It's Half Past June Tomorrow, Things I didn't Know and Thank You

Thanks to everyone for comments all week. I often don't look at the laptop at all in the evenings so don't always catch comments from places behind us timewise until next day, by which time it seems a bit late to reply. But I do read and appreciate every comment - I'd be talking to myself without comments, and I do plenty of that anyway!

Thank you also to people who have clicked the follower button to get past the 850 which it was stuck on for months, except when it went down to 848 one day. Not sure it's accurate with ups and downs so frequently.

Racing through the month as usual, I've watched some of the Queens Club tennis women's matches but I'm looking forward more to the men's matches next week. The weather has been lovely, we've had the best of it in the East.

 BiL popped over with the huge plastic tub that I'd asked him to drill drainage holes in and helped me lift the bay tree from it's old pot into the new bigger one. I need to give it a feed of something then it should be OK for a few more years. 

In the greenhouse the cucumbers are looking the best, tomatoes are a bit lanky without many trusses as yet but I spotted the first tomato has set. Peppers showing signs of greenfly, I'm keeping a close eye on the leaves. I've netted the long raspberry bed, they are going to be early this year which is good as there'll be no strawberries from BiL, his strawberry patch is poor this year after many good years.

And the things I didn't know?

 I didn't know #1.............. that 'they' had altered the goalposts and from April the amount payable for car road tax had changed.  We bought our Fiesta, not new but nearly, in 2017 when we needed something more reliable than our very old Fiesta for getting to Addenbrooks hospital every week. It had a big advantage as it just fell into a category when cars with less than a certain amount of CO2 emissions didn't have to pay any road tax. A government thing to get people to buy smaller cars.  It's not needed any payment for re-taxing since, until this year when the reminder came and I found I had to pay £20. I don't mind paying £20 as it's much less than many cars owners have to pay but no one told me it had changed. 

I didn't know #2.......... that the new umbrella that I won in a raffle last year and hadn't seen for months was under the front passenger seat of the  car - I found it wedged into a small space against the seat runner fixings thingy. I assumed I'd left it somewhere and it was lost forever.

I didn't know #3................that my annoying knee problem is probably the start of osteoarthritis until I saw a physio during the week. Here in Suffolk we can refer ourselves to a physio without seeing a doctor. Fill in a form online and then they email helpful exercises - which I'd been doing like a 'good girl'! Then after a while they contact to see how you are and to book an actual appointment. 

 Osteoarthritis  used to be called "wear and tear" and is due to loss of cartilage around the knee joint.  He suggested joining a physio led exercise/arthritis management group. I started two days later, it's six weeks initially,  all free. Some exercises are similar to what we do at our Keep Moving Group but done for 2 minutes and then move onto the next - Oh, so That's what circuits are! 

I also don't know what the weather is going to be like this weekend but hope Sunday is fine as there are yard/garage sales in Son's village and they want to get rid of some unwanted bits.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I'll be back next week.

Much Less Spent This Month - And An Explanation for Ana and Others

 After the expenses of April with several annual bills falling due plus dentist and heating oil, May was much better. The only known extras above the normal monthly spending were ED and EGS birthdays and car breakdown insurance.

The normal outgoings are Council Tax, Phone and broadband, monthly electric bill, charity donation, diesel for the car (two lots this month as I've been out and about) totalled £375 and food of course. 

Then there is always something that needs buying in a house- this month I needed new AA batteries and some mastic to redo around the shower enclosure base. All was going well with not too much spent until the cold tap in the en-suite started drip, drip, dripping. BiL looked but said it's one of those new ones without a washer but with a 'cartridge' thing instead, and you have to have the right one. He didn't fancy the job - so I had to call in a proper plumber! Got a recommendation for someone local and it was soon sorted but cost £85! Yikes. - and that was someone reliable who didn't rip off old people!

Garden spending totalled £9.38 for parsley from aldi, courgette plants, bean plants, trailing thyme and a clay flowerpot  from car-boot sales.

A wide top small clay pot for the plant stand to replace one that was starting to be frost damaged

Food spending was up this month, after two lower spend months. Mainly due to replacing items that had been used up to restock the freezer and cupboards. Although prices of things like milk and other dairy products have gone up. I had a pensioners discount Fish and Chip meal for £5 as I'd not had one for a few months and coffee out three times. 

A few frugal notes for those who like to read the list.............

• Gift of bundle of  Rhubarb from my sister. Mine is not doing well.
• Big bundle of asparagus for £1.50 from boot sale, made me two meals with poached egg and wholemeal bread.
• Eggs from roadside stall are still just £2 a dozen
• Found a really good quality t-shirt for £3.49 from charity shop. Lovely jade green and looks hardly worn.
• 4 x 25L bags of free compost from District Council giveaways
• BiL had a small bag of tile cement in his garage which I borrowed so I could re-attach some of the quarry tiles on the front step.
• Reading library books for free
• Home made bread from the bread-maker - 50/50 wholemeal/white this month
• Dishwasher used only every 2 or 3 days
• Washing machine used twice a week only
• Tumble dryer not used all month
• Lights not needed until 8.30 in the evenings for reading.
• Two big bags dishwasher salt for £2 from boot sale
• New kitchen sieve from boot sale 50p
• No flowers bought - I've been bringing in a few roses from the garden.
• Given up feeding the birds for the summer as the huge starling family are clearing out the mealworms and fat balls in 10 minutes. Just leaves the starling proof sunflower heart feeder.
• Free referral to physio appointment for next month to look at my knee problem.
• Made 4 x Two cheese, onion, spinach puff pastry bakes  - instead of buying more 'vegetarian taste test' products.
• Cooked up a big batch of Quorn and vegetable korma curry - 10 meals total
• I put the refill filters for my water jug on my Amazon wish list and keep an eye on the prices because they go up and down. This month they went down by £3 to £9.99 for the pack of three so I ordered, I've still got one filter left in the cupboard so OK now for a year of good filtered water for the coffee maker and to drink with no limescale.
• I use Sensodyne small head toothbrushes and found packs with buy two get one free, so got two packs, 6 toothbrushes should last me a while. Sensodyne toothpaste is cheaper at Aldi than anywhere else.
• First few strawberries from my few plants and  handful of  Very early raspberries - they were a surprise find.

 Personal spending included the first  book find of the year from a boot-sale for £1 and then another for another £1, the old scrap book, mentioned earlier in the month. A much needed hair cut, exercise group, jigsaw puzzle and a new Puzzler Magazine. I also printed out a couple of grandchildren photos for my frames. The £10 spent at Sibton church for 5 books, a birthday card, coffee and sausage roll was added to the charity part of the accounts (clever accounting!)

Finally a special treat..........a   subscription to Discovery+ TV so I can watch the French Open Tennis. Just have to remember how to cancel after a month. Discovery+ has amalgamated with TNT Sports, and cost a lot more than last year , but I decided I'd rather have this than an outing to the Mid Suffolk Railway for their 1940s day, which I'd pencilled in the diary - especially as it was wet and chilly and I don't bother with the big Suffolk Agricultural Show now, so that's a saving of nearly £30 anyway. After the first 3 days of tennis there were still 6 Brits going into the second round of matches and Cam Norrie and Jack Draper both played well to get through. By Thursday evening all the women were out and just  three British men left, apparently that's the first time since 1968 that there have been three British men in the third round. There will be at least one of them in the 4th round as Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley play each other today. Still several Brits in various double matches which never get as much publicity.

Looking forward - June is usually a good low-spend month, the only extras above the normal are the annual payment for the Garden Waste Bin. But whenever I say it's going to be a low spend month something usually happens to upset that plan so I didn't ought to mention it - ooops too late! 

Have a good weekend and I'll be back soon. 

And here is my explanation of why I use the mobile library-

The mobile libraries (3 in Suffolk) travel around all the villages so that people can go on and choose books or collect books they have reserved on line, especially useful in villages that are many miles from a physical library building and especially useful for elderly who can't drive. We can reserve books on line and ask for them to be sent to any Suffolk library or to the mobile library. I have read so many books in my 70 years that most of what I read are new books by favourite authors and I rarely find books I want actually on the shelves.
If the books go to a library building they have to be collected within one week of arriving there whereas the mobile saves them up to bring all at once. Also I can keep books for up to two visits (that is 8 weeks) where as people borrowing from town libraries have them stamped for just 3 weeks.
Yes I could drive to a library but it seems silly to do that when I can stroll up the road once every four weeks to collect my books. If I was to use a town library I would need to drive to town (10 miles or 20 minutes) every week to collect my books.
The mobile library service is always under threat of stopping as it is gradually used less and less. When I worked on one we had 5 mobile libraries covering the whole County (several 100 villages) and visiting every two weeks. Now there are just 3 visiting every 4 weeks.
The mobile libraries have depots in 3 different parts of the County where they park and where all books waiting to go on the various routes are stored so my books are not actually somewhere where I can go and collect them at the moment. Hence hoping that the delivery van (a small van that takes reserved books and new books around to all 40 libraries in the County) will bring my books to my nearest library before the next mobile visit at the end of June.
For the last 20 years I have been using the mobile libraries as it's a case of use them or lose them.
.

The September Garden Helps The Purse

 After cutting and giving away the six marrows that had appeared while I was away on holiday last month the courgette plants recovered and I've had 5 more altogether and the sweetcorn are finally giving me some small cobs. Also here is very last tomato from the greenhouse, no green ones to bring in this year - a really poor year. These all came into the kitchen last Thursday.

I harvested a few more beetroot from BiL's garden and took home a handful of windfall cooking apples that one of the Keep Moving Group had brought in.

A week or two ago I bought British Coxes Apples from Aldi and wished  I hadn't, they were nowhere near ready to eat and horrible sour. Picked far too early. So I tried the first of my Falstaff from the garden and they are delicious. Won't need to buy any  apples for at least 3 weeks.

Falstaff Apples from the garden

And finally I've been picking a bowl of raspberries every 2 or 3 days for a couple of weeks  from the late fruiting canes and one last runner bean!

It's handy that the weather is cooperating so far this month, we've had better weather than many parts of the country - lots of sunshine. The raspberries have almost finished and it will soon be the end of them if we get much rain. 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Two Sides of June

The lightening flashed, the  thunder crashed, the rain came straight down in torrents and the wind blew the trees every which way.

But I'd got the first bowlful of raspberries from the garden and some long life cream in the fridge so summer was inside even if it wasn't outside.

Good job I picked the raspberries before the storm.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

The First Homegrown Food of 2024............

........was a small courgette from the greenhouse. I could have let it grow but cutting it will encourage others.

Later there will be plenty for all the courgette recipes but this time  it was grated and added to some part cooked and mashed frozen peas,  plus flour and an egg to make fritters - very green and colourful food again! I served them up with bacon and my home made tomato relish.

Also in the greenhouse the tomatoes are setting and there are cucumbers on the plants that will be ready in a few weeks - they grow like crazy once they get going. I need to check that recipe for the Sweet and Sour cucumber pickle so I'm ready for the glut.

This week I found a few raspberries off the canes that were here when I came. I cut them back each year and they seem to fruit at random times, producing a handful now and again from now until September. The row of summer fruiting canes that I planted are buzzing with bees all the time and looking hopeful for a good crop in July. My first three strawberries were ready from the small plants my sister gave me,  I added to some picked from BiL's strawberry bed - his are really getting going now.

The basil cuttings finally had enough roots for me to pot them up - 4  plants from my 79p pot bought from Aldi in the first week of May. 

Next door neighbour's cat is still causing me problems, there is one area of the three veg. beds unplanted. Does she use that bit? No - she pushes her way under, in and around all the fences, covers and barriers and digs up the leek plants instead!....again. I thought even a mouse wouldn't be able to get in but she managed to find a weak spot. I've used even more metal pegs to hold the netting down now - hopeful that the remaining leeks will be ready in the autumn.

Thank you for all the comments about Foxgloves yesterday - seems they are popping up in gardens everywhere and bees love them. Must be the only good thing to come from all the rain we have had.

Back Soon

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

Rounding Up

No exercise group this week as the village hall is having work done but as there were two lovely days on Monday and Tuesday, I got lots more clearing done in the garden and once again the garden waste bin is almost full just two days after being emptied.

I cleared the Passion flower right back to ground level as it was spreading everywhere and took the insect protection off the Purple Sprouting Broccoli, which promptly all fell over - they are too tall and leaning away from the fence. Might get something edible off them eventually.

It's been a week of endings in the garden

The last of............

..............the beetroot, as there weren't many I've only been eating now and again to spread the enjoyment.

..............the courgettes, one plant has lasted far longer than normal and I took 5 more courgettes off before pulling it up and adding to my compost bin.

.........the autumn raspberries, such a surprise at how many I've had considering there are only a few canes.

.........the tiny plum tomatoes, the very dead plants are now in the council garden waste bin and a bowl of tomatoes in the fridge.

.........the parsley plants, divided from a pot bought in the spring from Aldi, the section I put outside was eaten by slugs(?) and the two in the greenhouse had come to an end. Need to buy another pot to divide and over winter.

My church visits 'happened' to take me close to  Bridge Farm Barns, a cafe/gift shop/vintage shop place to look at what lovely things they have in for Christmas - very pricey though and I bought nothing except a coffee and cheese scone ( it would have been rude not to and I went without breakfast specially!)

When I got home I got my Christmas list book out of the drawer ready to start noting down presents including what I already have for the Christmas Hampers for my sister and sister in law. Checked what cards I have -  seem to have bought rather a lot half price in the January sales - plenty for this year for sure. The problem with having several family birthdays all within a few weeks in October and November is that it's difficult to think about Christmas presents when I've only just asked what they would like for birthdays.

Thursday was wet and as I drove to Diss for shopping I couldn't remember the last time I'd driven in rain as it's been another dry summer and early Autumn for us in Suffolk but the weather has become much more autumnal in the last couple of days.

This week I've been grateful for

• Fine warm weather for garden clearing and to save on heating oil
• Living in a quiet part of the world
• The food from my garden

I'll be back Monday - Hope you have a good weekend

Sue

Fruit

 I'm very disappointed with my Charles Ross apples from the 2 Minarette trees.

It's not the number - I wasn't expecting many as the trees are new, and it's not the size - they didn't get as much water as needed, but they are tasteless and  the texture is odd  -not nice and crisp.

They are supposed to be dual purpose but however small they are  I'm going to peel, core and slice and put them all in the freezer for winter. If I turn them into crumbles they'll be quite edible.

I hope next year the other Minarette, which is Falstaff, will have some delicious tasty apples like it did in it's first year.

In contrast to poor apples I've been eating a bowl of Autumn raspberries every other day for a couple of weeks and they are a really good treat.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

My Sunday Fruit 'Ration' *

Many thanks for comments over the last couple of days - apologies for not replying - I had to do a bit of Nanna duty.

 On Sunday I checked for more figs and yes, two more were ready and then a small splash of orange caught my eye high up above the fence between me and next door neighbour so I went for a closer look and yes,

 it was a passion fruit on the climber. I mentioned this passion flower plant a week or so ago when the first lovely flower appeared and now there's a fruit - just one - I'm not tempted to get a step ladder out to reach it even if it is edible.

But a much  more edible find was a few raspberries right on the tips of the canes that were here when I moved in. I still can't work out exactly what variety they are as some fruited back in early summer and the canes are all squashed together in a muddle in the narrow border.

* I also had an apple as part of my three-a-day portions of fruit, which seemed a bit boring after figs and late raspberries!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Inside and Outside

 Another Happy at Home In Suffolk week (well, mostly at home but I did have a trip out on Friday).

I've seen numerous Red Admirals but this is first Comma of the year, spotted on the dark purple Buddleia 

I ate the first and second lot of the climbing French beans this week, they don't seem to be producing many flowers so not sure how many beans I'll get. Wish I knew the reason for few flowers - I'll blame the weather.

First picking

The second picking of beans yesterday gave me enough for two meals - so that's already more than I had last year in the heat.

 And then there was one...........one single pear on the small pear tree after the other fell off in Monday's windy weather - and it wasn't even That windy.

The raspberries have finished, they've done well, with some to eat everyday from the first day of July to the 18th but the wasps have moved in now to damage the last few.

Below are my finds from last weeks Sunday boot sale. 2 birthday cards, 4 animals to add to the zoo collection, a Virago Modern Classic by Nina Bawden which sounded interesting and Hungry Hippos which is a game our children had years ago. Total spend £5.

I got the bigger gherkins all pickled and made a batch of cheese straws and outside started digging a space for the sink-pond to go into.

Had a day out and then another week had gone. The forecast for the weekend is a bit iffy so I'm not sure there will be any boot sale visiting but I must get the next batch of cucumbers pickled.

Hope your weekend plans go well.

I'll be back Monday

Sue

Halfway Through July Already

 "That would make a good pond for my garden" I said to youngest granddaughter as we were looking round the Domestic and Rural Bygones sale. I've had butler sink ponds before and they always do surprisingly well for such a small area. " I'd like a pond in your garden" she said............

so I left a bid of £6 - the lowest possible bid, fully expecting for someone to outbid me but they didn't so I had to trek back during the week to fetch it. One of the porters put it in the car but how to get it out again?

Nearly doing myself an injury I hauled it out and rolled it down into the wheelbarrow which I'd lined with an old blanket to make a bit of a cushion and took it round the back. Next I need BiL with his grinder machine thing to take off the waste fitting underneath and I'll nip up the road where they are building the new bungalows and ask the bricklayers for a small dollop of cement to block the plug-hole. Then I'll need to dig a hole so it can be set into the ground a little. Photos to follow........eventually. It will need oxygenating weed and water snails and then we shall see what happens.

First tomatoes from the greenhouse  this week - deliciously firm. Will there be 5 like this for the show in August? - Hopefully yes.

The greenhouse is full of green-ness. Peppers, aubergines, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley and one extra courgette plant that doesn't like being there. There's basil too but it missed the photo.

What else have I done this week? Ah yes, met up with Rachel-in-Norfolk for a catch up- she's already written on her blog about my soggy crumpets in Morrisons café - and no, that isn't a euphemism! 

I've exercised body with the Keep Moving Group and swimming and exercised mind with the daily NYT Wordle and Sudoku . Also read "At Mrs Lippincotes" by Elizabeth Taylor which is a Virago Modern Classic so should have been good for the brain although it wasn't exactly riveting - not a keeper. (Good news for the brain is that Only Connect and University Challenge are both back on Monday evening.)

 

Some tennis has been watched of course and a while spent pulling up all the dead giant Papaver poppies out the front. There is more weeding to be done in the back flower border but my compost bin is full as is the council garden waste bin until it is emptied on Monday.

And I've eaten my own raspberries everyday for the another week which has been a real treat.

Have a good weekend.

Back Monday

Sue

Raspberries

 This was the first bowl of Raspberries from here at the bungalow - a few  from the couple of  canes that were against the fence here when I came and a few more from the new raspberry bed I planted up less than 2 years ago in Autumn 2021.

Since then I've had 5 more bigger bowls full and  I've been very pleasantly surprised to have so many   after how poor the canes looked during last summers really hot weather.

The canes in the half of the bed  furthest from the fence and magnolia tree are looking 100% better than those closer and I need to make sure to give them a lot more water whenever I can to keep them going.

In the book Food In England by Dorothy Hartley I found this which is part of Thomas Tussers 500 Points for Good Husbandry  written way back in the middle of the C16.

"Wife, into the garden, and set me a plot,

With strawberry roots, of the best to be got:

Such growing abroad, among thorns in the wood,

Well chosen and picked, prove excellent good.

The barberry, raspberry, and gooseberry too,

Look now to be planted, as other things do:

The gooseberry, raspberry and roses all three,

With strawberries under them, trimly agree.

Were strawberries really once grown under raspberry canes? Seems odd if they were, as strawberries need more sun than raspberries which do best when the weather isn't too hot. They do really well in Scotland and are bred there, with many of the names are of the varieties starting with "Glen" (Scottish Valley) ...Glen Moy, Glen Ample and Glen Prosen are three that I know.

Back in the Knodishall smallholding days we grew a huge fruit cage full of raspberries all in three long rows, they sold really well of course and it was one of the everyday summer jobs for me to pick and put out for sale.

Picture from nearly 10 years ago of the smallholding fruit cage with long rows of canes and redcurrants in the foreground

 

At the end of the growing season it was also my job to cut out all the canes that had finished fruiting and weave the new canes in between the wires that held them upright. It was a job that I enjoyed even though it took a while to do because once the old were cut out it all looked so tidy and right ready for the next year.

It won't take me so long to cut out the canes here in my less-than-4 metres-long bed!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

  

My Quiet Week in Suffolk

The sun has shone and I have books to read and tennis on TV and I did  the Wordle in less than 6 goes all week and in just two tries on Wednesday - a good fluke!

So I'm one of the lucky people with nothing to moan about! 

My Quiet Life in Suffolk this week has involved the Keep Moving Group, swimming and a trip to Morrisons in Ipswich after a very quick stop at  the  Wednesday boot sale (where I bought nothing). At Morrisons I bought a new pair of shorts having abandoned 3 very old pairs last week - all three were really too big and two were chucked due to falling to bits and one pair still OK have gone into the charity shop bag. Too old for shorts I may be but I shall keep wearing them!

Below are the small courgettes that were my 3rd  harvest from the garden, the first small harvest  was a cucumber from the greenhouse and the second was a handful of raspberries from the canes that were here when I came. I cut all the courgettes that were there to encourage more to grow. 

These are all from 2 plants, the third is really slow growing and one I put in a pot in the greenhouse because of being short of space outside is even further behind which is odd. If all 4 plants were to really get going there will be far too many courgettes. But I want to leave one or two to get to marrow size so I can do the Marrow and Apricot Jam (This link is so I know where to find the recipe in July!)

This weekend there's some repair work to do on a piece of trellis that's against the fence which has a yellow climbing rose on it. I hadn't really thought about how the trellis was fixed but, like so many things here, it wasn't really fixed at all. I noticed it had collapsed almost on top of the climbing beans after we had a sudden mini storm on Thursday afternoon and in the rain I went out to try and prop it up - getting nicely scratched in the process! I managed a temporary fix but it needs something more permanent  and I reckon putting a couple of screws into the fence panel and wiring the trellis to the screws should do it - if there is some wire left from what I used for keeping the raspberry canes upright, if not it will be tied with my ever faithful baler twine.

Not sure what else is happening this weekend although I'd like to go to a farmers market so I can get another 'artisan' cheese to try. And I might raid Brother-in-Law's strawberry patch again!

Have a lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

I shall be back Monday

Sue

Growing Well

 I had a fright one morning in the week before last - looked in the greenhouse and all my babies were looking a bit limp - of course it was a night when they'd not been covered with fleece and the temperature must have dropped lower than the forecast. Thank goodness a while later they were all standing up straight again....phew!

These photos were taken on Saturday - Before the Coronation I worked in the greenhouse for an hour filling up some of the big pots ready for all these to go into later.

There are too many peppers and  too many aubergines here...........

and too many tomatoes too!

and just one cucumber............so far. There are two more babies on the living room windowsill although I only need one because the plan is to sow another cucumber seed in June for a later crop.

Also on the living-room window sill are some teeny squash seedlings - a second sowing after the first three didn't germinate - thought I was going to have to buy new seeds but they seem to be OK.

The raspberry bed is looking more hopeful, considering how sad they looked through the heat of last summer when there was no sign of any new canes appearing. Brother in Law hammered in two metal posts - from his neighbour's old gazebo- early last year and now I've put string along the top and two rows of wires below and fixed a new piece of netting right over the top. The netting cost me over £20 and I wondered aloud if I would get the value back in raspberries but as Lesley (who sold me it ) said -"well without it you won't get any!" - Very True

One more thing looking good is the plant stand. The pots have been standing on the patio all winter after the trellis collapsed but now they are back and the whole thing is tied to the post. There is someone at the car-boot sale who sells succulents so I may be tempted to buy two small ones for the top two shelves and I lost a lovely pink flowered Saxifrage over winter so could replace that.

 You can see the difference in temperatures this spring compared to last if you look at THIS PHOTO of the Plant Stand taken at much the same time last year.

And my 3 Minarette Apple trees are in flower. I know it looks weedy around them but the plants there are mainly Phacelia which are a green manure - self seeded from last year - and after they've flowered for the bees I'll hoe them up and leave them on the soil as a mulch.

Fingers crossed for an edible harvest later.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Raspberries

 The fruit I missed most when we left the smallholding were raspberries. We'd grown them for all the time we were there on good sized plots, so that we had some to sell as well as plenty to eat. They were a reliable small source of income, and not so prickly picking as the 100lb + of gooseberries!.

At Clay Cottage there was a small patch of canes on one corner of the fruit bed and I was able to throw a big net over them and harvest a few each summer and also autumn because there were some prickly autumn canes mixed in among the summer fruiting. We tried to grow more in a fruit cage, but Colin died before the cage was finished and the area we'd chosen for it was too dry and too far from the water butts to carry water. I took the cage down and sold it before moving.

Moving here I discovered a few - about 3 - canes up against the fence. They were autumn fruiting but hadn't been pruned back at the right time, so produced just a very few fruit on the ends of very long canes. I cut them back  recently - a few new canes might appear in the spring  but they are squashed in against  the fence and between a climbing rose and a Buddleia  so I'm not hopeful.

Brother in Law helped me make a long thin bed raspberry in the autumn and I ordered some canes, a pack of 5 Glen Ample and splashing out extra on some 'long canes' -  5 Tulameen, they will produce some fruit this year. Both these are mid summer varieties. The parcel arrived quickly but even before I opened it I knew it was too small to hold the 5 long canes and sure enough the Tulameen were just the normal bare-rooted. I emailed and sent photos, showing the canes all the same short height in the bucket and their label.

 and they apologised and said keep the ones that were wrong. So I planted all 10 small canes in the new bed. They'll look like this one day I hope.

 Brother in Law bought me two wooden posts for Christmas (along with the wellie-boot stand) and sometime he will bang them into the ground, then I can fix some wires along the top and middle.

The proper long canes I'd ordered arrived in a large box just two days later.

 I've dug out a climbing rose and put the tall Tulameen against the fence. (There's no shortage of climbing roses here so I won't miss it)

Really, really good prompt service from Marshalls (unless you count getting it wrong in the first place!) and as I've got 15 quality canes for the price of 10 I'm not complaining.

Perhaps in a couple of years I'll be able to fill a bowl like this picture from 2014 at the smallholding
 

 Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

The Raspberry Bed + This and That

 Another job has been done in the garden, thanks to a lot of help from my BiL. He's still wanting to keep busy after a year of retirement, mostly mending things  like cars and lawnmowers and other bits of machinery but he doesn't mind a bit of gardening. 

The wood surround are re-used from the shuttering for the concrete greenhouse base. He is going to see what he can find for a post at each end ready for attaching the wire to hold up the raspberry canes. The two other photos are how I'm filling up the garden with productive things.......

My new pear trees, on the left

The nasty plastic edging around the lawn has gone and  the 3 new vegetable beds, with bags of compost laying on the top of them ready to be spread next spring are over on the far side by the fence. On the patio by the trellis is where the 3 Minarette apple trees will go.

.......compared to how it was before, when it was just grass. Probably a lot of people would prefer it how it was!

 

I need to apologise for not replying to comments promptly. I often turn off the lap top early especially if there's plenty of good reading waiting. I don't have a thing set up on my phone to tell me when a comment arrives either  - wouldn't want that.

On Saturday I missed seeing that Joan hadn't understood about the connection between singing and covid (it's all about the breathing out!) so didn't get to reply properly until Sunday... ...a bit late..

This photo has been on my phone for a month - the Mobile Library has been wrapped! I thought painted because it was white before and without the colourful panel but the library lady said it's a sort of plastic wrapping that stuck on by heat. There's no chance of it hiding now!

Hopefully this means that their idea of getting rid of the large van and swapping to something half the size that just delivers books has been dropped.

 A couple more  photos..........Living opposite the graveyard I don't see many signs of life! but watched two blokes setting up a grave stone  last week. The tree in glorious yellow leaf is now completely bare after just a week - the windy weather and drop in temperature soon made them all fall.

 Does anyone else watch Countryfile on Sunday evenings and shout at the TV "Let them stand still while they're talking!" I do.

I also watch Doctor Who and go "?" except for this latest series when it's been more like "????" 

I went mad on Sunday and popped over to the last Sunday Market/CarBoot Sale at Woolpit, it was freezing and hardly anyone selling but I found some more old flowerpots for my plant stand to replace the one that was too big ( it tipped the plant stand forward after a particularly wet day) and for the succulent that's still in a plastic pot.

From the Christmas Fair on Saturday I found a concrete frog. I had one like this but it got left somewhere and I've been looking for one all summer. So my next job here will be to dig a mini pond so he can sit beside it. My tiny pond at the cottage attracted frogs most years, although here I'm surrounded by fences so not sure they will find a way in.  I need to make a frog and hedgehog tunnel somewhere.

Bit of a muddle of a post  and definitely This and That.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Yesterday

Very pleased with what I got done outside yesterday  - first the biggish job of cutting down all the raspberry canes that have finished fruiting. Two big wheelbarrows full added to the bonfire heap. It's easy to see which canes need cutting down while the leaves are still on them =  all the ones that have gone yellow and starting to die off. Somewhere in the overgrown muddle that is the raspberry area are some Autumn fruiting canes - hopefully.

I came in to have a coffee after the clearing up and THUD - the postman brought me a new book - I'm so enjoying this buying  books thing - I told my sister about Mum always saying when giving me birthday or Christmas money " for goodness sake don't spend it on books" and she doesn't remember Mum ever saying anything similar to her. So it seems it's only me with guilt about spending money on things I love best.

These were the two books I bought for July. I'm reading The Splendid and the Vile - it's fascinating but I'm not going to get it finished before the mobile library brings my great ol' heap of reservations.

While I was indoors a man came from UK Power Network with information about a planned power cut in mid - August . Just for one morning when they are working on some power lines down the road - so no problem.

Back outside and I remembered I wanted to wrap some duct tape around my washing line - trying to make it last a bit longer as the outer plastic has split in several places. Then I filled some small pots with compost for pegging in some strawberry runners that have appeared from the new plants in pots on the patio. I'm thinking about abandoning the strawberry bed we made when we came here - it's just too dry where it is and too far to carry water and if I don't bother with squash and pumpkins in pots then I've enough big pots to have several filled with strawberries on the patio - within reach of the outside tap and hosepipe.

After lunch I strimmed around the edges of the raspberry bed and did some more grass cutting with the ride on mower, after that it was time for a cuppa and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Battle of the Brits tennis. So Very good to see some live sport on TV and a favourite sport too. Saw a trail for snooker starting Friday as well.
 

A good day
Back Tomorrow
Sue

Not Quite So Strange Times Week 14

Slowly, slowly some things are getting back to normal. People who like buying new stuff in shops are happy, and I'm sure I saw on the news some even fighting to get in! and many queueing for hours and we're all being encouraged to go out and spend. I shan't say what I think about that.
But then a bit of news that was more exciting to me and that's the smaller more local-to-me car boot sale is hoping to re start in July - strict rules and I think it will be very busy because the big Needham Market boot sale is cancelled for the rest of the year.

This week was going well. At the weekend I had a socially distanced coffee with Col's sister, her husband and my niece. They have been seriously shielding as BiL has a debilitating condition that really wouldn't mix with Covid 19. It was so good to catch up. They've found their garden again after not having time to do much for several years, it's looking lovely and productive.

Then Monday  I went to visit the nearest Grandchildren, sat on the floor to play with Youngest Granddaughter but then moved wrong and the blasted knee went clunk and I was stuck on the floor. Poor DiL had to haul me up to the settee! I managed to drive home OK but it put paid to other plans (not that I had any!) for most of the week. I had been so careful not to twist it since the first time -  last December- but will now need to be even more careful.

On Tuesday I delivered Polly cat to the vets. Do you know how much it costs for a cat to have a tooth removed? BIG MONEY! They reckoned it might have set off an infection if it was left wobbly so was better out.

There's been a couple of spells of good rain during the week but not the thunderstorms some parts of the country have suffered. I hope the rain has helped the fruit trees as it looks like a bumper apple crop this year, it certainly plumped up the raspberries.


Food from the garden so far this year

• 9 small lettuces (I now have a gap because the next sowing took ages to get going)
• 5 Cucumbers - and 6 more given away
• a few asparagus spears
• lots of rhubarb
• Few strawberries.
• 2lb of gooseberries
• First raspberries
• 3 teeny courgettes, one had been pecked by birds so I took off these tiny ones and covered the plants with a net. Then one more decent size courgette later in the week.

.

Then lots more raspberries and a few more strawberries

and
 

• The first potatoes. I wouldn't normally have dug them up this early but two plants seemed to have died so I wanted to see if there was an ants nest underneath. No ants but so, so dry under the ground. Not many potatoes from 2 roots. I made potato salad.

One pound of gooseberries are in the freezer, ready to make Gooseberry and Date chutney sometime.

Oh, I found out where the Mystery Parcel came from - someone in the family - for research because they are planning to do something similar but better value and all ethically sourced. I was able to give an honest account of what I thought of it.

This week I'm grateful for

1. My wonderful children and grandchildren
2. Fruit from the garden

Hope you have a good weekend. Nothing planned here except for popping out for the Saturday local paper. I might go through books again to see what I can send off to sell and then there is more cross stitch to get done. I'm making the scissor keepers to to go with the two owl scissor cases made so far.

Back Monday
Sue