Stinky

The kitchen is pongy at the moment and the reason for this?  I harvested the garlic and some of the overwintering onions.    Quite a reasonable harvest and will definately last us a while.   I was hoping to leave the garlic a little longer,  however the tops were telling me they were ready and I have since learnt that if left in the ground too long the cloves will start to split ready to loosen the bulbs for growing again.

I didn't know that about garlic and having harvested one last week and saw exactly this I decided they really did have to come up.  As with everything that comes from the Lottie they are a mixed bag of big and little ones,  but all are perfectly usable and having cleaned them up ready for storing I can confirm they are very very strong smelling!

A couple more potato plants were dug to keep up topped up for the next week or so,  some more lovely peas are now ready for podding, blanching and freezing and just to cheer me up - a lovely very sweet smelling bunch of sweet peas came home with me today too.

And lastly my lovely hubby is on his way home  - he has been to the Isle of Wight for a couple of days to spend time with his Dad and I have missed him  ......  A LOT!  I am very much looking forward to seeing him and I now really appreciate how rotten it is for Mr Milly when I am away for a couple of days EVERY week,  unfortunately in the short term that is something which is not going to change.  :(

Little Helpers

A difficult day yesterday and today as always life moves on.

To lighten my day yesterday I had two willing little helpers at the Lottie,  My oldest and littlest nephews came for a visit at the Lottie and it was fun to do 'little jobs' with little people.   We dug over the flower bed and pulled up the weeds,  a little tutorial to begin with on weeds and flowers just so that the right things were pulled up.  That bed was soon tidied,  I had some tulip and allium bulbs which should really have been planted by December,  I had forgotten about them and figured better late than never!  I used my dibber to make holes in the bed and left the boys to randomly plant the bulbs.

Next onto the onion bed - I have been meaning to weed this bed for ages and a perfect job to do with the littlies - the little one did get bored after a while and spent ages playing with the water pump, not the best day really to be playing with water - the ice on the top was about and inch thick,  but he managed to have a great time!  My oldest nephew helped pull up the weeds,  he did advise though that some planks of wood between the onions might be a good idea - it would stop the weeds and we wouldn't have to walk on the ground - how did this 9 year old get so sensible and how come I'm listening to his advice!!    It was great fun having the boys around and lovely to have some help - this week I am going to look out for some boy size gardening gloves for them to keep in the Lottie shed for the next time they visit.

Mr Milly and I finished the wire frame for the raspberries and that was about it for the day.   I forgot the camera yesterday so no Lottie pics today.

Finally I have finished the Cathedral window cushion - I am really really pleased with it and have now decided that it would be good to make some more to match my living room - just need to find the right fabric and I can make a start on them.   I really hope the recipient of this cushion will be pleased with it!

Cathedral Window Cushion

Onions

A little while ago I started a new bed at the lottie,  it started as just the next bit to be cleared and dug over I then covered it in landscape fabric to stop the weeds growing, from yesterday it has now become an onion and garlic bed.    I ordered the onion sets  and garlic bulbs online,  this is a really good way to purchase them as its cheaper and also the online shops don't send out the items until it is the right time of the year for them to be planted.  I've ordered raspberry and gooseberry bushes,  both of these will be sent out from late October.  I like this - it helps to plan what needs to be planted when and also I know I am planting at the right time.

The onion bed has lovely straight lines,  2 lines of red onions,  2 lines of white onions and 2 lines of garlic.  Fingers crossed everything comes up nicely!

A lovely little harvest from the lottie today and a gift left by one of my allotment neighbours - cucumbers!  They are supposed to be difficult to grow, but Clive seems to have done really well with his and 7 of them came home with me.  Now I knew they were cucumbers, but Mr Milly wasn't convinced - they look so different from shop bought ones - the taste is much better too!

I tried the pears in red wine again today - took a deep breath and was much more gentle and patient with the cooking.  The result is 5 lovely little jars of fruit and wine  - each jar the perfect size for 2 people.  The kitchen smelt lovely all afternoon - mulled wine!  I realised with the first batch that I ended up jam as I boiled too hard and too long - Mr Milly wasn't impressed with pears in jam for dessert!

Gifts

Its been a week of gifts this week.   Clive from the Lottie plot opposite ours left some onions for us,  Barney gave us some spinach, and a courgette was given by another neighbour.  My Girl and Mr Milly had fun stringing the onions.

And today my Lovely Brother and My Eldest Niece - affectionately know as DJ,  popped over to see me and another gift was received......  Thank you for my gift - I love her!!

My delightful scarecrow, garding the grass seedlings

I thought she might be a little lonely on the plot so found these lovely little flower windmills to keep her company!



How cute!