seedy and snowy days

The holiday at home continues....the snow that was promised over the weekend arrived yesterday...

and there was more last night and this morning.

The weather is in a capricious mood today. One minute snow is falling with a sideways swipe, there's a biting wind. Five minutes later the sun is out...making everywhere look fresh and clean....

and then rewind....the snow is back.

All the gardening both at home and on the allotment I'd planned has had to take a back seat.  With so much to be done, it's frustrating.

I can still sow seeds though. Broad beans and Alderman  peas were already sown a few weeks back and are tucked up in the cold frame and plastic greenhouse outside.

But there's lots more to sow....these I got from Seedy Sunday at the beginning of the month.


An annual event, it's held in a nearby village....we all take a few packets of seed....and you get vouchers for each packet to swap with what else is there. It's very busy, with lots of jostling to get close to the seeds on offer..there's lots of people talking plants, the composting gurus from leicestershire County Council are there along with my favourite stallholders, volunteers from the Heritage Seed Library.

They're so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic ..I could talk to them for ages...but in the end come away with two lots of peas.

Peas are in the top three of my favourite crops to grow. Eyewateringly expensive to buy in the shops when fresh, I just love their sweetness, and crunchiness when eaten raw.

Clarke's Beltony Blue - which is a wrinkled heirloom variety of pea and was donated by Mrs Anderson. It was grown on her great grandfather’s farm in Co. Tyrone since at least 1850 (but possibly as far back as 1815). Apparently it's tall, with beautiful pale pink and rich maroon flowers followed by purple pods .Can't wait to see these grow.

As for the purple flowering russian peas ....they were brought back from Russia by a lady called Valerie Fordham -they're tall with pink and purple flowers.

I'm also growing again this year peas I've been saving each year for a while...they're yellow mange tout peas, ...yes, yellow mange tout! They're described as being incredibly rare...I got them from the Real Seed Company about four years ago...and with the exception of last year, they've done me proud.


There's some interesting varieties of beans I'm going to sow this year too.
I've bought some of Sarah Raven's organic Speedy Dwarf French beans ..which I've not grown before , but only take sixty days to mature.

From Seedy Sunday , I managed to get some of Mr fearn's Purple Flowering climbing beans..
I got these just for the name really, but have since found out that “They grow very well in a cold greenhouse – avoid hot sun or outside growing". That's from the donor Bernard Fearne who's been growing them since the war. ...but unfortunately I haven't got a cold greenhouse . I'll give them a whirl though....

But perhaps I'll do better with the "Sarah's Old fashioned black". I couldn't resist trying these too as although they come from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, it's said that these beans seem to thrive in the British climate.

My seed stash this year seems to be larger than usual....so lots more sowing to do..but I'm also planning to visit the Edible Garden Show at Stoneleigh this weekend,  the only national event dedicated to growing your own fruit, vegetables and home produce.  Will I see you there?
http://www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk/


So the stash will no doubt get bigger....as Oscar Wilde wrote "I can avoid everything except temptation." And with so many exhibitors there, I know I won't come home empty handed.

Today's track is from New Zealanders The Black Seeds.....I kept humming this song as I wrote about Sarah's Old fashioned Black seeds...

I love this band, especially after seeing them last year here... http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/summer-sundae-days.html

This song is called fire...recorded live in Denver...

 

days of feeling cold

Cold, cold, cold. Yes, it is....last night temperatures went down to minus 15 celsius.This morning, it's still minus 6 at nearly 11am.

The heating is on, I'm dressed in layers and am even wearing a scarf indoors.That's what I call cold.

Mind you, it's pretty out there.....look....

But I'm not going anywhere today. I shall pop outside to feed the birds, but that's it.I'm definitely not driving anywhere...we live on top of a hill....it's half a mile downhill and there's only one passing place for another car. You just have to drive down in second gear...and coming up, you just pray another car isn't coming down quickly!

But I'm staying in.And you know what are my two constant companions are at the moment.? Two faithful little friends which I can't do without at night?

I know....you don't have to say anything.it's sad....but these old hotties are rocking my world  right now....

and so is this.....Mama's blanket. My mum knitted it for me  and I love it - such a perfect, practical present which has been used and used.It's over my knees at this very moment...

So a quiet weekend in store with lots of writing to do....and perhaps a snooze this afternoon by the fire.

Meanwhile I've had this song swirling around my head all morning....so if you like some retro Little Feat...here it's is "Cold, cold,cold"

A day of snow and birds

It snowed yesterday - about five inches worth, and it's still lying deep and crisp  and even today. I wanted to capture the garden and whoops, fell over, clicked the camera at the same time and this is  how it turned out.

I've told you before how I've never been a good photographer! The reputations of Margaret Bourke White and Annie Leibovitz  have nothing to fear from me,but I actually quite like this.  I suppose it has a certain wonky appeal....


 

This time last week, it was a very grey, heavy skied afternoon. I was in the kitchen listenening to Gardeners Question Time on Radio 4 and taking part in the RSPB (the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds) survey. Like thousands of others around the country I was recording what birds came into the garden for an hour and then posting the results online.

Bird books and binoculars are always by my kitchen window.I wish I was one of these wonderful people who can identify any bird at about 50 metres, but I'm not. Unfortunately my bird watching skills are on the same level as my photography skills.

It was interesting though if not quiet.We normally get quite a lot of birds here as there's quite a few feeding stations around the garden. fat balls, seeds, peanuts....you name it....they fly in for free food.

But last Sunday, as I say, it was quiet. I still managed to record blackbirds,great tits, dunnocks,sparrows,piedwag tail, doves,wood pigeons,robins,chaffinches and blue tits though.

But today, it's been busier than Heathrow Airport. Flights might have been postponed there but birds were flying in every few seconds from every direction, they were obviously starving.You can just about see one on the feeding station on the right, enjoying the potato skins which I boiled up, mashed and put out.

It was good to go out into the snow for a quick walk and to see what the road through the village was looking like. I'm supposed to reading late night news bulletins tomorrow if I get there.....

But tomorrow is another day, and it was far too cold to stay out for long.So I'm back home, in the best possible place to be......

Here!

Today's track from the  Byrds.Always a favourite song of mine, I only saw this piece  of video for the first time about three weeks ago..There is a season for everything...including snow