Blog Archives

More apricity please!

28/4/2024

Good grief – it is so miserable here at the moment! It must have been raining for the past 24 hours. Ridiculous… it’s nearly May! I am not impressed with the ‘oh well, it’s good for the garden’ platitudes. The weeds are growing voraciously as it is and do not need encouragement. I think we all need some sustained sunshine and warmth – longer than the odd day or two.

Despite this, it's been very busy. I shan’t even mention work because that is always manic and generally unbelievable. Just read the UK news headlines regarding the mess that is the public sector (education, health…) and be assured that – at grass-roots level – it is falling apart. ‘Nuff said.

At home, whilst it’s not manic, there is always something to be done. However, I love pottering about and we have been having (another) small purge of all the “stuff” that has accumulated in the shed and greenhouse, as well as the ‘spare room’. We are guilty of keeping things that we think we might repurpose (that’s a very ‘in’ word, isn’t it?) and then a few months later it ends up in the recycling anyway. A friend is currently establishing a new charity shop in Gloucester and therefore my car is stuffed full of goods that will, hopefully, be of use to someone else as well as garnering funds for a worthwhile cause. It also means we might have room to swing-the-cat in the cottage too?!

Talking of which, Colin-the-Cat (CtC) is certainly our most talked about subject at the moment! This is the cat who has adopted us – when it suits him. He has been on the scene for about two years and has wrapped us around his paws – which have sharply honed claws when he is so inclined. It comes to something, though, that we cook-up chicken thighs for him! In all honesty, it is cheaper to do this than buy cat-food which actually works out more expensive, and generally is ignored with a hoity incline of the nose!

However, what CtC deigns to leave the small contingency of blackbirds, finches, robins sparrows, wrens and, of course, Johnny and Mary (the pigeons) fight over. Never a dull moment.

So, as well as talking to the cat, I can also be found conversing with the seedlings and small plants developing in the greenhouse and congratulating the progress of the perennials and herbaceous plants in the beds. It was only five or six weeks ago that everything looked so bare, brown and dank but now it’s fairly brimming with vitality. What a difference…. thank goodness!

Oh – by the way - apricity means the warmth of the sun in winter or on a chilly day!

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Oops & What to Grow in April

17/4/2024

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Oops! I started this on the first of the month and, look, it’s now the 17th. I am only finishing this off at this point because I have been awake since stupid o’clock and have already cooked spaghetti bolognaise for later, done some work for my sports job, booked and paid for a clutch of yoga sessions! It is another half an hour until I will set off for school, so I thought I would get this done and dusted.

As it is actually mid-April it’s probably a better time to add this to the mix as all the gardening advice says that this month is the busy time for sowing seeds and planting out but then issues grave warnings about being careful of heavy rain, damaging wind and late frosts! So, I’m bucking the trend then and it was all part of the plan….! Ha!

So, I receive a number of subscribed emails or notifications and sometimes they can be a tad irritating as I think it can create additional low-level stress, encouraging more ‘busyness’ and information over-load. However, if you are keen to garner more ideas and inspiration then check out the following:

Grow Your Own | Allotment Online
Home - Thrive
Spring Raffle 2024 | RSPB Spring Raffle 2024
Soil Association / Growing at home (soilassociation.org)
April in the Garden | Gardening To Do List | Sarah Raven
Organic Seeds - Vital Seeds - We help you grow food - Buy online now / Growing Resources - Vital Seeds
Quality flower, fruit, herb & vegetable seeds – Seeds To Suit
Grow Your Own - April advice and gardening tips / RHS Gardening
Home - National Garden Scheme (ngs.org.uk) / Top tips & tutorials Archives - National Garden Scheme (ngs.org.uk)
Garden Organic - Discover organic growing (via the Co-Op website)

And here is the key advice for April:

Avoid planting out too early due to the risk of frosts
Plant chitted second earlies during the first fortnight followed by main crop during the last two weeks this month … this refers to potatoes!
Keep hoeing the little weeds appearing to save time and work later on!

Vegetables to grow in April:

Beetroot
Broad beans
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Chard
Garlic
Herbs
Leeks
Lettuce
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Potatoes
Radish
Spinach
Turnips

Flowers and more to follow - but I must gather myself together for another day at the rockface!

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A Successful Day!

13/4/2024

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Colin-the-Cat enjoying the warmth of GH2.

I am half-way through a more involved blog but that's been about two weeks in the making and I would rather get these photos published because today was a very successful day, in all manner of ways.

This is has been the first day in weeks that I have felt generally "okay". It has been a dispiriting few months (as you are aware) so coupled with some decent sunshine and warm temperatures (for April) it has been positive.

I have not driven for a couple of weeks and of course as soon as I want to venture forth the road by our cottage has been closed off whilst cable of some sort has been laid. Naturally the utilities companies and council and highways agency do not seem to have the wherewithal to communicate with residents about this kind of thing. Subsequently it has been very frustrating for everyone - not knowing which roads are closed off, which diversions to follow.... or even if there are any! Complete joke.

ANYWAY, we managed to get out of Winchcombe and with our middle-aged heads on went to our local garden centre - Gotherington Nurseries. I have done some planning and a little bit of research (with the emphasis on little), and have also been mindful of the [terrible] weather and the usual warnings about not being too hasty to plant anything tender outside, and to be careful of seed-sowing optimism. So, today I put some of those ideas into action and we spent a bit of time and more-than-expected money on quick-fixes for some spring-and-summer colour. I also bought more seeds as I do prefer to grow vegetables and herbs from seed. I think things seem to taste better if you can declare loudly "I grew that!". Such a show-off!

However, we did splash-out on a large shrub and with some re-jigging of other plants and movement of pots and bird-bath, it looks great!

So, introducing a "loropetalum Chinese (black pearl)" - part of the Hamamelidaceae family (and related to witch hazel). It is sometimes called a Chinese fringe flower.

Gardener's World comments upon its "showy evergreen foliage and bright coloured flowers. .... highly ornamental – its crinkled oval leaves are borne in shades of red, pink, or purple, and its colourful, late winter flowers have a light fragrance".

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