Wednesday 13th April 2022: Ooo it’s Wednesday and so far I haven’t written a thing 🤪 That’s because I was pretty busy Monday doing all the usual jobs, some bits in the greenhouse, watering everything that was looking dry, housework and some paperwork bits. I had to get that all sorted because late afternoon I went to Shelley’s to look after Josh and Florence overnight while Shelley and Martin went away. We had a fun time with pizza and movies plus board games and lots of talking. I had an early start on Tuesday morning with Florence stood by the bed at 6am saying ‘Nana I need a poo’ 😂 it’s been a lot of years since that has happened to me! I came home mid afternoon Tuesday to find John had not even bothered to wash up while I was away nor do the eggs from the night before so I got those jobs done quickly. After that I needed to get a few things sorted as quite a few of my lot were coming round to see Sue’s daughter before she flew back to America. We shared memories and thoughts, pizza and cider and my youngest sister lit a candle which we blew out before we all left which seemed quite symbolic. Sue opted not to have a funeral but I think sometimes the people that are still here need to have some closure and that was a lovely informal way to do that.
We finally arrive at Wednesday 😁 my first thought the morning was for the flower bouquet I needed to get ready for later this afternoon. So after getting the essential jobs done I got my bucket ready with clean sterile water in it and went round with my snips cutting the flowers and foliage I wanted to make the bouquet. All of the material needs to be conditioned beforehand, that is basically stood in clean water for a few hours in the dark so that it can take on board as much as it needs to survive as long as possible in the vase. There will be some extra conditioning to do on the woody stems prior to making up the bouquet but then it will be ready to go 😁 That will be my first paying customer and I have a second tomorrow, I have six Jam Jar posies to do for a wedding in June which has been arranged, paid for and is now in the diary 🥰
The rest of the morning I have spent in the greenhouse potting on seedlings and small plants. I have discovered that mice can indeed climb and it has eaten the sunflower seeds 😡 so I had to redo those and put them under something secure so they can’t get eaten again. I also had to rescue some blue lace flower seedlings that have been munched on, again putting them under cover so the rest don’t get eaten. I think a mouse is getting in under a tiny sliver at the bottom of the door, it’s the only place it can get in so I need to see what can be done about that because it’s tiresome to say the least 🙄 The mousetrap does not seem to go off, just feed the little fecker 🤪 That brought me up to lunchtime, a quick sit down and regroup before starting again this afternoon.
Busy couple of hours early afternoon, I worked till I got hungry 😋 I planted the remaining broad beans plants and all the kohlrabi plants. I made sure I covered them before finishing, I haven’t grown the kohlrabi before but as it looks like it’s from the brassica family I don’t want the cabbage white ravaging it plus I don’t want the cats digging newly planted veg up. I still have plenty to get planted and sown, some, like the runner beans are not ready yet but I do need to get on with the beetroot and carrots 🙄 In for some lunch then out again to sow a bed of carrots, these are all autumn king so once they are in they will basically stay there until autumn and what isn’t used fresh will be used for freezing or drying. Again I have done a decent job of covering, cats and carrot root fly this time, always something trying to get your goods 🤪
Back inside to get the bouquet done, this didn’t quite go as planned and I wasn’t 100% happy, I have a few things that need more practice. One of the hardest things I am finding is that I have very small hands and so holding the bouquet while I put it together is difficult and I don’t really know if there is a cheat way to do it but if there is I will find it.
So I thought to myself if you are not happy are you going to leave it or do something about it, so I did something about it 😊 I wasn’t happy with the way it looked once it was wrapped and so I unwrapped it added a couple more bits and voila, happy me. It’s fairly free form and didn’t look so good trussed up in paper so I let it be free and it works much better. Still got to figure out some good photography angles but I will get there eventually.
In the evening I had an online event which was really interesting, it was all about the psychological aspect of gardening for all different groups of people. I was also fascinated to learn that in WW1 they made gardens behind the lines, on both sides, they would get seeds sent over from home and sow a garden 😯
Thursday: Once all the routine stuff was done I went out with my bucket to cut flowers and foliage for todays bouquet which was being picked up later in the afternoon. I also gathered some flowers to make some jam jar posies to put out tomorrow and did a bit of farm social media stuff. Sam and the kiddies arrived just before lunch and left later in the afternoon, once they had gone I put the kettle on, made a cuppa and did the bouquet which was then collected. John arrived home and went to do the birds while I cut some areas of grass on the ride on mower. Once that was done we went in and as I hadn’t got anything ready for dinner we were wondering what to have when the phone rang. It was my sister ‘do you want some dinner, I have cooked for four but now the other two can’t make it’ yep we will be there in two shakes of a tail 😂 perfect. Back home in time to put the birds to bed, John will be playing pool with Martin while I watch an online spring floristry workshop with one of my groups 🥰 great day 😁
Saturday: You can tell it’s been a busy week as I have missed out Friday as well 😂 Good Friday, a lovely sunny bank holiday and I mostly spent the day doing stuff, I can’t actually remember what stuff but it would have been to do with plants, flowers, shrubs, veg 🤪 That’s the trouble if I don’t type it up at night, I completely forget what I have done. One thing I do know is that it was Charlottes birthday and so mid afternoon we went round to a BBQ at hers along with Shelley and family and Sam and family 🥰 then we went down to my sisters as it was her birthday as well where we stayed until it was time to come and put the birds to bed around 8.30pm. Also food available at hers and so no cooking today 😃
Actual Saturday 🤪 A busy day again today and another hot, sunny one. First thing I went out and cut flowers and foliage for an ordered bouquet today. I then got another of the cut garden raised beds filled with soil before moving on to plant up a bed of delphiniums. John has made some good support frames for these and I have used jute netting secured to the top for them to grow through. I also planted up some ami Majus (bishops flower) and some lupin in the bed next to it which already had some liatris, astrantia and gladioli in it, I put another support frame over that and put the jute netting on top. By this time it was getting pretty hot and I had to keep going back to the shade to cool off as I could feel my skin beginning to prickle 🙄 I am not exactly disabled with Lupus but it is disabling at times 😏 Meanwhile John was hanging the field gates which are now finished and it’s looking good, just need to take down the old fencing. There is always so much fencing to do and we really wouldn’t bother but you have to keep the horses in somehow 😝 I carried on planting up spare plants wherever I have space for them, the garden will be full to the brim this year I think, that’s good though, not too much room for weeds 🤞 I have bought quite a few shrubs lately and am contemplating making a shrubbery in the front paddock, it’s a strange thing when you have a lot of space but only certain places that you can plant things due to animals either eating them or scratching them up before they get established. Mid afternoon I came indoors to get the eggs sorted as I did it do them this morning, better to get the outside jobs done first when it’s going to be hot. Then it was time to get the ordered bouquet made, I was very pleased with this one, it was beautiful but my photography skills are letting me down as I can’t seem to get a decent shot that shows them off well 🤷♀️ Time for a sit down before the animals need doing and then we are off round to my other sisters whose birthday it is today and another BBQ, happy days.
Easter Sunday: Oh gosh I am so out of sync this week that I forgot this goes out today lol. We spent the morning working, I got the last couple of raised beds ready and then John filled them all up with the top soil. I planted a few crazy daisy plants and then pricked out some seedlings, grasses and plumes for the cutting garden. Sowed more tomato and pepper seeds as well as some more courgettes. I made sure everything that needed water got some both in the greenhouse and around the garden. Just after lunch we went over to see Sam and the Kiddies and take them some Easter eggs, we stayed for a cuppa and then came back home. I did a bit of weeding in the front beds, sorted the eggs and then had a sit down for a hour or so. We had a lovely roast dinner at Shelley and Martins, and took the kiddies Easter their eggs. On the way home we called in to Charlie and Maccas and dropped an egg off for them and a tiny one for the bump lol. By the time we got home it was getting dark, time to put the birds to bed and that’s another day and week done. Though we have Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow which always feels like a luxury even if we will be working for some of it 😂
Have a great week.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 