Category: garden stuff

garden stuff · summer

mixed fortunes

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!

Pretty pathetic really, my harvest doesn’t even fill a small paper bag!

Don’t think I’ll be bothering with tatties next year, unless anyone has any good growing tips?

garden stuff · general stuff · wildlife

my little helper

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the wonderfully wise comments on the previous post. I suppose I was looking for a little reassurance that my parental compass wasn’t completely out of whack! It is incredibly reassuring and heartening that so many people feel the same way about raising children. I loved reading all of the comments especially since they were from such a diverse group of women and yet echo the same strong maternal instincts to protect and nurture. Thank you again x

Amy’s enjoying stretching her wings gently and has been out for a bike ride with friends over the weekend – it’s good to give her freedom to do fun stuff with her friends that doesn’t involve wearing too much make-up!

Over the weekend the temperatures here have soared and since this comes hot-on-the-heels of a rainy week, everything is growing well in the garden. I expect the first harvest of french beans in a week or so and we’ve been enjoying fresh picked lettuce for a few weeks now. The strawberries are also at their best and I’ve been picking a delicious bowlful every few days.

Thankfully I’ve got a little helper living in the strawberry patch who has been keeping the slugs in check for me. Isn’t he a sweetie?

crafts & knitting · garden stuff · spring

shoots

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)58 Comments

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s nostalgia on the last post – thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reminisce with me.

Here things have been hotting up in the garden and all my veggies are getting ready for planting out. I love growing things from seed – it’s like magic really, especially with something prolific like a courgette. You take a tiny wizened seed, poke it into some damp compost and after a week or so you have the most perfect little seedling – looking just like a child would draw one. After a little watering and tending for a couple of months you have a huge bushy plant popping out fat and delicious courgettes.

Lettuce and leaves are quick to reap rewards from too. I sowed some rainbow chard and oak leaf lettuce around 8 weeks ago,

and look at them now!

My little courgette seedlings have me feeling all inspired and so I’ve been playing around with charts and have knitted a new seedling dress design…

I hope to have a bunny to wear this along with a few friends ready by the end of the month.