I ent ded

[flick]

I've had a couple of tellings off for the lack of updates: sorry chaps.

We're fine, life is going on much as usual for us, other than a bit more use of the farm shop and a bit less supermarket delivery. I would quite like some self-raising flour, though. We've been doing lots of gardening now that it's dried out and warmed up, and I've been inspired to stick some spuds in the mix this year: if nothing else, we're unlikely to be driving around nearby farms buying new potatoes fresh out of the ground, this year.

The horses are doing well, although Benny's a bit unfit after the horribly wet autumn and winter (and, just when the weather has improved, the BHS is advising against hacking, which makes sense). Bob had a little lump removed from his leg at the start of the year; it was cancer, but incredibly low-grade and it's not spread anywhere. Unfortunately, the wound got infected, so he's had a much slower recovery than he should have done, but he's almost back to normal now. The ducks are pottering happily, laying an egg or two a day, and I've been trying to decide if I want to get some more eggs for ZuZu to hatch, and if so what breed.

The bluebells are coming into flower and the anemones are looking lovely. There's a pair of jackdaws building a nest in our disused chimney, which we've not had for the last couple of years. The seagulls seem to be flocking inland, which is presumably a reflection on the lack of chips to steal at the seaside. The wild garlic is going over now, but I have several tubs of pesto in the freezer.

We had our drive re-done, the work was finished just in time. Hopefully this will be the end of the winter mud bath at the end of it. The delivery drivers all look pleased about it. Frequent visitors beware: there is now a step down from the drive to the garden path!

Comments

[vicarage]

I did wonder if Mike had buried you under that driveway, only a back shot on a walk photo convinced me he hadn't.

I've been blitzing my garden, hardly a weed remains, and this with be the year I eliminate the Variegated Ground Elder, though I've had to sacrifice lots of ground-cover it was growing through.

[flick]

I can only dream of eliminating the ground elder.... I've got about half way along that bed in the back garden, the one you said "Haven't you got a lot of empty space here?" and I said, "Yes, but the plants will grow", the one where I've not been able to get onto it since September, the one that is solid grass on the half nearest the field....

[coth]

Good to hear from you. For some reason I'd decided to do seed potatoes this year even before the virus - I bought 20 seed potatoes, and gave one pack of 5 to Alison. 15 seed potatoes is supposed to get me about 100-120 actual potatoes, which seemed like enough for two for a season. Although now we are four, and if we're still four in June it won't seem like many. How uncertain is gardening you haven't done before.

Anyway, stay well. And in touch.

[flick]

Are you putting them in the ground or in containers? I was casting around looking for things I could re-purpose as potato containers (an old trough? A leaky water butt lying down?) and then my eyes were caught by the small piles of old tires near the riding school. Turns out we have fifteen of them, so stacks of tires it is!

[coth]

I put the first 10 (Kestrel and Swift) into the ground in the bed I had earmarked for them. I was thinking about where to put the last 5 (Cara) when I read this.

So I had a garden waste bag with grass clippings and brassica leaves in it, and have repurposed it. I put half a bag of compost in, then the Cara, then the rest of the compost on top. There are no garden waste collections for the forseeable anyway, and it will either work or it won't.

[flick]

Sounds like a plan! Apparently it's much easier, as you don't have to dig.

[coth]

The digging for 5 seed potatoes, or even 10, is not exactly a marathon task.

[flick]

I was more thinking of the other end, when you have to dig up the results!

[coth]

It'll be good for me. I guess.

[armiphlage]

Yay! Good to hear from you!

[flick]

And you! Hope the evil boss becomes less of one or the other in the near future.

[jennlk]

Glad to hear you ain'tnt ded yet.

We occasionally ponder growing our own potatoes, but the reality is that it would take so much amending of soil that it's just not worth it. The soil is so heavy here that we'd be better off growing spuds in a deep raised bed, and I'm just not ready to buy that much garden soil.

We had lovely gardens when I was a kid, and would get a bushel of potatoes from one or two plants, but out here we're lucky to get one meal's worth from a plant -- we grew spuds from a bought-for-food spud that sprouted, and the kids wanted to see how it worked. Not very well, was the answer.

[flick]

We're lucky in that we have (if we wait a couple of years) infinite free compost from the horses. I'm going to grow the potatoes in stacks of tires, filled with that. Apparently they do very well in containers, as long as you keep them well watered, and you don't have to do any digging!

[bohemiancoast]

Glad to hear you and the menagerie are well, though I’d heard it through Mike of course. Sorry to be missing out on the delights of a Plokta Country Spring, though Animal Crossing is a reasonable substitute.