Be Excellent To Each Other

No!

I hope nobody has testicles as big as Kovacs potatoes, or they’d never be able to sit down. Those look like large baking potatoes

We went out early to pull up a few carrots. They’re all huge now, but really holding perfectly, and a good carrot-y shape.

We picked the last few of the peas the other day, too. We’ve now got a freezer full of blanched peas. And we pulled up a few more potatoes, which I’ve been sharing with the neighbours. They are really beautiful when they are fresh up, with those thin new potato skins.

The sweet chestnut is finally in flower! We normally start wondering if it's dead in *May*....

The bees are back in town!

Excellently, the row of sweet chestnuts is cascading down the hill in flower as they normally do once they go, so the new family members can gorge themselves silly for the whole week!

That brood box is basically full already, Helen's out there now putting a super on top, which you keep the queen out of so it gets filled just with honey.

I am loving coffee in the morning.

Looks smashing, Kov. I might join you!

I have spare chairs..

Just need a new parasol.

We were donated an old parasol that had seen better days. If I’m honest I keep looking at it and thinking of @dr Zoidberg and his bright parasol and trying to stop myself asking where his was from. I can’t really justify getting a new one whilst this one is ok to use, and technically I could re-upholster the one we have if the fabric was damaged. Which it isn’t. So can’t really justify that either. Damn.

Anyway *clinks coffee cups*

Would it help if I say I noticed some damage?

Good garden action going on in here!
Our garden was pretty tidy for a few days after the garage roof was finished but now it's looking like a reclamation yard again.

I'm pretty sure I could come and trip over it for you. How much damage would you like?

Finally got our patio finished. Just the rest of the garden to sort out now.

Nice! I hope you relocated 'rubble daffodil'.

I'm not sure what happened to it unfortunately. But I have saved lots of the poppy seeds and daisies.

It'll probably just smash its way through.

I like that patio Jazzy! The wooden surround has given me ideas for my patio.

I wondered if they were there while it set? Is it the actual edge, Jazzy?

Well it's still a mound, so could do - but hopefully it won't be there next year.

Thank you.

Yeah, the sleepers were put in first, then it was built up inside that. I'll take a picture of the other side of it when I go down for lunch.

It’s pretty sturdy. You might have to accidentally drive over it whilst I was taking it for a walk.

Sounds like a plan!

And me... For mine and not yours

Here's a better picture to see how the sleepers are built up.

It was from Webbs where Helen works, but they have been sold out for ages so some accidental damage might be your best option.

Well, I definitely don’t want to damage it if I can’t then replace it!

That looks great

Yeah really nice, must be great stepping out of the new kitchen onto the patio.

Thank you.

It certainly feels much safer, that's for sure. The electrician came yesterday too, the kitchen is so close to completion it hurts!

Wait, Wychbold? Mate's rates from now on yeah

Noice.

One of the most satisfying things I've done is getting the long screws to connect sleepers together. There's something very *right* about using them as garden retainers.

That patio with the sleeper edges looks great.

Mimi what about if you gift the old parasol to.... someone.... and then buy a new one for yourself? It's reducing/reusing/recycling so you're saving the planet by doing it.

Really happy today. I got curious as to what the parsnips were doing underground. I thought they weren’t due to be fully grown until November, but have held off taking a peek until today. Pulled one up and they’re perfect! I have so many of these things. I don’t know why I sowed so many, so some can stay in the ground for later in the year, but we can have them occasionally, too.

Also, I pulled a couple of carrots including a white carrot and it is absolutely massive.

A steady drip of tomatoes too, before the inevitable* glut. These are Thai Pink Egg, Golden Sunrise and Amateur. I’m waiting for the Costoluto Fiorentino and Banana Legs to give their first ripe fruits. Both have plenty of big fruits on but they haven’t ripened yet.

*hopefully. My friends with gardens have been hit by early tomato blight this year because of this weird weather.

They look amazing Meems - really great work.

Lovely photos too.

Thank you, Jazzy. I’m really happy here. It’s quiet and having space outside is really a luxury. I’m intensely aware that not everybody has safe access to outside space, so I never know how much to celebrate that, especially at the moment with Covid.

But, anyway, we’re doing our best with the space. I have plans for next year already. A bit more vegetable growing space, to start, by joking up the five small beds into two huge ones by ridding the gaps between them (more productive space, less finicky mowing = win/win).

Darwin has asked for carrots for breakfast (I have no idea) so we’ve gathered a few carrots. Also earlier this afternoon we picked various tomatoes, a couple of garlic bulbs and some other carrots to roast up with some herbs that I’d also grown. Everything in those three roasting dishes was picked from the garden this afternoon, apart from the garlic (we’d missed garlic sowing season by the time we moved here, but I’m totally ready for next year!) I roasted it all and made some pasta sauce. So much pasta sauce. Does anybody want any pasta sauce? It’s really good, and the house smelled amazing.

Blimey, you've done really well with the veg! Everything looks great.

Thanks, Z

I’m really enjoying the garden. Darwin is, too. Every day he runs out to do a ‘tomato check’ and see what’s nee and developing. I’m almost nervous about not having the discoveries so much over winter, but I’ve got some winter peas, parsnips, a Christmas potato crop and autumn sown garlic and onions to do, and some shallots, so hopefully I’ve got a few to look forwards to still tending to. Next year I’ll try to do some Brussels Sprouts, too, as Russell loves them (the big weirdo)

I love seeing these pictures too, Mimi! It's amazing to think (to me at least) that all this is just from your first year. Keep 'em coming.

I like bRussells Sprouts. I did take offence at the sight of those Parsnips though, can't eat them.

I grew parsnips for Darwin. He adores them. As does Russell, really. I roast them with a little honey, and either pinch of cinnamon or some rosemary. I just cut them into some chunky ‘chip’ shapes and mix them in with the carrots before roasting them.

And thanks, too, Kern. I was very much spurred on by my friend Mandy who sent me a load of seeds about a month after we moved here. We’ve been here just over five months now, so I hope I’ll have a greater sense of things after a full season. I’m making good notes, though (which was my main reason for the dedicated IG account as I can get pictures and dates of showings, yields, etc, and keep them in the stories highlights) and I have… and this makes it serious… a spreadsheet. I’m half way through populating it, but it has all of my sowing months, planting out, projected harvest dates, etc. Hopefully once it’s done I’ll be able to just filter as needed (say, to July) and see what’s available for me to sow and what else needs doing. Got to get some nerd work involved.

GIANT PUMPKIN UPDATE

Fuck is this? Seems fungal. Pen for scale

It's a puffball.

But it's solid, I thought they were, y'know, puffy.

They’re pretty solid, like a high density foam.

Whoa.

One assumes they're not for eatin

I think you can, but you have to make sure it’s the right one and before it gets to maturity/sporing stage. I have a book on this somewhere, but even if I weren’t allergic to mushrooms I think I’d steer well clear of foraged mushrooms unless I was with someone who knew fanned sure of what they were doing

My compost bin is going great but it seems to have a million fruit flies in there. I have to hold my breath when I open it..