Getting settled

I've been here for a few days on my own now and I'm trying to build a routine. Unfortunately, just like last year, the weather isn't contributing much to my health or happiness. It's cold. Sometimes wet, windy at the moment but consistently cold. Not sure if this is much different to the averages for this time of year but it feels worse than I remember, or maybe I'm just much weaker this year.

Still, I have quite a lot of the potatoes planted now and managed to womanhandle the rotovator around another patch this morning to prepare it for the last six rows of spuds and some sweet corn.  I brought the corn from a nursery in the UK a few weeks ago but it's still hiding in the greenhouse waiting for better times.

I've planted some bean and pumpkin seeds too, not up yet but they've only been in the propagator a couple of days, they need more time.

We've had a light harvest of asparagus, the strawberry bed is looking good, rhubarb and Good King Henry is in abundance and there really doesn't seem to be much to worry about.

Oh, and we have builders working on an improved dairy so that it can become a new utility room and the tractor shed for improved weather proofing there. It's all good.

In residence again.

Some photos until I get settled.


Sweet Cicely nicely in bloom


Bay tree in flower


Rough comfrey, Symphytum asperum. This came from my sister's garden so I keep it in remembrance.

Chthonic

Nice title isn't it? I have to thank Niles for this, he brought it to my attention way before David Bowie used it as one of the 42 words to describe his current album. Anyway, it's all about the stuff under the surface, the Greek underworld, the dark and hidden depths. The sort of place in fact where horrible monsters lurk and foment into terrible creatures of pitiless cruelty. A bit like the beetle grub we discovered under the bark of a fallen oak tree last week.

Anyway, I have to admit my abject failure to keep the bloglove going. No excuses. I didn't do it and I'm sorry. The things beneath the surface that are never truly revealed to the light of this blog just got in the way and I wasn't adequate to overcome them.

And then, even worse, I started this entry at the beginning of May, set myself a task of revisiting all the links in one long list and ended up running away from the whole thing for two weeks.

Read back through April and have another look at some of the blogs linked to, they are probably more worthwhile than mine.

Viridic

Back in France on what must be the hottest day of the year so far. No time to get comfortable though, the weekend promises cold rain into next week. So I've been out there in the midday sun trying to catch up on all the stuff that's been on hold until the good weather comes and hoping it's not too late for stuff to catch up.

The overwintered oca tubers are now in. With luck I'll have half a dozen plants of each colour to plant out in a few weeks and with a following wind a fine harvest in the autumn. I can hope so.

I also had enough ulluco for 18 pots of individuals to plant out and crop and a bigger pot of petit pois sized tubers which I hope will form the basis of a tub that I can bring in for new seed tubers for next year.



Spring foraging for a handful of greens for my supper tonight I found nettles (of course), new growth on the Good King Henry, winter cress flower buds, hop shoots and the flowering stems of some overwintered purple kale so I shan't go hungry.

It also seems as if winter hasn't been quite so grim here even if there was lot of snow. We have bluebells already despite dire warnings in the UK of a late start to the show because of the slow spring.



No bloglove yet, it's too sunny to stay in and read but I'll add some later when I'm cosy with a wood fire and a whisky.

Episodic

This bloglove challenge is getting a bit patchy. Sorry. In my defence I think the improved weather has tempted the bloggers away from their machines and back into real life, at least there was a dearth of blogs over the weekend to choose from.

Celandines in the garden and at last the trees are beginning to show their leaves. I'm off to France tomorrow and hope that the late start in the garden there won't have too many ill effects.

Some more bloglove posts:

Oats growing in Canada under lights. It's not the way it's usually done but it seems to be working.

Fascinating post about the diary of Kate Parry Fryes who wrote of her experiences campaigning for Women's Suffrage.

Idiot Johnson sings for his supper. Buy the album. He doesn't take comments but you can find him on twitter.

Catastrophic

For a long time on this blog I did an occasional update on our kittens as they became cats. They are fully grown up now but still very important members of the household so I dedicate this post to them. None of them wanted their pictures taking and I apologise in advance for the rather basic snaps.

Raven, the fluffy girl cat is still as light as a piece of dandelion down, she doesn't jump but flies through the air and is wonderfully soft to the touch. In the evenings she likes to snuggle between us on the sofa to watch the television and take advantage of our protection as the boys tease her something rotten and she has no sense of humour about it. They only have to look now before she starts to growl at them although she has no real aggression, she just runs away if they persist.



Crow is still the slinkiest naughtiest cat but just recently he got into a fight that he clearly didn't win. He came in, shocked and shaken and hid for twelve hours. He didn't want to be checked over, I feared he had been hit by a car, and stayed in the dark beneath my desk until late into the evening. Then he perked up again but a few days later a horrible pustule burst from under a wound on his forehead. It smelled disgusting and I thought it would need a trip to the vet but after I'd swabbed it out with salty water it cleaned up well and started to heal. The hole is nearly all gone now but you can still see the patch where it was in the picture.



Rook now weighs nearly 8kg, far too much, and we've taken to calling him BigFat. He doesn't care but everyone including the vet is agreed that he's at risk of diabetes so in theory he's on a diet. Unfortunately, it's not working very well and I think he's actually gained weight since it was started. He's not exactly greedy but his method of waiting until the others have finished and then cleaning their bowls combined with almost continuous inactivity helps him keep the bulk in place. I'm hoping that the summer in France will give him more exercise and more things to take his mind from dinner.

Bloglove today:

Kerstin talks about motherhood and doughnuts.

Emma, she of bloglove challenge fame has got the bug.

Botany Photo of the Day has the Purple Filbert today and is worth checking out everyday for lovely images.

Agrettic

And they said it couldn't be done. On the 8th of April I ignored the very sensible suggestions from Realseeds on how to grow their Salsola and planted some in a pot to leave in the darkest dampest corner of my north facing bedroom window. I'm pleased to say that this is just as good as starting seeds outside at this time of year and a considerable comfort, at least I know that something is going to grow for me.

Liscari Sativa  (Wiki calls it Salsola soda) is a funny little salad plant, salt tolerant and often likened to samphire but better suited to garden cultivation than that salt marsh dweller. The Wikipedia entry is somewhat rambling and imprecise but talks of the commercial uses of this plant which has a long history of being burnt to provide soda ash for glass making and soap. It was particularly important in Italy for making Murano Venetian glass in the 15th century. Fascinating as all that is, I'm just going to eat mine if they ever get big enough to harvest.

Bloglove links:

Ottawa Gardener is eating her wild vegetables, which some might call weeds.

The Cuban currency system explained. I wasn't able to leave a comment but I am grateful for this article. Cuba is a country which I have a great interest in and wish a much better future for.

Stuart and Gabrielle are extremely busy (and considerably more productive than me.)