Carrots and Kids

Tomato Seed Sowing

2010-03-15T16:38:28+00:00

You may have noticed I'm running out of post titles. Well, not running out of exactly but sorely lacking in inspiration.

As you may have also guessed, I've started sowing my tomatoes. This year I bought some different ones. Others reading this might think "pah, different? I've been growing those since I was five" so I'll clarify - different to me.

Last year I sowed whatever came on the front of Gardeners' World magazine and there's nothing wrong with that. They were Gardener's Delight and they were. Very delightful. I also bought a couple of plants from the town WI plant stall.

It wasn't as if I hadn't grown my own, I had loads of the things but I didn't have very many different varieties. So this year I splashed out and bought chocolate cherry, jelly bean (yes they are for the children), red zebra and black krim (I think that's what it's called, I am too lazy to saunter to the greenhouse and check).

There will also be, because I haven't yet sown these, the usual delight and some yellow cherry toms. I know time is ticking on.

I've also changed my technique as I've mixed in some vermiculite with the compost (although I'm not sure this is necessary as they did fine without last year) and I've copied Gardeners' World and sowed in pots. Last year it was in rows in seed trays.

Which brings me on to my dilemma - how many should I sow? Obviously I have to allow for ones that don't come up but I'm also sowing for the school club too. I shall let the children have a go but I've got to bring them home to sit on my windowsills anyway so I'm thinking I'll just cut out the middle man....

Last year I had too many, this year I'm worried it won't be enough. Best I get back out there I think.

Feel~Good~Friday

2010-03-13T00:05:04+00:00

I am sneaking this post in, squeaking it in at the very last moment. I am not sure what has happened to the last seven days.

One thing I do know is that it can't really go on. Oh no. This time-whizzing-past-so-fast-that-it's-a-blur and I can't remember anything. I'm not sure what exactly I am going to do about it but do something I shall.

There has been much to feel thankful for, to feel good about: pizza with friends, exciting things planted at the school club (more of that later), puppy pranks, two hours at the hairdressers.....

I know! Two whole, actually surprisingly tense, hours at the hairdressers. It would seem I have lost the ability to sit still. I was worse than a child. I kept getting told off and having my head gently realigned. That hairdresser - patience of a saint. I do feel lighter. I had loads of hair chopped off. Loads.

So that's the photo I was going to upload. Honestly! I have sat here for half an hour faffing around waiting for the pictures I took today to upload and - behold - the camera's battery's flat. So. I guess you'll just have to wait. In the meantime you can gaze at my allotment rhubarb. Which is probably prettier than my hair...

Feel~Good~Friday

2010-03-05T06:21:00+00:00

One of the things that is making me feel good this Friday is you lot. All your wonderful comments on yesterday's post. Really, I was not expecting them (well, I do get wonderful comments but I was just not expecting these).

So many of you opened up and shared and when I wrote that I hadn't a clue that would happen. It felt like quite a personal, rambly post that I thought oh, people will wonder what I'm going on about perhaps I'll leave it in draft but I'm so glad I didn't. As that old telephone advert used to go It's Good To Talk (am I showing my age?).

As I couldn't photograph you (and let's face it a blog without a pic is like a hot chocolate without squirty cream) I thought I'd show you what else has been making me feel good.

Yes, the seed sowing has started! Hooray! I admit for a moment or two there I thought I'd never get going but the sweet peas are in and the floodgates have opened.

Being in my warm greenhouse, with my little man watering his "flowers" with some horrid stinky water he'd found, two dogs at my feet (one of which was trouble) and the radio talking away in the background was blissful.

And you? What's made you feel good this week?

Mothering and Gardening

2010-03-03T06:49:00+00:00

There are two things about having a large family. Well, there are lots really, but for now let's talk about two or we might be here a while.

One is that everyone thinks you're an expert on children. From the moment you have that final child, everyone, from midwives onwards, thinks you need no help and support. It's just one of a myriad of things that did not occur to me.

The second thing is people are always asking if you are going to have any more. Which is really annoying. As if that is all you can do or are interested in.

People probably ask that less now, as I'm looking old and haggered. And I did used to worry that I would always want more and more babies. I hear women now lament their broodiness, worrying that they will always feel this way.

But it occurred to me as I watched someone I used to go to school with cross the road in front of me, big children walking next to her, little ones in the double buggy, that you do stop. You do move on. And I'm glad I have. The vision shuffling behind the handles did not inspire anything other than relief, mean as that sounds.

I expect others have thought similarly of me, although I hope I have gone about my life with a bit more joie de vivre. Certainly, those first few years with a little one were, for me, blissful. Now as they get older I'm taking stock. My life is moving onto a new chapter as theirs' do.

All these thoughts popped into my mind as I waited for the lights to change. Along with gladness that I'd found gardening. It's given me another focus just when I needed it. I didn't realise, of course, that I would be needing it, but it's funny how things enter your life and you don't realise their impact or value at first.

It's not good for children to be their mother's sole focus, especially as they get older. I'm realising more and more they need an interested but vaguely distracted mum on the sidelines. Someone who is there but not there.

Cooking can serve that role but I find it a bit....soul destroying. Who eats what and how and why and who's going to do the dishwasher and oh-crikey-if-I-have-to-cook-prawns-and-pasta-one-more-time-I-shall-scream. Plus it's a vital necessity, one in which mothers are increasingly judged. Every time I step up to the Aga I feel I'm taking part in a contest I can never win.

But transplant me a few feet away to the greenhouse, with the radio happily burbling in the background, a puppy chewing twigs at my feet and seeds to push into the soil and I can accomplish that magical mothering act of being available at all times but invisible.

So even if nothing grows this year (I'm worried last year was a fluke), even though I really haven't got a clue what I'm doing, that someone is doing it better than me, that I seem to spend more than I save, I will still pick up my seed tin and head to the greenhouse.

Beauty's Where You Find It

2010-03-01T07:22:00+00:00

Sometimes I find it quite hard to blog. I know, can you believe it! I write in four places now (here, two parenting sites and a monthly guest spot on Fennel and Fern) so you'd think it would come easily.

It does and it doesn't. Sometimes I find it hardest to blog here. This place, which is supposed to be somewhere I express myself freely and creatively, quite often gets the scrag ends of my time and energy.

It's also a place where people who know me in real life come to read. And, of course, that's the whole point isn't it, to be read? Perhaps. Perhaps it's some of the point but not the whole.

So occasionally I come over all shy. I have no idea why, it's something I'm trying to work out. While I try to find my mojo/voice/a smidgen of energy (last week was a baaaaaad week) I'll leave you with a picture.

My Valentine's Day tulips, ready to be thrown out. I quite liked them this way, the colour was really rich and velvety. Beauty's where you find it. Everywhere.

Feel~Good~Friday

2010-02-26T13:34:55+00:00

I won't pretend, it's been quite a stretch to come up with something to post for this week's Feel~Good~Friday. I am thinking that perhaps I was a little hasty with the title.

Perhaps, I am thinking, I should have just called it "Stuff" or "I Don't Know What To Call This Series So I'll Just Let You Imagine A Title" which then would possibly be easier to write at the end of week such as this one.

But I dug deep and - tra! la! - here is my offering. It is meager but it is all I have. A while back I exultantly sewed a PE bag for my five-year-old. We were all in awe, such is my legendary lack of sewing skills.

Now it looks as if I have moved onto bigger and better projects. I say "looks" because the machine's whirring is currently silent. I will just say the word "bobbins". They are living up to their tricky reputation and have me stumped but I'm hoping not for long.

But I have been assured that I will undoubtedly feel good once the dress is finished. I may just have to wait a couple of years for that feeling judging by today's progress, but I'm sure it'll be worth it!

So, what's making you Feel Good this Friday?

Ten Ways You Can Help Your School's Gardening Club

2010-02-22T06:20:00+00:00

Not everyone wants to run a school gardening club. And that's fine. It is time consuming and the fruits (or otherwise) of your hard work are permanently on display. And sometimes there can be unimagined problems.

But if your school is lucky enough to have someone who runs a club it's a lovely idea to support it. Even if your child doesn't attend they may change their mind. Plus, having a school garden benefits everyone.

Mostly though, it's a good idea because, unlike other school clubs, this one has ongoing financial needs. Compost. Seeds. Pots. Replacing rotten wood perhaps around the beds. The list can be endless, despite the leader being as inventive as possible to source resources.

So here's my list on how YOU can help your club:

Never send your child off to club clutching seeds. Quite often they might be unsuitable. Or quite old (with a poor germination rate) or just not practical.
Listen to what the leader needs if you've asked "can I get you anything?". More compost sadly means more compost not (another) packet of seeds.
Ask if you can help with the watering if you live in the same town or village or nearby.
Help to source some big containers. Or an old hose. Or some old tools. Useful stuff.
Collect old comics, loo rolls, yoghurt pot containers, jam jars or empty 2l plastic bottles. This stuff is really handy.
Offer to help find out about funding from unknown/untapped grants. You might only need to spend an hour surfing or on the phone, for the leader it's another job.
Approach garden centres for discounts on behalf of the club (probably a good idea to run this by the Head/burser first).
Pick up your child promptly. This is important as the leader probably has other children to get home to and tea to cook.
Tell the club how wonderful the garden looks, even if it doesn't. It can be quite dispiriting as slugs do their worst and seedlings are weeded. Little white lies help!
Encourage your child at home: continue growing the things they've bought home, provide them with little tools while at the club, garden with them at home.

Have you got any tips to add?

Feel~Good~Friday

2010-02-19T07:16:00+00:00

Here's a picture of a little scruffy ball of fur who has been making me, all of us, feel good. Actually, if I'm honest, he's been making me feel very tired.

Very early morning has seen me, steaming mug of tea in hand, standing in my crocs and dressing gown, bleary eyed in a freezing cold garden yawning while he....well, he chases twigs, pounces on leaves and tries to scramble up onto the veggie beds. Hmm.

Really, I should introduce him properly. His name is Paddington (Paddy for short) and he's a nine-week-old ball of fun (a shih-tzu). He is also Gardening Dog. I'm afraid he shall probably feature quite a lot on the blog, if he'll just stop occasionally so I can get a picture.

* Edited to add: Something else making me feel good today is being Blog of the Week here. A lovely write-up and a puppy. Wonderful ways to start the weekend.

Getting The Greenhouse Ready

2010-02-18T07:01:00+00:00

I'm lazy. There, I've said it. While others spent the autumn clearing out their greenhouse, possibly getting it cosy for winter, I.....didn't.

I'm truly grateful for my greenhouse but, let's face it, without a proper door (the panels didn't arrive with the others when we bought it) it's usefulness had been limited.

It's also bereft of heat and that's the way it's going to stay. Installing electricity in it will, I think, prove costly and I'd feel bad about heating something that is not exactly well insulated.

So a cold greenhouse it is. When it snowed last month it was an even colder greenhouse as the weight of the white stuff popped out a couple of roof panels. B&Q sell glazing packs thank goodness (the company we bought it from online didn't even respond to emails) so we're good to go!

First though I needed to do a bit of sorting out. And rearranging. A couple of times in fact. I think I saw Hubby's eyes shoot upwards as I called him back to the greenhouse to help. He's been through this many times but usually it involves kitchens and Agas.

I don't have a proper potting bench; I have a rather bulky Ikea table covered with red and white polka dot oilskin and a grow house down the end. What I need, I've decided, is some of these and one of these.

They will have to wait. For now we're all shipshape. And as luck would have it, it's the half-term so my chances of actually getting out there and doing stuff involving ripping open packets, delving into compost and patting down pots is slipping away from me.

Never mind, there's always the weekend. Hopefully.

On My Windowsill.....{February}

2010-02-15T07:06:00+00:00

Quite often I feel my life is just one big...chaotic mess. House renovations still ongoing, seven people living in a smallish place - ugh, it all feels too much quite often.

But there is one spot I have complete and utter control over and (this is sad, I know) it's my windowsill. I've spoken about it before. It's the only place I can have a nature table type of arrangement. I would love to have a proper nature table in my hall, or perhaps in the family room. One day....

So far the Nature Sill has undergone two changes, and now we have the third. Even though we "don't do" Valentine's Day I still received this wonderful bunch of tulips. So much nicer than roses I think.

Now I'm wondering what I shall be displaying on my windowsill next month....Do you have a nature table or a special spot in your home for nature finds?