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!