Monday 21st March 2022: A new week and I will try and keep my fat fingers under control 😂 The temperatures are looking great for the week ahead climbing up to 19c which will be great on the one hand but on the other I will be monitoring how well I feel out in it. I will be applying, and indeed have already started with, the factor 50 everyday to keep things under control as much as possible 🙄 Today my plan is to sort the rest of the beds for the cut flowers and see if I can start the ride on mower to cut the front paddock. I don’t hold out much hope on that score as it is difficult to start so I might have to wait for John to come home although he will be late today and I am on animal duty but I might get time before dark fingers crossed.
The avian flu is still a problem having had some outbreaks only last week. It is looking as though they will not be lifting the lockdown until we’ll into April 😏 This causes a massive problem for the industry as they will have to change all their advertising and packaging from free range to housed. Legally they can still call them free range for up to 16 weeks but after that they cannot so unless they lobby hard to get the birds released it is going to cost them a lot of money.
Well I didn’t do any of the jobs that I said I was going to lol, it was quite chilly to begin with so I decided for some weird reason to clean the bathroom 😂 A full clean, cupboards out and everything, clean everything, throw anything we don’t use or is out of date, change the towels, wash the used ones and put them out on the line to dry. A spot of lunch and a catch up with the news and then around 1pm I decided to clean out the greenhouse. It was still overcast and John had said he would be late tonight so I figured I had about four hours to get the job done before having to do the animals. I moved everything out and put it on the lawn which took about an hour, the sun started to make an appearance and I thought oh no this is going to be hot work 🥵 but luckily it clouded over again. I then spent the next three and half hours cleaning the windows, sweeping the floor and sorting out rubbish before putting everything back in again. Luckily John actually came home earlier than he had expected and he did the animals because by this point I was running over schedule 🤪 I still have the outside of the windows to wash along with the polytunnels but that is a good job sorted. Indoors to sort the dinner, it was going to be a shepherds pie but due to lack of time it was mince, veg and potatoes all in the same pot to cook and tasted just as good. Plumb crumble for dessert and that is today done and dusted except for the washing up of course.
I wanted to get it cleaned out before it got too full of plants, I thought there was a mouse living in there but although I could see signs of one having been there, none are in there now. There was however a big fat slug already so that is what has eating the tops off my sweet peas 🤬 I evicted him along with the tortoise who I have put in the outside hut and stuffed it with straw. Billy has been awake for a while and outside but Voldertort is a bit slower being that bit smaller. On the back bench is the heat mat and everything on and above that needs a little bit of heat to get it going, then there are two propagators with things in that need a good amount of heat like pepper and tomato plants plus a few flower plants and then to the side are seedlings that do not need any heat such as peas and brassica. The shelves are to keep things up out of the way of any potential tiny footed nibblers but it doesn’t stop slugs who slime their way to anything 😏 Then under the staging are cuttings, out of the light but still in relative warmth, and any other paraphernalia that I need including sat pads for the outdoor chairs😂
Tuesday: Oh what a lovely day 🥰 it the first day of the year that I have stood and thought ‘I am one lucky person’ this is my office today and it is amazing 🤩 I spent the first part of the morning watering things in pots and digging up some huechera self sown seedlings. Then I got some of the pallet collars round for the stables and placed them on the ground where I think they will be going for cut flowers. After that I planted the remaining gladioli bulbs and covered them with a grille so they don’t get dug up. Samantha and the twins arrived and after playing and having lunch on a blanket in the garden Sam got the horses in for a brush and a tail cut. The twins were supposed to be helping but they wanted to play with everything else instead, there was the tractor that George is drawn to and the pile of ballast that Lucie was drawn to. At one point Lucie was completely undressed (this is standard Lucie) and then George, who had dug in some engine oil that was on the ground, smeared it all over Lucie 😂 Sam was not best pleased but I said it was a bit like swallows and amazons 🤣 Shelley and Florence came and we went back into the garden to leave Sam in peace while the kids played in the pirate ship, Lucie singing at the top of her voice ‘the big ship sails on the alley alley oh’ 🥰 After they all left I sat down for a while, watched the news, listened to a podcast and then ordered some chrysanthemums. They had largely fallen out of favour in gardens over the last few decades but they are making a comeback with some really zingy, modern shades so it will be good to add them to my cutting garden. The other bonus is that they flower right through to the first frost and some varieties even go to December/January which will be great for Christmas flowers. Halloween is a time I would love to have some colour appropriate bunches of flowers and so some of the chrysanthemum are a lovely burnt orange, I think black is going to be a no go but dark purple would work. John came home and we got the lawn mower started and while I cut the front paddock he fed the birds and collected the eggs. In for a cup of tea, some dinner and day done ✔️
Wednesday: Another fine and glorious day with a fresh start. I went straight into the greenhouse first thing and potted on a few things, moved things around a little and moved the seedlings that were in the office out to the greenhouse so I can have my work space back in there. Once I finished that then onto the next job which was to get the edger and do the edge of the grass all down the driveway. I felt old today doing that as it wore me out for some reason, the sun was shinning mind you so that could have been the reason I found it hard going. That little lot took me up to early afternoon, then time for some lunch and a good long sit down. Back out to plant up a few bits into the ground, some stocks, curry plants and something else I have forgotten the name of 😝 Mum came over to drop off some plastic pots so we sat in the garden for a bit of a chat and just after she left John arrived home. Pop out for some shopping, come home, get dinner and another day done.
Thursday: Another blue sky, warm temps day and I had decided to have a more gentle day today. I began, as always, in the greenhouse checking things over, watering anything that needed it and also taking a few roots cuttings from the liatris plants that are growing well. My gentle day became punctuated with lots of things going on and people coming and going. First Mum arrived with some bits I am selling for her and the money raised is going to Ukraine, then I had a delivery of topsoil arrive after that my sister arrived to pick up some stuff going to a Ukraine, then John came home briefly, then a delivery of a specimen plant arrived lol. Meanwhile I was waiting for someone to collect something but they didn’t arrive 🙄 So much for a gentle day as that was all before 12 noon 😂 The specimen plant is a 7ft Clematis Armandii a vigorous, evergreen clematis that has gorgeous white flowers in spring that are scented, it is to climb over the old dog kennels and also provide me with some beautiful blooms in spring 😁 A spot of lunch, a sit down and catch up with the news and now we have another despot launching missiles 😏 what is wrong with these idiots, nobody wants to invade their countries so I find it difficult to understand why they feel the need to either defend themselves or invade others 🤷♀️
I had a second delivery of plants and bulbs, those I was expecting but a tall package came with them and I said to the delivery driver I don’t know what that is I don’t remember ordering anything else 😂 turns out I qualified for a free tree 🥰 well a pussy willow actually but it was nice surprise. I planted as many bulbs as I could before Sam arrived with the twins for our Thursday session. Mia goes to her swimming lesson and the twins stay here and play, I cook them dinner and then once Mia has finished they get collected and go home. Today as John was here I thought I would be a good idea to get them to help feed the chickens and collect the eggs. It’s a bit of a mission to watch both of them at the same time regarding the egg collection but I am pleased to say we managed it with no breakages 😜
Friday: Glorious weather again today so making the most of it while it lasts. This morning instead of going into the greenhouse I did some housework, quick hoover round, polish, wipe the surfaces, I thought I had better lol. Then my hairdresser came for a quick trim and then it was out with Sam, Shelley, Flo, George & Lucie to a local cafe near a big open space and a park, perfect for everyone 🥰 Once back home I went into the greenhouse and planted up the rest of the bulbs into pots. They are hyacinth and so should have been something I bought and planted last year but once it is time for them to flower they very often get sold of cheap which is what these were. There is still time however to force them and so they have been potted and are now in the polytunnel where the warmth will bring them on hopefully. I spent quite a while watering everything in the greenhouse and then planting one or two bits in the cutting garden.
John arrived home just after I finished that with some bad news about the chicken feed, it is going up again! A whopping £1.20 a bag this time, that is on top of the 45p it has just gone up, that’s an increase of £1.65 in less than two months. We use a bag a day just in layers pellets so there is corn on top of that, we will need to sell just over £65 worth of eggs a week just to break even. Together with the lack of customers this week I am thinking we probably need to call it a day, I know I said it last year but back then I really didn’t think feed would go up as much as it has so I was willing to keep going. If you buy anything from a small local business, do me a favour and tell everyone about it because at this rate they will all be going under 😞 it really is a very depressing outlook to be honest. At one time I could put eggs up for sale on the local selling sites and get them shifted but the algorithms no longer allow it so we are relying on word of mouth really. It is not helped by the avian flu each year when the birds are locked down 🙄 they eat less when they are out and about scratching around in the grass and the dirt but when they are shut in it costs more to feed them, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place 😏
I spent most of the evening bringing the egg sales into the age of technology 😂 Up until the pandemic 100% of our sales had been cash sales, then nobody wanted to physically touch money 🤪 and so we had to look at other ways to pay for some customers, then spare change became scarce 😂 and now I think we lose customers because they don’t have cash on them. So it’s time to make other options available, I ordered a card reader and I have also set up QR codes for when I am not able to go out there, hopefully that will help 😁
Saturday: Fine and sunny again today and it has been a busy day. I started off taking fresh bedding up to the geese and collecting their eggs, the picking a couple of bunches of daffodils from the paddock they are in. Onto picking rhubarb, the first of the year, and putting it out for sale. Out to the front to pot up the clematis that arrived the day before and I was just finishing that off when Shelley arrived with Josh because he was staying with me while Flo went to a party. Josh and I cleaned out the Guinea pigs and went round cleaning all the water buckets and topping up with fresh water plus finding the rabbits and torts some nice greens. Meanwhile John went off to get feed before the price goes up and then unload when he came back. He also sorted out getting the water all back on in the garden and connected the pump for the rainwater to be pumped over to the garden area. We did lots of little jobs like sorting out hoses and connections ready for the year ahead, making sure everything was working and more importantly not leaking 🤪 The chap was also here doing the second lot of fencing which is now finished I just need to get hold of some field gates and get those hung. Once the fencing was finished we stood and had a long chat to put the world to rights 😂 a quick cup of tea and then it’s time to do the afternoon rounds to end the day.
The more I learn about growing flowers for cutting the more I realise exactly how much there is to learn 😜 I am getting there though, I just wish I had started earlier in preparation for the beginning of this year. The 1st sowing of gladioli are beginning to show tiny shoot tips which is great because I had no idea when I planted the second lot of the first ones we’re doing anything at all 😁 It is all moving in the right direction though and I don’t really want to go at full speed with it, a gentle approach will mean I have time to learn along the way hopefully. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and today I have been going round looking at what is available to cut for just one special bouquet, I think I will have just about enough to give something lovely to my Mum 🥰
Early evening bought some sad news but news I have been expecting. My Dads long term partner Sue, who used to own our place, passed away peacefully at home with family by her side, after a short stay in hospital. She had known she was ill for quite a while but she hadn’t told anyone at all until she absolutely had to. Rest in peace, I am sure Dad is there waiting with a gin and tonic in one hand and a roll up in the other for you x x
Sunday: Mothers Day, so much love today for some and so much sadness for others x x It was a fair bit colder today than the whole of the last week but we still got on with a few jobs outside. John spent the morning clearing old rails from the paddock and then dragging the smaller middle one. I spent the early bit of the morning going round cutting foliage and flowers for the bouquet of the day. Charlie came round early on with breakfast for me 🥰 pastries, fruit, yoghurt, smoothie and also a chocolate heart box made locally, beautifully made with delicious chocolate covered strawberries and chocolates inside. Near lunchtime I gathered the flowers and foliage that had been conditioning and I made my first home grown bouquet, and naturally it was going to be for my Mum 😁 I was excited and nervous putting it together but the result was beautiful, a home grown, sustainable bouquet, I even impressed myself 😝 Off round to see Mum, give her the flowers and have a cuppa with her before returning home as Sam, Luke and the children had arrived at ours. Sam got me some lovely new gardening gloves and a very professional looking pair of long blade snips for cutting flowers (I need a tool belt I think as I kept losing my secateurs this morning) We fed the tortoises and the horses then they went for a walk before going home. A quick sit down and a cup of tea before the afternoon rounds and then round to Shelley and Martins for a roast dinner which was amazing. Presents again, Hotel Chocolat choccies and a daily organiser for me to write all my jobs and musings down in, I have been spoilt rotten 🥰
I put out the first picking of new season rhubarb this week which all sold as quick as a wink, now I just need the eggs to go that fast lol as the birds are laying like crazy and we have plenty of them every day 😁
In the week ahead the temperatures will be much colder but I hope you have a good one anyway x
frieslandfarm (flowers) 