Category: garden stuff

garden stuff · general stuff · spring

spring at last!

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)35 Comments

Here in our garden there’s one true sign that spring has arrived – the blossoming of our old plum tree.

She pretties herself up with masses of frothy white blossom and if you wander around the garden at dusk there’s such a delicate, beautiful scent in the air – for me the signature scent of spring.

It’s late this year though. When I look back at previous years posts about blossoming they were all in february or march and this year here we are in April.

Still better late than never as they say! Time to get planting the veg beds in earnest now.

autumn · chicken stuff · garden stuff

tidy up time

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)26 Comments

The last few days have been spent in the garden where everything is winding down. We’ve picked the last of the tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries and carrots and have lots of onions now in storage. There are a few beans still producing, a couple of potato bags left to dig up and the cabbages, kale and broccoli are still going strong. But it definitely feels like we’re getting down to the last of the yummies our garden has to offer us for this year.

We’ve had a bumper crop of grapes this year – although we mostly leave them for the birds as they’re not very sweet.

Now the garden is being tided and cleared ready for digging in some compost to get everything ready for next season and then a nice winter rest. The chickens have been helping me tidy up – they do a great job of breaking up the soil!

It’s been lovely to watch them roaming around outside of their run which is possible once again now that Toby isn’t spending so much time in the garden (a small boy who likes to put anything in his mouth and run around barefoot does not mix well with large quantities of chicken poo on the grass!)

garden stuff · summer

herbidacious

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)27 Comments

Not much knitting going on here at the moment – most of the action is out in the garden. This week I’ve been picking herbs and hanging them up to dry before crumbling them and stashing them in a jar, ready to add a splash of summer to winter tomato sauces.

I’ve found a bulldog clip is really useful in drying them quickly rather than bunching them with string which takes longer for the stems to dry out.
Hope there’s a little sunshine with you this weekend.