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Vegging Out

 Finally, we’ve had some rain. I’ve just been on the ‘phone to my aged and much respected Auntie Pollie who informed me it is ‘rock hard’ in Kent and please could I direct the rainfall in her direction? Auntie P is an avid gardener and has been for as long as I can remember. She will be (whispers) 80 in a couple of weeks’ time which gives me great hope for my gardening future. During our ‘phone calls and FaceTimes we swap gardening updates and compare notes. I think, for the first time in EVER, my runner beans are ahead of hers which I am counting as a minor triumph! 

Anyway, it’s been busy chez the Damson Cottage greenhouse and I am reaching the point where I’m thinking what I really could do with is ANOTHER greenhouse. Well, we are up to five compost bins now (yes - 5!!), and seven water barrels (yes - 7!!), so why not another greenhouse? That’s the trouble with gardening - the greenhouse you have will never be big enough. What I really want is the farmer to sell us the field next door so I can start a proper market garden. Dream on, Gardener Denise…dream on…

I’ve been very conscientious with my gardening this year. Yesterday I planted out some nasturtiums and sowed some lettuce and some camomile, which I’m not that keen on to be honest, but the flowers are pretty and as long as I don’t sniff it, I’ll be okay. I’ve been so organised that my lettuce sowing label is attached to a module tray with fortnightly succession planting dates already attached! The cold frame is weeded and raked ready to take my selection of baby succession sown lettuce and other assorted salad leaves. All I need to do it sit out there in my rocking chair and a shot gun to blast the bastard slugs that will no doubt emerge as soon as I transfer the first seedlings. 

Here is the state of play re: other baby plantlings…

A selection of runner beans, dwarf French beans, salad tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and chives…

A selection of basil, cucumbers, courgettes, borage and beetroot.



Lobelia (just nosing above soil level), calendula, marigolds, cosmos, nigella and leeks…


Cosmos, already potted on. I reckon I have around 300 cosmos/ cosmi/ cosmiums/ cosmoseseseses. I’m running out of pots.


And ‘107 Baby Pansies’ which sounds like a substandard version of ‘101 Dalmatians’. I stand in the greenhouse and look at all these new plants and go into awe and wonder at the sheer amazeballs of what a tiny seed can do with soil, water and sunshine. Isn’t Nature marvellous? 

Of course, today it has gone chilly after a mild April, so nothing is going into the garden just yet even though I have 100 metres of fleece in my possession. The wind is also blowing with some vigour, you see, and I don’t want to be fleece battling because it will make me testy and cross. And gardening is all about relaxation and being Zen. 

The new no dig bed is looking rather marvellous, too. I emptied Compost Bin Number Two (I need to come up with more inventive names for the bins than One, Two, Three and Four) onto it a couple of days ago and the rain over the last twenty four hours has helped settle it nicely. In a few weeks it will be full of beans, beetroot and courgettes, probably some tomatoes, too, as the greenhouse won’t have space for all the plants. 

All this gardening stuff has made me very happy! I haven’t felt this settled and relaxed for a long, long time. After all this fannying around with different jobs and careers over the last four decades, maybe, at heart, I am really a gardener. 

And, last but definitely not least, today is (trumpet fanfare!) Bambino Bobble Wilson’s 5th birthday! He’s such a fabulous cat! 




Comments

Anonymous said…
I am sitting in a dark office without a window and turned off the overhead light as it is hideous and generally low light, in a meeting that I really don't need to be in but will have to show my face and wondering what I am doing... I can't believe Bambino Bobble Wilson is 5 years old! Seems like just yesterday he was hiding pens behind the fridge.
KJ
4 May 2022 at 22:20
Denise said…
I’m sorry you are having to sit through a pointless meeting, dearest KJ. I feel your disgruntlement and am glad I was able to bring a spot of greenery to the dullness of proceedings. Since we’ve had the kitchen refitted, Bambino is no longer able to hide pens behind the fridge - he hides them under the sofas now. And sometimes in shoes. Just for variety, you know…🙄
5 May 2022 at 06:58
Anonymous said…
😆 He is such a character. And yes, I apologize, I was slightly disgruntled, wishing for nothing more than being outside in the garden rather than not getting any D vitamin.
KJ
5 May 2022 at 12:55
Denise said…
No need to apologise, KJ! I simply meant that I, too, have been stuck in pointless meetings, wondering why I was there, wishing I was somewhere else - therefore, I empathise with the feeling of being disgruntled! I wonder these days if I would be brave enough to stand up and declare, ‘This is pointless! I am leaving to go and do something FAR more important.’ And flounce out with grace, style and aplomb.
6 May 2022 at 08:32
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