✿A week in the garden✿

✿A week in the garden✿ 

Storms on the horizon ~ again!

 ✿A week in the garden✿

To be quite honest I haven't done very much in the garden this week ~ it has rained continually all week (not good for the children's holiday) and poor R has been in bed all week with a bad case of sciatica (not good for him or us or progress with the tractor!)

The polytunnel looks just the same :o(

No change..

We have resorted to putting up some temporary tables in the polytunnel as the greenhouse is full.

Courgettes, chard, corn, kale, pak choi....

Temporary tables....

 We have planted lots of beans.  When we move these to their growing positions we will pop some more seeds straight in the ground along side the plants.

Peas, mange tout, sweet peas and beans.

I have planted a small tray of rainbow chard.   I usually sow it straight into it's growing position and we have never been very successful, but this year it has to be in a tray ~ maybe this year we will mange to grow some beautiful multicoloured chard!

The rainbow chard is just starting to grow

This is a pot of mystery seeds that I found spilled on the table!  We planted them anyway....... I think they maybe rocket.

A mystery pot!

These strawberry plants are growing "wild" in the tunnel.  When the weather improves I am going to transplant them to a new strawberry bed in the vegetable patch.

This is what we have done this week:

❊Saturday 21st April ~ We planted celeriac and (more) climbing beans ~ Scarlet Emperors. White Lady, Enorma, French climbing beans, Borlottis, Yellow flat beans, Violetta ....


❊ Sunday 22nd April  ~ We planted Purple corn (Blue Hopi) (We had a calf born)


❊Monday 23rd April ~ We planted "special" tomatoes ~ Tumbling Tims, Tiny Toms, White cherry tomatoes, Mortgage Lifters, Tigerella, Black Truffle


❊Tuesday 24th April ~ The children helped me to take everything (except the tomatoes that we left in the kitchen for some extra warmth) down to the polytunnel.


❊Wednesday 25th April ~ rain all day


❊ Thursday 26th April ~ rain all day


❊ Friday 27th April ~ we sorted out some strawberry plants that we had removed from the tunnel last year before the pigs took up residence.  We re-potted them, I think some of them will survive (next year we will need to buy some more).


Quite a sad week in and out of the garden!  Let's hope next week brings better weather and better health for us all .....

Blossom on our quince tree

One lone camellia flower that survived the late frost and snow!

This week I am linking up with:

 Ginny at Small Things Saturday Garden Journal

  and

Country Garden Living 
An Oregon Cottage Garden 

:: Friday Photo Frenzy ~ by H ::

H is our Number 2 child (2nd born, not 2nd best!!) she is 14 years young.  This week she has been taking lots of photos and these are her favourites .......

Branch in a storm

The storm is upon us !

Roses are red this flower is blue

Hoods up!

Concentration is the key

The blossoms are blooming

The world of a fairy

 I'm dog tired

Art is timeless

Life in a mirror

Orange blur

A sitting duck

This love could go up in dust

Incy wincy spider climes up the water spout

Tidal wave

Which is your favourite?

Probably the best flapjack in the world ....... ever!

Probably the best flapjack in the world ... ever!

Recipe

We all love flapjack ~ we try to pretend it's a "healthy option" snack, just because it has oats in it, but really with all the sugar ............ it might not be mega healthy, but it is mega delicious!!

We have tried many different recipes over the years, it's difficult to find a recipe that everyone agrees on as some like their flapjack chewy while others like it crunchy.  This is our preferred recipe of the moment as it tends to be soft  and chewy in the middle and crunchy around the sides.  H says it is the best in the world ...... ever!!

The recipe comes from a very very old cookbook I had as a child (do you remember it Mummy?)

The recipes in this book are wonderfully simple and easy to follow, the children love using it.

Here is the recipe for flapjack:

You will need ~
12 oz soft brown sugar (we use a mixture of what ever type of sugar we have available)
12 oz butter
16 oz porridge oats
(this is enough to make a roasting tin amount of flapjack)

1:  Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 - Electricity 350* F or 180* C
2:  Put the sugar and the butter into and saucepan and heat gently on the cooker hob (DO NOT LET IT BOIL)
3:  Remove from the heat and add the porridge oats, stirring them in thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
4:  Grease a tin, taking care to get in the corners (we use a roasting tin ~ there are a lot of us!) 
5:  Put the ingredients into the tin, spreading it evenly into the corners.
6:  Bake in the top half of the oven for 15-20 minutes (until it is beginning to turn brown)
7:  Leave to cool, then turn out onto a wire tray and cut into fingers.
8:  Enjoy!! 

 Apparently it is best enjoyed with a big mug of hot chocolate.....

 This week I will be linking up with:

Adventurz In Child Rearing ~ Kids in the Kitchen

 

Natural Suburbia ~ Creative Friday

Happy Whimsical Hearts ( Happy lil ❤'s are baking)

Almost Wordless Wednesday on a Thursday!!

Here's our little farmer ..... out for a walk in the rain......

 

...... and look what he found hiding in a tree.......

She's sitting on a nest ........ 

it's not very well protected, we just have to keep our fingers crossed for her.

Daisy Chain for Daisy {Yarn Along}

Yarn Along....

Ginny from Small Things says:


~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ 


So here we go .........


I am a crocheter.  AS I have explained before, I tried knitting but couldn't quite get to grips witht the patterns or having to keep hold of all those stitches at once!  Yarn is also very expensive here in France, so big projects were out of the question.  So, last year I taught myself to crochet and now I am hooked!!

I love small projects like bunting and hats and purses for my girls, I also enjoy amigurumi (I can use up all my little bits of yarm and the children love them too!)

W was doing a project on monsters at school ~ he designed this one!

Christmas robins

I am in the process of using up some more bits and bobs of yarn making a stripy blanket, but I think it is going to take a very, very long time (maybe even years!!)

Meanwhile a friend back in the UK has had a baby girl named Daisy, so I am making Daisy a daisy chain for her nursery.  Here it is so far, I still have to decide how I am going to make the stem and the leaves...

Reading wise, I love reading, but I am a slow reader, much to the horror of my eldest daughter who devours books quicker than anyone else I know.  I think I just take a long time because I read at night and usually fall asleep mid sentence.

This is the pile of books H got for her birthday

With my littlies at the moment we are making our way through the Harry Potter books.  This is great for me as I didn't actually get to read them with my eldest two, they were old enough to read them by themselves.  We have reached "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", the  language in this book is getting a bit difficult for the children, so maybe we will take a break after we have finished this one.

As for me, I am reading a book recommended by my older daughter, "Halo" by Alexandra Adornetto,  In fact, she didn't 'recommend' it as such, I think her actual words were, "Muma, you must read it now.  It's so brilliant!"  Books for"Young Adults" aren't as taxing to read when you  are tired (!) and so far it's pretty good.

Sadly I need my glasses more and more often now.

Good read recommendations for all ages are always gratefully received :o)




Many thanks to Ginny for hosting the Yarn Along.