Gardening (and other stuff)

#28 Create a Vegetable Plot

After spending a glorious week with friends in the beautiful Scottish Highlands (Newtonmore in the Cairngorms to be precise - if you need to book a house for 10-18 people, I highly recommend the property Badenoch - absolutely excellent!) I arrived back to a dreich, dull, grey London feeling thoroughly depressed. Luckily I had an extra days holiday booked to help ease me back into London living and I decided to spend some of it in the garden in a bid to "get back to nature". 

Now, whilst my garden is not a complete wilderness or anything like that and there (surprisingly) seem to be some flowers sprouting already, it has been totally neglected since I have moved into my house. The amount of  overgrown ivy, plastic bags, discarded fireworks, general debris and that pesky vine-like weed that grows over everything has definitely been on the increase in the past 5 months.  So I thought that Monday was the perfect opportunity to make a start on tidying up. 

The garden - I'm actually getting
excited about doing it up just looking
at the photograph!!

I forgot to take a "before" photo, but given the lack of impact two hours hard graft seems to have made, I think this photo  sums up the state of the garden (just add in some more ivy, moss, weeds and a few plastic bags and you get the 'before' picture).

So this is what I have to work with and in one of the corners I intend to start creating my veg plot. Over the next 4 weeks my aim is to clear and weed the garden properly and to have an initial design for the whole garden so that I will know exactly where my veg will be going. 

So far I reckon i would like to plant the following (whether or not this is possible remains to be investigated):

• Courgettes
• Beetroot
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Some sort of pea...

All other suggestions welcome ( especially for hardy veg that requires little/no looking after!)

So I had better get cracking and start propagating some seeds!

And in other news....

#8 make a cable knit scarf

Damn it! Can't get the picture to
rotate - you get the point!

Knowing that I would have loads of spare time to knit in the Highlands, I went to John Lewis to buy some wool to begin my cable knit scarf project. I have made a start - although at one point I seemed to be doing more ripping out of rows than knitting! I am glad to report that progress is being made and the scarf is beginning to look scarf-like and and cable-y. Here's a snap of my beautiful wool - my Mum hates the colour of it, but i think it's just lovely (and feels soft and amazing).

#9 go a month without drinking alcohol

Didn't really want to make a big announcement about this one (in case I fail!!!), however the dry month has begun! I started at 11pm Friday 22nd February and intend to finish at 11pm(ish) on Sunday 24th March when I'll be at the beginning of a 28 hour flight to New Zealand. So if I begin drinking a few hours earlier, I think that is acceptable!!

Graphical representation of booze free
progress a.k.a Dry Pie

Thus far, it hasn't been difficult at all - but let's see what happens if there's a big night out...

#17 go star gazing

Whilst up in Newtonmore, we all decided to go out stargazing. So we drove up a hill, far away from any lights, excited to see what the sky had to offer us.

I'm not particularly into star gazing, and I added it to my list as it's something that I feel I should have done. I also think that I should have some interest in what exists outside my own little bubble. 

Admittedly, I also had a somewhat romantic view of it taking place: on a warm, balmy night, lying on a rug (...maybe with a nice boy?!), drink in hand just chillaxing with the stars and galaxies would be visible by the naked eye, and, of course, there would be a plethora of shooting stars putting on a display just for me.

Ha!

That was the dream. This was the reality:

• It was cold
• I was standing the whole time and I had cold hands.
• There was no rug. 
• There was no drink.
• There was no boy (well there were a couple, but not in the romantic sense)
• There was a very bright moon, giving great views of the snow capped mountains, but not ideal for the viewing of stars.
• The realisation dawned on me that I know nothing of astronomy
• There were lots of (dim) stars though, on the bright side, no clouds.

Needless to say  I do not consider this task accomplished. But at least I know have a notion of what needs to be done when I go to do it "properly". Next time I go I am determined to have more (or any) knowledge of the constellations I am looking at (i.e. I have more to say than "oooh look at the twinkly lights - aren't they pretty?!"), ensure that I am able to look at some stars through a telescope, wait 'til the weather is warmer and to take a rug with me (and maybe the boy too). 

Stars and snow capped mountains in the moonlight
A prize* for telling me any constellations/stars of note that
appear in the photo (as I don't have a clue!)
 Photo courtesy of Andy Laing 

*there is no prize

#3 visit the southern hemisphere

just wanted to say....I GO TO NEW ZEALAND IN JUST OVER THREE WEEKS!!!!! 

Get in.