The Early May Bank Holiday Weekend

For Star Wars fans........................ May the 4th be with you! - and if you aren't a fan then you'll wonder what the idiot woman is talking about!

I can't remember what Easter Bank Holiday was like weather wise without looking back on the blog, but it was probably cold and wet.

Hopefully  this Early May Bank Holiday weekend is good as there are several things happening in villages around that need dry weather to be successful. A bluebell wood open, a flower festival, a Tudor reconstruction day, car-boot sales (of course) and village yard sale. Not sure I shall get to all of them and after it poured with rain all day yesterday some might be a bit soggy underfoot.

Other than yesterdays wash out, this week has been a good week, much better than the week before when I felt a bit under the weather on a couple of days and missed the Over 60's meeting and wasn't able to look after the Grandchildren after school one day - very annoying.

The World Snooker Championship on TV has been interesting as so many of the top seeded players were knocked out, and only one - the 12th seed-  got to the semis. More importantly in the World of Sport is the chance this weekend for Ipswich Town Football Club to get automatic promotion to the Premier League - that means a lot for the Town in many ways. If they end up in the play-offs for the the chance to go up then I fear a match against our Norfolk rivals - Norwich City FC - in which Norwich will win, get promoted and be able to gloat for another year!

Thursday evening was eventful as a fire engine raced by the bungalow and then 30 minutes later two more with blue lights went through the village, then an ambulance went by one way and another a few minutes later going the other way. I wondered what on earth was happening. Heard later that the fire engines were for a fire in a commercial building  a few miles away but no idea what the ambulances were doing - don't think they were connected to the fire.

I've been grateful this week for.............

• Some good fine, sunny and warm days at last
• Being able to get the pots for the greenhouse plants filled and ready
• Planting out the two squash plants and getting them cat and bird proofed
• More leek plants found in the pet/garden shop in Diss, planted out and protected as above
• Getting the sweetcorn seeds sown in their peat pots in the greenhouse. 
• Lots of good reading
• Finding a church open to visit after finding one locked
• Getting a 'foot lady' to sort out a problem - no more info on that one - Ugh!
• Sorting more photos from their old albums into the new storage boxes.

Here's a favourite - me on my big trike aged about 4. I didn't have a two wheeled bike (and no such thing as stabilisers)  until quite late as there was nowhere to learn to ride it. Our house was right beside a busy A road and the back yard was a rough builders yard - as you can see in the photo.

I'm  shall return on Monday with some more old photos - you have been warned!

Have a good Bank Holiday Weekend for everyone here and a good ordinary weekend for those elsewhere.

Sue 

Leek Plants Found At Last But...........

 Last year I got a small tray of leek plants from the pet and garden shop in Diss at the end of March and they gave me some nice autumn leeks. I looked both times I was in town at the end of March and early April but they hadn't got any this year. None at boot sales either or out the front of Asda or QD. Finally found some on Stowmarket market flower stall. £3.50 and there were more than 30 plants.

Got them planted out on Saturday and covered to keep next door neighbours cat and the pigeons off them. 

But on Tuesday morning I found that Bl***y cat from next door had somehow pushed it's way under the net hoop cover, trampled many of the seedlings and left a pile of poo in one corner. - Yuck. Hate that cat! The net cover is now pegged down everywhere along all edges, hopefully the remaining leeks will grow on without anymore disturbance.

Also put the Climbing French Bean plants out. They are much earlier than I usually get them going so needed extra protection They are surrounded by the wire cage that I got to put leaves in for rotting down, (the leaves never did rot down, I put them in a dustbin now). Then I wrapped a piece of fleece around the outside - well pegged. Hopefully that will be enough to protect from cats, birds, any late frosts  or high wind. 

Thank heavens I did protect from the wind as on Monday morning we had strong gusts of wind in amongst the pouring rain - really nasty weather for mid April.

My home raised leek plants for winter got lost under the courgettes last year which was a bad mistake. I've sown some this year but no sign of them yet - they are one of those things that have never done well for me and when Colin was going round the County bridge inspecting all those years ago he found a house where an old boy always sold huge bundles of well grown leek plants every spring and he'd  come home with dozens to plant out.

I've been covering the greenhouse plants with a double layer of fleece every night but thought I'd  lost the aubergine plants yesterday morning - I took the fleece off early morning and I reckon it was still too cold and they all collapsed. Thankfully they perked up later - I brought them inside last night as temps were due to be down to 1℃.

Growing food is a constant battle against everything!

But look at the Raspberry canes - with luck there will be more fruit than last year. They are looking so well for their second fruiting year.

Back Tomorrow - when I've stopped crying over lost plants!

Sue

A Bit About Leeks

 The tray of leek seedlings that I bought from the pet/garden shop in Diss early this year have been really good they will soon be coming to an end, a couple have already run to seed even though I've been eating them as much as possible - especially in a Leek and Bacon Pilaff.

Leeks are so useful and often a silly price to buy. There are 4 recipes on my recipe page as well as the pilaff and of course they can be added to any casserole type meals.

I've still got my book - 'The Potted History of Vegetables' by Lorraine Harrison' so had a look to see what it said.

Colour lithograph by Elisa Champin from Album Vilmorin circa 1850-1895

Remains of early leek type plants have been found in Egyptian tombs and they were definitely eaten by the Greeks and Romans. Early varieties had a more pronounced bulb.  Leeks haven't always had white shafts topped with green leaves as in the C19 some had yellow stems and the foliage of some varieties turn violet. The book says there was also a type of wild leek that still grows in parts of France and in Canada and some American states known as Ramp (but a picture looks more like the plant we know as Ramsons or Wild Garlic)

Leeks are well known for being the National symbol of Wales and legend says that as the Welsh went into battle against the Saxons in 640, St David told them to wear a leek in their hats to distinguish between friend and foe. And as they were victorious, the leeks became a symbol of good luck. ( This is the story in the book - someone will correct me if it's wrong I'm sure!)

The leeks we eat now often originate from a variety bred in Scotland by a Mr Hardcastle from Musselburgh in 1834.

Unfortunately the leek seedlings that I grew myself are not a success story. I ended up with almost no space for them so had to squeeze the seedlings in beside the courgettes and  purple sprouting broccoli and both lots got overwhelmed, so I'll either have to go without all winter or see how much they are and buy, ..................annoying and only myself to blame.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Now it's Low Spend September

 I'm now doing a very low spend September as there's plenty in the freezer and in the cupboards and no big expenses due this month.

I treated the family to the sunflower maze visit but after that its tight purse-strings! 

Sadly there are a chunk of expenses that can't be avoided and happen without me even leaving the house  - Council tax, charity, phone and broadband direct debits and electric at the end of the month and if I didn't leave the house I wouldn't need diesel for the car but I do have to drive so can't avoid it. There might be a couple of unavoidable small expenses and there's a birthday later in the month but otherwise I'm hoping for minimum spend.........although I'm getting back to the swimming pool now the children are back at school so that will be £3 a week and exercise group is £1.50 each week.

Some September savings so far...........

Three of the huge sweet pointy peppers on the one remaining pepper plant turned red so they've been chopped and gone into the freezer - there are 3 left . I put loads of green peppers in earlier before they were ruined by the slugs(?) plus the £1's worth of red sweet peppers from the market stall and as soon as the other three are red they'll go in the freezer and there will be enough to last almost to pepper season next year.

I'm planning to use my one and only butternut squash in a vegetable curry to portion up for the freezer and yesterday I got lots of the huge tomatoes skinned and into the freezer in case I want some for chutney later. I've frozen them first individually on a tray then if they are not needed for chutney they'll be usable one or two at a time for cooking instead.

There are a few beetroot left, runner beans are doing well and the sweetcorn cobs are just about  to be ready and there are plenty of leeks too. In the greenhouse the one remaining cucumber plant made a miraculous recovery with the cooler weather before this week and is looking hopeful. Plenty of tomatoes still coming and even one courgette plant has started producing again.

 I saved some fuel yesterday by not going to look at the last of 2023's Domestic and Rural Bygones Sale  at Campsea Ashe Auctions. After looking online and finding this sale was mainly 'leftovers' from an antique dealer and nothing very interesting it wasn't worth the journey although  I liked the description - 

To include from the estate of antiques dealers Richard & Miranda Goodbrey 'A Collection of Chattles from their Home, Workshops & Storerooms'

We don't use that word chattles very often nowadays. In Suffolk (maybe elsewhere too) we have a word for food left on the plate by children - 'chates' which surely must come from the same root.

I'm saving more diesel (and parking fees) today by not going to Ipswich to visit any of the buildings open especially for National Heritage Open Days. Not because I don't want to, as there are several I'd like to see inside, but walking round town in predicted temps of 29℃ doesn't really appeal. There's always next year - God willing!

On Thursday it was good to have a visit from Essex friends who I've not seen for 4 years. Before Colin died we visited them or they came to us several times a year and camped on the campsite in several summers. They are about to become Grandparents for the first time so I was able to pass on some of the baby toys that all my lot have grown out of. 

They kindly brought me some huge onions and a jar of A's proper home made marmalade and went home with some leeks as well as the toys.

So that was week one of Low Spend September.

Did anybody watch the Cycling Tour of Britain passing through my part of Suffolk on TV on Thursday? It was quite interesting to see the roads and  places I know so well from the air.

 I've gone to watch them speeding by twice in past years, when they've had a stage in Suffolk, once in Friston near the smallholding and more recently through Eye just up the road from here  so didn't bother this year. They are always gone by in a flash anyway!

I'm looking forward to World Cup Rugby Union matches on TV for the next few weeks. Is it really 20 years since England won? They have no hope this year!

Back Monday.

Sue

I Must Stop Finding Nice Greetings Cards + The Job List.

 I'm sure there are now more than enough cards in the card box for this years birthdays. But when I spot someone is selling nice greetings cards for pence it's difficult to resist looking through what they have.

These were the most recent find - all from one person who originally, when I asked "How Much", said "they might be £1 each....... depending! "  I said if they were going to be £1 each I would be putting them back! So he sold me all 5 for £1 instead - very odd.

The owl one unfolds to make a 3D card and has a £3.95 label on the back - bargain.

At the same boot sale I got a couple of things for Middle Grandson as I'm going to be looking after him on Mondays now and again during the rest of the school term.

I think he probably has something similar already as he is the most fanatical and knowledgeable 3 year old dinosaur fan I have ever known, but they will be new for here. £2.50 for these 2 things.

There were several garden jobs that needed doing this week, - at the beginning of the week I wrote a list to spur me on

Raise the net frame that's over the beetroot

Take the net frame off the early leeks

Sow more beetroot seeds

Prick out  the second lot of leek plants

Plant out squash plants

Sow the sweetcorn

Plant out the Climbing French bean plants

Cut back the perennial geranium over hanging the front path

Give a really good watering to all the new things I've planted in the last month

Weeding

Weeding the patio

and more weeding

Lots got done..........except the weeding!

I keep hearing about the lovely weather in the west of the country - here in the east we've had sun but lots of cloud rolling in from the north and bringing with it a chilly north and north east wind. It's so Not Fair!....stamps feet!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Day 21 + Seedlings

I've always grown some leeks from seed - they are so expensive to buy from the supermarket in winter and well worth growing. I had a fail last year when all the plants got trampled on when the new oil tank was moved in or they were eaten by pigeons - not sure which. I bought new seeds for this year and will sow later.

Then I spotted trays of seedlings outside the pet/garden shop in Diss and thought it would be good to have some earlier leeks too. They were £1.90 for these below which is much cheaper than buying from one of the garden seed catalogues where they are £7.95 for 20 plants.

I gently lifted the seedlings from these pots and teased them separate to re-pot as they are still too small to go out. There were 26 in total.

Meanwhile indoors all 8 Aubergine seedlings are growing but only 2 pepper seeds germinated so I sowed a few more..............and then five more appeared from the first sowing! I may have too many peppers! Yesterday the tomato seeds went into the electric propagator - just 2 varieties this year and both have been grown before. Usually I try something new and I do more different sorts so I hope there's no crop failure. Just Cucumbers left to do indoors now.

Meal 21 was a Fish Pie. Using a couple of small pieces of the frozen White Fish (which is actually Basa), I poached them in milk/water then used it to make a white sauce and added a handful of the mixed vegetables and a hard boiled egg, plenty of pepper and some parsley. Topped with mashed potato that I'd cooked up in the first week and frozen. With a little cheese sprinkled over before final cooking.

 Now considering I'd been avoiding mashed potato since Colin died (he loved mash and I don't) this was a strange thing for me to make. But it was the obvious way to use a couple of pieces of the Asda Value Range White Fish which were 7 small pieces for £2.50.

It certainly needed the black pepper and a little salt and could have done with more cheese too. But it was good and very filling which is what's needed if you are trying to make meals without spending too much.

Running Total £64.25 + £2.20 box of 8 decaf frothy coffees (up 20p from last week) for the end of third week = £66.45

There are two things here from the Value Ranges that I will use again, the fish and the bag of grated cheddar cheese. I've used the cheese for so many things and still some left, lasting much longer than a block of cheese (mainly because I'm not tempted to eat it by the slice like I do with a block of Extra Mature cheddar!)

Did you watch the little bit of annual tradition on TV yesterday? The University Boat Race is something I've watched as long as I can remember, always supporting Cambridge as it's just over the county border from Suffolk. 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Food Production in Early July

 Things are coming along OK - although we need rain. I filled up the big water butt from the mains a couple of weeks ago and now it's empty again.

Had the first picking of French Climbing Beans yesterday. I discovered one of the plants absolutely covered with Black Fly - never had that on this sort of beans before. I filled a spray bottle with water and washing up liquid and tried that - hope it works as I don't want to lose the plants so soon and also don't want to use anything nasty.

 

Sweetcorn plants - too close ( a common theme) , behind them is the space where I shall put the Kale and Brussels Sprout plants when they arrive. I've got the wire netting frames BiL made for me and enviromesh to put round and over them.

 

Beetroot - too close with a couple of rows of leeks squashed in behind them and 4 courgette plants - Two too many!

 

Onions in front - which I won't bother with again ( don't know why I grew them this year as I'd decided not to grow them again a few years ago - cheap to buy and too dry is the reason). There are 3 squash plants - with room to trail - just about! and empty canes for the runner beans on the right some have been sown here and some in a small tray and the French Climbing on the left.

In the greenhouse are too many tomato plants, 3 cucumber plants at the end, one aubergine standing on the water butt and one more on the ground. I moved one tomato plant to outside a few weeks ago but could really have moved two more out before they got too big to move.

Four pepper plants, the basil and two more aubergines standing up on the staging

 

Pointy peppers beginning to get pointy

 

Some of the aubergines flowers have set but others just fell off. There will be enough to a big batch of make my favourite aubergine/tomato pasta sauce

Nice to get back to growing food again after my enforced year off last year. 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

The Seed Catalogues

They've all arrived, so I went through the seed tin and wrote a list (always a list!). I don't need much but do like to pick the varieties.

D.T Brown are local to Suffolk, have some good choices and cheapest postage. I need beetroot,  tomato, cucumber, sweet red  'pointy' peppers, leeks, curly parsley, nasturtium and basil. Then maybe sweetcorn...... and here's a weird thing........... I could have sworn that sometime last year  I bought a packet of mini sweetcorn to grow to use for stir frying BUT the packet in the seed  tin are ordinary corn cobs. I even mentioned finding them at a car boot sale in a blog post. So why aren't they what I thought they were? ............No idea.

I'm ordering a big plum type Tomato that I've not tried before called Big Mama , a mini plum that I grew last year - Sungrape. and for something completely different a yellow grape variety called Ildi . I've just 2 cucumber Euphya seeds from last year so have ordered some Louisa, another variety I've grown in the past. Sweet Peppers will be Bullhorn Mix. I have a few very old leek seeds so I'll get some new and a new large pack of beetroot to add to the pack of Bolthardy left from last year. The rest  - parsley, nasturtium and basil I can get from anywhere and probably cheaper - as long as I remember to write them on a shopping list.  D.T Browns don't have a mini sweetcorn so I'll look elsewhere for them, my Essex friends love to grow lots of corncobs so I could pass the packet onto them because I don't want to grow the big cobs.

Apart from the above the other things I'm planning to grow are the same as last year...... French Climbing beans and Runner Beans - both from seed I saved from what I grew. Aubergines, chard, Mange tout peas, lettuces and courgettes.I also have  4 butternut squash seeds to hopefully grow better than last year when only 1 plant survived and produced just 1 squash!

Back Soon
Sue