Seeds and Sunshine

It's impossible not to feel optimistic after a day of blue sky and sunshine in February! Today the propagator was switched on and I sowed chillies, tomatoes, basils,  coriander, Clematis,, Kniphofia and Tagetes. In the greenhouse I sowed extra sweet peas and Rhubarb Victoria as I want lots of plants!

Yesterday, our cockerel Humphrey more than earned his keep by shrieking and crowing so loudly that I ran out  to the paddock expecting to find a fox. Instead I found a stoat with a Silkie bantam in its mouth! I kicked it off and poor Hilda jumped up and ran off, she has a small wound but seems fine and laid an egg this morning. We shall have to see if she goes off lay now, poor thing. I read of the need to plug any small gaps in the hen house as stoats, weasels etc can get in and cause havoc. I shall add a photo of the ducks, a more tranquil scene from today!

We spent all day outside, even eating lunch in the sunshine so there was plenty of opportunity to look at new growth and flowers. I am very pleased with the Helleborus orientalis and daffodils in ground and pots. 'February Gold' is living up to its name. Pruned the roses today, watered all the sweet peas and cold frames and Paul mowed the paddock with our 'new' mower... Given to us and coaxed into life.

Now our Internet is working again, I have been checking out Oca and Mashua cultivation and shall leave planting for a while yet. These tubers are such an exciting part of my Seedy Penpal parcel from Carl Legge. I am so looking forward to eating the harvest and I adore perennial Nastutiums.

Cake and Seeds

Marmalade and Fruit Cake Recipe

Uses up left over dried fruit and last years marmalade

225g whole wheat flour
150g soft brown sugar
150g soft butter
325g mixture of any dried fruit, make up any combination to make the weight
50g of any nuts chopped, I have used almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts
grated zest of a lemon
400gof chunky marmalade
3 teaspoons of baking powder
3 medium eggs

I put I a 7inch square cake tin, greased and base lined. I am sure a round tin of similar size would be fine.
Oven, 170C

Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat everything with an electric whisk. Place the mixture into the greased tin and bake for about an hour and a half. A skewer inserted should come out clean when the cake is ready. It takes longer to cook in my Rayburn, more like 2 hours. If top becomes brown before cake is done, cover top with greaseproof paper.  Cool in tin for half an hour before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack.

This week I sent off  a parcel to my seedy Penpal  and received mine from Carl. I had been warned to expect the contents to be all shapes and sizes and what a fantastic assortment arrived! A thyme plant, a just perfect addition to the herb garden and for our bees.The foliage was very fragrant asI unpacked the plant. Tubers of  Oca and Mashua, which I am very keen to try and loads of seeds for interesting edibles, all packed up with a beautiful Llyn sunset card! I am intrigued by Par Cel, a leaf celery that I have not come across before. So, I have a whole lot of new varieties which I can try out in my new garden and shall write of my progress periodically.

A productive weekend

As anyone knows who heats their home and cooks with wood, quite a bit of time is spent on wood related activities! Cutting kindling, stacking logs indoors and wood chopping are frequent Saturday morning activities. The kittens first day outside was made far more interesting by them having a pile of newly split logs to climb over and explore.

We have been concentrating our efforts on the kitchen garden as it is dry under foot and we are keen to get growing again! Derek the Weather on BBC Wales said on Friday that he would eat his hat if it rained on Saturday. Well, he must have had a bit of indigestion on Saturday as we were out gardening in freezing rain and hail. It did pass and we had a few warm minutes in the sunshine!

 One of the first things we discovered when we moved in was that we don't have much soil! When wanting to grow your own fruit and veg this is a bit of  a disadvantage! Fortunately we have been able to use some well rotted compost from the garden and topsoil dug out to make a driveway from a member of Anglesey Freecycle to replenish old raised beds and fill up new ones. I have also been planting some herbs that I have been growing in containers, the Bay having been in containers of ever  increasing sizes for about 5 years. I planted the first of many Rosemary, as it is so good for bees. Unfortunately, we have not moved our bees yet as the land we have been keeping them on is too wet to get on .

I had some leek plants that I had grown in the hope of planting at the end of last summer but ended up bringing them with me and so they have all been planted. I have also begun my cut flower bed with Digitalis Excelsior Hybrids and Snowy Mountain I grew from seed last year planted out at last. They would have been better planted out 5 months ago but I hope the plants are bulky enough to do
their stuff! Last year, as they were visible from the road, I had a photographer stop his car and ask to

take photos of my 'giant foxgloves' I don't think they will be so giant this year! I have acquired 3 varieties of rhubarb and potted them up to bulk up before I get the fruit patch sorted.

One of the good things that happened this week was contact with #seedypenpals.  This is great way to share seeds and make contact with others organised by Carl....  http://www.carllegge.com  . So I am anticipating a package of seeds from @CarlLegge and preparing to send an interesting selection to Danielle in The Netherlands!

We finished off last years marmalade by making a cake and the house has been smelling like Mrs Coopers kitchen as I simmer some Seville oranges for a new batch. Just off to complete the final stages now! More pictures and less text next time, my hands have been muddy most of the weekend so just a few quick snaps when the when the sun was shining!