever you are this weekend x

making winter February

February 23, 2012 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

Part of the Making Winter series started by Silverpebble and Thriftyhousehold.

Actually it's difficult to think about winter because today feels decidedly spring-like. The sun is shining and the forecast is for temperatures of 15^oc, which is a far cry from the snow and freezing weather of early February. The warmer weather makes me want to get outside and tackle all of the garden jobs that I've been too wimpish to face in the cold winds. But first I need to do a little planning, so this morning after the children went off the school I got out my seed box and started organising my veggie garden.

Sitting and pondering what to grow and where is one of my favourite end-of-winter jobs and a nice way to celebrate the arrival spring (oh please say we're done with the snow for this year!)

So, after I finish my elevensies cup of tea and cheese scone I'll be donning my wellies and heading off outside. The beds need tidying up after the weight of the snow dislodged the protective plastic and I'll be digging in some chicken poo and composted kitchen peelings to top up the nutrient levels. Then comes the fun part of planting seeds into little coir pellets – they come as compressed discs and swell delightfully after you add water. Then they're ready for you to drop in a couple of seeds and get the magic started!

Hooray for the end of winter (hopefully!) and for the start of making some delicious summer veg!

PS: The herb labels and green seed tidy came from Sarah Raven x

garden stuff

mixed fortunes

July 17, 2011 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)29 Comments

Toby had a couple of hours of respite on Saturday which went quite well. He's visiting for a few hours at a time and building up to a full day at the end of August. It was lovely to have a little weekend time to myself (Amy was busy writing a story) and I made the most of it by dodging the rain showers and tidying up the fruit and veg beds.

Some things have done really well this year – french beans among them. These are a delicious yellow variety called Rocquencourt and we've had loads.

Other things have not grown so well, including my potatoes. I dug up a whole potato sack that I'd planted with 5 tubers back in March and this was all I got for my weeks of careful tending!