To make the most of the summer, and to make me feel like I'm getting at least a bit of a holiday, I've been taking both days of the weekend off (normally I try to put in a half day at least on the weekend to make sure I get enough stuff done). We've also been trying to be very frugal and save money (well, not so much save it, just not spend it!) as my funding has come to an end and I'm now living on savings.
As a result, we've been spending a bit more time at home and I've been doing all sorts of stuff in the garden and the kitchen, so today I thought I'd tell you about our horticultural adventures. First up, the thing I'm probably proudest of, our beans! In the words of Fatboy Slim, they've come a long way baby - I planted them from seed and grew them inside on the window sill before planting them out on the 26th of June:
They grew pretty quickly; this is a picture from just a few weeks later on the 12th of July:
And then again on the 29th of July (the amount of growth in two weeks is pretty astounding I think!):
It was a bit hairy when cyclone Bertha came through as we weren't sure whether they'd make it or not. I couldn't put the poles very far in the ground unfortunately, so it was multiple guy ropes to the rescue!:
But they survived and are looking bushy and healthy (luckily no aphids in sight) and we had our first harvest for dinner last night! I made this recipe and they were delicious. The variety is 'Moonlight' in case you're interested.
In other garden news, we had an amazing one-day-only flowering of a cactus, and we've also been enjoying the roses, strawberries, herbs, and actually learning the value of pruning things to make them grow back stronger (our chilli plant inside is pretty miraculous as a result of a good prune). We've also been told that we needed to 'turn' our compost, so did that this morning to great success (I now realise that our flat layers of stuff weren't actually going to do anything, but it now looks pretty good).
Adrian's still on a mission to try and fix the lawn (it's being taken over by rampaging dandelions and other weeds), we have a dead lavender that shows no signs of being able to be resurrected (and it died instantly on being brought home from the supermarket and put into a pot which is a bit annoying), and successfully growing coriander is still a mystery to me, but one step at a time! It's been such a great summer and having a garden has been so nice. Here's hoping autumn is benevolent and we can enjoy it a bit longer...
As a result, we've been spending a bit more time at home and I've been doing all sorts of stuff in the garden and the kitchen, so today I thought I'd tell you about our horticultural adventures. First up, the thing I'm probably proudest of, our beans! In the words of Fatboy Slim, they've come a long way baby - I planted them from seed and grew them inside on the window sill before planting them out on the 26th of June:
They grew pretty quickly; this is a picture from just a few weeks later on the 12th of July:
And then again on the 29th of July (the amount of growth in two weeks is pretty astounding I think!):
It was a bit hairy when cyclone Bertha came through as we weren't sure whether they'd make it or not. I couldn't put the poles very far in the ground unfortunately, so it was multiple guy ropes to the rescue!:
But they survived and are looking bushy and healthy (luckily no aphids in sight) and we had our first harvest for dinner last night! I made this recipe and they were delicious. The variety is 'Moonlight' in case you're interested.
In other garden news, we had an amazing one-day-only flowering of a cactus, and we've also been enjoying the roses, strawberries, herbs, and actually learning the value of pruning things to make them grow back stronger (our chilli plant inside is pretty miraculous as a result of a good prune). We've also been told that we needed to 'turn' our compost, so did that this morning to great success (I now realise that our flat layers of stuff weren't actually going to do anything, but it now looks pretty good).
Adrian's still on a mission to try and fix the lawn (it's being taken over by rampaging dandelions and other weeds), we have a dead lavender that shows no signs of being able to be resurrected (and it died instantly on being brought home from the supermarket and put into a pot which is a bit annoying), and successfully growing coriander is still a mystery to me, but one step at a time! It's been such a great summer and having a garden has been so nice. Here's hoping autumn is benevolent and we can enjoy it a bit longer...
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