Grow Your Own!

Last year's small selection of home-grown crops kept us eating well for months, saving us so much money, so, this year, we are 'growing our own' on a larger scale. This was our rather sorry-looking vegetable garden two weeks ago. Since then, I've dug in all of that delightful horse manure and the rotten apples. I carried out a pedantic de-weeding and set to work digging out another growing bed...

While digging, I came across a treasure trove of personal effects ensconced in ashes: scissors, razors, buttons, buckles, spectacles... and another St Christopher medallion. These fragments of another life will have a new resting place under our terrace. No, we haven't started building it yet, but we have amassed an undulating eyesore of whale-like proportions.

I've now planted potatoes, leeks and onions in the lower bed, oh, and the lavender (since Kevin cracked apart its large pot at the front of the house during one of his trailer manoeuvres). The upper bed contains strawberries, peas and rhubarb so far.

I managed to bring back a British rhubarb crown on our Ryan Air flight this week; I was anxious that they might refuse it entry. It looks a bit crumpled because I removed it from its pot and wrapped it up tightly in polythene to make it more tidily transportable; it'll revive. I was also able to 'what I call, smuggle' four Cadbury's Creme Eggs!

I've bought quite a few different seeds this year, so I may yet need to dig another vegetable patch! The gladioli, I've planted along both interior edges of the two current beds to create a fragrant floral corridor for my grandchildren to run through.

Kevin has constructed a propagator for me using the existing stone trough by the well and odd panels of glass that were making the hay loft a dangerous place with their wayward leaning against fragile surfaces and bits of plough.

I broke the mower. Some Samson of a stick got tangled in its undercarriage and bent up the metal casing, preventing the left blade turning without a clanking to waken the dead. As I'm sure you will have guessed, Kevin and his angle grinder came to the rescue and it's now mended. While he was down there, however, he saw that the drive belt was worn, so he went to our local mower shop to buy a replacement. It was 60 Euros! For a circle of tough rubber! Pshhh!

Yesterday, I managed to mow around five of our eight acres. Kevin made me start with his 'fairway'. It's raining today, so the rest will have to wait.


STOP PRESS: There's blossom on the peach tree! I'm determined to actually get to eat at least one of the peaches this time! I've bought a net to protect them from predators. This will work. Unless it was the mushroom man who 'dunnit'...