A Stitch In Time

Teasels, High Rd, Leyton, is a treasure trove of haberdashery. We ♥ Teasels!

I stocked up on needles and embroidery thread for some weekend downtime; there are lavender bags to be made lovely.

Backstitch, splitstitch and chainstitch, shinyhappywendi's a ★ for posting the tutorials. I found the unicorn artwork here.

For Peat's Sake

We've finally scraped the bottom of an ages-old bag of peat-based compost that we used to start our seedlings and with it we had to face up to our hypocrisy in our concern regarding the threats to all lands peat, boggy and bogeyman.

So, we changed our ways and purchased a coir substitute. We'll let you know how we get on...

Seven Spots and Sets....and Tadpoles

A short Sunday pootle down to the allotment was all we had time for.

And so time passes; the tadpoles had hatched and the Seven-spot Ladybirds were out in their numbers. More old friends had emerged:

our London Tarragon

the Lovage

We planted some onion sets a neighbouring plotter had given us. We've not had much luck with onions in the past...we'll see.

Here's a handy Ladybird identification pdf published by UK Ladybird Survey.

Prepared for any impending Great Slug Blight

... erm, they might not stand up to slugs the size of pigs but, ... we're on guard.

Secret Garden: Phoenix Garden, Stacey Street, WC2

An errand to the West End, and a good excuse to take a peek at Phoenix Garden, an all-time favourite secret community garden, tucked away behind St Giles Church, minutes away from Tottenham Court Rd tube station. The bumblebees were revelling in the dead nettle, euphorbia, dog violets and primrose. The Jenny Wrens and Blue Tits were flitting about the boggy wildlife pool and the Blackbirds were riffling through the composting bins. Oh joy!

Rain Stopped Play on St Patrick's Day

New seedlings:

Roxton and Musselburgh Leeks

Chillies

This Cooks Garden Carribean Hot Pepper blend was an impulse purchase brought on by the tedium of wheeling a shopping trolley around a supermarket. We bought it in the gloom of the New Year, lured by the promise of the bright, jewel fruit pictured on the packet. We did not expect that the seeds would be mixed. Frustratingly, the varieties are not named on the packet but we think we can identify three varieties in the picture and hope that our limited sowing will produce a plant of each.

This is the first time we've grown chillies and frankly it is already proving disappointing. We regret not planning to plant a more interesting type of chilli, not regular supermarket fare, to make the most of our limited windowsill space.

Perhaps a visit to Spitalfields City Farm is on the books in the hope that they've got something intriguing in their nursery plant sale.

Diamond Wood

We're celebrating the Jubilee by contributing a tree to the Woodland Trust's Diamond Wood planned for the National Forest as part of the Jubilee Woods Project. We ♥ trees.

Magnificent Magnolia

Mint

We're sprouting some mint to replace our last lot that was done in by the snow.

Signs of Life

New seedlings:

All Year Round cauliflower and Cavalier peas.
Down the allotment we greeted old friends:

Columbine

Rhubarb

Sorrel

Horse Radish

Allotment Kitteh No.3

 

We built a pea trellis reusing prunings we scavanged from the kerbside green waste collection bins along our road.✩ No need for plastic netting.✩

Stop Press

One of the Lldi tomato seeds finally sprouted!

Thrift

We like to pop into the Waltham Forest Sally Army thrift shop, on Forest Rd, from time to time to look for preloved furniture or a book to read...

... and for inspiration.

Sprinkle attachment

We use this recycled Barr's pop bottle with nozzle attachment to gently water our seedlings.

The nozzle is genius, it is designed for converting PET bottles for reuse as hand-held sprinklers. We drilled a few extra holes in the side of the screw cap section of the nozzle to break the airlock when the bottle is inverted; our bottle being glass we can't squeeze the water out.

Murky March Morning

Introducing two allotment kittehs:

Allotment Kitteh No1. Maintains routine checks on the softness and fineness of our tilth. Keeps an eye on the frogs (who, for the record, are still at it).

Allotment Kitteh No2. Pops by occasionally to supervise.

Whilst the kittehs did play we rescued the strawberries and started on the couch grass around the pond.

A job for the To Do list: complete strawberry patch frames.

A peeved Buff Ermine Moth caterpillar.

A Hawthorn Shield Bug too sleepy to kick up a stink. The strawberry patch is a stone's throw from a hawthorn tree which grows on the perimeter fence behind our composting bins.

A view of the recently dug beds as approved by Allotment Kitteh No1.