Skip to main content

The Joys of Pootling

 Having declared the Official Arrival of Spring yesterday because Mr and Mrs Duck said so, overnight a lightweight frost promptly laid itself across the gardens of Damson Cottage. Undeterred, I crunched my way to the greenhouse first thing to begin the Official Seed Sowing of 2022…


This is my seed box. I’ve been perusing some seed catalogues this afternoon. I may need another seed box. I digress…

This morning, then, I sowed peas (to pop and eat) and sweet peas (to admire and enjoy their heady scents) using my collection of empty loo roll tubes that I’ve been saving as root trainers for just this purpose since last Summer. I also planted up a load of leeks using an unnecessarily large tub. This is because the year before last I planted them in small pots to start them off and they were an absolute bugger to separate and untangle when I wanted to transplant them outside. Once I have reassembled the various parts of the electric propagator (which appears to have spread its components across various sheds) I shall start off some chilli peppers and tomatoes. Everything else can wait until April, although I have got some sprouting seeds - alfalfa, bean sprouts and the like - that I can start off any time in jars on the kitchen window sill to make nice crunchy additions to salads and stir fries. 

Whilst I was seed sowing, I had a nice chat with Edith Bunny, stopping every now and then to find her a few fresh shoots of dandelion. She tolerated me for about twenty minutes before scooting off to the far side of her palatial accommodation for a spot of sun bathing. I collected the last bits of twiggy detritus remaining from all the storms we’ve had and then retreated inside as an icy wind was making gardening not as pleasant an experience as it usually is.

For the rest of the day, I pootled. I didn’t listen to the radio, nor read the news, nor watch any TV. The quiet noises of the house were my companions. I chatted with Heather for a couple of hours on the phone, and we put the world to rights. I started reading a book I found on a visit to Waterstones yesterday, one that I was immediately led to and bought without reading the bumpf on the back. It called to me, that book, and now I know why. I did some planning for the apothecary herb garden. I read a couple of gardening magazines. I made a marmalade cake, and a pizza and potato wedges for dinner this evening. 

I played ‘Stick Ribbon Squeaky Mat’ with Bambino, which basically involves me wiggling his ribbon on a stick with a squeaky attachment around under the back doormat whilst he goes frantic with excitement. This game continues until either a) he gives up or b) my knees give up. 

So given it was a pootling day, I got a lot done. I have to go now, because the pizza and wedges are cooked and I am feeling jolly hungry. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
I didn’t realize you can get alfalfa seeds in less than 50 pound bags. I must try that! I love days like that. They are my favorite.
KJ
6 March 2022 at 15:34
Denise said…
They are my favourite kind of day, too, KJ. I got my alfalfa seeds from a veg seed company. A small packet enough to keep me in sprouts for a while. Of course, alfalfa automatically makes me think of Lennie from ‘Of Mice and Men’ who is fixated on keeping rabbits and feeding them alfalfa as part of his American Dream. I wonder if Edith will like alfalfa sprouts…???
7 March 2022 at 10:23
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Frosted Dawn Enigma

The decorators are in at the moment. Stairs and landing. Given my previous history of 'Hoo Ha Occurring on Stairs ' - reference the Trapped Under the Sofa Incident and the Foot Wedged Between Bookcase and Stair Rise Debacle - I thought it wise to pay for professionals to decorate the stairs and landing rather than get myself in a mix with ladder and plank combinations and achieve the Magic Three of staircase accidents. The decorators are a father and son combo who go by the  names of Craig and David. This automatically causes me entertainment. 'Came in on a Monday, prepped, filled and undercoated, back on Thursday, first top coating, by Friday finishing touches...' Okay, not as frisky or well-scanned as the original song, but you get where I'm coming from. Anyway, before they started the job Craig asked what colour I wanted for the walls. 'Same colour as the downstairs walls, please,' said I. 'Dulux Frosted Dawn.' And then white for all the woodw
2 comments
Read more

Day 1 - Decisions Are Made Beyond the Author's Control.

‘Well,’ I say, looking at the expectant faces gathered around the huge table in the Great Dining Hall of Much Malarkey Manor, ‘I didn’t think it was going to happen this year, but it is!’ There is a sharp intake of breath as everyone wonders of what I speak. I’ve been muttering about all sorts recently, and I’m not talking liquorice here either.   ‘The Much Malarkey Manor Annual and Traditional Christmas Story!’ I say, and wait for the expulsed air of relief to settle before I continue. ‘I thought we had done it all. I thought we had covered every Christmas story there was. I’ve been wracking my brains for a full two months now, trying to come up with something we haven’t done before and then it hit me! We haven’t done a version of one of the Great Christmas Films of Yore!’ ‘Your what?’ says Mrs Slocombe, who is more interested in the selection of pastries I have brought to this breakfast meeting, because that is what one does, isn’t it? Eat pastries at breakfast mee
8 comments
Read more

Launched!

  I was going to wait until tomorrow to launch the ‘Hallo Tarot!’ website, what with tomorrow being 1st July and, therefore, a nice tidy date for a beginning. But this afternoon, I became involved in a flurry of final tidy loose ends activity, and thus ended up cracking the metaphorical bottle of champagne against the ship of which I am Captain and whoosh! Off she went into the World Wide Web!  You can find it here : www.hallotarot.co.uk The blog is moving there, too, so unless things go horribly wrong, this will be the last entry here.  I hope to see you on the other side then! Let me know what you think. 
Post a Comment
Read more