Not completely useless

Here I am recovering from a broken wrist. I'll try not  to dwell on it too much, but sometimes I feel useless. I'm trying to get back to normal, I'm told to do things to exercise my wrist but then I suffer with pain and I'm told I'm doing too much. What I really want to do is dig the allotment, but I know that's a long way off. The very thought of digging makes me want to squeal in pain.

So, longing to get out in the garden and do things, I've been thinking about what I can do in the garden, gentle things which don't overtax my wrist. I 've been able to do a little bit of tidying up in the borders, clearing away dead foliage and a bit of hand weeding. I enjoyed that. I  chitted the potatoes. That was an easy job. At the allotment my daughter Helen and I planted onion and garlic sets in modules. That was a nice gentle job, it didn't hurt.

At home I have been sowing salad seeds for micro greens and baby leaves. I can manage that. I sowed pea seeds for pea shoots, rocket, radish, mustard, mixed leaves, kale, cabbage, beetroot. All these can be sown at this time of year for baby salad leaves. They grow quickly if sown indoors and are kept on a windowsill. They are great to cut and add to salads and sandwiches. I even got the grandchildren involved one day when they got home from school. I filled a big tray of compost and brought it indoors. I then found some recycled plastic food containers to use as seed trays. I let them choose what they wanted to grow. The fact that they were going to grow salad leaves was of no interest to them, as they said they didn't like salad. I suggested that mummy would like to have some, but the thing which really grabbed it for them was that it was a messy job. They dug their hands into the compost, got dirty and made a mess.

So in the end they enjoyed their after school activity and they had a tray of newly sown seeds to take home. Their mum was pleased. I just had a lot of mess to clear up afterwards. It was a bit painful, but I managed. (ouch!). Hopefully they will get more interested when they start to see the seeds germinate.

 

Spring clean at the allotment

Now my plaster is off I can start to exercise my wrist. I have been told to start using it, but it is still painful and sometimes just won't move. But I have been longing to get out in the garden. When the sun shines it's difficult to stay indoors and sometimes I want to do more than go out for a walk.

This week we have had some lovely weather, it was half term and my daughter Helen was off work to look after the children, so we decided to spend some time at the allotment. It's still early for planting or sowing seed here in east Lancashire, so we decided to do some tidying up on the plot.

There was plenty of rubbish still to clear from when we had first taken on the plot last June. We filled bags of glass, wood, plastic, metal and rubble. My husband loaded the car up and took the rubbish to the tip. Next job was the storage shed which gets very dirty and untidy.  It needed a spring clean, we made a start but there's still much to be done there. This is my husband's shed  where he stores his tools  and other stuff, he's very untidy. The potting shed  is mine and Helen's area and is always fairly clean and tidy, no one is allowed to mess it up!

Another job was to fill up the bed alongside the front fence with compost. Here we will plant the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes which are at the moment in a temporary bed.  Meanwhile my husband was sorting out rubble which is to form the base of the paths between the raised beds.

As we worked the grandchildren  played on the plot and along the lane. They got very muddy but really enjoyed themselves. I couldn't do very much with a poorly hand so I just supervised and provided drinks and biscuits. It was good to be out there in the sun making a start for the new growing year even if it was just cleaning up.

Obstacles to salad growing

With all the mad rush and busyness of Christmas, salad growing got a little bit forgotten in December.   So I'm a little bit behind now. Walking  round the garden last week when everything was covered in snow,  I could see that the mustard has finally given up. However I lifted the lid of the cold frame, (well I had to give it a good pull because it was frozen shut) and there underneath was a row of frilly salad leaves which I'd planted in the autumn, not very big, but looking fine.

On the kitchen windowsill is a tray of pea shoots which I sowed a few weeks ago. They are much slower to grow at this time of the year, but will soon be ready for cutting.

My plans were to start growing some beetroot, cabbage, kale, radish etc for micro leaves as I did last winter, see here. but recent events have put a stop to that for a while. Last week I slipped on the ice outside our gate and broke my right wrist. I had to have surgery to repair my wrist with plates and screws. I am now in plaster from my wrist to my elbow and it is likely to be several weeks before I can be back in action. My surgeon is aware that I garden and is anxious that I can resume my hobby as soon as possible. I am having to get used to working with my left hand and work at a slower pace, but I think I will be able to sow a few seeds in a tray soon. In the meantime I will try to be patient, read some gardening books and make plans for gardening in the Spring.

For more on the 52 Week Salad Challenge click here