Picture a feast

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant

Within four weeks the plot has gone from sparse and scrubby to gloriously green and back again. Thankfully not due to any calamity other than my own poor planning. Most of the onions have come out, leaving a bed of brown where once tall succulent stems with giant pom-poms of white flowers once stood. I don’t know whether I like the flower or the onions better. They are delicious, the red ones juicy and crispy and the white sweet and subtle when raw. First lesson of the first year; grow more onions.

Second lesson; grow fewer shallots. They are tasty and delicate but they are just too fiddly to peel and prepare, plus the flowers were not as impressive.

Third lesson; pick courgettes before they turn into monsters. Overnight they seem to go from reasonable and regular size to green goliaths. They lose their flavour and the pretty irregular stripes on their skin. There is also a limit to the amount of dinners they can be included in without developing courgette fatigue.

Fourth lesson; it is possible to become addicted to digging up potatoes. I still have 3 half rows of Maris Piper growing. Half rows because digging up one plant and discovering what’s underneath is never quite enough, I thought I would not grow them again because of the space they take up and having to move where they grow each season. That notion is now completely out the window and replaced with fewer potatoes, more exciting varities.

Fifth lesson; dig deep. I have one row that is made up of two blocks of eight sweetcorn at either end, beans in the middle of the two blocks and courgettes in amongst the sweetcorn, sheltering the roots. One side is gloriously tall sweetcorn, plenty of big bright blooms on the courgettes and beans that are reaching for dizzying heights. The other side is like Danny Devito to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins. They are stumpy and lacklustre and just look like they simply can’t be bothered to grow. There must be something deep beneath them, perhaps some concrete, perhaps something more sinister that’s made its way over from the cemetery next door. Or perhaps it’s just a sock. I find a lot of socks. I think the foxes liberate them from people’s clotheslines.

Sixth lesson; fill the gaps! I should have planned for another crop to go in straight after one had finished but I was only thinking in terms of Autumn and Spring planting. No matter.

It’s been great eating meals made with our own homegrown food. Potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, courgettes, peas, lettuce, broad beans and herbs have been featured heavily with still more to come. I am most excited for the tomatoes which are swelling and hanging heavily and just need now to redden up a bit and the peppers and chillis. And once it’s all over for this year, there’s all the planning for next year and making changes according to what I have learned. That’s still a way off though, and for now I am just very proud that I actually grew something edible in my first, inexperienced year.

The English Winter – ending in July, to recommence in August.

Winter is long gone and summer days stretch out ahead with promises of endless evenings and bright mornings. Everything is easier in summer, especially dressing. I’ve an endless supply of cotton dresses for work and shorts for play. Big coats, boots, jumpers, tights and woollen hats get packed away and out come the sandals, short skirts and milky white legs. There are girls who spend weeks in preparation for the onset of summer, toning and tanning but I had never seen the point. That was until I got back from Glastonbury with a Mediterranean top half while remaining Celtic from the torso down interspersed with a scattering of a million freckles. A strange sight. So I bit the bullet and bought a bottle of the fake stuff. I could end up a streaky blotchy mess and then I’ll be digging out the tights again long before winter, we’ll see.

Glastonbury was my best yet, not least because most of it was spent in the top-half-tan-inducing sun, aside from a glorious thunderstorm on the Thursday, which we ran and sheltered from in Stonebridge Bar in The Park field. Of course, the main event was Blur, which was more emotional than I could have imagined, kind of perfect. I don’t want them to carry on long-term after these gigs, I want it to be over, done and dusted, friends again and going out on a high. I don’t want years of churning out recycled not-quite-hits.
At the other end of the scale, but awesome nonetheless was Peggy Sue. I like their shy but sure stage presence, I like their style, I like their harmonies, I like their hair, I like their range of instruments, I like them and part of me wants to be them. They are whimsical without being wispy and are everything female-fronted bluesy bands should be. Oh and they have a blog , which is as erratic and irregular as mine, which makes me like them all the more.

Best outfit of the weekend goes to Bat For Lashes. Natasha rocked an amazing lurex and sequin playsuit I could not work out what the netting bit was doing, perhaps some kind of wings. I don’t have the album and had only heard a couple of songs but was intrigued, mainly because we went to primary school together, she had the same lovely mane of hair then and I remember being incredibly jealous of it with my white-blonde wisps. I am so glad I caught the set, her voice is immense and she prances and dances about magically. It’s like all the good bits of Goldfrapp minus the operatics and overblown props. And, inevitably the story-telling and evocative songs bring natural comparisons to Kate Bush and Bjork, though it’s a little more accessible but I suppose only in the sense that it borrows a little from all that’s gone before. I am going to get the album to listen to in the twilight outside. There are certain songs and artists you can only listen to in certain types of weather. Which is why I was glad it was overcast and oppressively close for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Bopping about in the sunshine would not have been appropriate.

My garden is now perfect for twilight, it’s taken two years to turn it from pure patio to almost overgrown, scented sanctuary. Most of the flowers give off their scent in the evening and sitting out there surrounded by blooms with a cup of tea is my current favourite thing to do when I get in from work. Late evenings are spent with wine in hand, waiting to hear the familiar scuffle of one of the 3 hedgehogs that have taken up residency in the cuttings pile I threw over the alley. They were coming to eat the food intended for foxes so now they get their own special cat food sandwiches. The foxes get bread and honey with a few drops of medicine from these lovely people. I’d been leaving food out in the garden though it was more difficult for them to get to as I was not too sure if the people on my allotments liked foxes as much as I do. One by one, it’s transpired that everyone looks after them in their own way, especially now it seems there is just a lone cub. The old Irish man throws sausages over the fence, someone has propped wood next to the cemetery wall to lessen the jump and I see scraps of bread and bowls of water all over the place. He is quite a brazen cub, as he would have to be to survive, he will saunter through happily as everyone stops to watch him pass, even the neighbourhood cats who gather in the allotment pay him little mind.

I am lucky to have such easy access to outdoors, nature and wildlife. Such things keep a person sane and when you have those things at hand, all stress seems to evaporate. The allotment can be hard work, especially in the heat but it’s work that I reap the benefits of and work done by me for me, work with a tangible result which I get to share with others which is, really, what everyone wants in whatever field it may be.

A tiny radish of passionate scarlet, tipped modestly in white.

This is most definitely a week of excitement. My first crop! Sure, it’s only radishes and they’re pretty puny but I sowed them, I watered them, I hoed carefully around them and then I ate them. Lovely crunchy peppery bites of pride. And they have such pretty heart-shaped leaves too.

And then the derby. Saturday was the first ever London Rollergirls Championship, Suffrajets versus Steam Rollers and also Ultraviolent Femmes versus Barock City. I was just too excited, it was the first bout I’ve ever actually been involved with, I was tasked with selling tray upon tray of gorgeous homemade cupcakes. It was good to soak up the atmosphere and really feel a part of something but I think I will stay away from cakes for a while. Even the cat was keen to show her support.

I have my assessment to qualify for being hit, battered, bruised and knocked with the best of them this Sunday. I really hope I can make it through. I would have been petrified a few months ago but it’s testament to the fabulous training they have in place that I am not as scared as I was. Not that I am not nervous, far from it and I have plenty of time to work myself up into a fear frenzy by then.

Also, is there anyone in the world who does not like cherry blossom?

The busy bee has no time for sorrow

It’s been a massively busy time outside, last weekend I enlisted the help of Rollergirls Ninjette and Sinister Mary Clarence to help me build my nature area. The idea is to encourage as much wildlife as possible to keep my little ecosystem in check without resorting to chemical action. Most importantly, I wanted to do a bit for the bees and frogs. So an area is set aside with a little makeshift pond, wildflower seeds, sweet peas and sunflowers.
It’s more exciting now that seeds are sprouting and there is visible growth, though it’s still a mud patch from a distance, up close, there’s a confetti off seedlings. And I’m trying to remember to update my plan as I go, otherwise I just end up happily digging up seeds and bulbs I planted two weeks ago. It’s also the time of year for furry visitors which makes it all the more exciting to be outside.

Spring loaded

I’ve been ill for more or less two weeks, The Boy bought me back a nasty cold bug from Thailand, well, from the plane, thankfully the really bad part was only about 4 days but I’m still not fully right again.
The sunshine seems to be helping though, with tiny teasing glimpses of Spring, I saw the first peek of blossom last week, a walk in the park dotted with tiny buds of Pussy Willow and flashes of green Woodpeckers. Is it just serendipitous coincidence that the first flowers and creatures of the Spring are lewdly named? There has been a different cat vying for our moggie’s attentions every morning, the foxes are building up strength by guzzling all the scraps put on top on the compost heap and the birds are devouring slices of stale bread within hours. I love that feeling that everything is getting ready, it’s an anticipation that mounts every time the sun comes through the clouds and in the countdown to the clocks going forward (19 days!).

So I’ve been outside as much as I can, I made the most of a friend staying over on Friday night to do some digging on Saturday. We planted three rows of Maris Pipers and one row of CharlottesI stuck to easier varieties as I’ve never grown potatoes before and am anxious about how it goes. I had some left over so offered them up to the Rollergirls so I now have spud buddies and can see how mine are doing relatively.

Now the biggest task is out the way, I’ve turned my attention to the actual garden, which, at the moment, looks like a dumping ground with our friend’s bike, broken and abandoned, the wood storage from Winter and the old dining table which I plan to paint up as an outdoor table when the days are dryer. It’s a small space so I’m limited to what I can do to make it a great place. On Summer days, I am straight outside from work, I spend entire days out there at weekends so it’s an important place. Last year was a little mish mash as I was more occupied with still decorating the house after moving in but this year I am ahead of the game. I think a scented garden is the way forward, so have been planning around that. I have about four varieties of Sweet Pea sprouting up around the house as well as Stocks, Lupins and Marigolds for companion planting. I am running out of windowsills but not enthusiasm.

Spring snaps to follow…

x

A tale of love and skate

A bit of a wait between blogs but I have an excuse, I’ve started roller derby and my oh my I love it. I had my first assessment on Saturday and was really keen to get through it so spare time has been spent going to practices, skating around the house and asking a million questions of my skating friend. I was worried about falling as I am always bruised from something or other but I seem to have managed to avoid any nasty ones so far. I only wish now I had joined when she had, about a year ago, everyone is really lovely, though I admit to doing my wallflower bit and nobody really knowing who I am, I have made a few friends. Anyway, it’s a perfect excuse to wheel out my shiny leggings and assortment of strange t-shirts, it’s also really good to see my friend regularly again after derby took her over last year. I helped her with her boutfit, hand-sewing green sequins onto shorts until midnight the night before, it did not help them win but it did look pretty good on the track

I’ve been busy outdoors too. I got myself a paper potter and have been happily churning out trays of cute little pots, it seems a shame that they’ll just end up in the ground.

Paper Pots

I filled a few with sweet peas, peppers and courgettes and took them over the allotment only to find my greenhouse had collapsed and strewn pots of seedlings everywhere. I managed to salvage most but my resurrected greenhouse looks a little wonky now.

The knitting continues too, does it always take so long?

I’m sure you get faster as you do more but it just seems like a slow plod at the moment. The cat likes to help though, but she seems more interested in the needles than the wool. Just as she was very interested in chasing the snow, I thought it was only dogs that were into that.

And as promised, a few snowy scenes, I’m lucky enough to live near a cemetery, which, when the drunks and kids aren’t roaming about, is really peaceful and a haven for all sorts of wildlife. With the thick snow settling and covering all but the headstones, it was ultra calm.

Sledge

All manna of niceness

The dinner we had last night was delicious. I treated The Boy to a trip to Manna for his birthday. It may well be my favourite vegetarian/vegan restaurant but it’s not the kind of place I can afford regular visits to. The presentation of the food is beautiful, it’s delicate and colourful whilst being really quite filling without resembling the one-pot sanctimonious dishes that consitute a lot of vegan cooking. The most amazing part was the passion fruit cheesecake we shared. It contends for my best dessert in the world. Ever. I need need need to start making vegan cheesecakes, but I also need to start simple, so the Vegan Family recipe will be a good base. I like their recipes, they are simple but delicious and don’t require ridiculous ingredients. Plus they have helpful photos and envy-inducing crockery.

Icicles on bicycles

So, the good news is that I am still employed. The better news is that the snow has been beautiful and kind enough to grant me a day off yesterday and that it is The Boy’s birthday today.
I have not been idle while my fate was decided, just a little reclusive. I’ve started knitting, I’m not great at it, it makes my head hurt and eyes sting but it’s also massively addicitive. The repetition and click click of needles is just hypnotic and a fantastic calming device for a time when I would have otherwise been pulling out my hair. I think I am aiming for a floor cushion, a floor cushion that will be a bit holey and a bit wonky as I have too many stiches on the needles, but it’ll be my first knitted creation since my nan first taught me as a little’un, so I’ll be happy with holes. It’s not a quick fix, so I think this is a monthly project rather than a weekly one.
Snowscapes and knitting japes to follow

The pecking order

Looks as though mine was not the only darn owl, I still think it’s prettier than this one though. I think I may make another one soon.