Come half past two and the first belt of freezing cold gales and icy blasts of rain came in. I had just finished in the School Garden and was admiring the children's handiwork.
We have another circle of strawberries in, some of them are already flowering. The mulched horse poo mounds are helping them settle in and I have no doubt the strawberries will be great if we can keep the cheeky thrushes and blackbirds away!
The few fruit trees we have are starting to blossom, which today was a mistake, the delicate flowers get whooshed away on the wind so we havent had much of a chance to admire and enjoy them yet.
Today we planted more rhubarb crowns, more strawberry, some beetroot plants which are very small. I weeded before the children arrived, and they did very nice sowing - we had Sven on the French Dwarf beans, and he and a mate also sowed a big patch of Easy Peasy Peas. Ive collected this seed from mine, and theyre a good quick grower, sweet in the pod and yummy right off the plant. They will be ready about the time the children finish school, so heres hoping we can harvest just before then.
I had help from Alex with the Barlotti beans *Red Rooster*. She handled her seeds well, and planted about six holes (2 a hole) - thats a great crop! Each of the children get to put sticks around where theyve put their seeds, and hopefully they can come back and do some of the watering next week. Theyre all eager to see what is going to happen, and I hope progress is swift, children have for the most part, not a lot of patience. Bayllie (sp?) sowed some radish, though she remarked she didnt really like them... but we talked about her love of apricots, so I must remember that when Im perusing fruit trees to donate!
There were plantings of the little paris ball carrots which come up like Topsy (grow quickly) and are a good size for children to eat right out of the ground (mine do!) We love them here, and Ive selected some to keep for seed so we can continue sowing ours next season.
We dug in a violet at the base of one of the fruit trees in the tyres, and sprinkled borage seeds to attract the bees. There are cornflowers growing around there too, which is awesome because theyre attractive, easy to grow, bees will visit them, and they self seed so there will be more next season. They attract good insects too, and edible at a pinch (clove flavour).
Have had some positive feedback at the coffee morning today. Someone has said their father might have some rhubarb to spare, which is excellent. The whole school might get to enjoy the benefits of rhubarb and custard! We also are going to plant some garlic cloves next Friday so we can have garlic bread with our vegetable soup next Winter. Good stuff.
We really could benefit from the Community imput in the Garden, and this was mentioned by Ann who is going to come to coffee morning next week and talk to the parents, who were today, asking questions and are keen to help.
Excellent to see too, we have an English class for the people who need support to learn starting tomorrow morning. The Salvation Army makes lunch for one class per fortnight, so Ive offered my willing hands to help... Baked bean Pockets. It sounds yum! Good for filling small tummies.
So thats it, enough from me... Its about to rain, hail,.. snow.
And I think I hear my citrus trees yelling... Quick, Under Cover! :)
Lets hope it doesnt last long and doesnt do any damage.
Love to You
E BUTTERFLY
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