Hello again.

It is 2 weeks since my last confession..........................

Not too much activity to report, we have been hampered by the cold and the snow which seem to have put off even the hardiest of gardeners judging by the lack of activity since we last popped by. A little more digging this weekend where we met some new next door neighbours, don't actually know their names but it was their first trip to their little patch during the whole of 2009. What slackers I secretly thought while we discussed the history of inactivity over the years on my own small piece of ground, they stayed for about 45 mins did a little digging, tied up a few canes and as they left they offered up some leftover Curly Kale or Brussels Sprouts. "Help yourself" the lady said as she left, so we did and I enjoyed the first ever Curly Kale I've ever had. Went down very nice with the beef casserole that was simmering away nicely at home.

Back to other matters of progress we fixed the twine that had snapped between our raspberry canes so that's all sorted now. I also managed to follow the instructions for the cloche which is now standing tall and proud over a smallish piece of soil, warming up the ground for whatever we decide to put in it yet.......any ideas anyone????

At home the onion sets are doing us proud (see picture below), it wont be too long before they get dug into the ground, freeing up the trays for the next set, red onions this time, purchased this week from that very fine and well known horticultural store "Wilkinsons" as well as Rhubarb and Garlic. I'm beginning to wonder what I'm going to do with all this stuff when its actually ready to eat. I'm sure I'll think of something.

See you soon.

Hello Followers, (well there was 1 when I looked)

Not too much to report this time, things have been a bit slack down at the grotty garden this week, I haven't been down to check up on the raspberry canes, lets hope they are still merrily growing upwards and onwards. I expect they're in full bush by now, tempting clusters of berries just waiting to be plucked from their stems, bolied up with a little sugar and with the addition of a little pastry turned into a pie. In the real world they are probably as I left them, a few sticks poking out of the ground. Any passing children of a dysfunctional nature would surely rip them out of the ground and turn them into swords and do battle over last years Brussell Sprouts.


Last weekend during a trip to the Range in Colchester I was tempted by another fabulous offer, this time a cloche on offer for a mere tenner, housed in a decrepit old box, reduced down from £30. Yippee, I love a bargain, who doesn't, its still sitting in my lounge, an assemblage of small parts waiting to be put together as we chaps do minus the instructions. When its finally finished and I would add after several rounds of wondering why this but doesnt fit into that bit we can stand there manly, beat our chests and glow with pride at the finished article and scoff at the need for a mere hint of instruction.

To more recent matters I draw the readers attention to the pictures below. Rather than stand around in in the mud pretending to enjoy myself this weekend as 10ft snowdrifts came blowing in from the Arctic I took the opportunity to stay inside for a little internal gardening, namely poking the onion sets into trays of compost. I should add that I didn't actually do this bit, 'er indoors did this while I slaved away in -25C filling up the blinking seed trays with compost. It was not without a hint of irony as I thawed my frostbitten fingers over the radiator she exclaimed "is it cold out there", the cheek of it, she might as well as well have been knocking back champagne by the pool on a summers day eating strawberries.

Anyway with further ado, here is this weeks collection of stunning photographs:














































The final picture shows my greenhouse not the biggest one you'll ever see, but nevertheless an instrumental part in every growers repertoire. From this humble enclosure the greatest vegetables will grow.