A Day in the Life

 

A little music to help the seedlings grow.

It’s amazing how a simple a morning can end up being packed full of diversity. Here’s what happened last Saturday when I had nothing to do.

8 am
It’s a lovely sunny morning and a load of washing has just finished in the machine. I pop the clothes into a basket and stroll to the washing line.
8:01
Just before I get to the line, I brush past the dead heads of the hydrangea shrub “I’ll cut those back” I’m thinking. I put the washing basket down onto the grass and go to the shed to get the loppers. I find an old fire grate too so that goes under the arm as well. The grate is cast iron, iron makes pink hydrangeas turn blue. It’s worth a try and will give me a reason for throwing it into the garden.
8.10
That didn’t take long; all of the cut off stems have been thrown into a pile under the trees to rot down.
8:11
Julie wants to sow some seeds today so I pop into the shed to fill the seed trays with my special mix. Loads of light gets in through the big window so they should get a good start. I am distracted for a minute though as I have to squeeze past the drum set. I’ll just have a quick practice.
9.00
The drum solo took a bit longer than expected, but I’m ready to fill the trays with compost. Julie comes in with the seed packets. She starts to plant carrots, courgettes, peas, beans, tomatoes and lettuce. We usually get our seed packs from places like B+Q and get a good number of seeds. We tried the Lidl ones this year, OK they are cheaper, but couldn’t believe it when we opened up the tomato packet and found 7 seeds, yes 7 tomato seeds. We’ll have to get some more. Last year we had foamy tomatoes so this year they will all be the small varieties.
9:30
I leave Julie to sow dwarf sweet peas (larger ones on the list of things to get) purple sprouting broccoli, (not the calibrese ones as they flower in summer) and curly kale. I can play the drums again later; it might help the seedlings to grow.
9:40
I’m shovelling soil into the sieve to add to the raised beds. My lad has joined me to do a bit of French hoeing to kill off the young weed seedlings. He has to work his way around the hazel sticks I put in for the plants to grow up. Most of them are growing leaves so it looks as though they are still alive. The dogs are busy hiding in the gorse bushes waiting for me to throw them a stick.
10:45
Julie comes up and starts planting onion sets and more seeds in the cleared beds. Peas, beans, carrots, this packet (again from Lidl) give us spaced out carrot seeds in a strip, beetroot, perpetual spinach, rocket, radishes and white turnips when we can find the packet. It’s gone walkabout. There will be some successive sowing this year with crops such as peas, carrots and salad leaves. The longer we can keep out of the supermarket vegetable section the happier I’ll be.
10:57
The strawberries are put back in after being trimmed. Both alpine and regular ones go in together. It’s a bit of a shady spot, so the alpine ones will be happy at least.
11:00
We will put hazel branches over the beds after planting to keep the dogs off, or give them something to chew on as they carry on playing in the beds. Don’t worry if you haven’t got your seeds planted yet. Klaus Laitenberger , the Leitrim gardener tells us not to take any notice of the seed sowing dates up here in the North West. Leave everything at least a month later that it tells us. Our seed sowing is being done during a waxing moon - this is supposed to be a good time to plant biodynamically.
11:27
I have the strimmer going. It’s first time this year. I am finding loads of old footballs in the undergrowth and carefully going around the trees, hedges and lawn edges.
11:45
I move over to the herb garden to strim the grass paths. Julie has just planted some lettuce plants her father sent over this week in amongst the sage, parsley and chives. I cover the whole lot with grass cuttings as I strim. I’ll tidy it up later. We have a couple of replacements to grow this year in the herb garden as the rosemary and oregano died in the frost.
11:55
Julie cuts back the lemon balm; this grows so quickly it’s already too big. The mint is going to be planted into the ground too this year. It’s not happy confined to a pot. It’ll probably take over the garden, but at least we will have plenty for making tea.
12:14
To finish off strimming, I am now heading up the driveway to get all of the weeds from the edge of the asphalt, this saves on using weedkiller. The wind can blow the cut grass into piles and as long as it doesn’t rain
12:35
I go and see how the sowing is done. The rows are far enough apart to get the hoe into it, this will make weeding really simple later in the season. Spacing is so important in the vegetable patch; it can save you hours of boring weeding in summer.
12:36
I can’t wait any longer to do the sweeping, the mess is annoying me. First though the brush head needs screwing back on again. The dog ate the handle.
1:10
Julie has moved onto the tubs and containers near the shed. More successive sowing starting with the first sowing of rocket, parsley, cut and come again lettuce and radish. We’re still looking for coriander preferably the leafy cilantro. The only thing missing is night scented stock; the sweet heady smell is lovely in the evenings. More seeds to buy and sow.
1:55
I have the mower working now, leaving Julie to the sowing and cutting back. Cutting the grass will take no time at all because I don’t have to go into the corners
2:30
A good morning’s work. Time for a hot chocolate and a butter biscuit, they are the dog’s favourites. Maybe afterwards I’ll get around to hanging up that washing.