TARRAGON & THYME

I went to B & Q on Sunday morning to get a couple of bales of compost as I have a lot of potting up to do and whilst there succumbed to some pre grown plants. I have added a four cherry tomatoes 3 sungold tomatoes 2 beefsteak tomatoes 4 Plum Tomatoes Roma 2 cucumbers 12 Globe Artichoke plants ( I thought I had bought 6) 3 sweet pepper plants 12 main Strawberries 12 other strawberries 1 lemon balm 1 Garden mint 2 sage I tried desperately at the weekend to get things potted up even going out and buying extra pots however I got rained off.  This evening I  have been out in the garden till past dusk doing  a little bit of torchlight gardening.  Do you think it will catch on.   I have used all the pots and I still have loads of fruit plants to get potted up and lots of flowers and strawberries.  I have also used nearly all the compost.  It looks as though am going to have to go and get another two bags...

Miss you Tricia x

It has been a busy weekend and it started with the delivery of my new washing machine on Friday. Saturday was a housework day. Sunday started with a trip to B & Q for more compost and I ended up buying a load more plants including, beefsteak tomatoes, sungold tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes on top of the nine plants I already have. of Moneymaker. Also  more strawberries and also some Globe Artichokes, more herbs etc.  Still more to do.  Next year I hope to get myself sorted and my greenhouse back up and running (which it is not at present) so that I can set my own seeds.  That is my greatest pleasure sowing seeds and nurturing them from scratch.  However Rome was not built in a day.  I am determined to get as many tomatoes as I can for preserving and eating and I am also hoping for some green tomatoes so that I can make green tomato chutney come back end.  Home Grown tomatoes have much more fla...

My new washer arrived and I have had to wait until today to get it into the kitchen.  We have had operation chess to try and get it in position.  We had two washers to be rid of, the first had been residing in the bathroom and now latterly my most recent one.  We could not get it out of the kitchen until the cooker was taken out.  That went into the dining room and then we could take the one out of the kitchen.  Then when that one was done the one out of the bathroom could be taken out.  So as I say like a game of chess.  Needless to say putting everything back was a lot easier.  The washer is fantastic and I am really pleased with it; it looks really smart and is ever so quiet you hardly know its working. It started off really hot here this morning at 6:00am it was quite hot and it got hotter and hotter.  We then had a short shower which cooled things down a bit. There was a warning for storms in this area but fingers crossed we ha...

Well preserving of course.  I love seasonal cooking but I am also realistic enough to make the most of what actually comes my way whether I grow it, get it from a supermarket or go to a Farm Shop or grow your own farm.  Some of us don't have access to say grow your own farms and only have access to the supermarket so you have to make the most of what you have access to and the opportunities that come your way. If you look at the top of my blog there are some pages I have added one for my preserving i.e. the Put Down 2017 where I add in what I have actually made and managed to squirrel away during the course of the year. Anyway, I have made a very small start on the alcoholic front after weeks and weeks of not having the time to actually set too and do something.  What started it.  I bought some lovely raspberries from the Coop in fact I like them that much that I have been taking a punnet into work with me to nibble on during the day as w...

Don't know about you but in this weather I tend to have a stock of ice lollies to hand.  I have over the years accumulated quite a few moulds and lolly sticks I have some expensive sets but I have also picked up a few different ones from the pound shop.  I am easily pleased but I am always looking for different ways in which to present something.  My most recent find was a reduction in Lakeland and these are proper sky rocket moulds.  But in reality you don't need to use bought moulds you can make use of small pots into which to freeze your mixture and once part frozen stick in your handle We were lucky as children as mum always used to make homemade ice lollies for us.  One of the first Tupperware parties she went to she came back with a set of lolly moulds and they were used religiously all through our childhood.  Don't know what happened to them but when we came to sort mums stuff they were not there. I also have a stock of ice cubes a...

Its been a busy day as usual message received at 7:00am to say they were on the way.  By 9:30am  the washer had been delivered.  It is still in its packaging and OH is going to plumb it in this evening. The hospital went well  this was for the Rheumatology clinic I do not have to see them for another year.  I am gradually getting stiffer but am trying to look after myself the best that I can.  When I am having bad sessions (usually when it is extremely wet I get like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz but equally days like today hot and humid all my joints are sore and it is painful walking.    When things get really bad and I have a flare up I down tools rest up and go to bed early although laying down presents its own problems.  Its the only way I can manage being able to carry on my life as normally as possible.   I am normal whatever normal is I just have these issues and things that get in the way!  When we arr...

There are now four bottles of Vodka, two of Rum and two of Brandy. Now what is she up to.......... Sorry but you will have to wait until later. Pattypan x

I have an old discontinued dinner service which in effect is my best dinner service that comes out at Christmas and special occasions.  It is the BHS Country Vine Collection.  i.e white plates with garlands of Ivy woven all over the plate. When BHS were around and quite a few years ago I invested in a 12 place setting but with the assistance of my cats and a Jack Russell some of the pieces have got broken and perhaps the odd session of butterfingers from yours truly the set was starting to diminish.  At the time I bought the service we were both in work and I had intended to add other items to the set.  However OH was then out of work for about 4 1/2 years all told and money became very tight and I was not in a position to add to and then they discontinued the set.  However I am very patient and very good at waiting.  I work on the basis that if I have the money then every so often I have a few nice things and then when things are tough then nothing I...

We ran out on the Internet again last night just decided not to work.  This evening thus far everything seems to be okey cokey. I ran out of plant pots the other evening and so after work this evening I nipped into B & M which is always dangerous.  I did not have the shopping trolley so I improvised and bought some large sturdy bin liners and turned them into carriers for bringing stuff home.    Not a pretty picture staggering up the high street.  Its my handbag that causes most of the trouble.  I have 10 plant pots I still need more they were 99p in B & M.  I also bought some more plants, another couple of clematis, two hydrangeas pink ones and two camellias.  each at £1.99 each.  They had some fuschias different ones that I just had to leave behind but I may go back for them later.     Shush don't tell any one but I need some lighting in the garden and I have seen some little lantern solar lights th...

I am sat in the garden it is pitch black but I am enjoying the peace and solitude. I haven't stopped since I got in.  I have potted up 9 tomato plants two black mulberries and I have sorted out some new compost for my fig trees.  I have also given my other olants and hanging baskets a good drenching.  I still have loads more to go but have run out of comoost again.  I finished up about 10.30pm and am now sat enjoying a bottle of cider in the cool of the evening.  I have company Demetri is with me making tbe most of the one to one attention.  It has been lovely being outside in the fresh air after beung cooped up in an office all day.  The feel of the soil and the nurturing of the plants is very cathartic and balm to the soul after a busy day.  I wont be long before I go in but I do enjoy star gazing and just enjoying thr stillness of the night. I love to see the stars.  I love the lighter nights at this time of the year.  Ideally I wou...

A Pantry  traditionally a space or a cupboard that serves as a pantry storage is a very useful thing to have. Mine is stocked to the gunnels but then that has been my way for many years. Probably as a result of my grandmother who did keep a well stocked pantry.  However my pantry although being stocked to the gunnels is still not big enough but then at least I have a pantry.  I have enough in there to keep me in food together with the freezers for a year.  We are constantly using and I am also restocking as we go along.  I prefer fresh stuff where I can which is why I am aiming at some point to have a veg patch in the garden again no matter how small as anything you can do to help yourselves will pay dividends in the long run especially when it comes to salads and the like.  I have tomato plants and herbs and hopefully after this weekend I will be able to get stuck in with a few more. seeds being sown.  So the fresh veg garden i...

As I have mentioned before I have been gathering together kits, finished needlework panels, needlepoint, fabric embroidered pieces whatever   I think will work, in a particular piece.  I have a lot of fabrics of different kinds in any event and it will be good to use up some of the same and create an individual look at the same time for things for my home.  This post is quite photo heavy but shows some of the things I have been drawing together.  Now what I have to do is work some of the kits and then incorporate them into what I have planned for them. To start with the kits. Rowandean kits.  I first came across these many moons ago with my friend Margaret who is the lady responsible for getting me doing needlework again.  At the time they were beautiful and she slowly worked up a whole group of them.  I never envisaged being able to have a go at something like this as her needlework was and is very beautiful.  Rowandean have their own s...

We are having chicken for tea if you had not realised from the heading to this post.  Garlic chicken breasts to be precise and I also have a chicken cooking away at the same time.  Ostensibly for pack ups I have some salad and some wraps and chilli sauce and also some prawns for making wraps over the next few days.  When it gets warmer although hungry we don't always want masses to eat although we need something and whilst I have the cooker on it makes sense to cook something else and make the most of the oven being on.  Although strictly speaking as it is warm I should not really be having the cooker on.  I am hoping to get barbecuing outside in the next couple of weeks or so and then have plenty of salads as well.  I need to lose some weight and that is one way to do it sensibly watching what you eat.  Not that I have a big appetite these days.  It will just be nice to get outside a bit especially after the long winter months and me being c...