I am a bit miffed at our water collection system though -- now that we've guttered up both sides of the shed roof, I expected both water butts to be full to the brim after the rains, but only one of them is. Guess the guttering I fixed, even though I'd already used blocks of wood to project the guttering away from the wall, is still too far in and evidently doesn't catch the downpours, only the drips. Have also checked the waterbutt itself -- that isn't leaking. So, when we have more time, we need to attend to this. Efficient water collection will save us a lot of time and sweat later on.
Despite the gales, the rickety shed is still standing -- encouraging!
Our rhubarb is doing very well -- we are soon in the zone where we can liberally distribute it amongst neighbours, friends and workmates. Parsley evidently frost-proof and growing bushily -- must remember to sow more of it though so that I have a continuous supply even when this lot goes to seed this year. Coriander and dill growing really well -- the self-sown seedlings are establishing themselves now. I've noticed just how much more aromatic, not to say pungent, proper soil-grown herbs are compared to supermarket-bought ones.
Strawberries showing the first flowers. Some got got by the night frosts but others did okay. Even the runners seem very prolific. Well, if they like it that much, I won't dispute their choice of growing space. They know these things better than I do so they stay where they have wandered.
Noticed how the perpetual spinach, planted last year, is now starting to bolt and going to seed. I've sown more spinach, 'Matador', but will also make sure I plug the gaps in the perpetual spinach bed.
I'm on my own this week as OH has been away for an extended family visit. I find it really interesting how quickly your weekly outgoings drop as soon as you're single. I'm not much of a meat eater -- I like it but don't actually need a slab of flesh for every meal to make it complete. I've been living out of the freezer using up allotment produce quite happily for the week OH has been away. There have been Allotment Veg Soup days and Spinach-and-Cheese Borek days and Plum Pancake days so all I needed to get in was bread, milk, cheese and eggs. Just have to make sure I don't blow the savings on stupid music downloads from Amazon that I then never listen to again and that also deny me my "Media Usage Rights" for no reason after a year!
Today, after my roam around the allotment, I'm planning to incorporate perpetual spinach, a sprig of coriander, a few sprigs of dill and some flat-leaved parsley into my evening meal plus 4 chunky rhubarb stems for dessert. I'm making spaghetti with cooked spinach and a coriander-dill-lemon-garlic-olive oil vinaigrette plus Lidl shrimps topped with parsley and roasted pine nuts, followed by rhubarb and ice cream. Feast!
Must remember to slaughter the remaining pumpkin soon to save the masses of seeds. I'm still experimenting with roasting them -- and have got it wrong twice so far. I always leave them to roast until they're brown, which is silly because I forget that even if you take them off the hob, they keep roasting and browning further. The browner they get, the more bitter they are. Still, they're edible enough as a snack, with salt, go great as a topping for soup and the bitterness from the roasting does wonders for the digestion.
Took a wander down our back garden. It is a total mess: scrap wood and piles of gardeny rubbish everywhere, plus random pots with plants and grubbed-up seedlings strewn all over, the lawn needs mowing and the edges tidying and the beds have been overrun by ground elder. I really haven't attended to our back garden at all and am glad that it's boundaried so well, with tall hedges and fences on every side. Having said that, I am convinced that the reason the fences are so tall is because our neighbours can't stand the sight of the tip next door. Which is fair enough.
I've still got evening and weekend work on until about the middle of next month but I am already looking forward to quieter times when I can use warmer and lighter evenings to get cracking on our various projects here. The accidental broom is on the edge of bursting into flower. So glad I didn't fell it -- it looks fantastic just at this stage when hundreds of red and yellow flowers just sit under their green wrapping waiting. The whole shrub, all 7 feet of it at least, looks like it will be on fire any time, but at the moment it is just glimmering. Very dramatic. If the sun comes out today, I'll try and take a picture of it and post it here.
(22 April: And here it is!)
OH rings while I'm cooking so I decide to scrap the cooked spinach.
And then I fall asleep on the sofa after the main course round about 9pm and don't wake up until it's light the next morning. Oh well. I'll have the rhubarb later then.
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