Monday 15th August 2022: I have taken to watching the rain radar, a live website so I can either see some relief or disappointment approaching 🤪 This morning, though I intended to get up early, I didn’t, so I was then playing catch up. I didn’t water, I am hoping that is done for me today 🙏 but I did cut flowers and harvest loads of tomatoes, cucumbers and baby courgettes, if it stays fairly overcast I can get a good bit done today including picking more plums and apples. We have an abundance of cooking apples this year, typical as we have had none for two years and now more than we could ever use or store. I am giving them away as I don’t want to see them going to waste at all. I have, in anticipation of some precipitation, cast some mixed seeds in the grass at the drive entrance to see if I can pretty that up for next year and I have also cast some pelleted chicken manure on the ornamental beds, hopefully the rain 🙄 will wash that in. The one thing that is great about today is that it is noticeably cooler 😁😁 smiles all round today without that relentless heat that you cannot even think straight in let alone work 🤪
I thought I would make a start on changing the beds around in the veg garden, the small raised beds are all north to southish but I want to change them east to westish to give me a long line of two that I can walk in between making it easier to get to things on all sides. Some of the beds are now empty so I can get on with moving them around and replanting them with perennials for cutting. Sounds easy enough doesn’t it, I mean it’s overcast and not as hot as it was and rain is on the way pffft. Not that easy as it turns out, the sun has decided to pee me right off and keep peeping out from the clouds, it is actually bloody hot when you are hefting and shifting and there is no sign of any water droplets let alone some decent rain! I can’t get the bloody box straight no matter how many times I try partly because it’s difficult diving back and forth to the shade, the sweat is running off me and I just want to cry because I just want to get something achieved but can’t, fml. All the while I know John will do it when he comes home but I would have really liked to do it and get the job moving in the right direction, right at this minute I bloody hate having Lupus and I bloody hate getting old and I bloody hate the total lack of rain 🤬 Just for once it would be nice if things went a little more smoothly instead of a constant uphill battle to achieve the smallest of things 😢 First world problems I know but it’s my problem to bleat on about ok 😝 I am not a quitter, never have been, never will be so as soon as I have cooled off a little both physically and mentally, I will be back out there having another go and who knows I may even manage it 🤷♀️
I didn’t manage it but luckily I have John 😁 not only did he do that one he did four others as well. I was helping of course as well as getting the dinner and watering at the same time. I now have two of the beds planted up, one with herbs for cutting, English Mace, sage, oregano, Angelica and I have all my different mints, apple, variegated and chocolate, in a very large pot. In the next bed I planted agastache, a short but airy verbena (the name escapes me) a very tall, white aster and some other things that I am too tired to remember right now. The next bed is already planted and staying where it is, it has three rose bushes in there and is now a bit bigger so I will be adding another rose. The next two need filling with soil and I haven’t quite decided what will go where but it is likely to be hydrangeas in one and who knows what in the next one. After that there is a row of honey berry bushes and an apple tree which will all be staying put and then the beds carry on, I have decided that the grasses do really well there so they will be permanent grass bed with all kinds of different grasses for cutting.
It rained! While we were working, well just finishing up, it started raining, lasted about five minutes and then stopped 🙄 not much but it felt really, really good 😊
Tuesday: I was up early and outside to get some flower cutting done, the main reason being the rain forecast today, I didn’t want the tall blooms I need this week to get bashed by any heavy rain. It was already sitting with rain which continued for a good while. Mid morning I went out for coffee with Charlie, back before midday and Sam and the children were here and then rain 🌧 real rain 🌧 a substantial amount of wonderful, wet rain 😂 happy, happy, happy, happy me, happy plants 😁 and tonight I finally get a night off from watering 🥰
Wednesday: I got up early this morning out of habit but I didn’t need to water as the ground was still damp in places 😁 So once all the morning it’s were done I got on with dried flowers instead. I have to say I love, love, love drying flowers and I have begun to construct the flowers for Sam and Luke’s wedding, they look fabulous even if I do say so myself, I definitely want to do more dried flower bouquets. I cleared away mid morning as Shelley and Sam arrived with the children, Charlie popped in too, she went home and then the rest of us went for a walk up to the downs. I got back mid afternoon and John arrived home in time for me to go and deliver a flower bouquet to my weekly customer and some jam jar flowers which I donated for their charity raffle which was happening today along with a cake sale.
Once back home I decided to do more dried flowers so from 3pm to 9pm I spent my time making up table arrangement bouquets x 8 and then sorting all the flowers out into separate bundles so that I can clearly see what I have. I had just picked them randomly and hung them to dry so they were mixed bunches, now they are all in coordinated bunches 😁 I just have two large arrangements to make for the wedding and then the flowers are done. While clearing up I watched an online talk in my flower group, it was all about herbs and the different types that are great for flower arranging, definitely going to be getting some more unusual ones as herbs always smell and look fab in with flowers.
Thursday: I didn’t do very much today apart from bimble about 😂 I did make up a bouquet of flowers ready to be delivered in the evening. We went out to deliver the flower bouquet which was an un successful delivery 🙄 and an hour or so later returned home to get the animals done and the dinner on. We were still eating at 7.30pm when Martin arrived to play pool with John for their Thursday night session.
Friday: Awake super early and did a few normal jobs, then picked a few lbs of tomatoes, some cucumbers and some courgettes, fed the torts and plenty of overripe cucumbers to the quail, guineas, rabbit and chickens. Shelley came to pick me up at 9.45 and we went out to get coffee and cake. I went back to Shelley’s and spent an hour or so doing a drawing class with Josh, he was teaching me not the other way round as he is fabulous at it 😁 I came home and did some housework, hoovering polishing etc.
I contacted another customer about the flowers I had cut and arranged that didn’t get delivered and they are going to have them so that’s brilliant, no wasted flowers though a fair bit of my time wasted, I will put it down to experience.
Saturday: Up and about did a few household bits, then some shopping then delivered the flowers, back home and John got the mower out to do a bit more mowing. Went round to my sisters in the evening and she had lots of lovely ripe figs from
Sunday: John was busy today digging up any ragwort in the paddocks and then topping it just taking the very top of any growth off. There is not a lot of growth to be fair and the paddocks are still brown, the ones the horses have eaten off are just left with the odd weed standing proud but dead so that is what has been cut.
Not much from me this week as I have been busy elsewhere, all is well but I will tell you about it when it’s appropriate 😁
frieslandfarm (flowers) 