Good Grief! Carrots!

I have never been able to grow carrots! Well, I can grow them but what I usually end up with is a whole lot of greenery and a little ping pong ball sized carrot attached to the end. So when we decided to 'bung a few carrots in' the end of the potato patch I was expecting much the same. So when we headed down just this last week and thought we should give pulling them up a go, and boy were we surprised!!! We pulled up about a quarter, maybe a third, of them and we got 1.123kg (2.5lbs)! Funkiest carrot goes to this guy!!

I spent the evening preparing them and the potatoes, peas and beans for the freezer. But what to do with all of the tops and tails? Most people put them on the compost heap, but we haven't yet set one up, so what to do with all this lot then?

Luckily for us we have the best clean up crew in the area!

What a Difference the Sun Makes

It is amazing what a little sunshine can do to a vegetable patch. I went down just the other day and had a seat among the growings on. Everything looked so healthy, and HUGE! Everything had been trying its best to make the most of the sunshine. We are defiantly going to get a good crop of Runner Beans this year, much to my surprise as they were looking pretty unhappy for a while, what with the wind that whistles over the hill and across the garden.

The beans are growing crazy. One managed to produce two beans! Way ahead of the other plants, not sure why it chose to be so early!
The peas too are going mad. Check out the graph at the bottom to keep track of the farms produce this year.
Raspberry bushes are coming on a treat!
The last minute decision to plant carrots seems to be paying off!
We lost a couple of Brussel plants in the beginning but the remainder are looking SO healthy I think we are going to be inundated with Sprouts.
We have had a few potatoes from the garden but there are plenty more under there for us to find!
The strawberry patch is producing a few fruit but the main purpose is to get some nice runners off them so we can beef up the strawberry patch next year.


The garlic is also looking good. It has been through a lot in the past what with sheep and a strimmer attack but we hope that they have pulled through.

Summer is Yellow

Summer has chosen it's colour this year and it appears to be Yellow, well definately on our hill anyway. There is a sea of buttercups stretching down from our veggie patch (which we are fighting to reclaim from said buttercups) and during the hot weather we have been having lately it is amazing to stand in the warmth, look down over the yellow, under the blue and listen to the Buzzzzz..

As you can see our veggie patch beds are most defintaley in amongst the flowers. Farm Mum, there, sporting fine gardening headwear, is doing her bit in the battle of Raspberries VS buttercups. The bed in the foreground is the potato/brussel sprout/carrot patch and so far is holding it's own against the weeds. The cycle of heavy rain followed by days of sun is doing wonders for everything growing - wanted or unwanted! I love the buttercups though, so although they will continue to encroach I got Farm Guy to only cut down paths to the flower beds and around them. Anyway, all those flowers will encourage a nice lot of bees and butterflies to the patches, that can't be bad! The photo below is pre-strimming hence why Farm Mum is disappearing amidst the weeds!
The potatoes are doing well. As you can see there are four varieties here. A salad, a first early, a second early and a main crop - mainly until we find out what is the best to grow on our hill. These little guys had done so well growing so big, I rewarded them by covering them over again! Plenty more growing to do guys!

A Busy Time

Well, it has been a long time since the last post but has most definitely been a busy time for us. Let's see if I can re-cap for you. It can be really split down into two sections: the garden and the house. The house first I think.
We went to a Home Building and Renovation Show to try and get both ideas and guidance. There were various seminars going on telling you how to make your house Eco friendly or how to self manage a project etc. Sitting in on these proved to be an eye-opener but has not discouraged us. We were slightly swayed by their estimated figures but we are thinking that if we can do much of the work ourselves then we should be able to keep costs down. The only trouble with doing it yourself is you need to have the time to do it!

In terms of the existing house we are currently in the process of (as in we stand at the door, saying "We need to do something about these rooms") converting the two smaller bedrooms into a bedroom (I know, not much of a conversion) and a bathroom. This means re-laying the floorboards that came up after the new Immersion Heater was put in, taking down the current dividing wall and putting up a better one, then getting the bathroom fitted, the walls plastered, the hole in the wall filled (which is nice and airy but not so great when it rains!) and carpets/flooring fitted.

We also need to paint the hall, this is a big job as it contains the stairs and, as our upstairs essentially goes into the attic (very tall ceilings upstairs and down stairs) the stairwell also is exceptionally high! We are probably just going to paint it something light and airy, it is quite a dark stair when it wants to be. I would love the floor to have some red tiles, proper farmhouse style, at the bottom as it leads directly to the front door, but I think that may be in the 'later job' pile! The carpet in there needs cleaning too, not to mention the fact that the plaster is STILL on the banisters, even after 2 washes... ah the joys!!!

After all the excitement in the house it is nice to just get out in the garden. We finally got the potato patch dug and the potatoes planted. I could show you a picture but a photo of a large stretch of bare earth is pretty boring, hence all the pretty flowers. The Brussel Sprouts went out and were joined by some carrots, mainly because there was enough room at the end of the bed and I hate seeing empty space!!

I finally got up the courage and cut back the raspberry canes. They seem to be happy enough in their plot that I didn't think the shock would be too much and we had some wonderful weather so no sneaky frosts. I hope they do ok! Don't die little canes!!!

In the pot in the photo above are three Lavender plants, just little 'uns at the moment but I am hoping to get them nice and strong for next year as they are all different varieties of culinary Lavender and after my Lavender scones and Lavender & Blueberry jam I had a few weekends ago, I am going to be making some of that!!

After all that excitement it is just best to kick back!