This whole not-sleeping thing is really getting old. Worst of it is the complete lack of energy and stamina. I've done one task in the garden and I'm just about falling over.

Himself continues on the Nightmare that is Downstairs. We now have all that silt removed along with the skip, and after renting a jackhammer and a concrete mixer, we also have ( Read more... )

I have reclaimed my laundry. It's tidy, everything that's been tossed in there 'for now' has been tossed somewhere else, and I have set up the shredder and a basket to start composting waste paper as well. Looking at the pile of paper recycling before and after, I suspect this will bring us down to maybe 10% of what we used to leave by the kerb. ( Read more... )

Finally starting to get some produce. Today I converted 5 kg of zuccini into my favourite way of eating them; zuccini fritters. I have 3 very large containers full ready to go into the freezer as soon as they've cooled enough.

I broke a tea towel squeezing the liquid out of all that zuccini after I grated it.

For 5 kg zuccini, I used 750 g grated ( Read more... )

I've just been out in the garden to stake the feral tomatoes that are popping up everywhere. They are flowering and looking healthy, and none of them are in the way, so what the heck. I've only grown heirloom varieties, so they should be okay ( Read more... )

It's been a long week at work ( Read more... )

My tomatoes are still tiny, flowering but not fruiting. This is apparently how it is for everyone in the region ( Read more... )

Ah, the weekend has decended. After a really busy but productive and above all relatively successful week at work, there's something really nice about taking your girls for some light shopping before coming home to meet Himself who is cooking dinner as the rest of us put on the new Harry Potter ( Read more... )

I cleaned the kitchen yesterday, and then in honour of the newly tidied space I went and cut some sweet peas from the garden - it's feral, grows everywhere ( Read more... )

some of my potato plants are turning brown and shrivelling. What's going on? It can't be frost this late, can it?

Hmm...

options appear to be:

• bark: pro: cheap - con: acidic and will necessitate some feeding
• lime or scoria: a bit more expensive. would break up the clay a bit more
• straw: not sure about that in the windy conditions

I need to make a decision soon I think.

We went shoe shopping today. The Bata factory shop rocks!