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Little House by the Railway Line
2009 Goals
- Learn to make yoghurt
- Pickle walnuts
Make marmalade- Perfect my granola bar recipe
- Grow green beans to eat
Grow spinach- Grow peppers and winter squash
- Save seeds from peppers and winter squash
- Knit lots of dishcloths
- Finish my hidden stars quilt
- Make napkin rings
- Finish cardigan back
- Learn how to do water-bath-canning
- Knit a pair of socks
Preserved this Year
- February: Marmalade, 10 1/2 standard jars, 2 tiny jars
- February: Blatjang chutney, 6 jars
- March: Caramelised onion chutney, 6 jars
- June: Elderflower cordial, 5 jars
- June: Strawberry Jam, 7 standard jars, 3 tiny jars
- June: Elderflower cordial, 4 1/2 jars (2nd batch)
Projects in Progress/ Planned
- Navy and pink lap quilt
- Hidden stars bed quilt
- Sampler cardigan
- Amish Alphabet Cross-Stitch
- Knitted scrap blanket
- Planned: summer blouse and skirt
Scripture Memorised this Year
- Psalm 8
- Psalm 103
- Romans 12
- Romans 13
Seeds and Garden Planning for 2009
I just got the seeds in the post that I ordered last Friday! I found a company on the internet, called Real Seeds, who specialise in real, non-hybrid seeds that you can save the seeds from that grow well in the English climate, and after much discussion with my husband, last Friday we ordered what we wanted to try this year.
We have two plots in our garden; one for flowers and one for vegetables. We also have blackberries across the back fence, and a patio with pots on it. One of the pots has herbs in it, and the others have nothing/weeds. The vegetable patch is three-quarters full of strawberries. Last year we grew courgettes and green beans in the remaining quarter. (We did try to grow spinach, too, but it bolted and flowered and died before any of the leaves were bigger than a centimetre or two, so that wasn't much use. I later decided it may have preferred to be somewhere less sunny.) The plan for this year is to cut back on the strawberries so they only take up half the bed (there were too many for us to eat anyway last year), and try and grow more vegetables. We've still got courgette seed in the packet we bought last year, and bought a new packet of bean seeds late last year while buying food.
I really want to try growing a winter squash, as I love them. They also strike me as being very easy to store over the winter - no preserving required! So we've ordered a Burgess Buttercup squash, which sounds like a good one and said it is good for smaller plots. That will go in the vegetable bed with the courgette and the beans. I'm going to have to hand pollinate some of the squashes to make sure I can save the seeds, but that's okay.
Then I really fancied trying to grow peppers and chillis, so we ordered an orange bell pepper and a chilli that purports to be early enough to grow unprotected outside in England. I think I'll grow the chilli in our "greenhouse" (it's about three feet high, metal frame with clear plastic covering and we move it round the garden to follow the sun), and try and grow the pepper inside, or possibly in the vegetable bed. I may try both, to see what works best.
That was all we were originally planning to order, but there was a minimum order value, so I've also got some cherry tomatoes (which we've heard of people growing in hanging baskets). it's a Siberian yellow one, which we're hoping will actually ripen. So many people we know grew tomatoes this year that simply never got ripe. And finally, I decided to have another go at spinach - or rather chard, as apparently "perpetual spinach" is actually called leaf beet and is a type of chard. Probably in pots on the patio.
I'm very excited, and a little concerned that none of this will work. If I actually get any good at vegetable gardening we may put some vegetables in the flower bed, but for now it seems best to leave the established shrubs in place while we work things out.
I'm looking forward to Spring!
Leave a Comment
{ Last Page } { Page 94 of 202 } { Next Page }Untitled Comment
19:07, Friday 9 January 2009 .. Posted by crispeI am with you, I can't wait until Spring. I hope your garden does well. I still need to order my seeds. I usually get them from the store in town, but I am going to try ordering this year.
Untitled Comment
19:00, Monday 12 January 2009 .. Posted by AnonymousHow interesting. I was reading the other day that 98% of seeds are now hybrids. What a plan against God's wonderful creation, a real crime against humanity.
I have bought some vegetable seeds to plant next spring. I hope they'll turn out OK!
(Irene@The Green Greek)
Lea of Farmhouse Blessings
04:45, Tuesday 13 January 2009 .. Posted by AnonymousThanks so much for sharing your plans. Its so inspiring.
Lea
About Me
Hello! I'm Jo, I'm 26 and I live in a small house in England with my husband. I work full time in an office, and in my spare time I help out with Sunday school and the church youth group. When I have time, I enjoy reading, cookery and crafts, and I'm trying to learn about the garden.
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