Bernard & Roo debate having a nap ...

Frosty Days

so keen to get on with digging (time is flying by alarmingly now) that leapt out of bed on Saturday (sleep is over-rated .. yeah) not realising just how cold it was. Went via supermarket to get goodies to last me through my demanding digging only to arrive at frost covered lottie :-( ground too hard to dig and didn't want to go home in defeat so decided to attack hedge instead. Took ages, especially as lottie next to mine is not worked and hedge has gone bananas on that side. Gave up in the end when I realised that I had 3 mega piles of rubbish and decided to have a fire instead (the lady 2 lotties away from me had a really good one going for hours) ... half box of firelighters and one box of matches later finally admitted defeat - am seriously considering OH's suggestion of dousing everything with parrafin or petrol ... am rubbish at getting fire going.

Was seriously worried about my garlic after reading posts on a lottie forum where peeps are posting amazing photos of garlic shooting away, especially when they appeared to have planted them at the same time as me, so decided to dig some up, just to take a peek and make sure they've not been eaten ... GOOD NEWS !! They're still there and on very close inspection found 4 shoots - was extremely excited and did a little jig. Hopefully shallots will appear soon too.

Old Ken popped round to ask 'know 'owt 'bout growing then?' He didn't seem that impressed with my CV (mainly flowers/shrubs and a few potted vegetables) so has decided to lend me his 'how to grow vegetables' video .. so sweet, have got lovely neighbours.

Got my main crop potatoes this week. Managed to find Desiree, so will begin chitting them later - especially now that I've discovered a use for the 17 blue trays that I found dotted around the lottie.

Am causing a stir at work with my origami pots, have a decent sized pile now steadily growing across the desk intriging my colleagues, although may have to move them soon as boss returned on Monday and didn't seem impressed with my creative flair ... tossed them around a bit and asked why they weren't on the lottie ... couldn't think of witty response ...but I will, I will.

Greenhouse !

Hurray, today collected my new lean-to greenhouse ! Got it from the fabulous freecycle network (many thanks Jeff & Claire x). Going to put it at the back of the house and fill it with herbs, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces ... yum

Balmy weather

Had to pinch myself today to remind myself that its still January .. just spent 5 hours digging in the most gorgeous sunshine. Have managed to join bed 1 to the Pumpkin patch .. very pleased with myself.

Shallots !

After a couple of abortive visits over the festive period, the snow finally cleared and the ground dried up enough for me to do some more digging - after 3 hours on hands and knees removing weeds, was disappointed to see that the pumpkin patch really doesn't look any bigger - cheered myself with the thought of the bonfire I will have with the barrow full of weeds.

Got fabulous trugs from OH for Christmas and great books from family and friends, so feeling much more prepared. Desperate to use wonderful trugs and even thinking of taking to supermarket, so can smugly transport veggies home in style, until have some of my own to fill with.

Planted some shallots based on stepdad's advice to plant on shortest day and harvest on longest .. shallots don't need to know that I was a week late planting. Unfortunately couldn't get any from garden centre (still in full Christmas mode) so had to make do with Tesco's finest ... will hopefully be more organised next year.

Bought some seed cells and trays today, in anticipation of Spring !