Another washed-out Bank Holiday weekend anyone?

While the morning coffee was percolating through, I ambled around the patio to check on our plants and seed trays. Everything a bit slow out of the block due to the cold, but things are happening. The phlox and zinnias are finally moving from what I can see.

This year, however, I'm unlucky with the runner beans. Last year, they gave me no hassle at all -- plopped them in a growth medium, up they went, then into the plot and up and round the stakes. This year, the first batch rotted. The second batch, it seems, was chewed up by slugs and snails in the greenhouse. I'll have another, final go with a new seed packet but if that doesn't come off either, I'll give in and send a Help! email to our local freegle network and will also post something on the allotment pinboard. This help request will also include a call for spare tomato seedlings because there's not even a peep from our usual "accidentals" in our home-compost-enriched garden soil right now. Even the greenhouse tomatoes are refusing to sprout. Not surprising: tomatoes need 13 degrees to germinate, and we've had about 6 degrees last night and are looking at 3 degrees tonight. Brrrrrr... Miss having weekend breakfasts outside on the patio.

On the plus side, I am now in possession of a majorly funky 1970s style bright orange vase the shape of a curling rock. It was given to me by a friend who was trying to get shot of her surplus of shelf ornaments. It now sits on our mantlepiece with a twig of lilac flowers sticking out of it. Thank Heaven for lilac -- it's even stronger than the pong from some of the downloads that the cats leave in the litter tray.

Weather permitting, I'll take myself off to the lottie later on to sow some more carrots and flowers and weed the strawberry bed. I'm minded to risk planting out the cabbage seedlings under a fleece -- it would free up space on the patio.

On the homebrew front, things are fermenting nicely. OH has expanded his library by acquiring the bible of home-brewing, the classic "First Steps in Winemaking" by the aptly-named CJJ Berry. OH's eyes go shiny at the prospect of making "parsnip sherry", "sugar beet wine", "pea-pod wine" or "sparkling mead", the latter requiring a mere 1.5 kg of honey. I'm glad he's started clearing out the spare room because we're running out of demijohn space under the stairs. If the cheapcycle guy who was offering a 25-litre brew barrel for a fiver doesn't get back to us, OH could use the containers from his previous hobby, fish-keeping.

OH happily buzzing backwards and forwards at the moment, topping up the wines with grape juice. Airlock TV and a cup of tea next.

 

Our two demijohns of elderberry wine, called Pat und Patachon.