January

The Christmas decorations are down, the sparkle and glitter has all gone. I'm a bit sad about that as I like a bit of sparkle and glitter. But it had to go.  Sometimes I can still see bits of glitter on the carpet, I don't think I ever  get rid of the glitter completely.

It's back to normal for everyone this week, the schools are back and the council recycling wagon was busy the other morning collecting everyone's Christmas trees. The trees looked a bit abandoned on the pavements outside peoples' gates, lying in a pool of pine needles and with semi bare branches, but still a reminder of the last few weeks' festivities. 

We've had some fine weather in the last couple of days and looking around the garden I've seen signs of new growth. There are primroses flowering and shoots of bulbs appearing in the borders. There are flowers on the winter jasmine and the  witch hazel.  We managed a few hours at the allotment at the weekend it was lovely and spring like. I'm looking forward to being able to get outside more, clear up the borders and make a fresh start with the vegetable plot.

The house can look a bit bare once the decorations are down, so I always buy daffodils for the house after Christmas. They're a lovely change from the reds and greens we have at Christmas and bring a lovely freshness to the house with their colour and smell.

January can be a miserable month, when it's gloomy outside sometimes the best thing to do is curl up with a good book or some knitting. When I'm not doing that this month then I will probably be planning what vegetables to grow this year on the allotment, ordering seeds, onions and seed potatoes.

A New Year

I've read so many blogs recently on new year resolutions that I thought I should do one myself. But I don't do new year resolutions. I do make plans though. Sometimes plans have to be shelved for a while because other things get in the way and that's OK by me. Resolutions can be hard work and you can be so disappointed if you don't keep to them.

I looked back on last year's plans and some I didn't manage to do because I was too busy with other things. I managed to do more walking and keep up with my healthy eating to maintain my weight loss. We finally made the decision to have a big tree cut down in the garden, which gave us more light and I was then able to redesign the border around it. I'm pleased with that. We were going to have a new kitchen and redo some of the paths in the garden, but none of that happened because we were offered a 'proper' allotment after having a small starter plot for the last three years. This new allotment needed an awful lot of work doing on it, so all our spare time and energy was focused on this. We didn't mind, it's been hard work, but we've enjoyed doing it.

My plans for this year will include the allotment which continues to take up a lot of our time. I'll blog about those plans soon when we've worked out what they are.  I definitely want that new kitchen this year and the garden paths still need doing.

Anything else? Well I just want to enjoy life, and my family.

What are your plans for this year?

Moving

We haven't done much work at the new allotment during December, the weather has either been very frosty or very wet. But everything is reasonably tidy, the beds are topped up with manure and the sprouts, leeks, broccoli and cabbage are growing well.

What we have done is clear our old plot which we are giving up at the end of this month. A few weeks ago Helen and I went down and lifted the blackcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries and rhubarb.  They are now replanted in the fruit beds at the new allotment. We've cleared away all the rubbish and pulled up the remaining cabbages. I also lightly forked over each raised bed so they are now tidy and weed free ready for the new tenants. It felt a bit like moving house.

When we first got offered our new plot--a proper allotment, I felt a bit sad to be leaving the raised beds plot. But as we started work on the new allotment I saw how much better it would be with sheds, a growhouse and more space. A space with a fence around and a gate we could lock. A space which wasn't encroached upon by other peoples' weeds, this was a major problem on the other plot which was a communal area.

So I'm happy that we've moved to another plot, but I do hope the new tenants look after our old one.

Happy Christmas

This time of year is so busy and I have done so much but not blogged a lot. I get so busy and everything has to be perfect for Christmas. Well it's now Christmas Eve and I have done all my jobs, baked loads, decorated the house, and that is it. Later on tonight I will be going to the midnight service at church. Then tomorrow and for a few days  it's family time.

I hope you all have a lovely time this Christmas, thank you for reading my blog  and for the lovely comments.

May the peace of Jesus be with you this Christmas time.

Away from the hustle and bustle

I wanted a break from all the madness of Christmas, the shopping, the Christmas songs, fighting your way through the crowds. So we went to RHS Harlow Carr. I wanted to see winter interest in the gardens, autumn and winter foliage. I wanted to see what they can still manage to grow in the kitchen garden at this time of year. But I still wanted a bit of Christmas without the crowds.

We had a lovely walk around, it was really peaceful, not many people, and there was still plenty of interest in the garden with colour from foliage and seedheads.

We also found some lovely rustic Christmas displays in the summerhouse and greenhouse.  The shop was a pleasure to walk around, listening to lovely classical Christmas music and  there were twinkly lights too.

Things I've been doing

I haven't blogged for a while. That's because I've been having some problems with  my blog. I think, it's sorted. I hope it's sorted. Anyway  I'm back and wondering where to start. I'll keep it short for now and just tell you briefly what I've been doing.

I've been doing Christmas things, like making decorations with the grandchildren and going to the school nativity. We visited our far away grandchildren, played with them and looked after them whilst their parents had a night out.

I've bought a Christmas tree, foraged for greenery and made a few wreaths, written Christmas cards and wrapped presents. I've also made chutney and bottled up blackberry gin.

I'm looking forward this week to putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house, making mince pies, and lots of other Christmas things.

Dreaming of salad

This 52 week salad challenge must be getting to me because the other night I was dreaming of lettuce. Not just any lettuce but red salad bowl lettuce.But I had been eating it earlier in the day and was feeling pleased that it was still doing well in the garden after all summer and I am still picking the leaves.

Looking back in my garden journal I found that I sowed the seeds on 21st April. Over the summer I have just picked the leaves, but recently because I thought they may not last much longer once the frosts start, I started to cut the tops which are a much brighter red colour and have started to thicken and become more lettuce shaped. These have been lovely in salads.

I am also now picking the winter salad leaves planted in the cold frame which are a curly leaf mix.  The watercress and mustard are also still doing well.

Indoors I have sown seeds for baby leaves. There is a winter salad mix, some 'gourmet micro greens', rocket, beetroot and lemon basil. These are all at the just germinating stage, but I am also growing peashoots and have been cutting these for a few weeks.

The weather has turned very cold here now and sometimes the idea of going outside to the top of the garden to pick some salad is not very appealing, so it will be good to have some indoor stuff to use.