TARRAGON & THYME

I am loving this hot weather but it is far too hot for me and I am simply not sleeping.  That is what happened yesterday after going to bed early with a migraine type headache.  As a result I ended up going to sleep when I should have been getting up - I just crashed and ended up sleeping late.  The headache is still hanging and I have kept to the house for most of the day even though we have the fans on it it still horribly muggy. We have had Rib of Roast Beef for dinner served with fresh Asparagus, carrots, spring cabbage, roast potatoes, broccoli and Yorkshire puddings.  It has gone down well and then we have had Honeydew Melon for pudding just served simply on its own. We have good news about Missy, in that she has started working more like she used to do and is not scratching so much either.  The pain killers and the anti-histimine between them seem to be keeping everything under control.  We also have her on a joint care product which we discussed wit...

It has been a hot old day today far too hot for me that I appear to be starting with a migraine which is not good either.  I need to be in the sun for vitamin D deficiency but as I am fair my skin burns ever so quickly despite sun screen and getting the balance right is a tricky one.  These things are sent to try us. We went to the fish man and came away with fresh Cromer crab, Crevettes, some crayfish and some smoked haddock. We then went on to the butchers and have stocked up a bit more on the meat front.  Have bought some more Beef steak, mince, Pork mince a beef rib for tomorrow, some Chinese style pork steaks, some Rump steak this time round.  As seasonality plays a big part  at this Butchers it is nice to go and cherry pick those items that appeal whilst also being sensible and stocking up on basics like mince and stewing steak or sausages, chipolatas or bacon.  We are gradually building up the stock in the freezer this way on.  We do not eat mea...

Nipped to town to get a new pair of secateurs to help me chop up the Ivy that I chopped down yesterday.  Some three hours later I managed to get home.  I went to Wilkos and ended up buying several things for the garden including the secateurs, a chopping blade for small branches, some more flower seed including forget me nots, cornflowers, Foxglove, more sweet peas, some sweetcorn and a pack of Uchi Kuri pumpkin seeds.  There were quite a few things on the gardening front that am interested in but will have to wait and see how we get on.  There had been quite a queue to get in and had to wait some time.  I left home at 1:30pm so was late in going out.  There was far more traffic and people around today.  I did manage to find some PPE latex gloves today but that is the first time have found them since the pandemic commenced.  I have a mask.  I think that am going to keep some of these in the medicine chest as standard from now on in. I then en...

I was late getting into the garden today and by the time that I did it was really hot. However, I got stuck in despite it being very hot and attacked the Ivy again.  I was going to leave the greenhouse alone, but as I have been working along I found it was going to be much  more practical to cut the vines as I went.  Some of them have been extremely thick and it is going to be a matter of removing them bit by bit.  If I don't do down the side of the greenhouse, they will only grow back so I am chopping the Ivy and trying to dig it out as I go.  Some is coming out but I suspect that I will have to water the area when I am ready to actually dig the roots out.   I have got about half way along the greenhouse.  It is going to take a bit longer to get this clear.  I did say it was a bit of a jungle. Needless to say the Ivy has broken some of the glass panes to the greenhouse and as I was cutting some of the vines off the roof, I was slightly conce...

Yesterday I worked in the garden all day long. I started with the front garden tidying it up as best as I can.  I have a Holly tree in the front garden which is hell bent on losing its leaves at the moment so I swept them all up out of the passage and removed them all from the gravel as well, whilst I was waiting for my parcel delivery.  More about that in  later post.  However all my efforts were in vain as by later in the day the Holly had shed more leaves.  Looks like the brush is coming out tomorrow morning as well. I also did a little sorting out, outside the back door and got rid of some more rubbish.  Still a long way to go though. After  my parcel arrived, I went into the bottom garden and opened up my mini greenhouses to let them breathe for a while.  I also started chopping up all the bushes I chopped down the other day.  They had dried down a bit and so I chopped them with clippers and then put into bin bags so that they are all to...

I now have a phone with a camera yippee.  Now to make sure that I do not lose it, do not drown it, and can now afford the calls!  I am now back on my contract - a new sim has been received.  As I have missed my camera so much I thought that I would indulge in a photo post. My tidied up and stringed grape vine.  The planter in the middle holds a survivor of a Nasturtium I planted last year. My Strawberry hanging baskets The plant I could not remember the name of but which looks very pretty - love the colours. Two of my existing planters planted out with a plant from my mum's garden.  I started off with only a small piece of this and strip it out every year and produce more planters with it.  Has a lovely pale blue flower when in bloom.  Evokes strong memories of my mum and of our home for many years. One of my violet planters.  Yet again only had a small clump and have propagated another pot the same size; p...

I have had a lovely day pottering in the garden and  just simply being. It was lovely and quiet with just birdsong in the background as I worked until someone put on their stereo full blast because they wanted a disco never mind that the neighbours did not! It has been hot here with a bit of a breeze but I have absolutely loved being out in the fresh air pottering here and there, sorting things as I come across them. Totally Absorbed with the tasks in hand and potting up Borage, Marigolds, more Tomato plants, Gherkins.  I have been a little over-generous with the seed but it will not go to waste as I have friends who I am sure will be happy to scoop up some of the surplus.  I think part of the learning process for me with the gardening is going to rest on quantities, I tend to be heavy handed with portions on all kinds of things.  Next year though will be different.  That is the learning curve and for me where the main lessons are to be learned.  I sti...

Sorry this post should have been scheduled and posted yesterday.  Because of the light warm evenings I was totally absorbed in what I was doing in the garden and it was gone 9pm before I ventured in.  Therefore the post is really a recap of yesterday's events, The weather has  been warm today,  and I have had things to do in the garden.  I have potted up some more herbs into their planters today, plain leaved parsley, more chives, more mint.  Still have more chives to plant but do not have a suitable planter.  All the ones I now have left are too large. I have planted Chamomile, Lovage, Broad Beans, small cucumbers.  I have yet to deal with all the courgette seeds.  I have also set more Nasturtiums as there are a lot of projects I want to have a go at which use these.  I also need to dry them. I have taken eight cuttings of French Tarragon, Lemon Thyme and Oregano using the honey dip method.  As I purchased the herbs from Wa...

I am getting mean in my old age and am more and more looking for cheaper ways to accomplish those projects I do have in mind.  Especially as I am getting into this gardening lark, the more I do the more I want to do. I love French Tarragon and every Summer always make several bottles of Tarragon Vinegar for use from my own Pantry but also to give away to friends and family.  I particularly like to gently dress salad leaves with a little of the vinegar but also like it in a Mayonnaise dressing usually accompanied by French Bread toasted in slices and then lots of goat cheese dressed with mixed summer herbs and then melted gently.  Yum.  Anyway I am getting off the beaten track just a little. I decided to investigate more thoroughly how you propagate extra French Tarragon plants, especially as I knew you could not grow it from seed as the seeds the plant does produce are not productive.  I suspected it would be by taking cuttings procedure but was not cle...

I had plans to root some cuttings and bought said donor herbs in the confidence that I had some rooting powder at home.  Wrong - cannot locate it anywhere not a good situation.  Not content to leave it there as I have some experiments in taking cuttings to increase my plant stock on the cards, I wondered if something else could be substituted and also do an efficient job.  I found the attached link, which makes interesting reading. https://preparednessmama.com/natural-rooting-hormone/ The method that appealed to me the most was the honey method, but I also intend to use ACV and also the cinnamon versions.  This is all stuff that I have in my cupboard and use on a regular basis and best of all there is as a result not going to be any unnecessary expenditure.  Just the way I like it and natural.  That appeals to me more than anything else. I therefore have a batch of honey water all ready for me to root my cuttings in today, and I will let you...

I have been on the search for compost on the internet locally without finding any at all - all were saying out of stock on the type I was after.  This morning and in desperation we have left the house early and gone out of town to Spalding which is about 30 to 45 minute drive from us.  The store opened at 10:00am and so we were on our way for 9:00am so as to miss too many people.  We are glad we did as we have located three x 70 litre bags of Erin compost for £15.  I am chuffed as it means that I can now get some of my seedlings pricked out and planted on.  Big sigh of relief from me.  I hope to have my own compost for next year.   I must say that the garden centre we went to Baytree, respected social distancing and the staff were extremely helpful and also loaded the compost for us. There was a guided way through the store - only certain parts were open.  I have also managed to find seed for Chamomile (not the ground cover version t...

Saturday for the past few weeks has turned out to be a seafood supper night.  For the past few weeks we have been going to Routs Wet Fish van in Ramsey, usually on our way to our Butchers.  We have had marvellous fish from them including Crevettes, Brown Shrimps, prawns, whelks, cockles Halilbut, Monkfish, Cromer Crabs, Smoked Haddock (the proper stuff), ordinary haddock.  The fish, suppers have varied from the shell fish being eaten simply with vinegar and pepper and of course the proverbial bread and butter to smoked haddock with a poached egg on top (cooked in milk).  All of it delicious and spot on. Today we went and this time came home with a couple of fresh crabs, some whelks for  OH, two Dover sole, a tail piece of smoked haddock and a piece of Halibut. Our Dover Sole was prepared for us, but interestingly I found this tutorial on how to prepare them yourself from scratch which I think will be very useful for the future. How to Prepare Dover ...

We needed something for tea this evening and I could not settle on anything to cook.  I also had run out of  a few items from the pantry shelf and needed to replenish them. It started off grey and chilly here but the sun came out and the best part of the day has been bright but very blustery.  I walked to Waitrose with my trolley (there goes my street cred not that I had any in the first place) and was quite surprised at the strength of the wind as it nearly had me over a couple of times.  I am glad my new greenhouses have not been put up because of it, but am hoping to get them put up and in situ shortly as my tomato seeds have gone bonkers. On arriving, I and others naturally had to queue, but they had parked the plant racks alongside where you have to queue.  I ended up putting two tomato plants in, two Rosemary bushes, and two reduced Dianthus (Pinks) and then started having trouble with my trolley it would not budge.  With the assistance of a ...

I woke early at 6am but had heard the birds singing well before that they seem to start with what I refer to as the "Dawn Chorus" around 3am.  It was a hot and sweltering night last night although it did go chilly around 2am.  It was warm at 6am.  It was nice to wake and just take some time with no rush.  One of the things I have been having problems with apart from my short term memory episodes (like losing my phones) putting stuff in a safe place and then not being able to find it is that I have no concept of time and do not really know which day it is most days.  Been a bit in my own bubble but not achieving very much. I was out early to see to the growing houses as it was hot and they have plastic type covers and I did not want my plants to cook.  Grow yes, but cook no. They have therefore been open most of the day and have been well watered this evening along with all my other plants which I have now mostly got into pots.  I do have four tree...