Water butt progress!

A sea of mud but at least the sheds are now where they are meant to be, as is the greenhouse!
The veg beds need feeding with compost and edging, the paths need sorting out. I think what we need most of all is a drop of sunshine! Our garden, although long is also very narrow at the end. Our new fencing is on the left hand side, our neighbour will be replacing the right hand side with similar fencing soon, which is good but will make the garden look even narrower. At least we can't yet see the building works at the end of the back fence, that could all change by the end of the week!



For any water butt geeks out there (I blame Gavin's posts for encouraging my water butt geekiness! lol)The larger water butt is linked up to guttering on one side of the larger shed and all of the small shed at the back. The smaller water butt (at the front)is linked up to guttering on one side of the bigger shed.

Birds of a feather

How pleased I am that these trees were saved from the developers and their building plans! I think the pigeons are happy too! A good tree comes in pretty handy on a soggy day. This was taken a couple of days ago and the builders are now back, the brick level is going up and soon the walls will be visable above our fence :(

Now our sheds are moved to the bottom of the garden, with the water butts connected, I don't mind so much, yet! I have the vegetables and fruit planting to plan. Today I found fruit bushes in Aldi and have bought 3 gooseberry, 5 blackcurrant, 5 raspberry and 2 tayberry bushes. That should fill up some of the spaces. I must get my seed potatoes soon and begin chitting them in empty egg cases in the shed. First I need some more compost delivered, to dig in to get the soil ready. So much to do and I need to slow down and pace again, so the knitting is out as I have had a couple of requests for some fingerless gloves from my friends at the ms centre.

Valentines Day Cookies

I've had some fun, I've made a mess! lol! and then I took these cookies out to share with my friends at the ms centre. Fun all round and less calories for us! I did make a couple for Mr C though!

Lemon Kisses
ingredients:-
4 oz (100g) butter or margarine
3oz (75g) caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp lemon juice
8 oz (200g) plain flour
method:-
Cream the butter and sugar.
Beat in the egg with the lemon juice.
Fold in the flour and form into a soft dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut into shapes.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 375F/190C/Gas mark 5
Leave until cool and then ice and decorate. We make a glace icing using lemon juice instead of water and it is delicious!


Off now for a proud mummy moment - my son is going to be on tv!!!! mind you it is about football lol! Tomorrow I am going out with my future daughter in law (I love saying that) and my daughter to look at wedding dresses! Very exciting!

We have water butts!

Yes they have yet to be connected, although I think the recent deluge would have overwhelmed them! That reminds me I must check the state of the existing water butt near the house!

I am so pleased to have these water butts, once they are connected to the recently moved sheds at the far end of the garden, watering the new veg patch will be much easier.



A recent photo of the state of play at the bottom of the garden! I know it doesn't look pretty at the moment (at least we can see it now the snow and puddles have receded!) but the sheds are now in their permanent position on hard standing bases, the new fencing is finished, the rotovating will be finished today and soon the greenhouse will be moved onto it's new base behind the old summerhouse. One bonus with having a sort out, we found an old window down there and, with some old breeze blocks, will hopefully make a cold frame with it.

I went to a "potato day" with a friend at our local garden centre but there was nobody about, no talks, just one leaflet and lots of bags of seed potatoes! :( Never mind I have my gardening books, the internet and determination - I will have lots of home grown potatoes this year! Now what else can I grow down there?

Thank you Elizabeth!

The news from Victoria, Australia is horrific, so many fires and so many lives! To hear that arson is the probable cause only adds to the horror, that someone could do that deliberately! My prayers go out to all affected by the tragedy. For once the recession/global credit crunch can take a back seat.

I woke with a heavy heart today and decided to take Penny for a walk, no matter how cold and wet the weather, just to get some air and sort out my thoughts. We didn't stay out for long though, it is very, very cold again.

We just beat the postman and guess what, he had a parcel for us, from Elizabeth! I had won the Cranks recipe book in her giveaway! Thank you so much, it is a lovely book and I have already seen a few recipes I can't wait to try out. I don't have to feel guilty about making them either as they seem quite healthy! I will try them out on my friends at the ms centre.



The card is lovely Elizabeth and an extra surprise, one of your super knitted dishcloths!
It was beautifully wrapped and I'm saving the beautiful ribbon in my scrapbooking draw!



Thank you Elizabeth for cheering me up!

Snowy weather!

The garden looked so peacefully pretty



until Penny the cockapoo discovered that a snowy garden makes a pretty good racetrack!



The snow is still falling here and it's very cold, well it is for us softie southeners! :)

What amazes me is how badly we are all affected by it. Goodness alone knows what folk in Canada think of all this! Bus services suspended in the city, most underground train services also suspended. A lot of folk will not be making it into work today, I don't blame them but this is could be the last straw for some firms, just what the economy needs.

After attempting to walk Penny round the block and then drying her off, I shall be staying inside with lots of hot tea to drink and getting on with some bulk cooking for the freezer.
I went over my budget last month but only because I failed to cancel the 2nd organic delivery, so the total spend was £61 (target was £50) without that delivery it would have been £48.