The Good Life

With the threat of more bad weather to come this weekend and next week, I made what has turned out to be a very wise decision to do some gardening this morning. Specifically, I need to get my potatoes in the ground (they chitted fabulously under the stairs) and their destination in the vegetable plot was unprepared to say the least. So I managed to spend the morning digging and clearing, with a little bit of Milly's help, although her interest waned after about 10 mins, and she went to help daddy with the lawnmower. Power tools are always more thrilling!

Pic shows how vegetable plot looks now - you can see last years chard is still going strong -I'll post some more over coming months as things start to grow. On the agenda this week is getting those spuds in, if the weather is kind to us, and sowing some veggie seeds in the greenhouse. I have quite an ambitious list this year: chillis, peppers, tomatoes, runner beans, french beans, cauliflower, broccoli, courgettes, lettuce, cucumber, & sprouts (I'm sure I have left something out!) I tried aubergines last year, but they didn't flourish and I'm going to pass on the pumpkins as they simply take too much room.


I wasn't really looking forward to digging, but as always, once I started I really got into it. Digging is very therapeutic. The mind is free to just wander. Old memories resurfaced of helping my father and grandfather in their gardens. I remember my grandfather's plot being very neat and orderly, something I must strive for in mine. This year I want to really maximise my small plot and underplant the runner beans for example - see if I can't fit an extra crop in.


I came across three hibernating newts when I disturbed an old box of rubbish on the bed I was digging. Amazing what wildlife there is, even in a small surburban plot.


Good bit of news - we found out yesterday that Milly has got into our primary school of choice, which is only 3 minutes walk away. Compared to our lives in our small two bedroom central London flat, we really are living the Good Life! Just call me Barbara....