My back aches.
My legs ache.
My hands - yes, my hands - ache.
I am so, so tired. Today, we were in the plot. All day. We (ok, the Builder) put up the frame. The Builder's Big Brother and I planted about 70 cauliflower. Then we planted almost 100 leeks.
The Builder sowed carrot seeds, parsnips and beetroot.
I transplanted many salad leave plants, spring onions, coriander and various seedlings.
Last week, we had major preparation for today. First, we rotivated the plot and this made it so much easier to prepare the soil for planting, and for sowing seed.
This is the plot being rotivated, and the Builder's hands appear very contemplative.
Having rotivated both plots, the potato plot was ploughed, and then we got a-planting.
It was a team effort. Notice me in my jacket and hood. The weather was SOOOOO cold. It's May. May!! It was about 6 degrees Celsius. There was also a 50mph wind. I tell you, it felt like November.
The Builder also added some shelves to my little greenhouse, and so I was able to put lots of my seedlings here. It looked FAB!
He does the nicest things for me.
And so to today....
First, he put up the frame. For us to grow veg, here on our island, we have to battle on a number of different fronts. The frame is a wind shelter; it keeps out the rabbits; it keeps out the wind (to some extent); and when we are done planting, it will have netting over the top to keep out the pesky butterflies. This means I will not have to go through every cabbage leaf in order to find and destroy caterpillars. I have done this in the past. It is NOT a nice job.
Did I mention that it's a wind-break? Just in case you hadn't picked up on that....
Below is the Builder and his Big Brother preparing for the planting today. My dear husband likes everything to be.....precise. No kidding. The cauliflowers we planted today are 600mm apart. Not 650mm. Not 700mm. They are 600mm apart. Every one of them. The rows are 700mm apart.
and the taut string makes sure I don't go askew. That would affect the growing of the cauliflower. They like it all to be neat. They have feelings, I'm told. I don't want to take any risks with my precious veg, so I do as I'm told.
Here is the cauliflower planted, and we are just about to plant the leeks.
All in all it was a wonderful day.
But now I want to know if anyone knows a good masseur.
Where is that Builder when you need him??!
Wow! I know I shall sound like an ignorant American young lady! ;) But what temperature in Farhenheit is 6 degrees Celsius? I forget the equation! Around our house, it got to 94 degrees F. a couple of weeks ago! We are right now, harvesting lettuce, spinach, radishes, and soon will be doing peas. Our potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, onions, squash, and melons are thriving, but not ready yet, of course. Have you ever made pickles? Last year I canned up 120 qt. jars of them! (And since there are 11 of us in our family, and my brother loved them, we finished the last jar in March! :) -Rachel
ReplyDeleteI've just looked it up! 6 degrees C is about 43 degrees Farenheit. I told you it was cold!
ReplyDeleteWe had our first salad leaves the other day - but they were grown in the little greenhouse.....definitely not outside!
Are the pickles pickled onions? or something else pickled?
It all sounds wonderful anyway! Love, Anne x
Thank you for your comments on my blog!
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks great! It looks like you guys put a ton of work into getting it set up and planted. We also plant a big garden every year. I LOVE it! I always preserve a bunch of it to have throughout the year which is so nice. Harvesting time is SO busy and I get so exhausted as it seems that all I do is pick, wash, and preserve in one form or another. But it's so nice to be able to go to the can cellar or chest freezer in the depth of winter and pull out some organic, homegrown veggies!
Wow! It was cold there! :) Pickles generally (at least in alot of the States) mean pickled cucumbers. We just slice up the cucumbers, or do them whole, and put them in a brine of vinegar, pickling salt, and dill seed. Yum! :)
ReplyDelete-Rachel
Look at that gorgeous dirt! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYes, it looks cold!! I can imagine that you are aching! What a delightfully enormous garden!
I have happy memories planting a garden with my mom and family. I would love to one day be able to do it again with my kids :) I loved the pictures!
Much love and God bless!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteHow did you build your greenhouse? Also, is it portable?
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Momma and I made and canned rhubarb jam today. Do you grow rhubarb?
Hi Anna,
ReplyDelete'we' (ie 'he'!) built the greenhouse with old windows he had - he'd been replacing the windows with new ones. He'd kept them (and some others) with this kind of thing in mind. I guess it would be portable - it's only sitting on pallets and there are posts at each corner placed well into the ground and nailed to the greenhouse. So I suppose if these posts were taken away, it'd be easily moved.
As for rhubarb, we always grew it when I was growing up and the patch my mum had is what we still use each year (sis-in-law and hubbie now in that house). We always made jam and rhubarb tarts with it. I hope you enjoy your jam! Sounds lovely!