wildlife in the garden

Last night i put my trail cam out not thinking i would get any night visitors at all and to my surprise what do i find at midnight  roaming round my garden i have never seen one before in any of my gardens   so what a privileged for nature to want to be in our garden

What’s been happen in the gardens this week

Well we have blue skies this morning and going to try and do some weeding after another coffee before I start.

Well I managed to do some weeding in bed 1 and cleared the weeds smothering both of my pea area’s which has made me happy feeling very happy with what I managed to do and David kindly had the dogs inside with him so I did not have to worry about the dogs getting out of the garden.

Next day

Damp skies this morning so might wait until later to do some garden work as David does not like me out in the rain trying to do some work

Next day

Still raining took a short video of my yellow courgette this morning as the female flowers on one had open along with a male so I hand pollinated it hoping to get some nice fruit.

All the things in the dog room are coming along nicely to be honest with you.

Yesterday it was lovely so I jointly mowed the garden with David and found out our weed is herb called fire weed know as a medical herb you can eat it as well in the spring

Also, we have a Sena Tora plant as well some call it a weed but if it good for the bees and butterflies then it is staying in the garden.

Well yesterday was a cool day but in the morning I managed to weed some of the rhubarb area and plant some #bird seed sunflower challenge as well planning to plant the other ones soon the rain come at lunch time

Yesterday we both felt sorry for a herb kit going for £2.00 so we brought it home and the only problem is that the pots are labelled  2 parsley with no seeds and one chives do have a pot for that one and basil seeds so wrote basil on a sticky note to go over the parsley sign then went looking in my boxes for a parsley and found one.

What’s been happen in the gardens this week

Well what a nice Easter weekend we had the sun has been out the dogs have enjoyed it a bit chilly this morning but sun slowly coming out now.

I hoping to go out into the garden later to try and make a new bed out of things laying a round for the edging the garden

Over the weekend I sowed some Hurst Green Shaft Pea where I had sown sugar snap peas, but nothing came up

So, hoping these do

/

 been damp the last couple of days with some sunshine  hoping to get out over the weekend

I am taking part in the #sunflower challenge 2019

Nicks Allotment Dairy on You Tube is running had already sown some before I heard about the challenge so sowed some more like you do

A bit of a damp day today so not a lot going on garden wise

Well we mowed the weeds the other day and added some to the wormy and have decided I will not worry about turning it over but just keep it for the lovely tea that they make it needs high ring up we had some nice weather but it going to go damp and raining so going to plant out my one and only Celeriac that had germinated  still worried about my lemon cucumber looks like I only got one coming up which is in the upstairs spare window  we had rain for the last 2 days so no gardening has been done

I am going to do some more sowing shortly as we meant to be getting nice weather again soon

Well we have had hale stones this morning so no outside has been done

I did do a sowing of sugar snap peas yesterday but left them in the shed  will spray them shortly I have run out of room in the house to bring them in and left 3 courgettes in there to normal would of put them in the green house but that’s not up as yet.

Well I asked David if one of my shelving from the greenhouse would work in the dog room and it dose thank you so much and to have all in one place now will be much better

Well I am thinking about re potting my lemon tree I watered it yesterday with rain water like you should it only got 2 brown leaves so thinking it might be dead?

Well I took the plunge and re potted my lemon tree had hardly any roots  it at all so snip one and also sowed my special seeds dose have another name  but that’s what I am calling mined will be in video shortly and we cleaned the shed up while we did not have the blue car in the shed

 Well we had a few good days weather wise with some wind so had to be care full of my eyes so been indoors sowing and tidying the garage /shed up

I think I have done quite well without my greenhouse up but do miss it, but it might get up one day?

 Well I planted out my 3 courgette plants this morning after doing a bit of weeding and did remember to put an empty small pot for watering as well been nice and warm as well had lunch outside witch was nice and had a coffee as well along with a soft drink

Noticed some bluebells out as well this morning dogs sunbathing when we were seating down resting for a bit

I have just planted out some poppies and one other plant potted on some rosemary I had in a pot of water and have made 3 small plants of its David has made cool area were we seat down for a coffee or two photo to follow

I am hoping to sow some more flowers hopefully

And harvest 4 sticks of rhubarb this morning might just stew and then make some custard later maybe

Moved my pallet garden down to near the other end of where I am growing things the other day looking good I got to sort my front containers out later on one side of the house as looking sorry for them self’s

Well I put some flower seeds into long container yesterday morning which were RUBBERMAID, SWEET WILLIAMS, AND CALIFORNIAN POPPY.

Been raining on and off meant to be raining all day so the met office says clean the garden up before the rain started again this morning

Been raining again apart hardening of my sugar snap peas and feeding the birds David came across this metal cockerel which we put up were hopefully I be putting some herbs I have not had a good time with gemination but will re sow some when I got some more seeds.

Well this is the third day of rain we had so far so no outside work has been happening  but hoping for a dry spell soon  hate when I can not get outside even to pot on things

We have a dry spell at the moment but looks like rain so not doing any gardening as got to go into town later  learning to garden with this green weed thing growing in our garden  all I do is keep pulling it out of my growing area  must get some more  bamboo poles soon might infest in a plant soon then I can harvest my own in the winter.

This morning I emptied my kitchen compost bin as it had stopped raining will have a look at the garden with the camera as with all the rain we been having have not been able to take it outside lately and I put my #sunflower challenge out to harden off before I plant them out in the garden

I have two flowers on 2 of my courgettes one in the dog room and one in the garden so I will start feeding them possible with tomato feed or I have one more Gro-Sure with seaweed enriched all-purpose plant food  will take photos soon

It raining again this morning so apart form a brief walk round the garden with the dogs that’s all we are doing at present

Will I potted on the #sunflower challenge sunflowers this afternoon birdseed ones and velvet orange ones can not remember to be honest

Hoping to get some poles soon for them and the tomatoes as well now I got some things growing at last

Raining again not getting much weeding down getting a list of things that I need to do but hopefully we will get things done

Mint and pea soup

http://wwwlindasgardenblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-back-garden.html

https://youtu.be/GIcfI6PpPyw

scones made this afternoon

Serves: 8

 Method

Prep:20min  ›  Cook:12min  ›  Extra time:3min  ›  Ready in:35min 

1. Preheat oven to 220 C / Gas 7. Grease a baking tray.
2. Measure out the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the butter. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and sultanas, if using.
3. Add the milk to the mixture and stir everything together. Knead the mixture together with your hands until you have formed a stiff dough.
4. Gently roll out the dough until it is 2cm thick. Cut out shapes with round biscuit cutters dipped in flour. Put the scones on a baking tray, brush them with milk
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Leave them on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

6. Ingredients

• 225g self raising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 50g cold butter, cut into pieces
• 25g caster sugar
• 50g sultanas (optional)
• 120ml milk, plus extra for brushing

well just found the blog

well it's been ages since i used this blog came across it when reading a fellow blogger's post  so will have to place on my desktop so when doing cooking i can place some photos of my baking  i have a wordpress blog  https://lindasgardenadventure.blog/

Well i seem to have my baking mojo back again

Normally when I try making bread or crackers its the thumps down their do not turn out  the outside looks cooked but inside still uncooked  but since last Thursday things have been turning out all right  I fine with sponges and cupcakes and muffins

my next challenge will be shortbread and scones  

A RE BLOG FROM JEN

http://lindaswildlifegarden.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/hokey-pokey/

For all who like thing from mother nature's garden

Clever and Stinging Nettle Soup

 

(image from Google )

 

2 Tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 bunches of clever, washed of all the sand, trimmed, and roughly chopped

1 medium bag of stinging nettle, trimmed and cleaned

6 cups of water or stock

3/4 cup half and half

about 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (add slowly, as nutmeg can overpower, but you want the essence of the flavour, so don't skimp, either)

2 teaspoons salt

(Eggs, for poaching, if using)

 

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil or butter and sauté the onion until translucent, but not brown. Add the garlic, and stir until it turns soft. Add the clever and the nettle to the pot, stirring so that it wilts. When it is all wilted, add the water or stock, and bring the soup to a bowl. Lower the heat, and simmer for about ten minutes, making sure the vegetables are cooked. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Add the half and half, the salt, and the nutmeg, and simmer until all the flavors are combined.

 

If you are adding the egg, crack it into the simmering soup, and cook it until the white is set.